Random Observations

-People here use their horns way more than they use their blinkers. By that, I mean that I have not seen one blinker in my time here in Machala, but horns are used almost constantly when people are passing, or see pedestrians ready to cross, or just feel like a power trip...However, in a side note, I have also never seen an accident here, nor the after effects of a car crash. The closest thing I´ve seen to that is a old old taxi overheat and burst into flames. I don´t know which is better, but does that mean that Ecuadorians are safer drivers than us in the US?

-Because of all the rumors and the stereotypes that fly around about the machista society here, I asked my host sisters what percent of the men here they would think cheat on their wives or girlfriends. Arlene said 60%. I thought that was a ridiculous exaggeration, but after hearing the number of people that I know here who have cheated, plus the fact that she´s recently said that she´d like to change her answer to 80%, I´m thinking 60% is not that far from the truth...which is ridiculous and sad. What do you guys think the % is for the US?

-I may have mentioned this before, but the attitude for meetings and going out and times that you have to do something is completely relaxed to the point where I´ve realized if someone says we´re gonna go out at 9, as is what happened last night, I don´t need to start getting ready until 930. This has made it a bit difficult with enforcing a no tardy policy at school, but is a nice an relaxed way of doing other social occasions, especially since everyone is like this here.

-I had school cancelled yesterday because of rain. It rained incredibly hard from around 3 to 9 (of course, I slept right through it) and when we went out the next morning, a number of the side roads in my neighborhood were like canals, and the institute was apparently under water that went past your shins. This marks the first time I´ve ever had school cancelled for flooding...