Timelessness

Spanish School

The luxury item in my life here is time, which is priceless. I have time to read books, to write, to sleep, to be with my daughter, to learn a language, to explore new places, to return to the places I want to see again, to watch movies, to get daily exercise, to read the paper cover to cover over a coffee, to have lunch with Eric in the Mariscal; in my life in Baltimore, there is no time to do more than run a big medical practice and take care of a huge home, in addition to attending to my husband and children and occasionally seeing my friends. I am not sure that it is possible to live my life in Baltimore more like the life I have in Quito.

Here, one never organizes too many activities in one day. There is no guarantee that you can get anywhere on time, so you minimize your agenda and give yourself alot of time to get from place to place and from activity to activity. And you stress less about getting anywhere on time. You are not expected to be early or even on time, and if you are hours late, you are probably arriving when everyone else is arriving anyway. Once you arrive, you stay a long time, no one is ever in a rush, and no one is in a hurry to get to bed.

I have definitely felt less stressed during my year here. Yes, we were robbed in those first few months and that was definitely stressful, but other than that first shock, our lives have been more relaxed and less intense and therefore easier. Due to budget limitations, our lives were restricted, but once we knew our limits, we had no choice but to stay within our limits, and somehow that was less stressful than I expected it to be. I was lucky that I did not have the responsibility of taking care of us financially (so Eric enjoyed being stressed), so as long as I stayed within the very clear boundaries that were set, I had little to worry about.

I will miss my life here in Quito. I will miss the time I have and the freedom to choose what to do with my time. It will be a challenge to adjust to the treadmill that will start the moment I set foot in my house and my practice.

Dance School