Day of Rest

          Fridays are my day off.  Just like Saturdays and Sundays back home are supposed to be days that I don't work.  However, over the years I have learned to not distinguish between work days during the week and working on the weekends.  During the school year most weekends find me in my classroom working or grading papers for hours at home.  Work has slowly invaded my entire life, and I have to find ways to "fit in" the personal things that need to be done.  Unfortunately, down time is limited.  And, when I do have down time, I feel restless because I am conditioned to always being "doing" something.  
          I am learning in Haiti that a day of true rest does wonders for my mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual state.  Today I went slowly in the morning, taking my time with breakfast and straightening up my room.  Then, I sat on the roof in the cool breeze reading while I waited for my friend Oriol to arrive for my Creole lesson.  After he left, I just sat on the roof and enjoyed the breeze.  No reading.  No talking.  Just being.  If felt good.  
          I walked to the market with my friends Marg, Emily, and Sherry to buy lunch.  We enjoyed a simple lunch of bread, cheese, tomatoes, and yogurt.  Then, I continued to read and just sit.  As the day progressed I relaxed more and more and could feel myself replenishing for the work in the coming days.
          This idea of rest is a strange concept to many Americans, myself included!  I often confuse resting/relaxing with boredom.  Or, resting/relaxing feels guilty because I feel that I should be doing something productive.  I'm learning that rest IS productive.  It allows me to re-energize so that I can be more effective.  Because of the culture here in Haiti--no T.V., no video games, etc.--resting for me is exactly that.  Restful.  There's no watching T.V. while I read while I chat on Facebook.  There's no futzing around the house doing odds and ends and calling it "resting" because I'm not working on school.  I truly rest here.  
          The challenge will be to hold onto the lessons I'm learning here when I return to life in the States.  To choose to unplug from the world for awhile and simply "be."