Kiss, Kiss, Hello...

I sometimes have these very strong moments of clarity, unfortunately not about important things like life goals or big decision, but rather these total realizations, that wow, I am so obviously an American.

I am of course very proud of this and it is such a cool thing to be representing our country in another...except of course when I loose my cool and yell at the grocery clerk in my terrible Spanish because he held me up for 30 minutes refusing to swipe my debit card because he had never seen one like it and was convinced it wouldn't work. Instead of just trying he came up with excuse after excuse until I finally wore him down and he swiped it in spite. It of course worked instantly and he was mortified and apologized profusely, but I was so pissed I couldn't let if go...so instead of just accepting his "mil disculpes" like a nice and truly diplomatic person would, I went on and on about how he had wasted my time. Of course this is how I wished it went down, but in reality all I could get out was something totally incoherent! I kept repeating "muy tiempo" which means absolutely nothing. Or I guess more preciously, it means "very time." Yes, I was shouting very time, very time, over and over. I am such an idiot, such a hot headed fool. This was obviously a low moment that I am not proud of, and thankfully it is Craig who is really on official business here. But in my defense, I swear this is becoming more of a rare occurrence!

But more than these ugly moments, I mostly feel like an outsider or more like that super rushed, busy-body American when I come into my office each morning. Random, right?!?! I am so used to minding my own business, going straight to my desk, drinking my coffee in peace to fully wake-up, catching up on my emails, making my to-do list for the day, and then settling in to my work that lies ahead. I would of course say hello to anyone I ran into on my way to my office, but everyone else was always on the same sort of wavelength....who chit chats first thing in the morning?!?!? It was all about the tasks ahead, for all of us.

Anyway, in my new life, this is so not the case. Before I can even make it to my desk I must walk around my entire office, kiss and hug everyone good morning and wish them all the best for the day ahead. About 15 minutes later I finally make it to my destination to settle in. And then as every other person in my office arrives, they must do the same. Before you know it, your entire morning has been taken up with cheek kisses and well wishes. It is so incredibly nice!!! Seriously, such a lovely way to start your day.

But in fairness, almost a year in, I still feel so silly doing this and feel so completely unproductive with my time. And sadly as the busy-body that I am, I have tried streamlining this greeting process by saying a group hello to everyone and going about my business...immediately worrying everyone, wasting even more time reassuring my coworkers that I was okay and then going about my proper hellos. It is so offensive to not warmly and properly greet everyone, something must be wrong if you don't do so!

So I guess my point here is, Guatemalans actually take the time to be in the moment, acknowledge their friendships, and appreciate all the people in their lives. So nice, albeit time consuming! But who am I kidding, the one thing I have these days is time! And I am sure as soon as this becomes second nature we will be living somewhere else and I will be inappropriately kissing people hello, totally freaking them out! Amazing.

But seriously, it really is such a nice way to start your day. Maybe start giving it a try?!?!?