The Oceanview Diner’s outdoor seating where we had breakfast our last morning in Berkeley. It used to be known as Bette’s and is an iconic and delicious restaurant. Here’s an article about the reopening of the restaurant and name change.

“I am a happy person internally,” our Lyft driver said on our ride back to the hotel after meeting our kids and DIL for breakfast on Fourth Street in Berkeley. “If things external are out of my control, I don’t let them unhappy myself.”

Our driver was from Nepal and I felt like I was listening to an ancient philosopher.

He talked about how family was the most important part of his life. How he wanted to raise his children to be respectful and good people. He was concerned about the cost of living in the Bay area and the schools. We told him about Arizona and he was filled with questions.

We told him it was an affordable place to raise a family. He’d have to look closely at schools because depending on the town and neighborhood, the schools can vary.

Then my husband added, “It gets really hot there in the summer.”

“Look at your five fingers,” the driver said. “They are not all the same, but you accept them as they are.”

Wow. That hit me. Not everything is all good or all bad. Nothing is the same.

Another driver we had from the airport to our hotel was from Nigeria. He explained that they lived on $5 a day there and didn’t have running water.

“It’s a third world country. You have to haul your water into the house each day. People here don’t realize how fortunate they are,” he said.

Have you learned valuable lessons from people of other cultures? If so, what have you learned?

View of the hotel. The door below tower is the carriage entrance. I never got a photo of the main entrance!