A Day in the Life of [Me]

Due to popular demand, here's a "day in the life of" post for what life looks like here. A few notes first, however:
-- Not every day includes all of these events, but they often occur in my daily living here.
-- Because I didn't feel like doing a story format, this is in the form of "if I wrote FaceBook posts frequently throughout the day." 

A Day in the Life of [Me]:

7:00 AM – I’m up for the day, what more can you ask? Bucket shower first, then time to make coffee.

8:00 AM – Trying to prepare for a language lesson on 1.5 hours of sleep is pretty ridiculous. I’ll be glad when the electric company sorts things out and we have electricity through the night again. Hard to sleep without a fan.

9:00 AM – Heading out for a language lesson. Caught a taxi right away, but the driver then stopped at a shop for 10 minutes to do… I don’t know what? My fellow passengers have now quizzed me on my nationality, marital status, reasons for my (non)marital status, and I’ve explained twice now that, while I’m an English teacher, right now my focus is on learning their language. 

9:30 AM (approximately) – language lesson started close to on-time today! My language helper is probably more concerned than I am about the project we’re working on.

10:30 AM – Whew! Brain dead already. It’s amazing how language learning saps the gray cells and turns them to jello. Well, now we’re just practicing what I learned today, so it’s easier.

11:30 AM – I love lunch time with my language helper. She, or her mom, always makes something for us to share. Today’s lunch is a rice flour soup. She soaked rice in water, then blended it, cooked it, and added powdered milk, cardamom, and sugar. It’s surprisingly good.

12:00 PM – Catching a taxi from m-town is more difficult than airport town. Finally I got one, and we’re going through the standard questions: name, age, nationality, marital status, occupation, marriage proposal, etc. 

12:30 PM – Language review, then a nap! No power, so guaranteed I’ll wake up covered in sweat.

2:00 PM – Practicing language in my room. My voice recorder has captured a lot of phrases for me to practice fluency and intonation. Maybe I’ll get some house projects done too?

4:30 PM – Exercise time! Aerobics is becoming a great way to practice language and meet new people. Strange to start the workout covered in sweat though. Oh, and we have some dedicated observers: kids and young men will stand outside the window and stare at all the women working out. As Jess told a couple of them, "I'm not a TV!"

6:00 PM – What should I cook for dinner, folks? 

7:00 PM – Dinner = success. Chicken wings + tomato slices + fried potatoes = Abby fed.

8:00 PM – Curriculum reading. Just a little bit to finish before team day this week.

9:00 – Time to settle down for bed. Maybe I’ll check emails and see if anyone’s online to talk. It’s 10 AM back home, so most people are at work.  

9:30 PM – Bed is comfy, but sleep ain't coming yet.

11:30 PM - This "read until you feel sleepy" thing isn't working yet. So tired, so sweaty, so in need of sleep. Maybe I'll get a few hours tonight?

[ Sometime in the night I finally fall asleep. Rinse, repeat the next day]

[When it rains, I do get good sleep. But that's not all the time. When it's hot, I don't sleep well at all.]

Transplant

Transplant: move or transfer (something) to another place or situation, typically with some effort or upheaval.

Looking down the hill toward my part of town.

I'm a transplant. Uprooted from my home soil, still carrying some dirt with me, but planted into a new place to grow and be an agent of change.

In my new soil, I have new friends, new habits, and new priorities.

But I'm still the same person. A carrot is a carrot whether planted in a garden, greenhouse, or growing wild.

So in a lot of ways, I have to learn how to thrive in a new environment, but as the same person I've always been: quirky humor, commitment to the Father, need for relationship, and all.

I still struggle with laziness. Now that comes out in the way I handle language. At first I was gung ho: let's do this! I love language! It's such a fun challenge!  Now I'm hitting a hard part: as I get into more difficult parts of the language, it's harder to see progress. I have to figure out new ways to push myself, knowing that my end goal is to communicate truth on a deeper level. Just knowing how to say "good morning, how are you, and, I'd like 3 ginger beers" isn't enough.

I still struggle with time management. It's easy to get going on one project and ignore everything else. Especially as a single person, if I decide to have madelenas (a spice muffin) and ginger beer for dinner every night of the week, I can. But if I'm doing that because I spent too much time on curriculum reading or took too long of an afternoon nap, well, it's not a healthy lifestyle. It takes discipline to do household tasks on a consistent basis.

I still enjoy new things: hiking a new place, trying a new food (mystery plant, anyone?), learning a new phrase, going down a new path, it's still fun.

So as a transplant into this island culture, I'm learning to thrive. It takes effort, it's an upheaval, but by keeping my eyes fixed on the Father and my nose pointed forward, I'm growing.

Indzia the kitten, transplanted into our home, thrives by chewing on feet.