How's things?

I'm settling in, and flipping in and out of the honeymoon feeling of being here. Generally when people around me are stressed, I feel unhappy; when people are relaxed, I feel happy. Not news, but: I need to learn how to be more unaffected by peoples' moods.

One thing that's funny is how similar, in some ways, the work here is to Vidalias. We have customers. We need to make them happy. They use things up (towels, clean glasses) and we restock them. We answer the telephone. We smile at people. We need to order supplies and put them away.

However, when I'm not Jill's personal secretary, I teach yoga! I've taught two classes and helped assist one; next week I'm even going to be teaching some private lessons. The first class was awkward and I was nervous and convinced that I would get fired. I spent the first two days living in mortal fear of being fired, constantly. This is no longer a concern of mine, thank goodness. They like me and they've told me so. And my second yoga class was much much better than the first. The yoga shala is a beautiful open-air octagonal studio overlooking the jungle. Really serene.

I've been doing some errand-running around the hotel, some flower arranging, databasing, and menu-layout and design. Little things. I work between 4 and 9 hours a day, so far, and I theoretically get one day off a week, but it's not going to happen this week. We have 18 reiki people here on a big retreat. Next week, if I'm lucky, Kenny's going to take me with him to Manuel Antonio, to the beach, for a couple of days.

My new house is a shithole. It's the kind of place where I walk in and don't even have any idea what a person could do to it to make it better. It's just the way houses are in Latin America. Everything is made by the aesthetically blind, and decorated by the aesthetically destitute. I think the problem is that everything feels very dirty even when it's clean. I can't explain it. But I have a big bed! And it's comfy, too. Last night I cooked in my little kitchen for the first time. It was fun- I made rice and lentils in the electric frying pan. We have really comfy couches, and a tv and dvd player. Our shower theoretically has hot water, but technically speaking, it has no hot water. Showering is very invigorating. And fast.

Despite how ugly and seemingly gross my house it, I'm getting really comfortable in it. My bed is so big and nice, and the couch is super comfy, and here's my favorite part: we just leave the door and windows open. It's always warm and breezy. Some bugs get in, but seeing as there are so many cracks and holes, they would get in anyway. Last night there were geckos all over the wall. Ok, 2 gecko sightings. But still. I can't really curb my enthusiasm about "wildlife". Every time I see a lizard, or a toucan, or a moth the size of my hand, I feel like I've just discovered a dinosaur. It's so exiting.

I like being at Amatierra, the grounds and hammock are really nice, I can go tan by the pool, walk down to the creek with the waterfall, use the studio. But unfortunately there are guests, and I keep getting drawn into talking to them but they only talk about themselves and I'm not supposed to be too chummy with them. So sometimes it's hard to find space. My house is about a mile away from the hotel, and so far I've just been taking taxis at times when they're picking other employees up. I like to stay here because they feed me for free. But that means if I'm here for all three meals, I'm here for 14 hours a day. That's a lot. So I'm going to have to start biking or walking home in the middle of the day for a break, and/or cooking my own dinner and not coming back later. We'll see. Apparently the walk is uphill and difficult. I haven't tried yet.