A Stoplight Circus: Street performers are common here, and many times their routines are timed to the stoplights. I’ve seen everything from knife juggling, to tightrope walking (on a rope quickly strung up between utility poles), to vaulted back flips. Sometimes fire is included. Sometimes I have to walk past these daring performers to cross the street, the whole time fearing I will mess up their flow and get hit by a juggling pin. Most are pretty impressive, and it’s courtesy to hand over spare change, especially if they kept your attention for a bit.
Estoy Copiando: The other day I was in a classroom while the students took a quiz on comparative adjectives. As I walked up one aisle, I noticed a girl had two quizzes in her hand. I asked why she had two, and she responded with “Estoy copiando,” or, literally, I’m copying. How bold! I took both quizzes from her, wrote “copied” in bright red ink, and gave them to the teacher. A moment later, the teacher stepped out to talk with an inspector, and another student stood up, walked two rows over, and asked her classmate for an answer. Again, I took the quizzes away. Unfortunately, copying is commonplace. Teachers recognize it as a problem, but many seem resigned to it. Having grown up with honor codes and strict punishments for cheating, copying, or plagiarizing, it’s really surprising to me to have so many students not care.
Cars Have the Right-of-Way: In the U.S. I was brazen about the state laws that protect pedestrians when crossing the street. I would cross, pointing at oncoming traffic to stop them. But here there is no such protection. Cars will speed up at every opportunity, even as you are in the middle of the crosswalk. My walk to and from school is a dangerous scramble to the other side of the road every day.
Want more differences between here and there? Check out my other posts:
AWEcuador 