Inna Real Life:: A Day in the Life
Red Stripes on the beach, boat rides, beautiful sunsets, yummy food, carefree moments with other volunteers, my super cool students doing super cool things, care packages, FaceTiming with my dog…all things you would find if you were to take a look at my Instagram. On this very blog you will find stories of good times, adventures, and even videos of some of my favorite moments.
Social media has created a world in which we are able to show only exactly what we want people to see; a filtered and edited interpretation of our lives. The best version of ourselves. I am just as guilty of this as the next person, which I do not believe is necessarily a terrible thing. The internet has enough negative without me adding to it and I’m pretty sure no one wants to hear about how disgusting I look, feel, and smell after a long taxi ride across Jamaica. It does, however, tend to create a false representation of our lives. I personally (and professionally, mom and fam) do not know a single person that’s life is as perfect as it might appear on social media. I am no exception.
To an outsider, my life might look #fabulous online (and it is *Leah hair flip* sometimes), but most of the time it is just as mundane as anyone else’s.
SO! I present to you…. A typical day in the life of Leah the Peace Corps Volunteer in Jamaica.
I’ve decided to spare you a picture of me in the morning so this will do. As my host nieces would say, “LEAH! You look just like the girl from Frozen when you wake up!” They’re actually not wrong. Shout out to Bri Bri and Tiffy for keepin’ real with me.
Morning shower
Not going to post a picture of the either, but it’s important because, to many Jamaicans, cleanliness is a huge deal. We shower twice a day around here.
Breakfast
On Instagram, it might look like I have fresh Jamaican fruits, breadfruit, plantains, or ackee and saltfish every day for breakfast. THIS IS A LIE. Honestly, most days I eat cereal.
Going to town for shopping
What up, 2-kilometer walk to get a taxi. Once I get to the main road, I usually wait about 10 minutes for a taxi and then it’s a 45-minute ride to my shopping town.
Shopping
On this particular trip, I hit up the farmers market for some veggies, the grocery store, and the bookstore for a few school supplies.
Wait for a taxi to fill
Now that I have everything I need for the next few weeks, it’s time to go home. I juuuuuust missed a taxi heading towards my community so I had to wait for the bus to fill.
Still waiting
And still…
This bus took about 30 minutes to fill up, which is about average in my shopping town. Now that all of my frozen/cold groceries are melted, it’s time for the 45-minute ride and 2-kilometer walk home!
Taking the clothes off the line
Keeping the clothes on the line until the perfect moment before it rains is truly an art; an art that I have not yet mastered. I was just in time on this day, though.
Feeding the birds
My host mom has two pet birds that live in a cage next to our house. She never named them, but I call them Rey and Finn and pretend that their cage is Jakku. I’ve said too much.
Cry over the ruined fruits and veggies in my yard
RIP to all of the pear (avocados) we lose every time it storms. You would have been delicious.
Preparing for school
The end of my summer is spent just like any other teacher – preparing for the upcoming year. Really exciting stuff, you guys.
Making dinner
Again, very exciting and cool.
Boiling my drinking water
Because I learned my lesson the hard way.
Eating dinner and reading
I eat most of my meals alone so I use it as an opportunity to read. Currently reading: Game of Thrones.
Patio chillin
My favorite activity. My neighbors blast music and my host mom and I hang out for hours.
Bug spray after my second shower
Now that I’ve had my second shower of the day, it’s time to reapply the bug spray. I am constantly covered in a film of bug spray and sunscreen. Come at me, mosquitos.
Mosquito slaying
He tried to come at me.
Watching Usain Bolt
Extremely important Jamaican activity.
Bedtime
Watching the Simpsons before bed is basically a tradition at this point.
That’s my day. And this one was more eventful than others. No red stripes, no beaches. Just sweaty taxi rides and hanging out around my house. Hopefully, you have a more realistic idea of what life is really like for me here. It may not be as Instagram-worthy as my days adventuring all over the island, but I love these days just as much.
xoxo, Leah
Inna Real Life:: A Day in the Life
Reviewed by Unknown
on
1:29:00 PM
Rating:
Reviewed by Unknown
on
1:29:00 PM
Rating:
Good morning, how are you?
ReplyDeleteMy name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys traveling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.
I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of used stamps because through them, you can see pictures about fauna, flora, monuments, landscapes etc. from all the countries. As every day is more and more difficult to get stamps, some years ago I started a new collection in order to get traditional letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately, it is impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are very small countries with very few population, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.
For all this, I would ask you one small favor:
Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from Jamaica? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in Jamaica in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and an original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:
Emilio Fernandez Esteban
Calle Valencia, 39
28903 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain
If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.
Finally, I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.
Yours Sincerely
Emilio Fernandez