It's starting to feel like the days fall into weeks and weekends now, rather than just in a continuous flow of days, one never the same as the next. With my regular teaching schedule, every night of the week except Tuesday, my week is taking shape. Working nights frees up my days for other work, such as working on project proposals and strategies, attending meetings, reading and planning lesson plans, and studying language. It is good to feel productive.
One of the advantages of working hard for five days in a row is that sometimes I really want to treat myself on my two days off. So this past weekend, feeling like I haven't seen the ocean nearly enough (even though I live only a mere 17 miles away), I decided, with my two nearby volunteer friends, to take a picnic lunch and bike to the beach. It was a lovely ride through idyllic countryside, and then an exhilarating down-hill coast to the expansive sandy delta spreading out below with the ocean beyond. We had the beach, both the serene bay and the thunderous surf, to ourselves. We walked along the beach and took pictures, befriended a dog who politely requested a share of our lunch, and just lay on the beach and took naps in the sun.
There is nothing like the night's sleep after the workout of a 20km bike ride! And I was in a perfect position to enjoy my regular weekend tradition that has started to evolve. I've started going to the hammam on Sunday with a family I'm close to. I go over to their house for couscous around lunch, and then we all head over to the hammam around 4:30, where they teach me all the different rituals, and help scrub my back. :-) We sit in the hot steam, scrubbing and lathering ourselves, repeatedly, and basking in hot water. Then we head back to their house, sink into the couch and watch TV as we eat cookies and drink tea, completely and utterly relaxed from our spa day.
So after a perfectly reinvigorating weekend, I'm ready for another productive week!
