A veces hacer nada es hacer algo

“A veces hacer nada es hacer algo.”  This phrase is on several glasses at the host home I live at.  Translated, it means “sometimes doing nothing is doing something.”  I think back to when I was student teaching – the first bell rang at 7:30 and I was often at school before that.  There was class 1^st hour and then lessons back to back.  More classes and more lessons until almost 3:00.  I would go home to my apartment, make dinner, and then do nothing.  It always felt weird – like I was supposed to be doing something but never quite knew what it was. 

Today marks the completion of my first week at AMEXTRA.  A lot has happened since I started working Monday morning.  I have helped kids with homework, taught several English classes, helped build a concrete stove, visited a school with another AMEXTRA team member to plant vegetable seeds, and gone to the dump to hand out flyers for English class.   

But I have also done a lot of nothing.  Or what we would call nothing in the United States.  Sitting.  Thinking.  Waiting.  As this week comes to a close, it is good to remember that sometimes doing nothing is doing the most.