I've been thinking a lot about how different my life is here in Ecuador. There are differences on all levels: my routine is different, my thinking is different, my expectations are different, what I want is different... a lot of things are different. And I thought that these differences that I've observed might be of interest to you readers at home. I've also been thinking about how much more aware I am here: aware of myself, my surroundings, the changes and how I'm changing. And so an interesting thought for me is, 'even though I'm much more aware here, what are the difference and the changes that I'm not aware of. When will I notice them? What will they be? Will they all flood me when I'm back on God's green soil in December? Or will it take longer than that? Will they be good things? Will I wish I had noticed them earlier, so I could change them and not let them become habits? Anyways... like I said earlier, lots of time to think here.
Today I'm going to tell you a couple of differences in my routine...
1. I get up earlier here (and the opposite is also true, I go to bed much earlier). Every morning, without an alarm, I get up right around 6am! Now this is tied to another change, I have a dog (in case you weren't aware). Chuki sits on my side of the bed and lets out one bark right around 6am, usually at 6:07am. It's become my duty to get up and feed him in the morning. If I have class, I get ready and leave for class. But on the mornings I don't have class, I get up, feed him, put on a pot of coffee and head outside to watch the city wake up. This is absolutely. hands down. one of my favorite. things in my day. All that to say, I'm not sleep deprived. I get a solid 8 hours, sometimes more.
2. I walk to work. Each of my classes include at least a 20 minute walk, one way. Sometimes the walk is combined with a ride on the EcoVia. In Chicago, I was commuting about 1hr, on average, one way, by car. Now that I think about it... YUCK!
3. I work, at most, 94 hours a month. Now let me break that down for you... thats 24 hours a week and less than 5 hours a day. So for the most part, I go to class in the morning for 2 hours, come home, go to class at lunch time for an hour, come home, and go to class in either the evening or the afternoon, come home. I don't have evening or afternoon class on Wednesday or Friday and I have NO NO NO classes on the weekends. In the States, I was working, on average, 60 hour weeks. And the absolute best part... I go to work, I teach, I come home, and I don't think about it again until the next class. That's it. No worrying about not finishing projects, no thinking I could have done better, no forgetting to call someone back, no answering emails, no logistical plans, no raising money, no soulless Division to report to, nada... work, come home, work, come home, work, come home.
4. On my breaks between classes, I read, Ryan and I play cards, I cook, I bake, I run, I walk Chuki, I watch movies, I talk to friends, I lay out, I sit outside and do nothing, I take Chuki to the park, I take naps, I play with Chuki. In short, I do things that I like to do, that I want to do. Now clearly, also during my breaks from classes, I spend time cleaning the apartment, washing dishes, washing laundry, and doing things that I don't particularly enjoy doing. The great difference though is in Chicago, after working 8-12 hours of the day, and then doing the things that I had to do (dishes, cleaning, laundry, etc), the time I had left to do things that I enjoy doing was very small and usually saved for the weekends.
5. On the flip side, chores here are more laborious than chores were in Chicago. The greatest example is laundry. We do our laundry on a scrub board. This involves filling a bucket with hot water, adding the soap, letting it sit so the soap can dissolve, adding the laundry to the bucket, letting the laundry sit so the soap can work, than scrubbing item by item on a tiled station that has freezing cold water coming out of it. Now depending on the items, they might need to be soaked again in hot water, or you can put them straight onto the drying rack. If it's not raining out the drying rack can go outside and they'll dry pretty quick (like one day) if it is raining out than the drying rack stays inside and the process takes a little longer. Doing dishes is the same, although the soap is different (it's in solid form). Mopping here involves a broom and a wet towel that has a hole cut in the middle of it. Everything else is pretty much the same. Oh, with the added chores of cleaning up dog poop and cleaning the deck almost every day.
6. My eating routine is different as well, and all that encompasses eating (cooking and shopping). I RARELY eat out. It has one of a couple things in order for us to eat out. 1) A special occasion 2) Someone else is paying 3) We've run out of gas and so we can't cook. This is HUGELY different from my routine in Chicago. I ate out almost everyday at work for lunch (with Sara and Doug!!!!). If I worked late, I would order something in, pick something up or eat out with the roomies. If I was celebrating something, I'd eat out. If I'd had a bad day, I'd eat out. If I didn't have any groceries, I'd eat out. If the kitchen was too messy, I'd eat out. If I just felt like it, I'd eat out. So here, that's a BIG difference. Now shopping is also different. For the most part I buy all of my fruits and veggies at the market. (Think Farmer's Market on steroids and not nearly as quaint.) Then for meats and dairy I go to Megamaxi (think Walmart not on steroids). Then for bread I go to the corner store, daily, with Chuki. So I go to three stores and not one and I go probably 1 time a week to Megamaxi, 2-3 times a week to the market, and 7 days a week for bread. As far as what we eat... way different too. For lunch and dinner think rice, vegetables, chicken and ground beef (I know what you're thinking, but it's true). Now think of all the ways you can combine them. Also occasionally add in quinoa, beans and cheese. For breakfast, it's usually fresh bread, eggs, fruit or yogurt and granola. We also cook for Chuki. So about 2 times a week we make rice, beef, and veggies for him (or some variation). We dont really snack, unless its on fruit, bread or a chocolate bar. Plus we eat A LOT of casseroles and if you've read this blog before you know we eat a lot of soup!
7. I run 4 days a week here. Thats different.
8. We use a match to light the stove.
9. Most of the times we have hot water to shower with, but sometimes it's out. Also we shower far, far less. Which is saying something.
10. At night, we watch a movie, play cards, or read. Sometimes we take Chuki for a night walk. Sometimes, we sit out on the patio and have a cocktail. We don't really go out during the week.
11. On the weekends our big outing is usually to the park with Chuki. Or we go to Old Town and go to a museum or just walk around. We do projects around the house (much to Ryan's chagrin). We do our long run on Sundays. We see friends (sometimes). We chat with friends from home. We hang out together and we sleep in (well Ryan does).
I can't think of much else right now as far as routine. Stay tuned...
MULUB,
Taylor
