Stick Shifts and Safety Belts

ORI has a car that the employees get to share and use to get around town. Since the current program managers will be leaving ORI in the coming weeks (in one case) and a couple months (in another case) we all decided that I should dust off my non-existent stick shift driving skills. The first and only time I'd driven a stick shift, it was the middle of the night in Colorado Springs, the streets were clear, my aunt Olivia was offering me encouragement, and the driver's seat was on the left-hand side of the car. Yesterday I had three incredibly patient passengers, Kigali's evening traffic, a traffic circle full of motos, and a seating assignment on the right side of the car. I'm happy to report that I didn't stall, didn't crash, and only made ugly gear crunching sounds once! Christine even eased her death grip on the ceiling handle well before we reached our destination. Overall I'd call it a huge success.