Bon dia!

Imagine entering a doctor’s office and greeting all of the patients in the waiting room. When people in Curacao enter a building, they wish everyone around them “bon dia,” or good day. No exchange is begun without the proper formalities and if you skip them, as Americans are wont to do, you are considered rude. Coming from the American culture of expedience, this custom sometimes struck me as labored and frustrating. I imagine that it originates from small town life, the old Curacao in which people knew the majority of others around them. While greeting people promotes friendliness and good manners, throughout my two years on the island I never quite got into the habit of saying hello to strangers that I had no real intentions of conversing with.