what do you do when you wake up?

Beep beep beep. Turn off your alarm clock, its 7:00. Stay in bed for 5-7 more minutes. Then realize that you are sleeping on the hardest pillow in the world. Sit up, yawn.. find your towel which is hanging on the door. Drop off your things in the bathroom which is only a few feet away. Smile at your Abuela in the room across from yours, who is lying in bed, running her fingers over the rosary. For a second; marvel at the fact that she always wakes up at 6:30- and she has for every day of her life. The nuns used to tell her that if she didn’t get up when her eyes first opened the demons were going to bring her down to “you know where”. You’re not sure if she can see you in the dim light but she always knows what time you wake up (and what time you come home!).
Walk to the kitchen and notice how the sun has just gotten up too, out the big windows looking into the backyard. Turn the valve on the calefont, and light the box so that you can have hot water for your shower. Shower, put on your clothes, pack your books in your obscenely large backpack and then realize you better hurry. Grab the lunch that has been packed the day before by your host mom. Snatch the margarine from the refrigerator and butter the rolls that are freshly bought each day and in the drawer next to the “refri”. Run back to your room because you forgot your keys… decide you want one of those apples (the biggest juiciest reddest apple you’ve ever seen) and then slip out the front door.
You can’t help but smell the flowers of the big purple branches that hang over the front door. Walk to the front gate, put your key in and give it 3 full turns to the right. Out the gate is Santiago life. Cars on roads and people on sidewalks. Turn your key now 3 full times to the left. Head towards the metro. The metro is another story in and of itself.