Hush, Lois, The Men Are Talking

POST #2 FOR TODAY!

Since I haven't realy discussed any of what I've been doing here other than the anecdotal stuff, I figure it might be a good idea to post a sample schedule so you can get look at what life is like (Mother, note mealtimes and plan accordingly). You'll notice I have way too much free time for my own good.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 30
6am: Wake up. Not that big a deal, since it was too hot to sleep in the room anyway. Allison needs a fan for the warmish nights.

6:15-6:45am: Go running.

6:15-6:45am: Go running (sorry, but I couldn't believe it the first time. I went running. In the morning. Ho-lee crap).

7-7:45am: Shower, eat breakfast (on the early days, of which this is one, breakfast equals horrible horrible Nescafe and a buttery sugary roll thing. You can dunk the roll thing in the Nescafe to make it taste better. On later mornings, it is a mug of cornflakes). Do a little scattered reading for school or pleasure. Chill out.

8-9am: History of Art in the Modern Age I - class with REAL SPANIARDS. They are nice, but so far many of them are not showing up for class on a regular basis. I can't really blame them. It's 8am, after all.

9-10am: NAP. (Soon, NAP will be replaced by 9:30-10:30am: teach little kids English at a local school. Is it a good idea for Early Morning Allison to be exposed to children? Probably not. We shall see. Anyway, I can call it a highfalutin Teaching Internship and then maybe after I graduate it'll help me get an ESL job somewhere, when I'm poor and not doing what I want to do.)

10am-2pm: Free time! Mostly consists of compytime (though the timing in the US couldn't be worse) and studytime. I'm actually STUDYING. WHOOOOA. My main goal here is to keep from dashing to a pastry shop and eating everything in sight, because I am usually starving and the pastries look super-yummy. Extending naptime helps somewhat (though I was definitely woken up today by an extended tummygrumble). Eventually, dance classes will take place during this time.

2pm: Lunch. Usually multiple courses: a vegetable dish or soup with green salad, bread, followed by a meat dish of some kind (sauteed chicken is turning out to be the norm, followed closely by fish. I think she's figured out that I don't like breading. Yay!). Dessert is a piece of fruit or an occasional trangression like ice cream.

2-3:15pm: Post-meal walk. This is the only way to keep from feeling heavy and lethargic after eating so much freakin food.

3:30-5pm: Class again. This particular day it will be Contemporary Spanish Painting, in which I don't know that we've seen a single painting yet. I am tiring quickly of that trend. Theory and history are important and all, but you do actually have to see the ART in an Art History class.

5-9pm: More free time. Can entail anything from a walk to see how far across the city I can get to coffee with friends to errand time to computer time to a MOVIE, which is what we're doing today. Studying has not been included here so far. I like to keep moving during this time. Sometimes (like yesterday) I buy a chocolate croissant and eat it. Mmm. Other sometimeses I have choir rehearsal.

9pm: Dinner. Same deal as lunch, really, but with slightly less food. Last night dinner was noodle soup, salad, and scrambled eggs with tomato and onion. I was still full from the croissant.

9:30-10:30ishpm: Post-meal walk. It's fun to see how many little kids and old people are wandering around in the dark.

10:30pm-12am: Chill out. Sometimes I watch TV with my señora and try to understand what's going on. I'm getting noticeably better. Sometimes I read. This would be studytime, were the library not closed (Spain is crazy. The library's only open from 8am-9pm and NOT AT ALL ON SUNDAYS and you're not to buy the books, so you are required to use the library, but how can I get any work done that way? No good at all).

12am: Bed.

You see? Too much free time, no matter how you divide it. It's good, because I get to walk around the city and see stuff, but I will eventually run out of city. I suppose I'll have to study more. Bah. That's what I should be doing now, too. Double bah. I suppose I will go to the library...sigh.