driving

so i have to learn how to drive stick if i ever want to get out on my own here in africa. not only drive stick, but drive it in a city where traffic rules are more like guidelines really, actually mere suggestions would be closer. helpful hints if you will. traffic police make things worse and in the entire city there is one intersection with a stoplight, honestly just one. four million people, one stoplight. craziness is the best way to describe the traffic here.

right, so i decide i am going to learn how to drive. and conveniently the husband of the elementary school principal was a driving instructor in the uk. so i prepare for my first driving lesson in a itty bitty car with an older british man named charles (think stereotypical british guy and you have got the picture). needless to say the lesson was quite entertaining especially because there was about 100 feet of space i could actually drive in due to people parked everywhere to watch a football match. so i just practiced going back and forth a lot and i thought i did pretty well, only stalled the car like ten times or so in the course of an hour. he said i did alright, but i think he was just trying to be encouraging :)