is that normal?!

i recently visited some friends in albania and one of the things we talked about are the changes we had to adapt to when we first arrived, and how we feel about those type of occurrences now...on my ride home from this short visit i began to think about things that we now pretty much percieve as "normal" and don't give a second thought about:

...i recently visited my host family - my parting gift? a bag full of oranges, and about 2 liters of homemade jelly complete with the smuckers cap on the glass bottle...why 2 liters and not say, .5 liters? your guess is better than mine...

...on my way home from visiting a few friends i arrived at the bus stop about 1/2 hour early so as not to miss the bus...i've heard of volunteers arriving only to find out the bus left early cuz it was full...so, upon arrival i see that the bus isn't there yet...

...so i stop in a little shop to enjoy some pilaf and two small sausage type things and a drink called salep, sorta like cocoa, but not...get the bill...250 leke...being that i've been in albania for 8 months i quickly realize that i'm being overcharged by at least 50 leke (about 50 cents)...and being me, i just pay and go on my way cuz i'm not going to argue about that 50 leke...next time i will just ask for the price upfront...

...while i was eating the 8 am bus arrives...i make my way over at about 7:50 and quickly notice that nobody is there for the bus besides about 4 other people..what this means here is that the bus isn't leaving anytime soon...but then a smaller bus/van pulls up and appears to be willing to take the 4 passengers on the ride home..this makes sense to me, so i grab my bag off the bigger bus and head towards the smaller bus, only to notice that nobody has gotten on...after a brief discussion, nobody gets on and the smaller bus drives away...people here have loyalty once committed to a bus or van, and will tend not to make a switch, even if it means waiting another couple hours for a bigger bus to move everyone..

...by this point i figure i should check out the taxi situation since they only cost 100 leke more (one dollar) and arrive in about 3/4 of the time...i notice that there is one lady waiting for a taxi, and this means we would only need one more person to have a full taxi and be able to leave...

...so we wait...two guys get in, only to get out about 5 seconds after we turn on the engine when they find out we'll be taking the "old road" since the new road (which isn't that much shorter or safer) is flooded...

...so we wait some more..finally we get one more person and my original 8 am bus plans have now changed to 9:30...which isn't terrible since i've spent the last hour and a half listening to "the invisible guerilla" audiobook...and now i feel much smarter and more aware....

...one final detour though, before we leave town, our driver stops for a good 20 minutes at a store because he is going to do some travelling and needs to print his ticket out at some travel agency...again, par for the course...

so you may ask, is that normal? i think the answer you'll get from 90% of volunteers here is that no, that's not normal, its actually an easy morning