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After a little over a month here, I’m finally getting comfortable driving around – at least places I’ve been before (the moment of panic as I turn into a street muttering “right hand to right hand” to myself and see headlights coming at me on the right is getting shorter). But this also means that I’ve stopped looking at each and every sight in wonder. While it’s a lot less stressful in general, it also makes the day a lot less amusing. So lately I’ve been deliberately looking around a little more.

The school bus. If the garbage truck here is cute, only think how cute the school bus is. It’s a little longer than one of our short busses and is painted with flowers and kids playing. All the little kids on a given bus (I’ve only ever seen a school bus here for really little kids) all wear the same color sailor’s caps. I guess it makes the scary job of finding the right bus line on the way home a lot easier. In addition, there’s also a greeter lady who stands in the bus door and says hi to the moms and helps the kids into the bus. They probably even have assigned seats. Talk about pampering! I always had to fight for my own seat on an unmarked, un-policed yellow bus.

I passed a sign for “Earthquake Observation” this weekend. I assume it’s an institute for earthquake studies, but think of the possibilities in the literal title! I can see the billboard now – “Come experience a real live earthquake! Fun for the whole family!” You’d watch from a plexi-glass shark tank thing suspended from a large crane. And the more money you spent, the higher the earthquake on the Richter scale.

Around lunchtime, I see a lot of mopeds zooming around town with weird little boxes attached to the back. It’s usually a square metal case suspended by a spring from a metal arm coming from the seat. So as the moped leans over around tight corners, the box stays upright. You wouldn’t want to spill the soup in the lunch delivery!

The latest grocery store purchase was a little cup of what looked like peanut butter. If anyone wants a tub of Reeses Peanut Butter Cup filling, let me know. I’ll be happy to send you one.