My Typical Day

Thought I would make a post describing my typical weekday.  I realize that it is somewhat ironic to post it on Saturday, but so be it.

• 5:00 - Wake-up call by the local neighborhood rooster.  Actually, this is the least consistent part of my day.  Whoever said that roosters were good at keeping time needs to have their head examined.  Sometimes the rooster goes off at 2:00 AM!  But it is kind of funny, on those days, it only crows like two or three times before someone obviously kicks it to shut it up.
• 6:00 or 6:45 - El baño.  This way it slides in nicely with the rest of the family, and my roommate (when I had one).  The shower is interesting.. here, the shower head is used to heat up the water, rather than a water heater.  Thus, the higher pressure and the more water you push through the head, the colder the water is (since it doesn´t have time to heat it up).  Although to be honest, I cannot really figure out how to change the temperature.  Fortunately, it is always pretty perfect temperature.
• 7:30 - El desayuno.  Breakfast is usually with Elgar (Patricia´s architect nephew who lives at the house too), my roommate Doug (before he went back to the U.S.), and sometimes Patricia.  Breakfast is always delicious.
• 7:50 - Leave for school.  I timed it, it takes five minutes (not three).  Still, pretty quick.  If it happens to be laundry day, I leave five minutes before.  (For the record, laundry day consists of dropping off a plastic shopping bag worth of dirty clothes at una lavandería, paying the shopkeep 25Q, or $3.. and coming back after school to find the clothes washed, folded, and loaded into a new bag.. awesome.)
• 8:00 - The bell rings to begin class.  If it is Monday, you need to find your teacher (and perhaps meet him or her); otherwise, you know where you are studying for the week.  My pattern with Loyola is to begin with some conversation for up to an hour, followed by a review of my homework and the material from the day before.
• 10:30-11:00 - Our break.  This is critical, most of the time, because your cabeza needs a rest.  The school provides coffee, water, and various types of bread, which are usually somewhat sweet and DELICIOUS.  Much better than that junk for Sweetwater, Peter.  On Mondays, we gather at 10:45 for a review of the upcoming week´s activities; at other times there might be other meetings, such as a presentation by local university students to request that we fill out surveys indicating why we chose to come to Xela, or the previously mentioned salud ("health") study.
• 11:00 - When la campana rings, it is time to begin class again.  De pronto.
• 1:00 - 1:15 - Finish up with class, say goodbye to maestra and classmates, make plans for the afternoon and evening, etc.
• 1:30 - Lunch, en casa.  Again, always delicious.  The big meal of the day.
• 2:30 - This seems to be the time of choice.  I either (1) take part in one of the daily activities, such as a tour, or the cooking class; (2) take a trip to some part of the city in order to try to take some pictures, or do a chore; or (3) take a short nap!  Very rarely do I begin studying immediately again.
• 3:30 - Assuming I´m not out on tour somewhere, I typically return to the school/internet cafe.  For the next two-and-a-half hours, I split time between doing homework and updating the blog.  I would say that this is when I send out emails too, but I don´t think that I have sent out an email in over a week, so I can´t claim that anymore!
• 6:00 - La Misa a la Catedral.  For me, Mass is a double experience: a chance to recharge my soul, as well as a chance to practice my growing Spanish competency.  And the Cathedral´s nearby location to the school is ideal.
• 7:00 - Return to the school, or mi casa for more studying.  You don´t get 1000 vocabulary index cards from goofing off all day.
• 8:00 - La cena with mother Patricia, son Carlos (14), daughter Anna (8), and sometimes, father Hugo (and Doug, when in town).  Smaller than an American dinner, nevertheless delicious.
• 8:30 - More studying, up in my room.  Some might call me intense.. certainly, I am on the "studying more" end of the spectrum of student around here.  But I refuse to waste the opportunity of being here.
• 10:00 - Lights out.  The rooster might start up again in four hours!

Obviously, this is just the general purpose schedule, there are always modifications.  And don´t be frightened away from coming here, there are plenty of students who put away the books at 1:00 and don´t pull them out until the next morning.  But for me, I am here to learn, so my day is pretty much structured around that.

Here are a few shots of the Cathedral, to make this post not totally boring and bland.  The pictures are pretty dark, though.. use your imagination to fill in the light that I cannot apparently capture.

First, this is the side chapel, at which Mass is sometimes celebrated during the week.

And the Cathedral proper...

Side altars...

And I love this last shot... dig the contrast...

Yes, that is a wide-screen flat-panel.  In case you are wondering what the deal with the TV is.. the huge pillars that sustain the architecture obscure the view of the main altar from many of the pews.  The TV actually broadcasts the Mass as it is occurring.  I think it is also fed to a local television station at times.  The modern appliance paired with the ancient-looking confessional make a great story, I think!