Don´t I know you?

I was just thinking yesterday that I´m really getting comfortable (sort of) with things here. The routine and familiarity of everything is somewhat comforting.

Every now and then I see a Probigua student out in town, though I´m not sure how much longer that will last since people don´t usually stay for that long.

Just today I was coming home and saw, half a block ahead, Delcia and her kids. I caught up and said hi and talked with her for a couple minutes.

Saturday I was walking through town and Juan, the computer lab guy, was going the opposite direction on the back of a motorcycle. He called out hello. I responded ¨Hey!¨ and then shook my head a moment later as I realized ´hey´is not a word in Spanish. Tomás and I and the other students at the house had a good laugh about this.

I´ve been riding the chicken bus to work every day for 2 and a half weeks now. I think I finally am recognizing the driver and one of the helpers, not to mention a few of the people that get on the bus at different stops. Everyday after we´ve passed through most of the town, the helper guy comes through the bus collecting fairs. He usually says ¨Chimal¨(short for Chimaltenango) as he walks through, just to see where people are going. I usually nod or don´t say anything - most people do the same unless they´re getting off at Parramos. Then of course I always get up to be let off at Pedro Molina. Yesterday morning the helper was going through the bus as usual. He stopped at my seat to take money from the guy next to me and mumbled Chimal, then he looked at me as he took my money and said ¨Pedro.¨ Si! Gracias! So, now the bus helper recognizes me and remembers where I get off.

Today as I was returning home a woman came and sat next to me on the bus. She seemed very nice, but people don´t often talk on the bus. We were speeding along quite fast and there is this one little hill where it feels like we fly for a bit, if we´re going fast enough. We went over the hill and the woman next to me made a comment about the bus driver going fast. I agreed. We started talking and she said my Spanish was really good. Wow! Wow! It was so nice to hear her say that, since sometimes I feel like I struggle so much to communicate with people. So thanks Estela - much gusto!


p.s. for John Cz: El Domingo, yo compré un cuaderno sin lineas y un lapíz. =)