togetherness

So in case you couldn’t guess, we spend a lot of time together. Well, duh. Right? We’re married. That’s part of the agreement. So let’s rephrase: Here in Peace Corps, we spend A LOT of time together. We live together in a very small space, in a small community and setting in which we don’t really go out after dark. We work together and have the same ‘office’. Although, during our time here, we have worked on developing projects that we work on individually, rather than together. Our social lives also seem to always include one another, as we have all the same friends, and mostly the same interests. We’re by far each other’s best friends in our community, as making genuine local friends is something that all Jamaica PCVs seem to struggle with, ourselves included.

Our average* day consists of:
-The first hour or two being within 10 ft from each other as we read and drink coffee, organizing our plans and work for the day. (At some point Matt might make breakfast while Julie sometimes reads to him, after which we’ll eat said breakfast together.)
-Come 8/9am we both, more or less, go our separate ways to work on different things. However, it would be unusual to not cross paths again before noon, as we both need to work in the library at the same time, we’re checking in/working on a mutual project, we need to hand off the keys, we’re both at home, etc.
-Come lunch we’re both usually at home grabbing a quick bite to eat, in which we’ll once again share our hastily-made grub with one another if he/she is around.
-The rest of the day until dinner is spent in much the same way as the morning. Maybe Julie’s teaching at the school, while right outside the school, Matt’s working on the Parade ground project. Maybe we’re filling out PC paperwork together, paperwork that seems to be piling up lately. Maybe we’re at the house, proofreading one another’s grant proposal or blogposts. Maybe we’re at the library, one working on organizing the books, while the other hunts for jobs for both us back home.
-Julie starts making dinner around 5, about the same time Matt craves his afternoon coffee. So both back to the house, Julie in the kitchen, and Matt swinging in the hammock, sipping on his hand-roasted brew.
-We eat dinner together at the table. Share what little we don’t know about each other’s day. Maybe we’ll go for a walk around the community to check on the progress of the Parade Grounds, or just to get out. Back home, we’ll play a few games of cards, maybe have a beer to go alongside. And right before retiring to our bedroom to watch an episode of Deadwood or The Wire, we’ll look at each other and say, “We spend A LOT of time together.”

We can proudly say that despite all this –and the fact that we’re both stubborn, strong-minded, independent people, we haven’t killed each other yet. In fact, we’re both still completely on board with the ‘till death do us part’ agreement. And we’re sure that one day, when we have a family, and a home, and jobs, and barely have a moment alone together, we’ll both reminisce about the days in PC (and the AK Bush) when we spent so much flippin time together. AND, one thing’s for sure, that if there’s one thing that we’ve done together, we’ve grown together. However, despite all this, we’re both looking forward to having a little more time apart in our next life. I don’t know, maybe 6 hrs/day would be nice?


*Our days can vary highly from one to the next.