Several issues prevent me from being as independent as I am used to. 1) I don't know the language and can't communicate well enough if I get lost. (Although, I can probably roughly tell a taxi driver roughly the major road that gets me home.) 2) I don't have a working cell phone yet because I don't have all the paperwork necessary from the Federal Police yet. I can't even call anyone to come get me if I get lost. 3) To get anywhere, either somebody has to drive me or call a taxi for me because I don't have a license here and I can't speak the language. 4) If I get where I need to go, chances are, I can't speak to anyone to get what I need done.
It's somewhat like being a teenager again and being dependent on parents (or in this case, our wonderful administrative assistants, Bel and Marj).
During Thanksgiving break, Marj took Lauren (my roommate) and I all over town to run errands. She gave her entire afternoon and evening to us, driving and interpreting for us so we could get things done. On the way home, we got stuck in traffic (think Mariocart in real life). Ahead of us, a truck had stalled out and had blocked both lanes. When he tried to restart his truck, he broke the key off in the ignition. We waited thirty to forty-five minutes and finally got up the courage to drive on the sidewalk like everyone else had been doing for ten minutes or so. We had to pull in one of the side mirrors to fit between the truck and the wall that lined the sidewalk. There were also street lights and random poles to dodge while driving on the sidewalk. We cheered and breathed a sigh of relief when we finally got around the truck and back onto the road!
Lauren and I tried to be adventurous and independent today and tried to go to a student's birthday party by ourselves in the school car. Birthdays are a big deal here- lots of food and merriment that lasts most of the day. The student's dad had offered to send a taxi for us, but we decided we could try to drive ourselves. We had been given Google maps showing the way and it seemed like a pretty straight forward drive.
The one thing we should have taken into consideration is that street signs are limited here. I would guess roughly 5% of streets are actually marked. We made some wrong turns, but were able to get back where we needed to be each time (which is definitely a sign of God's protection...nothing is straight forward here, especially travel by car). Lauren and I had gotten down to looking for one last street that would take us into the gated community that the student lives in...and we couldn't find it. We drove back and forth several times, but neither of us could figure out where that last street was. I'm sure we were within a block or two. After an hour and a half driving, we called it quits and went home (which we were able to do with only one slight error).
I am so used to being able to hop in MY car and go wherever it is I want to go and take care of my own errands. It's really quite frustrating to be so dependent on others and to be somewhat scared of leaving campus for fear that I'll get into a situation I can't get myself out of. My fair complexion and lighter hair color immediately mark me as a foreigner. In the same way, it marks me as a candidate for mugging and who knows what else. Going around by myself, especially at this point, is out of the question.
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| Since we missed the wonderful party food, Lauren and I stopped at a bakery close to our house. This little beggar quite enjoyed all the crumbs previous customers had left behind. I think he was hoping I would share, too. |
On another note, only two weeks until I get to come home for Christmas! My poor body is going to go into shock. The temperature and time change together are going to rough, but it will be so good to see my family and be with them for Christmas!
