small victories

I had never thought about the effect that moving to PNG would have on things that I once thought were simple...such as crossing the street.

 

Because PNG follows the commonwealth driving tradition, having the cars on drive on the left side of the road, that means that the way that I was taught to cross the street in the States (look left-right-then left again) is not the best policy here, as the cars are coming at a person from the right.

 

I spent the first 3 months getting rescued from being hit by my Australian village living teammate.  I finally figured out that I was doing things the wrong way.  But for the last 4 months, while I knew that my tendencies were wrong, when I’ve approached a road I just look back and forth lots of times in confusion, trying to cover all the bases and keep from getting hit.

 

TODAY—a breakthrough. While preparing to cross the street in downtown Alotau, I instinctively looked RIGHT first. Hurray!! There is hope for me yet. Just watch me when I come home though...I’m sure I’ll be really confused then!