Gassing up: Intentionally having Logan take the car when the tank was down to 1/4 was getting a little silly obvious.....it was time to brave the gas station.
Phew - hard work.....I sat in the car while the guys filled the gas & the wiper fluid (it took 3 of them to figure out how to pop the hood on the Volvo - not very common here)
But I guess I have a ways to go before I'm truly native......as I passed up the opportunity to have a cocktail or shot while I paid for my gas..
Yes! This is a full bar IN THE GAS STATION mini market. On a busy road with nothing really nearby to walk from. So come visit - I'll take you to the gas station for a drink (you come, I'll even be the DD)!
Picking up hitchhikers: I had read it is common for people to flag down random cars to hitchhike or negotiate to pay for a ride. AND you often see people with their thumbs out on the side of the road.....But I still thought they must be hailing cabs or flagging down buses. Hitchhiking is for hippies going cross-country, right?!
Then when one put his thumb out right outside my gate & then waved his arms clearly mad at me when I started to pull away, I turned back & picked up my first ever hitchhiker.....
If you are like my mom, your first reaction might be WTF?!? (OK, Mary did NOT use that kind of mental language I am sure - but it adds to the story). But, as you can see from the picture, my hitchhiker was a kid. Through our patched together Russian-English, I learned he is 11, is named Mikhail & was going to the school at the bottom of our hill.
I felt like I was really fitting in with the locals, until the next day when the kids & I saw Mikhail walking again. Despite their pleas for me not to, I rolled down the window & offered him a ride. He looked at me like I was totally crazy and kept going - proving I am just an over-friendly American after all.
Hope you have a friendly encounter today.....even if it is with a strange foreigner.
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