Distracto Land

April 14, 2009

Disclaimer: I love my host family dearly. I wouldn’t change a thing about my life here even if I could, because everything I complain about is simply part of this experience and my adjustment to a new culture.

I have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, for real. When I am doing work, I need to have no distractions in order to be productive. This is a problem because I live in Costa Rica, with a Costa Rican family, and the only place I have to do work is my house. I would stroll over to the nearest coffee shop or library to do work, but those places don’t exist here. Right now, I am trying to complete a project that is due tomorrow, but there are several factors impeding my progress. First of all, there is raggaeton playing almost all day. I like raggaeton, but I also like variety, and sometimes I even like silence. Secondly, when you live in a house as small as mine, if anyone is talking they might as well be talking to you. Third, someone is always talking to you. Fourth, people here do not talk to each other across rooms. Instead, if they need to tell you something, no matter how insignificant it is, they call for you to come to them. Therefore, I never sit for more than 2 minutes without someone either entering my room to tell me something or someone calling me into the other room to say something like, “Look at this star I just stuck on my wall.” Finally, my bed is my desk, which means I typically want to fall asleep 5 minutes after sitting down to work. Fortunately, I am usually able to stay awake because once I lie down I am reminded that it is actually not at all comfortable and smells like feet.

One of my puppies (who are just now starting to walk a little bit) is sleeping on my bed, so I’m happy again. He is so cute I don’t really care if this project gets done anymore.