Thursday, September 13, 2012

What Time Zone Are We In?


We have been in Idaho for about a week. It is, so far a wonderful experience. The folks we are staying with are very flexible about the time that things get done and how we do them. They aren’t morning people and have no problem with when we choose to do things generally. We have been getting up about 9am every morning. Or so we thought. It turns out that if you are crossing multiple time zones and want to get up on time that it is a good idea to set ALL of the clocks in the space you live. We have three of them. One on the dash which I duteously set to the correct time the second Andrew said “Hey, we passed over into Mountain Time Zone”, one on the computer which I don’t care about and one on our alarm clock which is arguably the most important. It turns out that we have not been getting up at 9am every day but 10am because I forgot to reset the alarm clock.

When Billy asked if we could get up a bit early and see Kate off on her shopping day, get last minute instructions and get some things done when she was gone we were happy to oblige. And when I got to the house looking terribly confused and trying to figure out the actual time they were both amused and wonderful about it. Kate tells me every day that time doesn’t exist at the farm and she is usually correct. All the same, I am happy to have all the clocks set to the correct time zone again. 

Sunday, September 2, 2012

What Day Is It?

It seems like we have been traveling for months and when we looked at the calendar it is actually only two weeks since we left Fargo which feels very far away almost like another country. The overwhelming feeling of meeting new people, not knowing the bus routes and taking in so many new experiences can be a bit frustrating. I think that we underestimate the effort that travel of any kind takes. You are in the most basic terms taking everything that your body recognizes as "normal" and changing it all at once.
I remember in China after I has eaten so many wonderful foods and didn't feel well that Jess's suggestion that we eat something that my body recognized as food, like the pasta that we ultimately found was perfect. It was my way of resetting the body clock and reminding my body that with all the new things happening I still remembered those that we all felt comfortable with.
We also lose the sense of time and schedule. This is especially true if we travel outside our time zone or completely stop things that help us keep track of time like work. After I quit my job and had been on the road for about a week I started to forget what day it was. My dad, who is doing his sabbatical in Munich is experiencing much the same feeling and he writes that he is trying to get into a rhythm after having been there a week. I think that we take for granted those things that help us regulate how we view that passage of time and how to plan it.


For the next five months this lifestyle is going to be "normal" for us. Every month or so we will move again to a new place and try something out. Right about the time we feel comfortable and normal again we will move and start again. The trade off for this crazy switch every few months has already started. The opportunity to meet so many new people and try different things has, so far proven completely worth the jolt of taking the whole house with us to a new location. Hopefully soon this place, no matter where it sits will feel like home.