Thursday, February 22, 2007

Facts of (My) Life

1. There are swarms of ants everywhere - including our flat. How they made it up three flights of stairs, I'm not sure. Fortunately, they float. So when they make it into my coffee or juice, I can easily remove them. And anything else that I ingest already has texture.

2. Soda cans are heavier than they are in the US. This may seem insignificant, but every time I finish a can I continue trying to drink it. I am convinced there must still be soda inside, because of the added weight. Way to throw a foreign girl off.

3. Cars drive on the left-hand side of the road. Even though I don't drive here, this has still taken some getting used to. For weeks I thought I was going to die every time I was in a vehicle that made a left turn when there was traffic coming from the left. And even still, I can never remember which way to look when I'm crossing the street. (But Meg gave me great motherly advice - "Look both ways - then look again!")

4. Phone calls are ridiculously expensive. Even local calls are charged at a per-minute rate (during the day it's about 6 cents/minute land line to land line - 20 cents/minute land line to cell phone). And that's on top of the monthly fee. Cell phone calls are even more expensive.

And lastly, the biggest "duh" moment I've had since I've been here:

5. Sea creatures actually live in shells. I'm sure I learned this at some point in time but I had dismissed it as irrelevant to my life in Minnesota. Imagine my surprise the first time I picked up a shell on the shoreline and there was a wiggly guy in it. Eew.

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