300 things to do when you are bored

I mentioned in a previous post that to make hummus is a 24 hour long process that I have to do by hand, and it is no exception, everything here is done by hand when it comes to food. I watched my host grandmother the other day sort through kernels of grain, which she would then grind to make something of some sort ( I don't really know what it was for). As I watched her do this, I couldn't help but calculate that bread was 60 tetri (40 cents) and was sold at the store 5 houses away. Definitely not something that would be worth my time, I would rather pay the money than spend hours making bread. But then I got to thinking about the post that I had sitting on my blog as a draft. And while this was originally going to be a "300 things to do when you are bored," I realized there weren't 300 things to do here.  And since drinking beer and reading philosophy are 2 of the non-existent 300 things to do when you are bored, I seem to have gotten in touch with my deeper side and taken this in a new direction, all inspired by the grain sorting.

Because after I watched her sort all of that, I thought what else is there really to do here? If you have 5 hours to kill, why not make hummus by hand, or sort kernals of grain? I generally spend my evenings watching tv shows on my computer, knitting hat after hat that I will probably not wear, but it's something to do. And when the power goes out, well that's where the beer and philosophy books by candlelight come in. As a volunteer in the village, there can be so much free time on the weeknights and I've definitely gotten used to it. There are only so many times where you can constantly refresh your email browser or check out the latest gossip blogs before you realize you need something else to do... or that you really have nothing else to do.  But, I've come to enjoy it. Not only to enjoy the free time, but the time where I am doing absolutely nothing, just enjoying being. I think that as Americans we spend a lot of our time hurrying around so that we can do what we enjoy, but I also think that there is a fine line between what we do for enjoyment and what we do for amusement to kill all that free time we spent hurrying around all day trying to gain.

As an only child, I have always treasured my alone time. I have frustrated people in the past when planning things because I would always plan on time to do nothing instead of hang out with them, to just have "me" time. Here, it is a whole 'nother ball game. There is so much of it, and I have had to learn how to spend all that time with my thoughts, to enjoy it, to find things for amusement (6 season of House is a good start) and that there is a difference between all of them. Now when I think about going back and starting grad school, I cringe at the thought of being so busy. I will love going out on a Wednesday night for dinner, or to see a movie whenever I want, but I think I will miss the opportunity to just do nothing, and to do it well.