Sign #1 that I am an American: my need for a car (or at least a motorbike).
Having owned a car since age 16 (and driving well before that) I never imagined life without a car until I moved to Europe for a year. I thought my despondency was because I was stuck on the side of a mountain in the dead of winter with little money and very few job offerings. Then, on the island of Oahu, I assumed my frustration was simply island fever, as I had never lived in such a water-locked place before. Now, I realize that maybe my problem stems much deeper to my independence.
Simply put, I am craving a motorbike of my own.
Unfortunately, I am terrified of these crowded streets, the road rules (or lack thereof), the police (who I hear like to pick on the foreigners), and gas stations (as I will then have to learn specific vocabulary-like: gas tank, etc., as well as locate them-I think there may be one semi-close to my area...). I will have to obtain a motorbike license and pay a rental fee each month. I am also complaining, as in the States, I would have made sure to locate a car, an insurance company, and the local license center within the first month in town.
I am a foreigner. The local language and the local ways make me feel like an idiot enough of the time, so that I forgo what I need most: to get past my fears and get a motorbike so I can get lost and see more of the countryside, the way it should be.
I'm working on 3 months without a vehicle. Using the bus and carpooling isn't so bad and when I do need a car we still have my wife's. The only issues arrise when she is at work and I need to go somewhere but that happens pretty infrequently.
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