Time Crunch

Alt title: Meghan makes lists and posts them on the internet and uses the third person.

This post will explore two themes: Why is Spain in the same time zone as Germany, and Will Meghan "get her shit together" as it were.

Let's do the second one first because I'm kind of using the blog to both procrastinate and organize my thoughts.

But Meghan, what kind of shit do you have to get together? You've graduated, you've got some vague ideas for future jobs and or grad school, and besides, you're in europe and ought to be living it up, doing the kinds of craaAAAaazy things American twenty-somethings do in Europe. 

Well, Me, if by crazy things you mean kill my roommate and get sent to an Italian prison, no thank you. Dancing is equally out. Instead, let's make a list because lists are nice.

In the foreseeable future:

• Getting all the snaggles out of my TESOL online class. 
• Actually doing all the work for my TESOL online class.
• Finding video-recording equipment and gaining permission to record myself teaching for my TESOL online class.
• Navigating the contradictory and murky waters that are Profex and the internal workings of the Auxiliares program and provisionally accepting a placement for next year.
• Deciding whether or not I actually want to come back for a second year, and if not what would I do?
• Planning a trip around Spain with Heather. (Guys, did I tell you that Heather is going to come visit!?)
• Planning other trip(s) around Europe, since I'm here and tengo que aprovecharlo.
• Applying for a summer intensive course in Galego at the University of Santiago de Compostela, and the deciding whether I actually want to do it or not.
• Buying a plane ticket home. (dear lord those are expensive.)
• Seeing about getting my old college summer job back (hi, Jeff) if I end up in the States for a significant amount of time over the summer.
• Finishing the "unidad didáctica" for the Auxiliares program this year and whatever else they may require of me.
• Finishing this blog post.

In the foggier, less foreseeable future:

• Grad school
• Big-girl job
• Adulthood
• Haircut

QUESTION: Did I just get carried away in the list-making?

BONUS QUESTION: Which of these things does Meghan least want to do?

And now guess what? Spain is in the same time zone as Germany, and I believe that this is why the timetables seem so off. In the winter one doesn't notice it because it's winter and dark all the time. 

But now spring and daylight savings time have sprung and it is just now getting dark as I am writing this at 9:03 in the evening. At home, this dusk/clock-hour relationship would lead me to believe that it is early June or mid August. But no, it's April and there is still a risk of snow. 

Therefore, it seems like the Spanish time table is actually not that strange. They eat and work and sleep at normal times, it's just the hours are screwy.

And for the secret bonus third theme, Meghan's time here in Spain is coming to a (maybe-probably?) end. There are a lot of things I would still like to do, a lot of things I would still like to see, and I don't know if I have the time. Maybe it'll be enough to come back, or maybe the pull of the familiar and the feeling of not wanting to run away from "real life" will keep me home. 

Like my tenth-grade English teacher was always saying, you need to 1. get outside your comfort zone and 2. put in some effort to actually gain anything.

Well, Mr Gambill, I'm trying.

Obligatory photo:

It's the lactation station. I took this ages ago, during San Froilan and have been waiting for a special occasion to share it. Check out the bars on the windows. Is it so the mothers can't escape? Also, look how happy that child is with his disembodied boob. "bico de leite" means "kiss of milk" or "milk kiss." Either way.