Conversation in the car

I would insert pauses in this conversation, but there really were none.

[Following a conversation in which we discussed Maya's favorite "M" word, which she refused to tell me.]

Maya: You can guess my favorite "F" word.  It ends in "Y."
Me: Fly?
Maya: Nope
Me: Fry?
Maya: Nope
Me: Furry?
Maya: Nope
Me: Fuzzy?
Maya: Are there ox in Texas?
Me: Ox?
Maya: Yeah.
Me: Um, actually I don't know.  We could look that up when we get home.
Maya: Are ox mean or friendly?
Me: I imagine they could be either.
Maya: Oh! We went on a field trip today!
Me: You did?  Where did you go?
Maya: To Africa.
Me: Oh!  How did you get there?
Maya: We took a bus.
Me: A bus across the ocean?
Maya: Yeah, it was a special bus that can float.
Me: Oh.  What did you see there?
Maya: We saw giraffes.
Me: Oh?
Maya: Yeah, but it was scary because the giraffes tried to eat us.
Me: Really?  I thought giraffes ate leaves.
Maya: These were special kid-eating giraffes.
Me: Oh, that is scary.  How did you get away?
Maya: We fed them some leaves.
Me: Oh. What else did you see?
Maya: We saw ice cream growing on trees.
Me: Really?  On trees in Africa?  How did it stay cold?
Maya: It had sticky stuff on it to keep it cold.

[As an aside.  I assume Maya meant "ox."  Maybe she meant "auks."  In either case, I think she thinks it is spelled "oks" and that the word is plural; she did use the word "ok" (pronounced "auk") to describe a single ox.]

Lists for Amy

So Amy asked me to put together a list of things we missed about the US but didn't realize until we got back.  I appreciate the assignment actually, because it made me actually take some time to reflect.  People keep asking how we're adjusting to being back, but it's really been smooth.  Like we were never gone in many ways.  Though every once in a while, something becomes apparent that we really miss about our time in Italy.  So my single list morphed into a set of lists instead:

Things we missed about the US but didn't realize until we got back:

• Maya's school.  It's truly superb.  Her Italian kindergarten was also great, but we were quickly reminded as to how thankful we are to have found Bluebonnet.
• NPR
• Potbelly's Farmhouse Salad
• My hair conditioner (though, to be fair, I purchased it in Iceland...)
• Our bed (what do you want me to say?  It's a nice bed.)
• Right turn on red
• KGSR
• Amazon (Prime)
• The Y
• [UPDATED] CTAH: Tim missed both working and his co-workers (though they would never hear him admit it...)

Things we knew we missed while we were gone and were glad to have back:

• Our puppies
• Our family
• Our friends
• Our clothes dryer
• Our kitchen and everything about it
• [UPDATED] Eating out before 7pm

Things we didn't miss about the US and were unfortunately reminded when we got back:

• Austin traffic.  Sigh.
• Poor quality restaurant food.
• Smartphones.  I thought I missed my smartphone.  I was wrong.  Maybe I should get rid of it.
• Stuff.  We have a lot of it, and clearly we can do without much of it.  We're slowly cleaning out.

Things we miss about Trento/Italy:

• Our friends
• Walking to things from our home
• The food.  Seriously.
• The pace of life (though this may have been significantly impacted by the fact that only one of us was working...)
• The huge number of things to do nearby.  We're being more deliberate about seeking things out in Austin now.