Buses

3.23.11

Wow, so it’s been almost a month. I’ve been slacking on my blog updates, I apologize. I’ve been so busy with projects and visiting my new site! I will tell you all about my new site in a different post. Training is pretty much the same all the time… safety and security talks, health presentations over every possible topic from diarrhea to physical assaults , TONS of groups projects, the list goes on forever. But instead of boring you with stories about classes I’m going to fill you in on some of the exciting things that have happened within the past few weeks. Here goes nothing….

Bus story #1 of many I’m going to experience while here in Ecuador:

So, a couple weeks ago our morning classes ended early and we got 2 ½ hours for lunch. A bunch of us decided to go to town and do some errands, use internet, have lunch, try out our new Ecuadorian ATM cards, etc.

My friend Sarah and I decided we wanted to go grocery shopping, get ice cream, and have lunch…. So just that we did, and in style we went…. We begin to walk out of the training center to find that the bus that we take to town is right outside the gate. I instantly start shouting at Sarah to open the training center door and simultaneously start shouting at the security guard in ENGLISH to yell at the bus driver to stop the bus for us. (If we didn’t catch this bus we would have had to wait 30 minutes… so you now see our need to catch this bus bc it SUCKS when you see the bus drive by and you’ve missed it by 30 seconds) To my surprise, the security guard actually opened the large metal gate and started yelling towards the buss to wait. Our security guards do NOT understand English, but I think he put two and two together when he saw me screaming and the bus out front.

So as I’m yelling at the security guard in English to stop the bus we grab our shit and run towards the gate (fastest I’ve ever ran in my life) the bus driver does NOT hit the breaks what-so-ever for us… I don’t think he heard the guard yelling at him to stop. At this point we are so close to catching the bus that we REFUSE to miss it, so we start hauling ass… I catch up to the back door of the bus that is still open, grab the handle with my left hand because that’s the hand closest to the door. *Reminder: I’m running as all of this is going on!* I then realize there is no way I’m going to jump on the bus while running when I’m holding on with my left hand. So I let go of my left hand and reach my right hand across my body, grab the handle on the door, jump in the bus, stumble and trip into the bus and make a huge racket. Every Ecuadorian on the bus turns around to see what the hell the noise was, the other PC trainees who are already sitting on the bus are dying laughing because they’ve watched this whole obnoxious scene from the start. I get up, get ahold of my balance, look around, and in English say, “I made it!”

By the time I got on my feet Sarah had jumped onto the bus as well, but not without an awesome entrance, just like mine! Hahahahaha, best day on the bus yet.

We both find a seat and, don’t worry, all the Ecuadorians are STILL looking at us like we are out of our mind with half grins on their faces. The other PC trainees are laughing so hard they can’t even talk.

…All of this happened in a matter of 30 seconds…

Great way to start off the lunch break J