The last time I saw fireworks (not real ones) was actually on the 4th of July. My housemates took the opportunity to create their own - ie. one yelling (literally) at another. I think I was all the more startled because the yelling took place in Africa. It was so much more striking here. You expect people to yell in the US. Here, you don't.
Same housemate got back from a trip to Rwanda this morning (twenty-four hours of bus from Kigali - the little plane is on annual maintainance). The group took Jaguar from Kigali to Kampala, which I TOLD them not to do (these are the buses that I fear so much because they nearly killed me every time I drove to Kampala). But they didn't listen to me and they took Jaguar anyway, and they claim they have never been in so much fear for their lives. They claim they saw things in each other that they've never seen in a living being. They clung to strangers. They screamed in fear. It was raining and they saw dead bodies near other spun off vehicles along the road. One of them turned off the dvd in the bus and screamed at the driver. Meanwhile, the other passengers were telling them, "Doucemente," gently, telling them to be nicer to the driver (although I doubt this part of the story because that is also the word that is used in Rwanda to tell people to slow down).
Speaking of accidents, on the way to work this morning (in the most lackadaisical dalla-dalla I've taken - we were only three passengers and they just didn't seem to CARE if they had riders or not, while usually dallas are frantic about filling up), I saw a ditch problem. Now, these ditches are a hazard. At least four of my friends have fallen into them. They are uncovered. They are deep, sometimes as deep as four feet. They are immediately on the side of the road. You leap out of the way of a car and land in one (D). You get out of a taxi, drunk, and fall directly into one, dragging in your immediate neighbor (J and M)You walk along the road in the dark, saying, "When I came, I didn't even know there were ditches here!" and simultaneously fall into the nearest one (IE). I've seen a few vehicles in them before, usually just a front wheel. This time, it was a UN Nissan Patrol, and it was not just IN the ditch, it OWNED the ditch. It was obviously taking a curve too fast and just slid sideways, both left wheels into the ditch. Or, to give the driver credit, maybe it was forced off the road by other manic vehicles. It fit in perfectly, left side against the side of the ditch, right wheels just on the edge, tilted 45 degrees on its side. It appeared to have slid about 6 or 7 meters along the ditch, nice white paint decorating the ditch. There was a tow truck guy looking at it, just beginning to think about how they'd ever get it out, it was so wedged.
I hope, but I doubt, the passengers were wearing seatbelts. Otherwise they might be a bit bruised. How I do love seatbelts.
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