olives and tardiness

I'm not even a huge olive fan, and i get really excited about olive venders. Isn't this cool? And there were also gents with dates (that's what people participating in Ramadan break their fast with in the evening...always in odd numbers).

I also get excited about the nuts and seeds available. People eat sunflower seeds like it's their job, and peanuts are pretty incredible. The word for peanut is also fun - "kee-kor-ee-kay" (which sounds very similar to the albanian version of cockadoodledoo - "kee-kor-ee-kee-koo").

And a little word on tardiness: It’s happened so many times that it’s no longer surprising…but I’d be lying if I said it’s still not irritating. Perhaps I can cope better now than I could’ve months ago, but I still have a long way to go. I made plans with a friend to go to skopje (I was going for moral support). We were planning on leaving at 7am. Then I got a text that we were leaving at 8.30. No problem. I walked to where she asked me to meet her at the appropriate time, and I waited for 40 minutes. Then we waited an hour and a half more.

The whole time I was thinking about all of the stuff I could be getting done – reading, studying, planning, etc. (but would I actually have done it? – shhh). And the whole time she was probably thinking that we were still spending time together (if not in skopje then in gjilan). I suppose that’s the difference between my American task-orientation and the Balkan relationship-orientation. Yet even recognizing that I have growing to do…I’ll still pout and say that it’s inconsiderate AND to say that if the roles were switched, she’d be just as irritated with me as I was with her. [Yes – I am often kept waiting or people say they’ll show up and don’t. If I did the same thing back, however, it would be and sometimes is an unforgivable offense]. Her lateness meant that I was late – 2 times. And as much as I don’t particularly prefer waiting for people, I really dislike people waiting for me. Waah. It's so ridiculous how self-righteous and whiny I get about time...and more to the point - "my" time. Hmm.