Good...

This is a special post for Kate and Andy...thanks for always reading!

So Guatemalans are so super courteous. Every single time you cross paths with someone, anyone...a stranger on the street, person in the elevator, person in front of you in the check-out line, gardner pulling weeds, weird kid on roller blades, funny old man pushing a carriage (that should be pulled by a horse) filled with fruit and shrimp...you are greeted with a friendly good morning/afternoon/evening....always, I mean always! It is really nice, albeit time consuming like the kiss kiss hello......I mean stopping to greet every single person that comes in your wake is crazy, I dare you to try it, but so nice and polite. Maybe how Emily Post imagined the world to always be....

Anyway to say good morning you say "buenos dias" to say good afternoon you say "buenas tardes" and to say good evening you say "buenas noches" not that this is Spanish learning time....we all know I am not the one to be teaching you! Seems simple right, except not really....there is totally a hidden catch....when to use each term. So whatever, of course morning, afternoon, night are simple to figure out, but I swear it's not. It stays "afternoon" until seven, but it gets dark at about 6pm....so then I always feel stupid telling people good afternoon when its obviously dark out and obviously night time. But that is the rule, but it feels so wrong and then I get confused and always say the wrong thing and I hate it. And morning to afternoon is even weirder. It turns from "morning" to "enjoy your lunch" to "afternoon". Around the magic hour of noon you basically just tell everyone you come in contact with "buen provecho" which basically means bon appetite! So everyone you are seeing around noon you are telling them bon appetite, even though they could be pumping your gas. It makes me feel crazy and I always feel stupid when I say it, always.

So I am doing it my own way. I tell everyone I come in contact with, no matter the hour...."buenas!" in a really high pitched, sing songy voice with a lot of enthusiasm. A total catch all....I am of course not clever enough to make this up on my own, a lot of people say this in non-formal settings....but I have taken to be my norm because I don't like trying to remember what I am supposed to say at whatever time.....and it seems to work, doesn't blow my cover that I am totally Spanish illiterate and it is the one word I really have down!

Obviously I am really into this, well, I was until the other day when I stopped to think about what I was saying to people all the time....I am basically going all around Guatemala, with too much gusto, telling everyone "good"! Can you imagine walking down the hallway at work and having your colleague, with a huge goofy grin on their face, just say "good" really loudly and excitedly and then keep walking, going on with their business?!?!? I am such an idiot.

GOOD!!!