We have an influx of women over 50 in the hostel. The age groups fluctuate from large groups of 19 year olds to certified senior citizens. With each wave of different age groups comes a different culture and feel in the hostel. Waking up this morning for my first morning shift, I come down to breakfast and find three of our "more mature" guests already eating. Two are German, one of which speaks very good English, and a French woman that speaks no other language besides French. I have been communicating with her purely through miming and pointing.
I have now been in Mendoza for 16 days and have been working at the hostel for the last 6 days of that. I am consistently waking up in a great mood and full of energy. My coffee is ACTUALLY working (sometimes too much). The most difficult part of my job is washing dishes. I work with friendly people who constantly remind me that I need to be practicing my Spanish and are happy to practice with me. My favorite part of the job is getting to know the guests' stories. They quite quickly blow in through our doors and and just as quickly blow right out to their next adventure. I especially enjoy the relationships I build. They change me in little ways. I have participated in more impromptu dance parties and eaten more meat in one sitting than I ever have in my life. In other words, life is carefree and easy right now.
About a week ago, I realized that I have struggled with my energy level for years. Sometimes, you don't realize something's wrong until it becomes right. I think there are multiple contributors, one of which is the schedule I was required to have with teaching- early mornings and late nights. I would spend the day constantly trying to elevate my energy level and keep it up. I would have short spurts of exercising but could never be consistent with it, partly, because of my lack of energy. It has always been a viscous cycle. Now, I find I have more than enough energy to be in a great mood all day and exercise. Honestly, I'm still getting to this new me. I have been putting up with the energy ups and downs and the subsequent mood swings for, as I said, years.
I named this entry Waking Up for multiple reasons. Right now, I am waking up to a serene and pleasantly cool Mendoza. It reminds me of the summers I worked in Maine and woke up early to make beds and vacuum as housekeeping for a resort. The mornings are crisp and quite magical as the sun and city rises, just as I am.
I also feel an awakening to new energy and stability. I am also experiencing a new level of connection with people and a city I haven't felt in a long time. This is the first time I am living in a foreign country independantly- the only people I know are people I've met here. And it feels pretty damn good.
I'm glad that you are getting the energy level that you deserve to be at. In my role as a teacher, I am struggling with managing my time in such a way that I get enough sleep. The various "extra-curriculars" I have taken on contribute to my getting enough sleep sometimes, but they aren't the main cause and getting rid of them wouldn't help much. I particularly worry because this year I am still only an intern without much independent teaching responsibility, which means that I don't have much lesson planning or grading responsibility either, so I can only imagine what will happen if they let me become a full teacher. The fact that I haven't gotten this under control is why I haven't started reaching out to people who look interesting on JDate, because I don't want to take on another "time-sucker" until the other pieces are properly in place. Thankfully, we are on "Mid-Winter Break" this week, so I can catch up on things (including sleep); I'm hopeful that this week will be a "Reset" button to allow me to go into the rest of the semester with a clean slate. Miraculously, I do this without coffee :) Overall, though, I am hopeful that I will conquer this, and I take your experience as a sign that it is possible to operate at full energy level on a regular basis.
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