Because I know many of you are thinking as you read my blog "I am so tired of reading about Molly`s awesome adventures, misshaps, and self realizataions. All I really want to know is what she is doing every second of every day" I am conceeding and providing a breakdown of my average action-packed day in Antigua.I wake up in my single bed, to a small beam of light streaming onto me from the "window" above the door. I put window in quotation marks because it is really just a hole cut in the wood with a swatch of green mesh streched across to
let the air in and keep the bugs out. Also filtering through the green mesh are the distinctly tropical sounding birdsongs that pierce through the otherwise quiet twilight of 6:15am. The birdsongs remind me of those I would hear pouring over from the San Diego zoo when I would walk past on my way to working at the Old Globe Theatre. That is how I know they are tropical. They were in a zoo! After a few minutes of accepting my state of awakness I get up, grab a towel and walk across the two-foot walkway to my bathroom. As I mentioned previously my bathroom is a five by five makeshift "room" that encloses all the nessisary acutrements without the usual space between.For my shower to be hot it needs
to be at a trickle as most showers in Guatemala are heated not by a water heater but by an electric shower head. (I have heard stories of people being shocked. Not me...yet.) Thus my showers are brief and to the point.
After my quick shower I throw on clothes and trot into the main house for breakfast. Most mornings this involves eggs and toast or pancakes. There is often a spread of fresh fruit which I greatly welcome. Breakfast may be my favorite meal because it is consistant and almost always something I enjoy.Post-breakfast I snag my bag out of my room and head to school. This involves a fifteen minute walk through the main portion of downtown Antigua.
My walk usually takes me past the central park,
under the arch
and past the La Merced church.At 7:30 the city is bustling with families heading to work/school, my fellow students making similar treks to other schools throughout the city, and many street peddelers already in hot pursuit of a sale.
Class goes from 8am-10am, then a half hour break and more instruction from 10:30-noon.
At noon I usually do small errands or pop into an internet cafe to check my email before heading back to my homestay for lunch.
Lunch is at 1pm. In Guatemala lunch is the biggest meal of the day. It usually involves some kind of meat (carne, pollo, hot dogs...) a grain and maybe a vegtable. With the occasional exception much of what we are given is dissapointingly American. Spagetti, potato salad, pizza. This, however, does not mean it is not authentic. Guatemalen fair has appropriated some odd pieces of American cuisine. I just was expecting more tacos and less pasta.
After lunch it is another fifteen minute trek to school
for the remaining three hours of class.
By this time it may have begun raining. If it has not it will by the time I leave school so I carry my large umbrella I purchased here after my other one was stolen(...or missplaced...but I am going with stolen).
After school I head to an internet cafe to write a blog entry, check email, chat with whoever is on line, and then head home for dinner.
Guatemala is on the far Eastern side of the time zone. Which means that while back home it stays light until 8 or 9 here it is already fairly dark by seven. I am saddened by this fact since between that and the constant rain I feel like I have been cheated out of a month of my summer.
Dinners are frequently odd. Rolls, a plate with blocks of cheese and bolognia, hot water for tea. Sometimes there is soup.
After dinner I usually end up studying for a bit and then passing out. Occasionally Jamil and I go somewhere for a drink or I meet up with some classmates.
My life here is jam packed with excitment.
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