Right Side of the Road, Wrong Side of the Car

Within the first two weeks that we lived here, we bought a car from a local guy with whom I work. The vehicle lasted for about six days, and then it died. The guy has promised to give our money back, which is a process that is still in the works. The lesson here is: when it comes to cars, don't buy locally, as they tend to be run into the ground by the time they get passed on to anybody else.

We have since ordered a car from Japan, which is due to arrive on October 5. In the meantime, our new landlords, who are good people, have let us borrow the car that was abandoned here by the previous tenant. As you can imagine, it's a fine piece of machinery.

I had to put duct tape on the roof to cover up the holes where the rust had made its way through. While I was at it, I decided that a duct tape racing stripe would be a nice touch, too. (My guess is that it makes the car go at least ten miles per hour faster.) It also complements the pink silhouetted rodeo scene decal on both sides and the pink eyeballs and teeth on the back. Classy, right?

In any case, I'm thankful for their generosity in letting us borrow this while we're waiting for our car from Japan to arrive, because some places are a little too far to comfortably walk, including the college where I work, as well as Chloe's school. Our neighbor, whose son goes to the same school, has offered to take Chloe to school in the morning, and Jamie has been able to take a cab to go get her. Unfortunately, by the time they come back out, the cab's gone and they have to walk the mile and a half back to our house, which is an especially long distance for little legs.

Exemplifying our proximity to the western border between East and West, most of the cars here are from Japan, which means that most (but not all) of the steering wheels are on the right. Keep in mind, though, that most of the infrastructure was set up by the U.S. government, so just like in the U.S., people drive on the right side of the road.

This makes for a whole population of potential mail delivery drivers, except for the fact that there is no mail delivery here. Everything has to be picked up at the post office. Micronesia has no physical addresses. If you have to tell a cab driver where to go or the utility company where to install service, you give them the landowner's name.

Yes, it seems like assigning addresses would be an effective way to make life at least a little easier here in a lot of respects, but it kind of illustrates the importance of land ownership here, which tends to only change hands between members of the same family.

As for driving on the wrong side of the car, that hasn't taken as much getting used to as the fact that the turn signal and windshield wipers are also on opposite sides of the steering column. I can't even tell you how many times I've went to signal my intention of turning only to activate the windshield wipers by mistake. On the other hand, if I'm driving, there's a pretty good chance that it's raining anyway.