My Day

While I was in college this fad swept through Facebook and most people wrote 25 things about themselves and posted it in their "about me" part of their personal page. Two of my friends took it upon themselves to write 25 things about a third friend who was too efficient in life to do it himself. One of the facts was that he learned all of his life lessons from the last 5 minutes of every Scrubs episode. Intrigued, I started watching Scrubs and since I started watching in season 8, I had a lot of material to look back on. The show is now over, but the point is that each episode is titled "My (something)" because it is based on the narrator's inner monologue. This doesn't really have much to do with the rest of this blog entry but I thought of it because the titles share a common theme- it's an inner monologue.
I've checked my e-mail a few times now and a question I get alot is "Drew, what do you do all day?" Well, my immediate thought was: I do alot each and everyday. That thought was followed by: actually, I don't do much at all. The real answer, it seems, lies somewhere in the middle and, it depends on the day.
Everyday I wake up somewhere between 500 and 6 (they use the 24 hour clock here so colons between hours and minutes are now a thing of the past). Whether this be bladder related, animal related, sun related, baby related, alarm clock, or just internal clock related depends on a whole lot of factors that are probably pretty easy to figure out. If I'm unlucky I'll wake up exactly at 500, be unable to go to bed and just lie in bed for a while. Around 530 I'll start waking up, grabbing some water and head out for a run, do some pushups, crunches, or some form of exercise. To be completely honest, the run has been happening less and less as I've been here longer because it's the same route day after day and it's a bit boring but I've been trying to stay in it. I'm pretty religious about the pushups and crunches though. I miss swim season where I had to get my butt in a pool everyday. Around 615 or 630 I'll decide it's time for my bucket bath and I'll fill my bucket up with some water from the family water jugs and bathe. Since I'm bathing from a bucket this takes all of 5 minutes- so when I get back to the US I'll probably be able to set the record for world's fastest shower. Then I'll get dressed which brings us to about 640 and breakfast time (see "Food" for what breakfast time is composed of). After breakfast I'll usually do some form of puzzle be it a word search, crossword, sudoku, etc (thanks Mom and Mimi!) until 715 when I brush my teeth then head off to class around 720 or 730. I get to class around 745 which gives me 15 minutes to repose (or rest, I guess- I frequently substitute french words for english words now). Resposing generally consists of me finishing my loaf of bread while reading, talking, or just hanging out underneath a fan.
At 800 our classes start and that can either be language (french or moore- depends on the day), technical language (prepping questions for places we go and visit), technical session (learning about health things), Training Directed Activity (TDA- going someplace and doing something, or asking questions, etc), cross cultural session, or a safety and security session. At 1000 we get a break until 1030. At 1030 we have another session that goes until 1230 and that is another one of the aforementioned topics. After this were off until 1400- nice period for lunch- I usually go grab some lunch and then head to the marche to visit my peanut butter lady- this week I'm going to find out her name- I just always forget to do that but I know her family is doing well, her work is going well, and that she slept well. Then I buy some cookies and that makes a good after lunch- desert type thing. At 1400 were in class until 1530 and then we have a class from 1545-1715. After that we're free so I either hang out at the center and decompress for a bit- speak in english for a while, ask follow up questions, do some extra work or, I'll go grab a coke with some other stagaires, or I'll just go home. If I go home I go with the intention of studying moore and practicing with my family. Usually, I help my host brother with homework until it's dark out and then it is no longer suitable to study moore with my family cause now they're all tired and I'm tired too. After homework time it's dinner time, and then I repose with my family a bit- lesson to them talk in moore and try to guess what they're saying. I also wonder how much they think I understand. Sometimes I think they think I understand more than I actually do, and other times I definitely understand more than they think I do- it depends on the day.
So if we do a lot of language in a day, do a training directed activity that involves going someplace, and then I go home and do work- it's a really busy day. Focusing on language for the majority of the day is very mentally fatiguing. But, if we just sit an do cross cultural and safety stuff- it's going to be a boring day and I'm going to tell you I haven't done anything. I guess it's up to you to decide if whether your tax dollars are worth it- I'm inclined to say yes but I'm biased.