Just one of those days....

Today was just one of those days that nothing seemed to go quite right. My coworker and I were talking today about how little things just seemed to be off all day. It was a weird. weird. day.

#1: I was 5 hours...yes...5 hours late to work this morning. I sat at the Peruvian post office for 3 hours today to get a care package my mom sent. Ridiculous. If you've ever lived in another country/culture there are always a few things that you just never really "get". Like you know and understand that it's their process and that this is how they do it and they've probably always done it like that. But yet, you still don't GET IT. Here was the process today:
My package wasn't sent to my work (the address on the package), so I got a notice saying my package is at the post office on the TOTALLY opposite side of town. I guess it was being held hostage there? Because once I arrived at the post office, with my host sister, I had to sign papers, show my passport and wait in a line for some lady to stamp the paper I just signed and give me a number. That all took about an hour. Then with my little number in hand I waited another hour to get called up to show my passport again, get stamped by someone else. Then sit and wait another hour and finally get called to the "tax" window. To find out that I didn't have to pay any import taxes on the package that was sent to me.
Throughout this whole process I KNOW that I don't have to pay anything and I can SEE my package sitting behind the desk. Ahhhh just let me take it!! So finally I get my receipt that says I owe NOTHING and I go pick up the package at another window. And we're good to go....and 5 hours late to work. Whew.
Now I am not sure how it took 3 hours to sign a paper, show my passport, print a receipt and grab my package and go?? I just don't get it. People at work told me that sometimes that need to ask questions and see what you are doing with the stuff in the package...but no questions were asked and no one even really told me what was going on It's one of those things you just chalk up to being frustrated in the moment for not understanding and then you move on...Bleh.

#2: At work we have a frequent visitor that comes in and acts like a member and tries to sell us stuff and then looks like he is going to take some of our stuff. It's kind of scary. We finally learned his face so now he is sneaking in when our "real" members walk in through the door. Today, we "trapped" him in our entry way and waited for the security to come and tell him what's up. That's he's not supposed to hang around like that. So it was a whole ordeal, he ended up escaping before the police could get there, so we are hoping he knows that we are serious and that we are willing to call the police if he comes around again. Weird.

#3: All the buses and metros were SO full today. I was not really in the mood to be grinding up on a bunch of random strangers.

#4: I have a weird, unknown, really irritated bug bite on my arm. It's a red spot about the size of a softball on my bicep. It looks like i got punched really hard. It's so weird looking and of course I have been googling "bug bites" all week to make sure I won't need to have my arm amputated. You know how Doctor internet goes...scares your pants off. So now I am paranoid! No worries though...I can still feel my fingers.

#5: Our whole apartment has come down with a cold. Just that nagging, stuffy nose, coughing, sneezing sort of cold. Blah. I plan on sleeping a lot this weekend!

#6: And of course our work place was rather somber today because we woke up to the news of a huge earthquake and tsunami in Japan. That made the day feel rather sad around the office because we just did presentation about earthquake and earthquake safety here in Peru. The videos of the disaster are so sad and so real. My heart genuinely goes out to all affected.

So, in perspective, my "off-day" doesn't seem so horrible. I received a package from my AWESOME family. I am safe. There's nothing a strong cold medicine can't fix. My apartment building is still standing and the tsunami warning for Peru has been canceled. So now, I am going to sleep it off and get excited for the weekend!

I just needed to vent a little bit and a blog is for self-expression...right?? So there you go. You got all my expressions! :)

Here's a happy picture from a few weekends ago when we went to a dinner show!


Keep praying for those affected by the tsunami and earthquake!
Have a good weekend.
Chau

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