i finally have my notebook

well, today was productive. . . i got up, ate breakfast, went to the office, met my new counterparts, got a post office box, walked around. . . . pretty productive, NOT!!!! OR WAS IT? you know, living in a different country having to become accustomed to new. . . well, new everthing, but most of all . . .how we as Americans define success. of course i don´t want to bunch up all americans as being anal retentive, in a hurry at all hours of the day etc etc, but there is something to say about taking it slow. not measuring success with our money or how many THINGS we can acomplish in one day but defining success by the ease and enjoyment in which we do things. okay, okay, don´t want to make myself sound like i am some kind of ZEN master but, last night, before i went to bed, i made a list: run, wash clothes, go to bank, go to office, go to post office, visit some schools, go to the health center, go to the hospital and on and on and on. woke up, looked like it was going to rain. what´s the point of washing clothes, right? Mind you, washing clothes means, going out to the "pila" (or bucket or some type of thing with water in it) and washing clothes by hand. Went to the bank, bank is suppose to open at 8.00am. . .well, not open. i wait and wait and wait. . .9.00 o´clock rolls around still no bank, doors don´t open, okay. . do i stay here in line or do i go to the next thing on my list. if i leave they might open the door and i would have waited for nothing. if i stay i might be waiting around another hour for nothing, hmmmmm. we all have been there, i would assume and it is . . . to say the least . . . a big pain in the BUM! blah blah blah. .
So, what did i do? i leave, i go walk around, go to the office, run into another volunteer who is actually on his way outta here, back home to the states. i asked him "what would you have done diferently" guess what he said. . . "take my time and not rush things!" he expressed how he wished he hadn´t have rushed things (Apparently he too suffered from "Americanism") he regretted not getting to know his community and making friends "all the little stuff" that would have made his experience all the more enjoyable. We spoke a bit thereafter about the town, stuff he had acomplished during his service here, stuff about stuff and then. . .i went to the store to buy a notebook, something i had been putting of for weeks (because i had so many other THINGS i had to do) and that´s it, i finally have my notebook.