Happy in da House

Friday, July 7, 2006

I absolutely LOVE my house, living here, everything about it here. Today was pretty much a perfect day, lots of work actually now that I think about it, cooking and cleaning. But it makes me so happy to be beginning this new life, one that I feel I can really sustain and enjoy for the next 22 months.

7am-woke up a bit later than usual (have been up at 6am here, I think b/c of the animals and the “traffic” on the road)
730am-went for a little run down to the river and back, only about 2.5k but it’s something!
8am-bought yogurt and an apple for breakfast, took a nice hot shower, got ready to go
remembered to put some beans to soak in water so they’d be ready for dinner, swept the ubiquitous red dirt from the floors (wondering why I bother, I’ll only need to sweep again by dinnertime, but I do it anyway)
9am-met w/ Noemi and Betty at the Supervision, talked about how to start Learning Circles with the teachers here
10am-taught a quick intro to computers class at the high school, with just 3 students it was fun and hopefully helpful for them to get practice typing and using the mouse
11am-went to the Mayor’s office to drop off a request for materials
1130am-left laundry to soak, started cooking lunch
12pm-ate a yummy lunch of a bit of pasta, green pepper, onion and soy protein in a peanut sauce
1230pm-finished up the laundry, put it out to hang dry and washed dishes
1pm-did some mid-day yoga, picked up To Kill a Mockingbird, which I’m loving
2pm-set off to find my friend Gloria to have terere. She wasn’t there, sat with her dad for a while, then my friend Clara came by and we chatted. Learned that this Saturday there’s a huge party here, people will be coming from hours away, and then on Sunday there’s a soccer game, so this’ll be a fun party weekend! We made plans too that the next Saturday when it’s boring here we’re going to play cards.
Went to buy rice for dinner, and then met and terered with some nice guys who are new to Tacuati too and have opened a veggie stand, which is a good connection to have!
430pm-came home, washed the veggies, took down and ironed my laundry, started the beans boiling (note: ironing clothes is definitely necessary. I didn’t last week b/c I didn’t have an iron yet, figured it wouldn’t be a big deal, and ended up with ants in my underwear. Not pleasant. Will always iron my line-dried items forevermore)
5pm-sat on my back steps for a while and read, watched the sunset
530pm-ate a reasonably yummy dinner of beans, rice, onions, tomatoes, w/ a bit of olive oil, parsley and oregano
6pm-did the dishes, brushed my teeth, shut all the doors and windows for the night so I could take out the laptop
and now it’s 620pm and I think I’ll watch a movie. This is the life!!