A Day in the Life

Days here are different than they are in the US. Things happen here that wouldn’t happen anywhere else, or at least not anywhere else I have been. They don’t always happen that way, but they can. Take today for example:

I wake up and get ready at home, trying to finish up homework, shower, and eat before I leave for class. If my host dad is home, I’m likely to get some sort of compliment on my clothes or general appearance: “Cada día mas Hermosa como una diosa!” (Every day more beautiful, like a goddess!) Breakfast is laid out on the table for me by my host mom: something to drink, something substantial to eat, and a piece of fruit. This morning it was milk, scrambled eggs on bread, and a giant slice of pineapple. After a minute of waiting for the milk and eggs to heat up in the microwave, I can eat my breakfast in silence at the kitchen table, stirring instant coffee into the hot milk and maybe adding a scoop of hot-chocolate mix as well.

Of course, as hard as I try, I never manage to walk out of the house exactly when I want to, but the bus comes every 20 minutes and I always give myself an hour and a half to get to school, even though it only takes an hour. Sometimes I run into people at the bus station and ride the rest of the way with them, other times I sit on the busses doing homework or playing a game on my phone. (Jewelquest. I’ve already beat it once.) This morning, I did a bit of both.

Jumping off the bus in Cumbaya is easy, since they ALWAYS stop at the university stop. It’s the big one in Cumbaya. If I get to campus early, and I almost always do, there’s the gringo grass to study on, or people to talk to, or the Xerox center to visit if I need to print something before classes start. Thursdays, I have classes back to back from 10 until 2:30: Weaving, Andean Anthropology, and Quichua. Which means my day consists of an enjoyable, if tedious, task, eating a snack on the run, sitting through a lecture and discussion class, scarfing something more to eat, and confusedly laughing my way through a language I understand even less of than Spanish.

After classes comes the long trek to my ICRP, stopping to eat more food in the bus station if I’m still hungry. The journey is worth it though. I love walking in to el Proyecto and being bombarded by kids who want me to do this and that. Today was a bit quieter when I arrived, so I drew an iguana (this is my JOB), which none of the kids would believe I didn’t copy from a book. Apparently being able to draw realistic drawings is a highly valued skill. The drawing is now a prized possession of Camilo, one of the kids that lives at el Proyecto, and one of the better behaved kids at that.

It’s always difficult to leave el Proyecto, not only because I enjoy being there, but also because I have to free myself from any one of the various little boys who literally hang on me trying to make me stay. I’ve become adept at walking with one or two of them somehow inhibiting my progress. Today, one of them even tried to convince the security guard at the gate that he was going to go home with me. Fortunately the guard knew he had to stay, but it was quite amusing.

My commute home starts before the sun is completely down, but it has long been dark by the time I make it to my destination, partially because of the rush-hour traffic I have to travel home in. It’s not the worst thing in the world though, it means I get to walk home while there are still people on the street, so it’s less dangerous. It’s wonderful to finally be off the streets at the end of the day, since I spend nearly 3 hours in busses and stations on my ICRP days.

Occasionally I walk in just as dinner is being served, but if not, I don’t have long to wait on these days. Today I had rice with ají, salad, and meat (as usual) with my host dad. The meat looked delicious, but turned out to be rather chewy. So chewy that I chewed it until kingdom come and then ended up swallowing it whole because my jaw was tired. The salad was cut up red onion and parsley. That’s it. All in all though, it was a good dinner.

And now I am destined to taste onions for the rest of the night while I try to do my homework.

I’m not sure if this falls into the category of “boring blog post” but I thought it would be fun to share what my daily life is like here. Hope you enjoyed!