Sometimes it's important to chill out

I often comment on how much time I've spent riding buses and waiting for late buses. One would think by this point, I would be done being frustrated and annoyed when transportation doesn't work out how I plan, but alas, that's simply not the case. I was basically out of food and really needed to make a trip to the main town to stock up. Usually I bike the 20km round trip and lug all of my precious purchases back in my backpack, bike basket, and dangling from my handlebars. But today, I just didn't feel like doing that. I wanted that feeling of leisurely buying whatever my heart desires and not worrying about having to physically get it back. So I walked the 2km to the highway out of my village to catch a bus that supposedly passes my village every hour. The idea being I would take a tuk tuk (3 wheeled taxi) back to my house. Well, well, well... the bus that supposedly passes every hour sure didn't today. I sat on the highway for nearly 2 hours when finally one came. As each minute ticked by I could feel the frustration and tension intensifying in the pit of my stomach. Is it really too much to ask for to have an hourly bus come hourly as promised? All I wanted to do is buy some groceries like a normal person, but no, here I sit on a highway waiting, waiting, waiting. All I could do to stay sane was to text my friends with angry messages about how glorious America will be when I don't have to deal with this.

When I finally boarded the bus, the windows were open and my hair was blowing as the rice fields passed. And all of a sudden I felt okay, all of my frustrations just sort of melted away. I thought to myself, what else did I have to do today? Nothing. Why was I freaking out about a late bus when I wasn't late for anything. So what if more of my day was spent getting to the market than the time actually spent at the market, big deal. It felt good to chill out and realize a late bus isn't the end of the world.

And the best part is that the son of a preschool teacher saw me walking to the highway and called his mom, who was already at the market. She offered to drive me home after I made my purchases so I didn't have to pay for a tuk tuk. Gotta love. In the end, my day was just fine and my kitchen is now stocked with goodness.