day to day

I feel like I never really blogged about what I do here on a daily basis... what a "typical" day in Buenos Aires is like for me. Maybe that's because I haven't really had a 9-5, Monday-Friday routine like I did back at home... every day is a little different, depending on how I choose to spend my free time. However, I'll try to give you a sense of how I spend my days. Thrilling, I know. Hold on to the seat of your pants.

On days that I teach, I either wake up around 10:30 and go for a run, or sleep until 12:30. (This makes me sound extremely lazy, I know, but keep in mind that my average bedtime is around 2am.) I shower, eat a boring breakfast of All-Bran with banana and milk (don't judge - I need my fiber), and check my email and Facebook (I've become a Facebook junkie during my time here... again, don't judge).

Then I walk thirty minutes to school, varying my route occasionally, but I usually walk down a pretty little sidestreet, daydreaming. I arrive at 2, teach/observe/hang out with the kids until 4:15, then walk home. At this point my "free time" commences, since I have about five hours from the time I arrive home until we eat dinner.

I fill that time by eating lunch (usually some form of take-out from a cafe or veggie restaurant), reading, blogging, writing in my journal, hanging out with Ia and his friends, chatting with Lourdes in the kitchen, and, if I haven't roused myself at the ungodly hour of 10:30 to run that day, going to yoga.

Then around 10:30 I eat dinner with the family, usually with the TV blaring behind me (this family loves their dinner-time political talk shows). After dinner I occasionally watch some TV of my own (usually bad American television or some romantic comedy I've already seen), but usually I retreat to my room to catch up on emailing, listen to music, do some more writing and reading, and talk to Andy.

Things that disrupt this evening routine (approximately twice a week) include: dinner with a friend, a cultural event (i.e. live folk music, a tango show, a movie), and/or ordering-in ice cream.

Weekends (Friday through Sunday) are when things really get crazy, without any sort of "schedule" dictating how I spend my days. I sleep in (aka I don't wake up with an alarm), go to yoga or for a long run, then usually choose a "fun" afternoon activity, like going to a street fair, meeting friends for a late lunch, hanging out in a park, shopping, exploring a new part of the city, or going to see a movie. My weekends are usually low-key, which is just how I like them.

And that's about it (excluding travels, visitors, and the first month I was here, when I spent most days walking around the city, seeing the sights). The thing about living in a place for an extended period of time is that not every day is a big sight-seeing adventure... that would get old pretty fast. Five months is enough time to form habits and routines, and to not feel like I always need to be doing something fabulous or new or super exciting. I've liked having normalcy, and getting to know my neighborhood, and being able to choose how I spend my time.

It's been a great experience, becoming part of a huge city... blending in to the crowds on the sidewalks and becoming lost in crowded subway cars... just another anonymous face on someone's commute home.