International Postage

I've mailed a few packages since I've been here. There is a 24 hour post office on my way home from work and only about 1.5 km from my home. I've learned that the customs declaration that you fill out will make a big difference in the cost. The orange form, on the right, seams to cost about 1/3 less than the green form. The shipping time for the orange form is also surprisingly quick, in my experience, about 2-5 days.

Garbgage day

Every week there are four garbage days.

Monday recycling
Tuesday burnable
Thursday non-burnable/non-recyclable
Friday burnable again.

In addition to these days, some items, such as milk cartons and plastic food trays, are returned to grocery store for recycling. I've heard rumors about people having their trash thrown back on their doorstep if they fail to properly sort it out for the particular collection types. Thus far I've had good luck.
I've been here over two months and still haven't had to put out non-burnable trash, which feels pretty environmentally responsible.

Lessons of the Day

I learned some interesting lessons today at work.

1. Don't bring a banana to work because there are no garbage cans in the office and the peal will smell up your locker before the day is over.

2. When working on a large file in CAD, you may need to switch computers with one of your team mates in order to get enough memory to complete the task.

3. Even though it is September, it is still advisable to wear as little clothing in the office the temperatures are still in the 80s inside.

Absontee Voting

The day I left for Japan, I mailed my FPCA form to have an absentee ballot sent to me in Japan.

http://www.fvap.gov/

Yesterday, my ballot arrived. So Fast! The vice presidential candidates were only announced 4 weeks ago so in that time the city of Novi was able to print and mail my ballot, that's efficiency.The ballot arrived complete with a postage paid, addressed envelope - so far so good, now I just have to cross my fingers that everything goes correctly and my vote gets counted.

I'd Have Saved a Lot of Time if I'd Known

That the names at the street intersections are not the names of the roads, the roads don't even have names. I was starting to wonder why every intersection was between two streets of the same name.This is the intersection of S. Issha and S. Issha (note the signs next to the traffic lights and slightly hidden behind all the power lines)

How to Make a Right Turn More Dangerous

This type of intersection actually exists, and not just in one place.
Cars can drive in the bus lane.

Seat Guru

With the ability to switch an airline seat on a whim it's ultra easy to end up in a row of seats that doesn't recline or in an objectionable area. I'd heard of seatguru.com but hadn't put it to use, as the majority of my flights are less than 4 hours long. With a 13.5 hour flight (in economy) looming I visited seatguru and found what they claim will be a comfortable seat. Update to follow.