Every morning, penetrating through the soft, dark fabric of my eye patch, the sun rises through the slats of our shade and over the edge of our balcony. Its persistence is to be applauded. So far it hasn't abated with its pure energy and dazzling morning displays. Every morning, sifting through the foamy material of my neon-yellow earplugs, the birds' songs waft through the cracks of our shade and over the rim of our balcony. Their joy is to be lauded. They haven't ceased to praise the morning and chorus with the joy of being alive.
Waking up in a different bed, in a different room, that is entirely different and entirely mine (along with two other people) never ceases to amaze me. I rise to the challenge of battling our shower curtain, which picks the most inopportune times to attack. Unfortunately in the confined space of our shower I cannot avoid the conflict. Breackfast is similar every morning. Cereal, fruit, and peanut butter with Nutella on my crackers, throw in some churros on Sunday for variety. Classes begin more or less at 9:30A.M., veering toward the "less" as time wears on. And time seems to wear differently here. We measuring time by the growth of our fingernails, and teh amount of shampoo we have left in the bottle.
Classes consist of Grammar, Composition, Conversation, and Culture. I can not count the times I have heard "Es facil" in connection with a homework assignment I know will take me the better part of an hour. Partially due to my desire to look up every single word I don't know, a waning desire as the need for sleep asserts its primal authority. Lulnch is varied and wonderful, as long as there is a delicous salad waiting for me to put it on my tray. And after lunch, before study hour, there is the pros and cons debate of napping or doing my homework.
Study hour is varied in its results. The use of a Spanish speaking monitor, or tutor is fabulous. But having to share my monitor with 6 other studnets can have its moments of frustration. Sharing never scored very high on my list of spiritual gifts. After study hour there is a slew of activities to choose from, hiking trips, beach trips, dancing classes, cooking classes, arts and crafts, and watching a Spanish movie with Spanish subtitles. Activities generally run right until supper, when along with hunger, a slight, gnawing worry starts spinning around in your stomach. It is the whisper of a hint that possibly you may run out of time tonight to finish all your homework. After supper we have worship around the circle in front of the little campus snack shop. It is in Spanish, with a translator. Yours truly took a spin as the translator for one evening, although I made avid use of a script I translated into English. It was still an exciting experience to pick the right words and phrases necessary to get the message across.
Do the choices never stop? After worship there are soccer games, and aerobics classes, walks in the dusk, and more time with the monitors in front of the guys' dorm. And then the burning of the midnight candle to finish the last few pages in a reading assignment or workbook. followed by the suffocating choice of sleeping with or without the thin cotton sheet in the slightly uncomfortable heat of an air-condition-less room. We never close the door while we are in our room. By dawn it feels just about perfect.
And every night penetrating through the soft, dark fabric of my eye patch is the glowing light of my roommate's computer and echoing through the foamy material of my neon, yellow earplugs the soft sounds of a dorm falling asleep.
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