October 14, 2010

We got up at 8am and started the day slowly. The internet connection at the hotel has been a big disappointment. Very slow and very unreliable. It went down last night and I used a looong time to upload yesterday’s blog entry in the morning.

We knew we only had a 3-4 hours drive to do today. Everyone took it easy. At about 9:35 we were all very hungry and headed down for breakfast. Breakfast closed at 09:30. Bummer! We had some bread lying around from yesterdays lunch and had that instead. Everyone was a bit grumpy to have missed out on a pretty good prepaid hotel breakfast.

We got going at about, you guessed it, 11am.

We have been very relaxed about schooling so far and it was time to get going seriously. The kids were not very motivated, they have been getting used to this semi-vacation. It took some explanation to get them to realize that they will actually need to work hard at times during this voyage. After a while they all had a good session with the iPads in the back seat.

We first drove for a long time on the vast high altitude plain that spans several states and held an altitude of more or less 6500 feet (2000 meters). As we came off and headed downwards the landscape started to change. So did the vegetation.

We went from mountain climate with around 60 F (16 C) to over 100 F (38 C) in a couple of hours.

About half way we stopped to fill gas at a gas station in the middle of nowhere.

The pumps were marked “Pay before you fill.” We had pre-payed gas on the car, so I didn’t want to fill up too much. Knowing that we had about 300 km more to go I calculated that with a margin we needed around 40 liters.

I entered the gas station and immediately sensed that I was a cultural intruder. I went into social chameleon mode and rolled out all I had of antennas. There were 2 people in front of me and I tried to get a sense of how they spoke with the lady behind the cash register. I prepared my canned sentence well in advance so I could concentrate on delivering it in the casual way that seemed to be needed here. The politeness factor was obviously very low and people did not waste time uttering words that were not necessary. I still settled on adding a “please” out of pure caution.

Once it was my turn I clearly and casually played my cards by saying “I need 10 gallons of regular on pump number 6, please.” Short, to the point, polite, well delivered. Should be a winner. Now she will take my money and I can get out of here quickly without any embarrassment. Nope.

She gave me a stare like she had just been addressed by an orange elephant speaking fluent Swahili. After a too long pause she spat out “10 gallons?!?!?!!” with a very hard stress on “gallons.” My brain went into overclock mode. What could have been wrong? Had I done a wrong calculation and asked for 400 liters in stead of 40 liters? No, nonsense, a gallon is just under 4 liters, can’t be simpler than that. Wasn’t she used to people ordering so small quantities? Strange. I quickly regained my balance and told her with a clear self-confident voice: “Yes, 10 gallons, please”. She sighed a long sigh that was very painful for both of us.

When she realized I was serious she entered a state of confusion. Her turn to loose balance. She hesitated for a while and asked into the air “How much is it now?” She walked over to the far end of the counter and leaned out so as to almost fall over as she looked out the window at the sign by the pump. She came back and mumbled “2.89”. Another sigh. Then: “10 gallons at 2.89. Holy smoke!” More confusion. Then she turned around, searched a bit, and found a calculator.

I still hadn’t figured out what was going on.

After typing in she said very slowly, as if she had trouble reading the display: “Twenty…eight, eighty … nine [sic!]. 29 dollars, is that OK?” I confirmed and she asked me if I wanted it on pump number 1. The woman who routinely enters pump numbers all day had forgotten which pump number I had said!

I told her number 6 and she took my money. It was on my way out to the pump that it all started to make sense to me. People here order in dollars, not in quantity. I had completely ruined her routine and broken a cultural code so ingrained here that no-one probably ever thought about it. On top of that, the lady was evidently not first in her class in multiplication.

I have done something similar in France. I once ordered 300 grams of ham at a butcher shop. If you do that in Norway (if you can still find a butcher that sells over a counter) they will cut you slices that total 300 grams +/- 0.5% In France I got a blank stare and a very confused guy who cut me slices weighing about 380 grams of ham. In France you specify how many slices you want and how thick they should be. Thickness is specified inaccurately (as in “thick” or “thin,” millimeters will definitely not cut it) and they might cut you a test slice and ask if it is OK. It is all part of a cultural ritual that separates those on the inside from those on the outside.

Sorry, I got carried away there again.

Once we arrived in Phoenix the kids were told they could have a recess in the pool before school continued. We hadn’t realized before today how tropical Phoenix actually is. The heat was impressive and the kids seemed to enjoy cooling off.

After 45 minutes no mercy was shown as school day continued.

Around 7pm we started walking to find a restaurant. The GPS on the iPhone brought us to a vegan restaurant called Green Restaurant. At first I did not feel like eating there as the place looked a bit worn and there were few people. Hélène frowned heavily and called me prejudiced. The place turned out to be fantastic. The kids had pasta and Hélène and I had curries with soy meat that were worthy of a gourmet restaurant. They also had the best selection of cool sodas I have ever seen. Adrian had a blue bubble gum soda, Viktor had a soda with cream taste (it tasted like cream and cotton candy) and I had a grape/black currant soda. There were lots and lots of others. If you are ever in the area, go check  it out.

Everyone is sleeping around me now. I have become a compulsory blogaholic and insisted on posting before going to bed. Thanks to all of you who have commented on our previous posts. It keeps us motivated, so keep that feedback coming.

In about 4 hours I need to get up. East coast and a bit colder climate is wating for us.

Eirik

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