spare time, where are you?

Someone recently told me that I never write about what I do with my spare time. Their conjecture, based on my previous posts, is that I spend a lot of time sleeping and the rest of the time preparing. They also noted getting the impression that I never feel quite as prepared as I'd like to be.

Let me first clear up one misconception. I do not sleep a lot. I probably sleep somewhere between 6 and 7 hours a night on average. You'd think this leaves a lot of time for preparation, and in a way, it does. Here is a typical breakdown of my day:

5:30-5:45 Get up.
6:30 Leave the apartments with other teachers from NCA and drop them off at their school. Next I head to the intersection known as "Siete Sur" to pick up several teachers (and two students) from NCA Nejapa--my own school. Usually there are 7-9 of them.
7:00 Arrive at NCA Nejapa. Teacher devotions start and then there are daily announcements from the principal.
7:40 First period. I have a class here only Tuesday and Wednesday and the other days this hour is free. After the first class, there are 6 more class periods before the day ends at 2:20. I have 4 classes each day, so that means 3 open periods for me. I am so thankful for that time, although I rarely find it very productive. There is almost always one or two other teachers around with whom I end up talking. Many of them are interested in learning some English. Sometimes I am taking care of business with them. On a couple of occasions now I found myself napping the hammocks of the Nehemiah Center which is about 100 feet away--so I guess I do sometimes use that time productively! :)
2:20 The school day ends. I usually take a few moments to breathe and gather my many things--trying to fit them all into my bag while still keeping everything in order.
2:45-3:00 Leave NCA Nejapa and return to NCA by way of Siete Sur again (to bring the teachers back).
3:00-3:20 Arrive back at NCA. I usually take this time to quickly check my email in the offices (air conditioning!). On Mondays and Thursdays I have Spanish lessons with the Spanish teacher from the school. They are 1 hour lessons. If I don't have lessons, I usually take a few minutes to walk around and say hi to a few people or spend more time on emailing or writing a post for my blog. Then I try to get some planning done for the next day.
5:00-6:00 I head home for dinner.
6:00-7:00 At this point I go back over to the school. Sometimes by foot and sometimes by van. It's about a 10-15 minute walk, so it's not too far.
10:30-12 Shower and go to bed. It's rare that I'm in bed any earlier than 10:30. Time starts to go faster and faster the later it gets...or is it me that goes slower and slower? Hmm. :)

So there you have it. A glance at a somewhat typical day. My free time is usually spent talking with other teachers and staff. When I'm not doing that, and I'm not working, I'm sometimes tinkering with my computer--learning about how this Mac works. I'm very much enjoying it, by the way. It takes some getting used to, but it has been quite easy. I have been so busy that last week was the first time in four weeks that I was able to attend the Bible study in my own apartment. I enjoyed that very much. Outside of the Bible study, there has been an ongoing discussion between myself and a couple of other teachers regarding infant baptism. I have done some of my own reading on it and really appreciate the CRC's understanding and use of baptism. I have come to appreciate anew the symbolic richness in both baptism and especially infant baptism.

In other news, I watched part of the Incredibles today with my fourth grade class as a reward for good behavior. As I was reflecting on it tonight, I realized how much I enjoyed watching with them because of how much they laughed at certain parts. It feels good to look into the eyes of someone who is truly laughing and then laugh with them.

Until next time, keep it real.