¿Cúal día es hoy?

Today (which is now yesterday) was either very much my day, or not my day at all depending on how you look at it.

Every time I have waited at the bus stop, the bus has been at least 10 minutes late, but that's just how tico time works. And, buses in general. This morning, I complained to my tica mom how the bus is always late, and how I would just sit at the table a little longer instead of heading over to the bus stop. I figured it only takes about two minutes to get to the bus stop, no harm in being on time instead of early for a change. I was heading out the door the same time as my 12-year-old tico brother, and my tica mom was seeing him off. One my way to the bus stop (20 seconds after walking out the gate) I watch as a school bus passes, and think about how Alonso is perfectly on time. Then my brain does a double take, and realizes that the bus is the same color as the one I take, and heading the same direction to the University my bus would take. Apparently my tica mom and brother were calling my name during this time, pointing out as my bus drove by, and the bus thankfully stopped and let me run on. Well, THAT was embarrassing.

As I'm getting off the bus, and trying to convey my gratitude to the bus driver, who recognized me as the lost gringa who keeps asking him questions, I trip on myself and catch the pole just in time to hop off the bus fairly decently yet clumsily. Later, upon boarding again to go home between classes (I figured after the morning events, I should take a nap), I tried handing the driver my money and almost dropped it before getting ahold of myself and actually putting it in his hand. The nap was a better idea than I had thought!

Oh Curridabat bus driver, you have witnessed in one day more embarrassing things than I have done in the last month (or so I like to tell myself...), but didn't look at me in such a way that made me want to crawl into a hole and never come out. Thank you, now I have the unwritten duty to prefer you over the one other driver that ventures into Curridabat.

As a side note, the term gring@ is used in Costa Rica commonly, and even in an endearing way. It doesn't necessarily have the bad connotations attached to it like it would in other countries, and we all refer to ourselves as gring@s now. I have heard of ticas wanting a gringo boyfriend several times ('los hombres en Costa Rica son muy perros, andan con otras mujeres' o 'toman mucho, siempre se emborrachan'...basically the same meaning in English for a man who is a dog), so obviously they aren't saying that in a negative way. Also, everyone from Asia is called chin@, no matter where they're from.

By the time choir rolled around, I only had 10 minutes of being social left in me, and I feel that I used them well. I met someone who started speaking perfect English to me, and really threw me off for a second. Her dad is an American, and her mom is a tica, so after I learned that everything made sense. We sing songs in Spanish, mostly, but also one in Italian and one in English, and possibly another in Latin? It's all very fast-paced, and I can't keep track of which language which religious song is in because they all have fairly similar lyrics. The song selection is just like that of my high school choir, but everyone is much more relaxed and the professor hardly puts pressure on us. It's wonderful, and filled with incredibly talented singers.

I just realized that today (yesterday) really was my day, because I finally received my package of goodies from my mom (thank you!!) and what appear to be two birthday cards :) It was an incredibly lucky day, with some awkward thrown in to remind me I need to sleep more. Lesson learned.