There’s not
much news at all to share since my last post, so I guess I’ll do something a
little different with this one. First, I’ll just say that I go into work at
three this afternoon, then I work the morning shift tomorrow. Hopefully nothing
will go wrong so I can leave as close to eleven as possible, and get as much
sleep as I can before going back in at seven tomorrow morning. I actually woke
up this morning in time to go to breakfast with Cristina before she went in to
work, then I came back here and rested some more. Rob changed the schedule up a
bit this week, so my days off will actually be Thursday and Friday. I’m not
really sure why he changed it, but it doesn’t really matter to me. At lunch
just now David asked me if we could switch shifts on Wednesday- I was
originally scheduled to work the later shift, and he was scheduled to work the
earlier one. I said sure to switching with him, so I’ll now be done by three on
Wednesday, which will begin my weekend.
Now, since
that’s pretty much all that’s happened since my previous post, I’m going to
write down a few things that I’ve been thinking about recently. As you can
probably guess by the title, there are some things that I took for granted
before coming here that I now appreciate a lot more. Living in a place like
this, that’s so different than the place I grew up, makes me miss and
appreciate things that I hardly even noticed before. Here’s a list of some of
those things:
1.
Familiarity-
hey, I didn’t say that everything on this list would be actual tangible items!
Having always lived in San Antonio before this, I got to know that city really
well. I knew the streets, the stores, the restaurants, the schools, and a lot
of the people. San Antonio really is a big city with a little town feel to it.
Yes, the area I live in now was pretty easy to learn and is now very familiar
to me as well, but being here for two months can’t compare to being in San Antonio
for 21 years.
2.
Air
conditioning- this really hasn’t been too bad living without, but I still
notice its absence, and this goes for both cooling down and warming up the
indoors. I’ll say, I’ve noticed the lack of a/c when I’m working at the desk or
eating in the EDR more often than if I’m in my dorm room. The temperature of
our room never gets too bad; the back door is often open when we’re here and
the window is ALWAYS open (it has a screen), which helps to keep the place
cool. The main lodge, on the other hand, isn’t quite as easy to control. It can
get pretty warm in the main lobby in the afternoon and evening, and the fact
that our uniform consists of pants and a long sleeved shirt doesn’t help. At
the same time, though, it can get pretty cold in there at night since the front
doors are almost always open.
3.
The
smell of clean clothes- yeah, I know that sounds pretty weird, but it’s true. Now,
whenever I put on a freshly washed shirt, I notice and appreciate the clean
smell of detergent a lot more than I used to. Honestly, I don’t think I even
really noticed it much before coming here, but now I absolutely love it.
4.
Access
to a refrigerator- I never knew how much of a luxury it is to have a fridge
until I came here. Walking over to the ice machine in the 400 block of cottages
whenever I’m in my dorm and want a cold drink has reminded me that life is
definitely easier if you own a fridge. Not having a microwave hasn’t really
bothered me too much (except for the rare occasion that I’m really in the mood
for popcorn), but I’ve certainly noticed our lack of a fridge. Thankfully,
Jesse has a cooler in his room that he lets Cristina and I put drinks in as
well. Full coolers make good neighbors.
5.
Texas
food- I recently saw an online list that ranked all US states in order of how
their food was. Wyoming was 44 on the list, and Texas was two. I mean, the EDR
food really isn’t terrible, but compared to the food I was used to getting in
SA, it leaves a lot to be desired. From the enchiladas to the chips and salsa
to the fried chicken to the pecan pie, I’m seriously missing the food back
home. You people here take the definition of “queso” too literally- it’s not
JUST melted cheese!
6.
Friends
and family back home- in terms of keeping in contact with people, email,
texting, and this blog work great, but it’s nothing like being able to be
actually be there with them. From my zoo family to my actual family, I’ve never
been away from you guys for this long before, and I’ve still got a long way to
go before I return in October. On one side of things, the friends I’ve made
here are awesome, and I’m still amazed at how close we’ve all become in the
short amount of time that we’ve known each other. But at the same time, they
can’t replace my amazing friends back home in SA, whom I can’t wait to see
again.
Well, I don’t want to make this post
longer than it already is, and I need to get ready for work soon. But I can be
sure that spending my summer here has helped me appreciate a lot of things
about life that I used to barely notice.
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