the marshrutka...

…whether or not I have a good day depends entirely on my marshrutka rides. What you ask is a marshrutka??? It’s public transportation. Imagine a 15 passenger van with a raised roof, the side sliding door closed shut, the passenger seat in the front removed so that the entrance is through the passenger side door, and then any where from 11-13 seats added in random formations in the back. That is public transportation here.

That in and of its self doesn’t sound that scary, but then you see some of the vans and they look and smell so bad you don’t want to know what happened in them. Or there are 40 people crammed in the back standing, with a driver who doesn’t know how to use the brakes gently…I’m sure you can just imagine all the people falling all over one another. Or its 100 degrees inside in the summer with lots of people who haven’t showered or use deodorant and you happen to be short…so your nose happens to be at the wrong level. Or there are drunk people falling all over you. Or when the driver smokes in the van…I think marshrutkas are one thing I’ll never love about Kyrgystan. I can wake up in the morning, and be so happy that I’m here, and feeling so proud at how I’ve adapted, and then I get on a marshrutka, and my attitude can do a 180 faster than I ever dreamed possible!

In America I prayed for good parking places….here I pray for a seat on the marshrutka so I don’t have to stand, or just for a good marshrutka in general. Now I’m thankful for little things. I’m thankful when I get on the marshrutka with my heavy bag and a guy notices and give me his seat. They don’t do it very often so when they do I’m am very thankful. I’m thankful for drivers who care about their vans and clean them and make sure they are in good working order. I’m thankful for uncrowded vans so everyone can sit down. I’m thankful for smooth quiet rides without people hoping on and off every second. They work so that you can get on and off where ever you want…just flag one down and hop on, and then tell the driver you want to get off. This is a good system sometimes, but its difficult when you can’t see out the window to know when to get off, or there are so many people you can’t make your way to the front in time to tell the driver to stop. Or people ask the driver to stop every hundred feet. But on the other hand it only cots .12 cents to ride so I guess I can’t ask for much!