Routine

When I was in graduate school I attended a protest in Washington DC (close the School of the Assassins!) which involved sitting on the steps of the capitol building for hours.  I learned something about myself that day:  I can sit for hours.  All my Indiana companions were restless, but I wasn’t.   Because of this, let’s call it “ability,” I have learned that I have to set rules for myself to ensure I accomplish my work.  The trick is setting the right kind of rules to achieve balance. 

One rule:  TV and computer off at 10:00 PM.  Because I am a morning person, I want to get to sleep fairly early so I can wake up in time to capitalize on my early-in-the-day energy.  I miss Morning Edition on National Public Radio, but I have started listening to podcasts of NPR shows in the morning when I get ready. 

I eat my breakfast while I am watching “Ireland AM” on TV.  This show is like “Good Morning America.”  I have enjoyed watching it because it has given me a little window on the culture in which I find myself.  I don’t generally watch morning shows at home, but it seems that the show and the hosts are “gentler” than those on similar shows in the US.  I often play computer solitaire while I am drinking my coffee and watching Ireland AM.  I predict a soon-to-be imposed rule that when my coffee is gone, I get right to work.

I spent my first week of work rewriting the introductory chapter of my book.  The last two weeks I have been organizing all the data I shipped here.  Going through this material has been an emotional endeavor and it has taken significantly more time than I anticipated.  I think it’s an important piece of the project, though, because I am once again becoming familiar with my data and I’m doing a lot of thinking about the book and what it will look like. 

I have become a devotee of Weather.com.  I am most interested in the “hourly forecast.”  I have never lived in a place where the weather changed so drastically so quickly.  I try to leave the apartment when there is the least chance of rain and, because of that, I sometimes run errands in the morning.  Today I went to the post office to pay my first internet/cable/phone bill.  Often I go to the grocery store in the late morning because it’s less crowded than at other times.

I feel most comfortable when I have a stock of things I use most regularly like paper towels, soy milk, cereal, tuna, etc.  While some brand loyalty is transferable to Ireland, most is not and I have been trying new types of almost everything.   I have discovered that I really like whole wheat Irish soda bread.  I bought an inexpensive food processor so I could make hummus.  My first foray here was, well, gross.  Thankfully, each subsequent batch has been better than the last.  The biggest challenge was a lack of tahini.  Thankfully I found it at a specialty store on Monday, so my next batch should be delicious.   

When I don’t have guests, I allow myself one “take-away” meal a week.  I have enjoyed a lamb donner (gyro), pizza and salad and fish and chips.  I think this weekend I am going to try a sushi place just down the street from my apartment. 

I stop work around 5:00 or 5:30 and go for a nice, long walk.  I generally walk through Claddagh Park along Galway Bay to the causeway to Mutton Island.  When I return to my apartment, I do a little yoga and then settle in for a night of watching TV, reading, listening to podcasts, talking on the phone, and/or Skyping.  I generally Skype with Kevin before he leaves for work in the morning, but others are more available for talking later in the day. 

So far I have been able to indulge my interest in mysteries and crime dramas quite easily.  I may, in fact, be indulging this interest too much.  Yesterday when I was walking along the quay, I noticed a blue rubber glove floating in the water and I thought to myself, “what if a hand is attached and there was a murder?”  I am happy to report that the glove was sans an actual hand. 

One of the most important things I did on my Italy sabbatical was what I called “stare at the wall.”  The equivalent on this sabbatical would be “stare out the window.”  And what a view!  A few days ago I saw a sea otter swimming in the bay.  In balance, staring out the window is a lovely and restorative activity.  

Staring up

Staring down