Los Autobuses, la Escuela, y Mucho Tráfico! (Oh my?!)

Hola!

I can’t believe a week has gone by since my last post… Things here have been so so busy, and it’s nice to finally have a break to look back and share it with you all.

Last Monday was our first day of classes. I had to get up at 6 (yes, as in A.M.), as Rodrigo was going to take me to catch the bus by 7. Luckily my stop is only one street away, but the ride takes at least 30 minutes, often closer to 45 depending on traffic. Even though it’s one of the longest bus rides of everyone in the program, I have kind of started to enjoy the long ride (prime place for people watching as well as last-minute cramming). It can get pretty crowded at times and if I’m stuck standing (or constantly trying to keep myself from falling over) while the bus bounces through the roads and around sharp turns, it can makes things even more interesting.

Speaking of roads, traffic here is NUTS. It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before (well, other than in Kenya…but Matatus are certainly in a league of their own). I’m not sure what their road laws are (if any), but they are certainly not enforced and so drivers are absolutely ridiculous. Friday I was waiting to catch a bus and I watched in horror as one of the workers from the bus jumped out to direct the driver through a stopped-up intersection (as all intersections seem to constantly be here, especially during rush hour). He was running through traffic, waving his hands, paying no attention to the oncoming traffic, which was paying no attention to him either, and he got hit straight-on by a car. He somehow landed on his feet, stood there for a second, obviously a little dazed, and jumped right back on the bus he had successfully gotten through the intersection and they went on their way. No one else paused for even a moment either. Except for me who stood there with my mouth gaping open. All I know is, I could never imagine driving like the people here. Or with them for that matter.

Anyways, as I was saying Rodrigo took me on the bus (and home) my first three days of class until I got the hang of doing it on my own...or thought I had the hang of it at least, as today was the very first time I actually got off at the correct stop by myself. Not that my lack of bus-taking skills would surprise any of you… Luckily, there are other people from my program who are often on the same bus and who have picked up on this as well, so they try to help me out.

School is still school, even in a country as awesome as Ecuador, although my classes are set up a little differently than they would be at OSU. We only take one class at a time (rather than 3 or 4) and they cram each class into 3 weeks (as opposed to the usual 10). It’s nice to only have to focus on one class, but at the same time it is insane how quickly we move through everything. We’re already almost halfway through our textbook and I’ve only had 6 days of class! We had our first midterm on Friday and will have a midterm (or final) every week from here on out. I’ve been learning a lot, but it has been a lot of work as well. Apparently they are actually expecting us to study while we’re “studying" abroad? Who would’ve thunk it?!

I think the best (or at times the worst) part of the classes here is that there are only 6 people in each one, so we are constantly forced to participate - not to mention stay awake. My teacher is AWESOME. He is this little tiny Ecuadorian man named Mario (or Profesor Tarea –“professor homework” – as he calls himself) and he is absolutely hilarious. Despite the stress of trying to cram in all of the information each day, he still finds time to make things fun and keep us laughing.

Well, that’s all I have time for now. Hopefully I’ll be able to get back on here later tonight or tomorrow and talk more about everything. I have pictures too, so cross your fingers for me and maybe they will finish loading one of these days.