...so I ought to make use of my time down here

I've been in the country fro just over six days now, and the days have been fairly packed. I've managed to fit in a lot of "extracurriculars," as it were. I've watched a few movies, played a good number of games (including Settlers of Catan last night and Ultimate Frisbee this afternoon), eating out at a wide variety of restaurants and with a good number of people, and I've actually been quite active, exercising at least 5 times. I completed grading my exams, and although I have a lot of journals to get through this evening, then plan my lessons for the week. I'm doing my best to simply enjoy life down here however I can, and I really do enjoy many of the things I have been doing.

It's clear to me that school should not run my life, and I haven't really ever let it run my life while I've been down here - I'm no workaholic by a long shot - but last semester I didn't really do a ton constructive when I was avoiding my work. I don't expect to do much more work this semester each week, though an improvement in keeping on top of things would be a much-needed improvement all-around, yet in the time I'm not doing work I want to live a better life, be more myself and do things worth doing rather than spend hours a day on the internet. I won't let guilt for not doing my work keep me from doing things outside of the house. I still need to crack down while I'm at the house - even more so, because I hope to spend less time at the house in general. This will be mentally healthier for me, no doubt, and I'm also working on being physically healthier as well, hence 5 physically active periods in 6 days. I just gotta keep this up. It allows me to stay optimistic.

I made a list of lifestyle changes and improvements I want to maintain. I won't list them all, but exercise figures largely into it, as does communicating with home (hence this blog post, actually), and even something like cooking at least one big, good meal that moves out of the realm of rice and beans or pasta per week. I guess they resemble new year's resolutions, but my impetus for them wasn't the new year as much as the fact that I'm starting an even longer stay in Honduras than my last one, and I don't want a longer time to send me even further in the dumps than last time.

I'm keeping the option of a second year down here open. I would really like to be able to be in a place where I can complete my commitment, though I have no qualms about breaking the commitment if I think I'd be healthier back home. Frankly, though, the job market looks no more promising this year than last year, and plenty of people I'm actually growing to love will certainly be down here. I do know that having a community around me is something that will help me thrive, and I'll have one ready-made in Honduras next year while no school in the States I know of yet could promise me that from where I'm standing now.

Anyway, I'm trying to live a better life and while many of the things that got me down in the past months are still around, I'm just going to try to counteract them and not let them figure so much into my life as a whole. So there. Now I have to tackle one of those things - grading journals.