Its all about timing

In college (especially sophomore and junior years), I never stopped moving. I think I move and think at a faster pace than many Americans. For example, when I ¨walk¨ at top speed (which is really the only way to go) people (aka my sister Amy and shorter friends) have to run to keep up with me.

I think this past month has made up for all the rest I missed out on during college. And let me tell you, its not easy to slooooowww dooowwwnn. I really do prefer a faster paced, active life. Its just not like that here. Being able to finally walk from home to work was the most exercise I´ve gotten so far (and that takes all of 1-2 minutes). At home, I watch tv, read (which they think I´m studying all the time, since people dont seem to read for pleasure here) and play dominoes with the guys (they play for hours and hours on end, I can´t stand it!). TV here is interesting. There are a lot of American movies, but mostly ones that Americans no longer watch. Jackie Chan movies are popular here, go figure. The tv stations somehow struggle to show the whole movie. The screen will freeze, try to restart, freeze again. Sometimes it just skips ahead to another part in the movie. Sometimes it just cuts to a commercial break and then returns with the movie. Sometimes it just starts a new show altogether. There are already about half a dozen movies that I´ve only seen half of. And I could make a list and watch them when I get back to the US, but one, they are pretty bad movies and two, I don´t know the titles in english. The day that Miss Congeniality came on and lasted til the end was like heaven.

I don´t know if its fair to say people here are lazy. Maybe just more relaxed. Either way, they take longer to do work, since inefficiency is just part of life anyway. Simple chores, like washing clothes, take much longer here, so why rush it? You have to fill up the washing machine with buckets of water, put in the soap and clothes and then turn the dial so it turns the clothes around. Then rinse in a bucket, rinse again in another bucket, put into the ¨dryer,¨ which is more like a salad spinner. Then put the clothes on the line to dry. By the end of 3 or 4 loads, the water in the washing machine is nearly black. I can´t say my clothes get that much cleaner, but I´m sure its better than if I tried to do it by hand.

To cook lunch everyday, they start atleast 1.5 hours beforehand. Beef takes 2 hours. I think they´re relieved that I can serve myself cereal for breakfast or dinner. If I had to cook for myself, that´s all I would ever eat. O and fruit smoothies which they make here with juice, ice and carnation condensed milk. Mmmmm.

They think I sleep a lot. I go to bed between 10 and 11pm and wake up between 7 and 8am. My father here gets up at 5am every morning to go walking for an hour before he opens up the colmado (mini-market where our poor neighbors can buy just what they need) thats attached to our house. Maybe the fact that they only get between 5 and 7 hours of sleep each night is the reason for their slower pace during the day. And the reason for the 2 hour lunch (which permits a one hour siesta).

So, as you can tell, I´m learning to slow down.