Embarasment

As an exchange student, Ive seen a new trait in myself that has begun to emerge. The obsesive need to be on time for everything, even breakfast. There is one problem with this trait. Promptness is not a huge thing here in Croatia. Everything is very relaxed, very laid back. This paradox has caused no shortage of humiliating moments on my part.

Take tonight as an Example. Every friday we are involved in the local Rotaract meeting. It is set to happen at 7:00pm.... Exactly 7:00pm. On this particular week, I happened to glance at my clock and notice that the time was 6:50. Like a mad woman, I raced out of the house and took off with the bike (Much to the confusion of my non english speaking host father) peddling far harder than I ever have before.

5 minutes, 7 near tree collisions, and a chilly nose later, I was huffing and puffing my way into the "Kavana Dora", a small cafe where we routinely meet. Now dont think of me as unfit, my 5 minute bike ride from hell would take me 15 minutes on a normal day.

As I walked into the cafe, proud as a lion, I made my way back to the booth Rotaract frequents. It was 6:55, surely some of my fellow Rotaracters would be there? I could not have been more wrong.

Sitting cozily in my booth, or our booth, was a couple in an intimate liplock. I turned red as a tomato, choking on my english apologies, apologies they may not have even understood. I practically tripped over myself in a bid to get out the door and back into the chilly evening air. The waiters thought I was insane.

I waited. And waited. And then I waited a little more. It was almost ten after when the first Rotaractor appeared, happy as can be and whistling a tune. He couldnt quite fathom why I was standing outside in the cold, so I rattled of an excuse about us tough Canadians. Though it was true I wasnt quite as cold as everyone else seemed to be, the real reason I didnt reenter the Dora was that most of its occupants currently thought me a few cards short of a deck.

We stood akwardly outside, while he smoked a cigarette and I tried not to gag (Smoking here is a bigger habit than in Alberta, and I have not quite gotten myself used to the smell.) Soon, more Rotaractors began to apparate, but instead of going inside to the booth (That I would later find out had already been vacatted by the love sick two) they stood outside with us. I guess its just an instinct to join in with what others are up to, but it seemed that I had caused a chain reaction.

It wasnt until the last of us arrived (twenty minutes late!) That someone questioned our motive in standing outside in the cold.

"Well..." One said, "Meghan was out here so I just... kind of stayed out here." For the second time I turned red as a tomato, and for the rest of the night, even after we had entered the heat of the cafe, I had the great honour of being the butt of all the jokes...