Gender Roles

I tried to sleep in today, but to no avail. The sun is very strong and makes my room an oven very quickly. After breakfast, I worked on my computer when I should have been doing homework and learning Portuguese. I really accomplished nothing today, but it was nice to finally catch up on things that have been hanging over my head since the states.

My family fed everyone lunch and I felt bad that they had to make extra for my friends but they said it was no problem. On Saturdays I have been trying to make it a habit of washing the dishes and cleaning the kitchen. I don't really mind doing this and my mom really appreciates it. She and the rest of her family also think it is really weird. Amanda jokingly called me gay today for wanting to do this and I can tell that this is not normal here. Come to think about it, I have never seen my dad even take his plate to the sink, but he does help out with the cooking. I know that my dad thinks that my mom is doing a really great job at the house and he even told me that her job is harder than his, however, the gender roles here are much different than those in the states.

Nicole, Fabi, and I went to the beach after lunch and I finished up my reading for class (Nicole reminded me that we had more). The waves were especially strong today and looked like those off of the coast of Maine. After an hour or so at the beach, everyone went their separate ways and I took my longest run yet. I ran for about 1 hour 10 minutes and then did a short workout. I don't think I have ever exercised this much in my life, or at least since freshman year. I again got pretty dehydrated and spent ten minutes by the water cooler when I got back. These pictures are just of my view from outside my window. Next door you can see the construction site that wakes me up everyday, including weekends.

I finished up my homework and then was able to talk to mom, dad, Josh, Heather, Adeline (didn't do much talking), George, Abby, and Laurel. I'm not sure if this makes it easy or harder when I think about home, but I do really enjoy it.