I haven't always been a morning person. It's come on gradually. It started when I began teaching high school, waking up daily before 6 to make it to school awake enough to be a good teacher for my first period class, which over my U.S. career began at 8:30, then 8:00, then 7:30.
Then I moved to China. Jet lag meant that at first I awoke often in the middle of the night. The sun comes up early here, since all of China is on the same time zone and it's a big country, and I'm as far east as you can get. Even in the dead of winter the sun is over the horizon by 7AM and as the days get longer the sun comes up earlier and earlier. It's only March and the sun is high in the sky as I write this at 8:15 AM. The sun rejuvenates me, and the darkness night brings makes me sleepy.
Then there's the noise. Fireworks before 8AM are common, especially on the weekends it seems. Neighbors get up and start making noise. The construction noise is in full swing by 7:30 AM.
Plus I gotta get up to communicate. To talk to family or friends I mostly have to Skype in the morning, evening their time, when people are all home. It's a two hour window that starts at 7AM my time that works to chat, so I have to be up, thinking, and taking advantage of that time. Not to mention the internet speed itself. At night everyone is streaming movies which slows the internet down a ton, but in the morning most people are in class so the internet moves at a pace that doesn't drive my impatient self bonkers.
There are lots of other things that have to be done in the morning too: laundry (so it can dry in the sunshine), lesson plans (to get them printed off and so I have time in the evenings to spend with people), printing (the office is open in the morning), shopping (either leaving time for the hour and a half bus ride or getting to the vegetable market while the meat is still fresh and hasn't been sitting unrefrigerated all day), plus of course connecting with the Vine to start my day.
All this to say, I've now reached a point where I'm so accustomed to getting up early and getting most things done before noon that I now merrily chirp once a month: guess what? I slept in till SEVEN AM this morning!!
Then I moved to China. Jet lag meant that at first I awoke often in the middle of the night. The sun comes up early here, since all of China is on the same time zone and it's a big country, and I'm as far east as you can get. Even in the dead of winter the sun is over the horizon by 7AM and as the days get longer the sun comes up earlier and earlier. It's only March and the sun is high in the sky as I write this at 8:15 AM. The sun rejuvenates me, and the darkness night brings makes me sleepy.
Then there's the noise. Fireworks before 8AM are common, especially on the weekends it seems. Neighbors get up and start making noise. The construction noise is in full swing by 7:30 AM.
Plus I gotta get up to communicate. To talk to family or friends I mostly have to Skype in the morning, evening their time, when people are all home. It's a two hour window that starts at 7AM my time that works to chat, so I have to be up, thinking, and taking advantage of that time. Not to mention the internet speed itself. At night everyone is streaming movies which slows the internet down a ton, but in the morning most people are in class so the internet moves at a pace that doesn't drive my impatient self bonkers.
There are lots of other things that have to be done in the morning too: laundry (so it can dry in the sunshine), lesson plans (to get them printed off and so I have time in the evenings to spend with people), printing (the office is open in the morning), shopping (either leaving time for the hour and a half bus ride or getting to the vegetable market while the meat is still fresh and hasn't been sitting unrefrigerated all day), plus of course connecting with the Vine to start my day.
All this to say, I've now reached a point where I'm so accustomed to getting up early and getting most things done before noon that I now merrily chirp once a month: guess what? I slept in till SEVEN AM this morning!!
