After several initially hesitant weeks in Cochabamba, my stomach has finally settled in and realized I´m not going anywhere soon. With a cooperative body in tow, I have tentatively begun trying out more of the local foods with a lesser degree of fear that I´ll be ruined if I eat anything too suspicious. Nevertheless I´ve still been exceedingly tired these last several days. My daily schedule usually consist of an inadvertant wake up call at 7:15 from Hiroshi, the youngest member of the household here, who likes to go whizzing past my door on his little push-car as soon as he wakes up. He´s two. If he were ANY older I´d certainly have to be mad, but his cuteness just barely edges out my seething anger so I usually wake up with a smile as I hear him whirring around out in the courtyard. I guess I also hesitate to interfere because Kodi usually gets pretty excited to see little Hiroshi flying around on his car and it only takes a few moments before Kodi knocks Hiroshi over in his excitement to play with someone his size. I don´t know why but that makes me laugh every time I hear it from my comfy (yet overly small) bed.
So with Hiroshi crying inside the main house I get up and go eat breakfast at 7:30. After a couple hours of Spanish vocab review and whatnot my official tutoring begins around 10:00 and goes until 12:30 where we pause for lunch. At 1:30 classes begin again until 3:00. Right around 3:15 I´m usually so exhausted I´ve barely waved goodbye to my tutor Alejandro when I stumble back into my room, shut the door, shut the window, and fall back into bed. Since napping in the prime of one´s youth still feels like a sin I usually can´t manage to fall asleep, but I lay there long enough for the headache to subside. My evenings are then filled with random events: volleyball down the street with some family members, a trek to the bookstore to see if they have anything new, a visit to the internet café (like what i´m doing now), or perhaps a trip out to see Rachel and Dan. I´ve also finally managed to meet some other foreigners who live in the city and may end up spending time with them as well.
Anyway, the whole point of that little diddly was that I´ve been feeling tired a lot. I concluded that this 4 hours a day of Spanish was behind it, so I´ve decided to cut it down to 2 hours of official study per day, with whatever additional studying I can do on the side. Aside from not destroying my tired brain, that´ll also save me a good bit of money, which is always helpful when you´ve adopted the life of a vagabond.
Last night we were graced with an impromptu fireworks show that originated about 3 houses down from ours. These weren´t the 4th of July kind that we are all used to, these were the mostly-illegal-in-the-US kind that set off car alarms and shake windows. I saw Kodi once and then he was gone. I´m guessing he was under a bed somewhere, but he was certainly not a fan. Laying on my bed flipping through the book I was supposed to be paying attention to I was struck by the sounds of the fireworks over my head. It sounded like a warzone, and if I let myself I could feel a tinge of fear that must be just a fraction of what living in a place like that must be like. I don´t really know how to describe the experience any better than that.
I´m also trying to think of some plans for the Holidays. I´m not planning on being back in the states so the next best option is to go on some sort of adventure. Traveling to Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego would be the highlight, but that´s a little out of my price range right now I think. I could also go to La Paz, or to the famous salt flats in Uyuni. I have to think about these things, and even verbalize them, or my introverted self will find contentment in sipping some wine and watching a movie for Christmas. Not bad at all actually, but I think there are some better options out there.
And in other news, at dinner the other night I had just finished clearing my dishes from the table and was on my way to the kitchen when Tía Sarah gave me a ¨nice play¨ butt slap right out of the blue. I don´t know if she thought we were in the middle of a soccer game or what, but she´s definitely gone back onto my ¨don´t find yourself alone in a room with this person¨ list. And believe me... that´s quite a list.
Love you all, sleep tight.
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