Snow Lesson: Corporate America Sucks, But People in general are cool

It snowed last night in the DC area. And everyone freaked out like usual.

Go ahead and make fun of us, all you wintry Midwesterners. We freak because we don't get snow that often and we don't know how to deal with it. That's my excuse.

On top of our usual disorganization when it comes to handling snow, the snow came fast and heavy during rush hour. It was snowing buckets by 4pm. Yes, buckets.

I worked yesterday and at 4pm when the snow started, my manager reassured me that I would be able to get home later that night "no problem." He left within the hour before the accumulation got to be significant, driving his extremely large SUV/truck thing (I know nothing about cars.... but I do know that his car can definitely take on the snow).

My car is not an SUV or a truck and doesn't have 4 wheel drive. In fact, it's basically a sports car. So it's low to the ground and light as a feather. Oh and it's over 10 years old.

We didn't get the OK from the higher ups to close up the restaurant until almost 8pm. I finished cleaning the bar and waiting for a few guests to finish up and leave.

The road directly in front of the restaurant was decently plowed.

Hmmm, I can totally make it home. I thought. Just sloooow driving, Kelly.

WRONG ! As soon as I pulled out onto the main road - aka a road that hadn't been plowed by a private contractor - it was a nightmare!

Slow and steady. I repeated, even when the car next to me fish-tailed dangerously close as we stopped at a red light.

I was inching my way down the road when I suddenly saw a back up of cars. As I got closer I see that there IS A FLAMING CAR IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD.

While the sight of flames coming out of the snow is rather impressive, I decided it was time to turn around. In attempting to make a u-turn, I got stuck in a pile of snow. Of course. Just my luck.

Eventually a truck pulls up and two men jump out and run around my car. As they start to push I hear them yelling, Go go go! This was rescue #1.

A little ways down the road. I get stuck again. This time a guy walking down the street comes over with some advice (aka stop spinning your tires, crazy lady). And then he pushed me out. Rescue #2.

As I tried turning into the parking garage by my work (yup, headed back to square 1), guess what?!? I got STUCK, AGAIN! Another truck pulls up and offers to tow me into the parking garage. That's right, he hooked up some rope and pulled me across the intersection. As he unhooked the line, I asked him if this is what he always does when it snows - ya know, rescue people. He said, "Yes. It gives me an excuse to play with my big truck." You are a superhero, my friend. Rescue #3.

I got back to my restaurant as my (other) manager was leaving.

Whatcha gonna do, Kelly? He asks.

I don't know. I can't get home.

That sucks! See ya! Oh yes, my company truly cares about their employees.

Luckily the Chinese restaurant next door was still open. So I sat with the other stranded people, wondering if I was going to end up sleeping on the floor next to the bar (There ARE worse things, right?).

But then I called Z. and as soon as he heard the sound of defeat in my voice, he found a solution (you know men and their need to fix things). His 'rents live close to my job and they also have a 4-wheel drive vehicle, hurrah! 20 minutes later my ride shows up. Rescue #4.

So the two things I learned from this snowy experience:

1. Corporate America Sucks. I work for a corporate restaurant. And like any corporation, they care about one thing: MONEY. Keeping the restaurant open just in case the snow isn't that bad seems like a good money-making decision. However, it also put my life at risk and left me in a tough situation. What if I hadn't been so lucky? I could be in my car in a snow pile along the side of the road. Or sleeping on the floor of a Chinese restaurant. Or trying to walk through deep snow in my restaurant work shoes to get to my (not within reasonable walking distance) mom's house. Sometimes profit is NOT worth it.

2. But People in General are cool. Thank you to all my superheroes! Gracias to the latinos with the truck who quickly pushed me out of the snow. Thanks to the random dude walking through a snow storm who basically told me to stop driving like a dumbass and pushed me out of yet another snow trap. And the crazy truck guy who towed me to safety (I'm sure he had a grand ol' time rescuing others just like me). And to Z's 'rents! Who not only rescued me from the Chinese restaurant, they also fed me, gave me a glass of wine, a bed to sleep in and a ride back to my car in the morning!


Oh and guess what? It's supposed to snow more tomorrow....

It's Raining Cans

A couple of weeks ago I heard a whimsical story on news radio and I can't get it out of my head.

So, a recycle truck driving on the highway had some sort of trouble (the details were a little sketchy here) with keeping their precious cargo inside the truck. As a result, a TON of aluminum cans flew out over the highway. Of course they were then smashed by the angry commuters speeding along the road.

But wait, it gets better.

This day happened to be VERY windy. So windy, in fact, that I had to drive with my windows up (I suffer from chronic windows-down-at-all-times-despite-the-weather). So, as soon as the cans were squashed flat by the cars, they were then picked up by the wind and tossed around the road like some crazy tin can rain storm.


I thought it sounded magical. Although I'm sure not all that safe for drivers. The End.

snowtoriousBIG/snowpocalypse/snowmageddon or how DCians are winter wimps

The snow has started. Yes, it will probably be a lot (the experts say 30 inches). But seriously, DC ... it's not the end of the world!!! I guess since we can barely survive the 3-ish inches we got a few days ago, 2.5 feet might feel like the end of the world.

All I have to say is that WE ARE RIDICULOUS.

http://snowpocalypsedc.com/

Prepare yourselves for the SNOW-IN FREAK OUT!

That's all for now. Snow photos to follow... chau!

The bright-side of buses in Chapinlandia

One of my favorite things to talk about is public transportation...I haven't had a car in almost 2 years, so public transportation is a part of my everyday life. Washington DC has a great public transportation system (complain all you want, DCians, you've got it good). Although I do wish the metro was a little less drab and depressing. Santiago also has a great public transportation system (despite what Santiago residents might tell you). It's cheap, pretty consistent, and has pretty artwork at the metro stops (yay! DC, please take notes)

And then there is Guatemala. The public transportation system here is awful.

First, there is no subway. OK, fine. Plenty of cities have no subway. So we have to rely on buses. ahh, the buses of Guatemala city... how to describe them? They are like traditional US yellow school buses - redecorated by the bus owner in order to add some... character? maybe? The buses on my line are generally painted red, but I've also seen some blues and greens out there. Many buses have religious inspired paintings on them (Jesus watching over the bus or some saying like "God is love"). The buses usually have names like Princesita or Josefina painted on the front of them (apparently all the buses are women and ita (tiny)). The insides of the buses are decorated with flags (Guatemalan and oddly enough, US flags), stickers, and old stuffed animals. And the best ones are.... the buses. that BLAST. REGGAETON. Oh yes, buses are like rolling dance clubs (even more similar with the help of overcrowding and foul body odor). I don't know about you, but there is NOTHING I want to hear more at 6am on my way to work than dame mas gasoliiiiinaaaa.

Then there is the crowdedness (and this is why they are so fondly referred to as "chicken buses"). Much like the old yellow micros in Santiago used to work, bus drivers in Guatemala earn money based on the number of passengers. So naturally they try to cram on as many people as possible. Gringos, throw your personal-space-bubbles out the window please. Once all the sits are filled, people begin to to find a spot to stand in the aisle. Always stand as close to the seats as possible because if you're standing in the middle of the aisle, the bus driver will yell at you to keep walking back (always with a polite por favor and "Sorry to bother you). Once the aisle is full, people begin to fill the steps at the front and back doors. And I mean fill. As long as you can hold onto the bars along the outside of the door - it doesn't matter if your body is completely outside of the bus. Just don't expect the driver to drive less recklessly for your benefit.

In order to get from the zona where I work back to our pueblo the bus must travel up up up a "mountain" (or so-called by Guatemalans. To me, it's a small hill - somewhere between the size of Cerro San Cristobal and Cerro Santa Lucia is Santiago) and then down down down the other side. On one side of the hill, they - wisely - made "elbows" in the road so that it winds back and forth up the hill (although the buses have a difficult time making those sharp turns, and often slow traffic for the cars in order to do so). On the other side though, the road is a straight shot. This caused an issue one morning when going to work... the bus, jam packed with people and engine weezing like asmatic, was chugging up straight up the hill... it almost almost made it to the top. But, alas, the little engine could NOT. So we had to roll all the way back down to the bottom to try again. (All was well though, the poor exhausted bus made it up on the second try).

Coming soon: The Dark-side of buses in Chapinlandia ... stay tuned!