Tuesday, February 21, 2012

I hear you are suffering from cold weather at home....pole (sorry) :(

This has been a slower week for me, gearing up for teaching again next week. New experience last week: I  DROVE THE CAR !!!  The back seat passengers looked a little........I don’t know.......perhaps they were feeling indisposed.....funny that it was both of them at the same time though, don’t you think? After a few peaceful kms, we entered a village, which indicates......PEOPLE! However, there was no problem, I am, after all, an experienced driver. As we came to the usual oncoming huge truck seeming to own the center of the road, Raha began rapidly motioning me to the side of the road. I guess he didn’t realize that I am perfectly at home on the side I was on! Then it was suddenly his turn to drive again. Seriously!....such a fuss over a rear view mirror.......isn’t that why there are 3 of them??! (just kidding.....no damages, but the rest is true)

    It never ceases to amaze me the tight spaces they can squeeze through, and how little room they take to uturn or anything else. I am always bracing for impact, and it never happens. Yesterday, we had to stop because of a gravel pile in the middle. Someone grabbed a shovel and began to make way for us. A motorcycle taxi passed us, but he had to pull in his rearview mirror to make it!

    I am quite sure no one could survive my driving in this city! There are no rules or standards.....it’s the rule of the horn here! You hear honking everywhere. Some mean move-it-or-lose-it, some mean thank you, some are saying ‘hi’, and I think for some, it is just a reflex!

    If there are a shortage of parking spaces on the side of the road, pull up onto the sidewalk.....no problem......the people will move! The faster you’re moving, the faster they move.....it’s a cause and effect thing. I am feeling that it might be unwise to sit in the driver’s seat at home, for a time, although I am fairly certain that the horn is functioning well.

    Some days I can follow the gist of a conversation in Swahili......some days.....not so much!

Still learning.......

1 comment:

  1. makes me have hope that one day too i can drive if all you need is a horn! d.

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