Looking left
I can’t help but think of a Jack Johnson song that says, “Love calls just like a wild bird, it’s just another day…spring wind blew my list of things to do away.” I’m not in love but I’ve definitely lost track of my to-do list.
My class this morning was Anthropology of Andalucia (the region of Spain where I reside), and the teacher was great. He was enthusiastic and used powerpoint, which was a major help in terms of my focus over the course of two hours. Here's a couple pictures of my university:
Every Tuesday and Thursday I’ll be done with class at 1 and have the day to myself. I want to try and either work or volunteer in a hospital but am a little worried that right now my language won’t quite be good enough to do much. So at least for today I’m just sitting in the park. My days are pretty busy here, but nowhere near the business of my previous American life. And so far that’s been really great. I can’t remember the last time I went to a park in Columbia, or even just took a walk.
There’s something to be said for the fact that almost 1/3rd of the workforce here is out of a job, but even before what they call “the crisis”, life moved slower and people make a point of taking walks and meeting with friends, which although I think a lot of us Americans like to think we do, we really don’t. There are always a million people out on the patios and in restaurants here and there’s always a lot of conversation. It’s embarrassing to think about how many conversationless dinners I’ve spent with my own family, let alone friends at school and just the people around me.
I don’t think the point of it all is to say that Spanish people have it right, and Americans have it wrong, but I do think we all need to see the value in investing in eachother’s lives. Trust me, Spaniards absolutely do not have “it” right (see my previous post on their library), but I hope I can remember here and at home to put more time into people than I put into things.
No comments:
Post a Comment