La Transición

We are going through somewhat of a transition between being visitors and residents, going from vacation to life. A girl in our group left the country two days ago due to her brother being hospitalized from a car accident involving the ice storm in Minnesota. Although it is clearly going to be difficult for her to leave and hard for us to see someone leave with whom we had started to become close and were looking forward to spending the semester, I think we have managed to turn it into something positive, a renewal of purpose, a reminder why we are here and what we came to do. A few of our cultural differences have kind of come to a head, mostly conduct on the Trolebus. In the States, when the front of the bus is full, people move back to make space for others getting on the bus. However, people here will stay put and force others to pack in and often wait for the next Trolebus, even though there is room enough in the back to do a little salsa dancing. Up until now, we have just put in our headphones and ignored it, but I think we will start trying to find a way to politely ask others to move back. I suppose this is part of the learning process. Anyway, we are heading to some beaches in the Caribbean this weekend, looking forward to it!