Nice People

Hey all,

So, we are in the second full week of classes right now. I am really looking forward to almost all of my classes. I am taking a jewelry making class (I love the Professor!), yoga (love it!), arabic (also am excited for this class), phonetics (looking forward to it), Advanced Spanish (a grammar class that I am going to learn a ton in), and a history class that I am not sure how much i will like, but will learn from it.

Sometimes I just really like strangers. I can be having a really bad day and talking to a stranger will make me really happy. On Friday morning I went to the post office to pick up a package that my parents had sent me (at the end of november). It was my first time going there, so I had no idea what the process was to get a package. When I was walking to the post office, I saw a guy a few feet ahead of me, just leaning against the wall. I was thinking to myself "oh great, he is going to make some kind of comment as i walk by", so I braced myself to ignore him and as I walked by he said "Buenos dias" and I was so shocked that I almost forgot to say "Buenos dias" back to him. It made me smile that he had greated me. Then, I entered the post office and had no idea what line i was supposed to wait in, i started to look around to see what the different signs said and then a guy came up to me and asked me if I was there to pick up a package, I said yes and he pointed me to the line I was supposed to stand in line. I thanked him and got in line. A few minutes later, another guy got in line behind me and started talking to me and telling me how he had come the day before, but the post office had to close before it was his turn and so he had to come back. I told him it was my first time at the post office so he started to tell me the whole process I had to go through. Then it was my turn in line.

After I went through the first line I had to sit down and wait for my number to be called. I took a seat in the back in an empty row. The guy who had first helped me when I walked in was sitting a couple rows in front of me and when he saw me sit down he moved up one to sit and talk with me. We had a really nice conversation and it didn't end with "can I have your phone number?" so it made me really happy to have a nice conversation with a stranger.

When my name was called I met a lady who took me to find my package and she was so cheerful and was just asking me questions about my life and it just made my day a lot brighter. She was looking for my package number and without knowing what the number was I pointed out to her my package because it was in a Dansko box that I recognized from my dad's stores. She opened the package in front of me to check to make sure there were no illegal substances inside, sealed it back up and sent me to another desk. After that desk, the bank, the copy center, back to the desk, and then to another desk, I finally got my package (a two hour process).

This morning, I was waiting for my bus and there was another lady waiting also. All of the sudden she turned to me and asked me "What bus are you waiting for?" and I told her the name, and she says "yeah, me too" and told me how she can take that bus or another bus to go to los granados. I told her that I was also going to los granados and she asked me where i was going, i told her to the university in Cumbaya. She said that I could also take the other bus to get there, I was kind of thinking "hmm okay, but i have never heard of that bus." The bus she was talking about (that i have never taken) came and she said "come on, lets go!" and I asked the driver if the bus goes to los granados and he said yes, so i hopped on. As I took my seat I was thinking "I really hope there is not more than one "los granados" and the lady sat down next to me saying "dont worry i wont get you lost". She was really nice and really talkative, but also hard to understand, I think she was from the coast, so she had a different accent. I did end up arriving where i needed to, I have no idea what bus i took, so i probably will never be able to do it again, but it was really nice talking with this lady. :)

Anyway, I was just sitting in my room thinking about how it is really nice meeting nice strangers in a big city, because sometimes just talking to a stranger will make me a whole lot happier.

Hope everyone is well,
Peace,
Nadia