An interesting bus ride...

So, today is Saturday- my day of rest/ day to talk to my family/ day to get things done.

Today on the list of things to do was:

-go to the money exchange place (I was literally down to almost no money in this currency)
-get laundry done
-work out
-go gorcery shopping for our flat (apartment)
-get a little work done
-talk to my family
-rest

So far I have done everything except talk to my family and my laundry is almost done, a pretty productive day I'd say.

Earlier today I went out to run the errands above. I started with the exchange place and that went really well. First of all, it was not AS hot as it normally is when I left at about 1 pm to walk there. Second, the guy at the place was extremely nice and spoke English...though I still tried out my broken Arabic. Anyways, I walked away with small bills rather than big bills which they normally don't give you :-).

Next up was the grocery store. I had to go to one of the more western stores because we were both out of laundry detergent and toilet paper, two very important things in our lives here. I left the exchange place and walked to the main road. Right away I caught a bus, rarely does this happen, and was on my way. I also had exact change for the bus fare, I was excited about this as it is also rare. I snapped my fingers and got off the bus at the supermarket and did my shopping, though the store didn't have half the things on my list...go figure, haha. I did get the laundry soap, a huge 9 kilo bag of Tide to carry all the way home, and the toilet paper.

After I paid and had to explain to the store owner that I had to carry the huge bags because I don't have a car he let me leave. Again, I walked out and right away caught a bus which made me very happy. This bus though was very full and I had to get all the way to the last seat in the back. I think I hit every person on the bus with my huge sack of Tide. As I sat down I apologized to the people next to me as I was grabbing my bags that were in their laps. The man next to me told me to "Take it easy" in English- I have to say, I just about fell on the floor laughing at that but I kept my composure.

Now it was time to pay my bus fare as the money man was snapping his fingers in my face, this time I did not have exact change. I couldn't reach to hand him the money though so the man next to me was nice enough to take it and pay for me. But he paid with his own money and handed my money back to me. I wasn't sure what to make of this at first. Then the money man was still snapping his fingers at me wanting money, though the man next to me had paid for me already. The man next to me told me not to pay and started arguing with the money man saying he had paid enough. They got into an all out shouting match as we kept on driving down the road. The money man wanted me to pay a higher fare because I was a white foreigner and the man next to me was not about to have that happen. It was nice to have him stand up for me but by this time the WHOLE full bus is staring at me...just a little embarassing. Somehow they settled the argument and I thanked the man though he still looked incredibly disgusted at the interchange. I have to say, I have gotten used to being treated that way on the buses and by people because really there is nothing I can do about it. But it's nice that for once I had someone stick up for me.

Now it's off to finish my list of things to do before the day is done ;-)