The Bus

July 19th, 2009

My space bubble has been crushed over and over again over the past three hours. I’m sandwiched in between one of the PCVFs, Aaron, and a Burkinabé who seems intent upon maintaining constant contact with me. As soon as I sat down he splayed his legs so that one was pressed against the window and one was halfway across my seat. Vincent, another PCVF, told me I just have to push back to get my room. And so it started.

I tried pushing my leg to the border of our seat, holding for a bit, and then moving my leg back to my space. His would stay there for all of a minute. Then I tried pushing a little past where my space was, and then moving back. This failed spectacularly. I was just going to have to accept the fact that for three hours his leg would be constantly pressed against mine. Good times.

I grasped my head with both my hands, trying to calm myself down and gather a little of my composure. Poke. He moves his elbows all the way back up against the chair so they are stabbing me in the side. I look at Vincent, he motions for me to push my elbows back there so his aren’t stabbing into my side. I do so and he moves his elbows. I move my elbows to more comfortable position. Poke. This is going to be a good ride.

Eventually I regain composure by framing the situation differently. Instead of him invading my space I think of the situation more of me defending my space. Not a big realization really but it helps.

After three long hours and countless stops the bus pulls into Ouahigouya, just as the rain hits. As the bus pulls into the station the windows are completely covered in water. The bus stops. No one moves. I am in shock, compared to the mass of humanity that was getting on at Ouagadougou, this is very unexpected. Vincent says “They don’t want to get wet” as he grabs his bag and gets off.

A minute or so of grabbing my bag and pulling out its rain jacket and I leave behind the crowded smelly bus and step into the cleansing rain. There seems like no better way to be welcomed back from a bus ride like that than with a nice, cool shower.