Some Daily Frustrations

At work everyone has to leave at lunch, no exceptions. This is for security reasons. At first I found this very annoying, and couldn't understand why they could not give me a key, but apparently only a few people have a key. So, at lunch you HAVE to leave from 12:30 to 2:30, or whenever the person with the key comes back. I tend to spend my lunch breaks running errands at the supermarket and buying things I probably don't need.

Today I got very frustrated when I went to the supermarket. They would not let me in with my blue water bottle. I asked them if they thought I was going to fill it with milk or something, and they said "no, it's because they sell that water bottle inside the store and it looks like I stole it." I rolled my eyes, having a really hard time believing that they would have the same water bottle from Canada, sold in beat-up condition like mine was. I WAS allowed to bring my pen and agenda in with me, however. I double-checked with them first to make sure they didn't have my same agenda from Saint Mary's and the pen that I had bought from this store the last time I was there, which I was now bringing in with me. Doesn't it look like I stole it? And what about my clothes?

Scented products are really common here. I bought a box of tissues with melons on it because I liked the way it looked, not because I wanted my tissues to smell like melons. I also saw pocket tissue packs that looked like wallets. I wonder if they also smell like wallets.

Life is very frustrating here sometimes. I try to make people realize how ridiculous some of the things they do appear to me, but they don't seem to get it. Yesterday, I was trying to buy something with a very crumpled up 10 boliviano bill, and people refused to accept it. Not even a poor old lady on the street selling limes would accept my bill, saying it was "rotten." Finally I got someone in a convenience store to accept it, on the condition that I leave my ID number and sign a piece of paper. Keep in mind 10 bolivianos is less than $2 US. By the time I left the store he forgot about asking for my signature. I said, "do you REALLY think a gringa would try to give you a fake bill? REALLY?!"

Calling on the phone can also be frustrating. People tend to hang up on me a lot, without letting me finish what I want to say. Usually a conversation for me ends with the other person saying "Ya, ya" (meaning "got it") and then they hang up. Sometimes, people automatically think that they cannot understand me without even trying. I don't let them get away with that. I keep trying until they understand me, which they usually do. My experiences have taught me that when you really have to understand something, you do.

Usually when I buy something from a store or cafe, the servers look at me with an expression on their face that says "haha look at the gringa." Fortunately enough for me, I know how to speak Spanish and I know what I am talking about. Try making fun of me - I'll just do it better.

Despite my everyday annoyances, I try to stay positive and spread good energy along my path. The other day, Alicia and I took a taxi home from work. The driver was trying to charge us 8 bolivianos, but I bargained down to 7. He had a little white shoe hanging in the front window, and I asked him if it was for good luck, because I had learnt from another cab driver the meaning of the hanging shoes. He said it was, but he was still waiting for his luck to come. "Ohhh" I said, "I think your luck will come soon." After joking with him the whole way home, when we finally got out of the cab I gave him 10 bolivianos, saying his luck had arrived :)