Driven

Today I can be very proud of myself--I rode the city bus for the first time. I got from the school where I work all the way to the house without having to ask anyone for help or directions! It was quite an enjoyable experience, as well. The Kokkola city buses are very large with big cushioned seats and lots of leg room. They are similar to American tour buses--but nicer. They are nothing like American city buses. There are storage grates to put luggage or laptops in near the ceiling, and options to turn lights on above the seats just like in an airplane. It does cost nearly 3 euros, but I would say it is worth it for a 30 minute ride once a week. If I start taking the bus more, I might look into passes.

One thing hugely different in Kokkola from Anchorage (and thus I extrapolate to a difference between the US and Europe) is that the streets are so much smaller here, and the sidewalks are so much bigger. I really wish I could upload my pictures (Race sent the wrong camera connector so it might be another two weeks, sorry...), but two lanes of traffic on a main road here is the same size as one and a half lanes of traffic in Anchorage. Two lanes of traffic on a neighborhood street is nearly the equivalent of only one lane of traffic on an Anchorage street. The sidewalks are equally as big as one lane on the road, and in neighborhods there is usually a "median", also the same width as a traffic lane, covered with grass and trees that separates the sidewalks from the traffic. Such small traffic lanes and such low visibility around corners has trained everyone here to be a very defensive driver and always be looking out for what other people are doing--however, everyone I have driven with so far has also been largely prone to distraction and it is a wonder that there are not fender-benders every 5 seconds. It is illegal to talk on your cell phone while driving, yet everyone I have ridden with (I think 5 people) almost always ends up on their cell phone at least once on the road... even if the trip is only 5 minutes long.

The other morning on the way to school there were men in flourescent vests stopping traffic in front of us. "What is going on?" I asked. "They are testing alcohol levels." My host father answers. Sure enough, I see them stop every vehicle and stick a breathalizer into the driver's side window. "Do they have this in America?" He asks. I said no, because as far as I know there is never random unnanounced screening for alcohol that holds up traffic... tell me if I am wrong. "This is good, I think, because there are drinking problems here." My host father says. I think to myself, yeah, but do they really expect to find anyone drunk at quarter to 8 on a Monday morning on a road that goes toward the hospital and school? That seems to me like they are doing it because they are mandated to, but they picked a time when they knew they wouldn't have to deal with anyone actually being drunk.

Also everything here is measured in liters instead of gallons, gas and milk are sold by the liter and it is 1 euro and 44 cents per liter for gasoline. You can do the math. I wonder if that gas tax goes into making the city buses so awesome. Oh, there are also purple curtains you can pull over the windows on the bus if you want to. Every single car I have been in here is a stick shift. Does anyone know why this is? Do manual cars use less gas? Stick-shift driving makes me car sick!! :(