Wednesday, February 25, 2009

The End of Summer

It's hard to believe, but it's been almost a month since I arrived. By this point I'm feeling pretty well settled into the program, but as February changes to March there are going to be quite a few changes around here.

First, this weekend another big group of volunteers are leaving and only about half of the people that I started with will still be here. We're also getting three or four new volunteers to replace them. While I'm looking forward to meeting the new people, it's a bit sad that some of the people I've grown attached to are no longer going to be here. I started with a really good group.

Second, school begins again as summer vacation ends. This means I'll no longer be working for breakfast and lunch, but rather a post-school snack and dinner. Currently I've been waking up before the sun, and we leave the house while the sun is rising. Now work won't start until after 4:00 in the afternoon, and I won't be getting back into Cordoba until after dark. On one hand, this is excellent news for a night owl. On the other, it has been kind of nice having such long days because even when I take a three hour nap it still feels like I accomplish a lot during the day. It will be nice being able to go out at night though, since that is a big part of the culture (that I've been too exhausted to participate in).

In other news, one of my roommates and I are planning a weekend trip to Villa Carlos Paz, which is one of the touristy cities close by. If we can get things organized (organization tends to be an issue around here).

I hope everyone is doing well!

Sunday, February 15, 2009

About time...

Time is a funny thing here.

I came in knowing all about what I lovingly refer to as 'Latino time' (where things are allowed to go at their own pace, and schedules are very loosely followed). But what I wasn't prepared for was just how strange time works here.

On the one hand, every day feels like it's as long as two or three. A few days feel like a week, a week feels like a month. I think this is because we wake up so early to go work at the comedor (7:00) and get back around 2:00 (at which time everything closes and I usually take a long nap). The sun doesn't set until after 9:00 p.m., dinner isn't until after 11, and people don't start going out for the night until 2:00 a.m. - it's amazing that people are actually able to wake up in the mornings for work.

On the other hand, it's hard to believe that two weeks has already passed. I'm only here for about eleven weeks total, and I've already made a substantial dent in that. Other people in the program are already preparing for their departure, and we've been getting new people.

Ultimately, I think I just wanted to talk about time because I feel bad that I have yet to post any updates yet. I'm going to work on correcting that, since I have been taking a lot of pictures and have quite a few stories already, and we have wireless in the house so I don't really have any good excuses for not writing anything.

Hasta pronto!