I had a rather eventful morning.
Most days start out the same: I get up, pack school lunches, take the kids to the bus stop and then by 8am I’m on my own until the kids come home from school. I normally come home, have a little breakfast, sit down and check email and then try to write something.
Not today.
Today, while waiting at the bus stop with my kids (which was late arriving), I witnessed a minor car accident involving a neighbor in my building and a local. My neighbor was attempting to make a left turn on to our street. The local was also trying to make left turn – local style: he pulled into the oncoming lane of traffic and started his turn from there, into what would have been the middle/right side of the street onto which he was turning.
Fortunately, the damage to either car was minimal but there was lots of confusion since none of us was bilingual. I put my kids on their bus, which arrived moments after, and went down to our building to find someone to interpret. After about fifteen minutes it was agreed just to let the matter go and each driver would take care of his own car. Since my neighbor only had a scrape and the other driver wasn’t even the owner of the car he crunched, I think my neighbor got the better end of the deal.
On the way back to my own place, I ran into a South African woman who was out walking her dog. She inquired about the accident and then announced that she was pretty sure that a bus driver who was parked on our road had just propositioned her. It seemed an unlikely thing to happen during the school rush at 8am, but what do I know? I don’t speak Arabic either. And it certainly worked as a conversation starter.
We got to talking and she invited me up to her (magnificent) apartment for a cup of tea. She gave me the grand tour and it turned out that we have quite a bit in common. We practically talked over each other for a little over an hour and I left with a standing invitation to come over anytime and the offer of a ride to a bigger grocery store I don’t often visit since I don’t have a car.
And just think, if the kids’ bus hadn’t been late I would have gone home sooner and maybe missed the chance to make a new friend.
Does it sound odd, the speed with which we bonded? I’m a friendly, chatty sort of person and have never had trouble making friends. I admit her openness – normally only found in Americans on airplanes – took me aback just a bit. But I think that when you’re living in a community of people who come and go so quickly, that you learn the art of making friends quickly. Who has time to be coy when either of you may be gone in a year?
My only reservations about this friendship at present revolve around the fact that having such a pleasant distraction so close by may cut into my productive time that much more…
