Como se dice hallelujah?

So, yesterday was just...

I am a firm believer that Mondays are difficult enough without any curve balls being thrown in the mix. So there I am, conquering that morning commute, via temperamental public transportation of course. I make it from my apartment to the metro, and the metro to the bus, still in one piece? Check. My bus stop approaches, and I smugly exit while giving myself a mental pat on the back, one more trip down. No getting lost. No arriving late. The bus doors close and it noisily pulls away...and suddenly, I'm struck with this feeling, this "Oh, s%$@!" feeling. You know the feeling I'm talking about right? I frantically give myself the once over, then tear open my backpack knowing all the while, it's gone...

Like a proper idiot, as my English roommate would say, I left my metro pass on the bus. So the way the metro pass, or abono, works? You buy one at the beginning of the month for forty-seven euros and continue to use it, unlimited the entire month. To aid with the fact that the actual pass itself is hardly the size of a band-aid, you keep it in a plastic holder that is oh, just slightly bigger than a business card. These two things are what I left behind. By the time I realized, with certainty, that my abono was still on the bus, said bus was about a block away...just close enough for me to consider running after it, but just far enough for me to think, "who am I kidding, I haven't ran since highschool". My next thought was to flag down a passing car and request a high speed chase...then I realized how my mediocre Spanish would function in such a situation, "Por favor?! Mi abono, alli, en el bus! Vamanos!". So, instead, I opted for a somber walk to school, followed by a somber Monday.

My day ended with a misinterpreted address, which resulted in my standing in front of the wrong door for 30 minutes, oh did I mention it was raining? Yeah. Anyway, it was a very long day and I didn't end up getting home until 10:30, which was totally fine by me. I couldn't be any happier to see midnight approach, Monday behind me and Tuesday ahead. I even told Donny last night, "I can't wait for tomorrow because I know there is no way it can be any worse than today". Guess what? I was totally right.

This morning, a few hours into the day, one of the teachers I work with, found me. Her name is Sophia, and the previous day she had caught me, somewhere on the brink of speechlessness and tears, immediately after the abono incident. Sophia offered to show me the website that the bus company uses to post all of the previous days found items. Figuring I had nothing to lose, we checked. I scrolled down the page, and I still can't believe I'm telling you this, but it was there. Yes, someone turned in my abono. Sophia made a phone call to confirm, halfheartedly tried to convince me that it was another Ashley Contreras', and then I proceeded with a celebratory dance. Amazing. Needless to say, I'm feeling great.

My day got a little better when a second grader misspelled polar bear, please note, I will forever be calling them polar beards. And, believe it or not, my day got even better.

During my last private English lesson of the day I was talking with Jorge, a sixth grader, about the weird foods we have tried. I shared that I had recently tried snails. Jorge responds with a story, he tells me:

Two years ago me and my family went to a buffalo restaurant, and after we were all constipated.


I use everything I've got to refrain from laughing. Naturally, I assume that he's suffering from an unfortunate, yet excellent, case of word confusion. Jorge, do you know what constipated means? I ask. Yes. He says.
You know what it means? I ask again. Still not convinced, I pick up the Spanish/English dictionary between us, and search for constipated. I say, Estrenido? Constipated? Your family was constipated?
Yes, he answers, I think it was the sauce or something? Oh man, I freakin' lost it. I was laughing so hard.

It was the perfect ending to the day after a really bad day.
I chuckled on the bus ride home, I giggled on the metro, and honestly I've been laughing my ass off since I started writing  this blog. Hope everyone is having an excellent Tuesday.