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| Street View of Sunset.... |
My new life/reality in a small (no, tiny, think honey I shrunk the kids small....) little mining community in Cerrejón, Albania, northern Colombia has hit me hard this week! It's been like being run over by a big red double-decker bus in the middle of the desert - unexpected! Whatever ideas I thought I had about enjoying 'free' days and exploring native lands have been replaced by two never-ending states of being... SWEATING & SLEEPING... and often simultaneously... I swear today I was sweating whilst swimming too. That's definitely what the Iguana who watched me swim from his tree to perch was thinking anyway! I could see the Iguana just looking at me and thinking, what an earth is this snow-white guy doing here in the middle of the Colombian wilderness in 35-36 degree heat!? I wondered the same point myself!
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| The 'compound' |
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| The park.... |
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| The Compound.... |
1) Two states of being: Ok, lets try and put some order to this blog otherwise I will just randomly blurt out everything that's been in my head for the past 1-2 weeks. The 'COMPOUND' as I like to refer to this place as, takes me about 10 minutes to walk from one side to the other. I can run around most of the streets and twice around the football field and just about break 5 kilometers. This may sound easy, and for someone who ran a half marathon last year you'd think a few 5k runs would be easy right?... well oh no! My first attempt at at a 5k run was at 09:30 in the morning - 'too late in the morning' some people suggested - well those people were right. After 2/3k, I had to stop as it felt like any remaining water left in my body was at boiling point. After finding a single tree branch for shade I managed to use gravity to stumble to the nearby football field, right next to the swimming pool. The pool felt like a mirage in the desert as I did not have my swimming stuff with me and so couldn't dive in the water. Somewhat more alarming were 2 big black birds I noticed circling the field overhead. A further bird shape sat on the field flood lights, watching me with interest. As I got closer, I realised these weren't birds, they were vultures ('buitres' in Spanish) - the big birds that wait for things to die in hot places and then eat the remains of the animal! BLOODY VULTURES! - like in the cartoons and in the Lion King! They were obviously smelling death and waiting for me to pass out. "I'll show you" I shouted to the vulture on the flood lights! My attempt at sprinting certainly did show the vulture something - mainly that he wouldn't have to wait very long to wait for lunch - or brunch in my case! I took the warning and toddled home... where I preceded to sweat prefusely for an hour AFTER exercising, even after a shower! A very cold shower! This sweating after exercise has not changed!
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| The 'Olympic' ports Ground |
I've managed 3 runs and 4 swimming sessions in a week, so I'm feeling good, but somewhat concerning is the fact that the Vultures are now always there, every time I run, on the same flood light, watching me run, and waiting! Vibi thinks I'm going mad, but I'm telling you they are always there. I've decided to give them names, and treat them like my running coaches... 'Dave' is the head coach, always sitting watching me run around the field, telling me to just run one more lap (whilst licking his lips - well, I mean his beak)... whilst 'Bob' and 'Sandra' just swoop around.... I have to say naming the vultures has definitely helped me deal with their unnerving presence! The Iguana only appeared today so any suggestions for names are welcome!
2) Snow-White transformations: Now talking to the animals may sound a little strange, but I'm telling you, it definitely helps, and as I'm spending pretty much most of the day time on my own, I need the company! I totally understand how Snow White felt living with the dwarfs, and being home all day whilst they went to work. Vibi & Santi (who are smaller than me yes, but definitely are not dwarfs) go off to work and school (far too early for my liking) each day. Until they come home for lunch I'm ether running / swimming (if it's before 10:30 or after 3pm), or in between 11:00-3:30 washing up, cleaning the house, preparing lunch or at least part of it and doing the washing! (Yes I watch the odd game of football - especially this week's Champion's League matches - but so would Snow White if she'd had cable TV!)
So making friends with the birds and other animals helps make the daily chores more fun. So next time you watch Snow-White, replace the forest the the Colombian desert, replace the bunny rabbit and the robin with a vulture and an Iguana, and think of me 'whistling while I work' in the sweat factory of my kitchen washing clothes and pots with equal gusto!
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| Our Home.... |
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| Different housing on the compound |
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| Nice houses on the compound.... |
3) Hidden Occupations: (& new found respect for home makers everywhere!) On a more domesticated note I except that I have never really had any desire to spend time cooking. Having mainly just cooked for one person, and had several other things that I'd rather spend my time doing, It's just not something that I have ever prioritised. Life has now changed, so dramatically in fact that I have been 'thrown in at the deep end' (a phrase used by my mum today during a Skype session - and particularly appropriate with swimming now featuring in my daily life!)..
So I find myself offering to cook lunches (for 3 people), make salads, shop for ingredients I have never herd of, let alone never used. The sweeping, washing clothes folding clothes, washing up pots and pans, making the bed, shopping and hanging up teenager's towels left on the floor - (now I know why my mum used to get so mad with my sister - who still needs prompting at 35+) - all this stuff takes us soooooooo much time it's unbelievable. How parents (mother in my case) did all this stuff, day in day out, and worked / studied whilst making time to drive kids to places and have a life - is quite amazing! Thanks so much mum!
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| What's in fashion this season? |
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| The one & only supermarket |
This led me to think about a really interesting key-note speech I attended in 2012 at the NZ OT Conference, by Lena-Karin Erlandsson.
Lena is a Swedish OT who on this particular day talked about the importance of 'hidden occupations' - all the little things we do in a day that take conscious physical and cognitive energy, that we often don't count as an actual occupation. Well Lena, I was listening that day and now I'm living it! The day can be taken up with so many of these tasks, that I'm struggling to imagine how I will find time to do other things, and things that are / were more in line with my personal values and dreams. Perhaps the way to view this situation is to consider if despite such dramatic changes to my activities and routines, has there been any changes to my underlying values? I value having a family and creating a life with the people that I am with, so perhaps the change to my activities and routine, whilst temporary, is the only real change.
More reflection is required on this, and I really should go as my animal friends will be waiting for me in the morning...
Regards From Colombia...
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