Les Hannah, day 10, part 2

After finishing my lessons (as they are known here) Pia took me to the property management office where they rented my house. They also rent many other things, among them bicycles. I rented a bike for transportation. Instantly I felt more independent, not tethered to the bus schedule and its serpentine routine. I wonder if bus drivers get bored?

So what was the first thing I did after getting the bike? Why, take a trip into town of course. I rode into city centre, what we would call downtown. I have noticed that nearly everywhere I have been during this trip; all downtowns are called city centres. And I even had some money in my pocket, a bit of change left over from purchasing the groceries yesterday and renting the bike today (I paid the full amount in advance).

Once I got to the city centre (it took only a few minutes, well after I figured out where I was and how to get there) I decided I would try the McDonalds. I had not eaten yet and had grown quite hungry by this time, plus I wanted to see if there was a difference. Call it field research. If I were being honest with myself I would probably say I was desirous of something that reminded me of home: and I chose McDonalds? Anyway, I went in, and ordered a Quarterpounder with cheese meal.

OK, so I got my American junk food fix. It tasted basically the same, but it was no true Quarterpounder; it was smaller. The fries were about the same size and the drink, a Coke (which is about all I can find around here) was the same size as a regular drink in the USA. However, the burger was clearly smaller: diameter and thickness. Well I was hungry so I ate it nonetheless and was leaving when I thought how spoiled Americans are. It was a lingering thought that hounded me most all the way back to the house.

However, once I returned to the house my thoughts quickly adjusted to a more immediate issue: the laundry. I had tried to start a load of laundry before I left this morning think that it would run and I could simply dry them once I returned. By the way, there is no drier but a carousel laundry line out in the yard. But the machine never worked. It made a lot of noise, buzzing and humming, some water poured in – I saw that (it is a front loading machine) – and then it buzzed some more and stopped. So I pushed the button again, and the entire process repeated – including the stoppage. Well, at that time I did not have any further time to spend on it, so I left for school, but when I returned to worked on it with a great amount of effort; after all, I was running out of clean clothes.

Still no success. I bet I messed with that thing for ninety minutes and all it ever did was buzz and hum. OK, now I need to stop by the property management office tomorrow and tell them. Hope they don’t think I broke it or am a complaining American.