Too much work.
I knew I'd work a lot in the Peace Corps, but it got out of hand last week. Normally, I teach two or three classes per day, morning and night, and I have my afternoons free to run errands, windsurf, or just relax and take a nap. But last week, my director had me coming with her on her occasional rounds of all the CEJs on the island, for only vaguely apparent reasons. In general, I was supposed to “take a loot at” the various computers in the CEJs. But when every trip is scheduled for 2:30 in the afternoon, and I end up driving an hour through the desert only to turn on 3 computers and find that they are all perfectly fine, it's a little annoying. Especially since my schedule now runs thus: 8:30 am to 1 pm – work to do in CEJ/câmara (or teach), 1 to 2:30 – lunch/errands, 2:30 to 5:45 – traipsing around the interior, 5:45 to 6 – furious and hectic lesson preparation, 6 to 9 – teaching, 9 to 10 – dinner, and finally 10 pm – pass out from exhaustion. I am not a huge fan of 11 hour work days as a rule. It is especially frustrating when there is good wind, and I have zero time to myself to windsurf. A guy's gotta have a way to release, ja?
Anyway. The weekend wasn't much better, as I got sick Saturday. I went to a dinner for International Women's Day Sat night, put on by the primary school teachers, despite feeling like shit. It was fun, but I went home when everyone else went out to the bars and clubs. I watched half a movie (The Abyss – been forever since I saw it, great movie), tried to sleep, woke up, projectile barfed, went back to bed, and slept/read my way through Sunday. But just so as not to sound completely wretched, allow me to backtrack to Friday, when there was a concert by Tecla 2, a band from Sal. They're electronic, which means that it is two guys with keyboards and effects boxes, which is pretty much always a bad sign. Sure enough, they played the worst/most hilarious Akon remix/cover I have ever heard. And I've heard a lot of them in this country. But it wasn't all bad, and the party went on until 4 or so. A lot of people showed up for it and the beer flowed like it always does.
Hm. Re-reading all that doesn't sound good. So I guess I can say that it's been a rough week. But since I haven't updated in a while, I guess I haven't mentioned this: I know when I'm coming back to the US. Obviously, I'd been debating this for a while, between planning the trip with Kyle and not knowing what I'd be doing for work after this, but now it looks like I'll be back in mid-August. Turns out my sister Caroline is getting married! I could have predicted it, but that kind of stuff is always a bit of a surprise anyway. The week before will be a big family reunion thing at Stout's Island, so I am going to try to get to SD by the 20th so I can drop off my stuff and drive up to WI with my parents. As for when I will see people on either coast... That all depends on when I line up job interviews.
I'll try to make a trip out west and another out east in the first few weeks back, depending on how the employment world reacts to my plaintive cries. Anyone in San Francisco, New York, DC, or basically anywhere else in the world reading this: find me a job! Just kidding. I'm not stressing about that for a little while. It's not easy to get employment 6 months in advance from 3000 miles away, so I'll just hold off for a bit. But when I visit, I'll try and visit everyone that I can.
I am thinking a great deal about food these days. Sushi, burritos, steaks, fresh vegetables, fruits... these are things I dream about now.
