85 books

Today we rode out to San Martin to visit a current Youth Development volunteer working in a small rural village outside of Estancia de la Virgen. It was really great to see how a real-life volunteer lives and spends her days. She's near the end of her service, so one of us will be replacing her in late July. Unlike most volunteers, she chose to stay living with her host family for the entirety of her service, although she has her own space with a kitchenette and such. She works at 3 different middle schools in the area (all about 30-45 minute walks from her house) and leads some smaller local projects (English classes and a Women's Circle). She walked us through a week in her life, and while she has a set schedule, she does still have quite a bit of free time, especially based on American standards. She's read 85 books, written a book, and done a lot of "self-reflection."

Honestly, though, I think I could really do well in her shoes. I'm okay with the idea of having some time to myself, especially seeing that for the rest of my adult life, I'll most likely be working 40 hour weeks. And they emphasize a lot here that the human relationships that you form during service are really significant, sometimes more so than the work you do. Being a bit of an invert, this will be a challenge for me--a welcome challenge, however.