Ohh the driving

Thursday, my one month anniversary here, was kind of a crazy day. It started off normal- rode the bus from our little colony to the school with my 1-5th grade friends. One of them gave me a flower, which I put in my hair and wore all day. I walked from the street to my school of about 1,000 kids Prek-12th standard. Somewhere between my morning classes of physics, math, chemistry, and biology we had a short 15 minute P.T. class. (PT stands for playing time). Today we were racing 200 meters around the dirt field in which we had P.T. class. I am proud to say that, thanks to my active family and participation in sports, I came in second place in my class. At lunch we played volleyball and the girls were not quite up to our high school standard, so I ended up playing with the boys. Their intensity was intimidating, but I kept up and they at least didn't kick me out. It was so much fun playing a familiar game, and I successful day in sports, at least. Cultural note: boys and girls have separate staircases in the school.

My ride home was 1/2 an hour late, and the guy was the craziest driver I have ever encountered! He sped most of the way back on the wrong side of the road, barely missing busses and 2-wheelers, and stopping in the middle of the road so frequently I had to hold on with both hands to stay upright. About halfway back we stopped at another school for the first time to pick up some kids my age for once. It was cool to meet them, and we ended driving through a small slum to drop one of them at home. It was AMAZING and I honestly loved seeing the goats picking through piles of trash and things I don't even have words for. It was so amazingly different, and, even though the driver didn't slow down for pictures, my eyes were full of everything around me. His driving didn't slow from 30 the whole way through, except when he suddenly slowed to 2 mph for the frequent speed bumps then gunned it before stopping for the next one. I almost threw up. One of the girls ended up living right near me, and we are now best friends. She literally asked me within 30 minutes of meeting. Her dad is a frequent traveller and is an herbal doctor, and SO friendly, and what an experience their house was! It was covered with things from his travels and they have an entire bedroom and sideroom dedicated to all kinds of gods and saints and religions. I anticipate being at that house quite a bit.