Subtle culture differences

Living in another culture, you encounter many little differences throughout the day. These can all build up - so that you're never exactly sure what to expect next. I don't know if it's a stage of cultural adjustment or what - but I've been noticing differences a lot lately. Just the little things in the day that make life... interesting:

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• Sunday mornings you can find me dabbing on my special perfume - bug spray ;-) - as I get ready to head off to church out in a rural town. If I don't put it on, I can count a gnat or two, or ten, to do their best to distract me during the service.

This is the church I am currently attending. It is a Covenant church in a smaller village outside of the city of Oaxaca.

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• When I catch old-school buses, I'm sometimes riding "The Terminator" or "Scorpion." Yesterday I was on "Ghost Town" as I rode home from school. These are names written in snazzy letters on the front window - kind of like how boats have names. By 'old-school,' I refer to those buses whose gears grind, windows rattle, and breaks squeal :-). Buses are often personalized - with images of the Virgin Mary hanging from the rearview mirror, right beside a Tweety Bird sticker.

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• As I walk to the children's home, I say good morning to the shepherdesses tending their sheep/goats. These are two indigenous women, who you can tell have probably spent their whole lives doing this. By the way, tending often means throwing rocks at the strays to get them back with the group ;-).

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• This morning as I climbed into the car of the woman I ride to school with, I hit my head on something. I looked up to see a low hanging grapefruit, in a tree full of grapefruit. Fruit and veggies are abundant here - and attack you when you are on your way to work.

This is a vine growing outside my window (hanging on some sort of power line, hmm...). Can you identify the fruit/veggie? (I forgot what my landlady told me it was...) :-)