Boobs on a bus...

If you remember from a previous post, a combi is the main mode of transport, they are minivans and in the States you would fit 10, here you fit as many as possible (minimum is 16, and that’s sitting). So I’m sitting in a seat on the aisle. If you’re in an aisle seat you can be assured your personal space will be flagrantly and unpleasantly violated. My head is about 5 inches from the roof of the combi as well, so there really isn’t much room. My legs don’t fit into the seat either, so one is angled awkwardly and the other is jutting in the aisle.

Today, I get on and the seats all fill up quickly, a mother with a baby strapped on her back gets in…so do a bunch of people, forcing her to get closer than either would probably prefer. The mother with the baby is standing right next to me. The picture is an example of how they carry their kids around. Anyhow, what you need to know is the mom is practically leaning over me…but we are not touching…yet.

The baby starts crying and you hear many women on the combi saying, “awww…pobrecito”, which means, “awww…little poor one”. Apparently ‘aww’ is universal, like a smile or farting in someone’s face. Well, the baby is crying, it must be hungry and this place and position is as good as any I suppose, so the mom pulls the baby around to her front, pulls up her shirt and quiets the baby. Knowing how bumpy the ride is and drivers’ tendency for jerky-ness, I just start laughing because I know how things are going to end and there is little I can do.

About 2 minutes into the suckling, the combi driver hits the breaks then the gas. This causes anyone standing to sway, first towards the front of the combi then immediately to the back. Now is the moment you’ve been waiting for, I get a face-full of baby and boobs. One is covered, the other is bare. She doesn’t say anything to me, no “excuse me” or “sorry” or “hey, you thirsty too?”…nothing.

How worms and Titantic have interwoven in my life

One, I have worms. How does one find out? Well…after you do your #2, you look down and see worms. The doctors during training gave us a poop presentation and they really stress looking at your stuff…unless it’s in a hole and you can’t. Looking at it is important for health purposes…and there really isn’t a better way to find out if you have worms. Kinda gross, huh? If you’re in Peace Corps, it’s kinda funny. Luckily worms are not anything permanent or detrimental. I take some pills, no more worms. There is a part in Dumb and Dumber (one of my favorite movies) where Jim Carrey says, “I got worms.” He is telling someone the name of his future store…anyhow, new significance for me.

Secondly, in my English class last night, my students all wanted to learn the words to “My Heart Will Go On”, a very sappy ballad by Celine Dion from the movie Titantic. So, a student brought a cd with the karaoke version of the video and I brought my laptop and we learned the words to “My Heart Will Go On” and then I translated the words since no one really has the English skills (yet) to understand the song. As I was standing there and everyone was slightly singing along and seemingly entranced by Celine’s power vocals and over-dramatization, I couldn’t help but laugh…a lot.

So, both of those things happened yesterday.