What a Difference a Year Makes

We were reminiscing the other day about how quickly things change in a year. For example, one year ago on Halloween:

• Our limited knowledge of China was largely a result of the movie “Mulan.”
• We thought authentic Chinese food included Crab Rangoon and Sesame Chicken.
• We had 5,000 frequent flier miles combined amongst the three of us – now we’re all at least Gold.
• We were convinced the maximum occupancy of a moped or bicycle was one.
• If someone had said “Ni Hao” (which means hello and is pronounced like Knee How), we would have been sure someone was asking about our legs.
• The idea of the garbage man riding a bicycle was absurd.
• If someone’s name began with an X we would have had some pronunciation difficulties.
• We would have thought it was odd to see a 40 year old man walking down the street with a pink Hello Kitty umbrella.
• Annie had no clue that someday she would be driven to learn a foreign language solely for the purpose of knowing what people are saying about her in the elevator.