A Day in the Life
I wake up at 5:30 (granted, I have slept the whole night with no teething baby waking me 
). First I go turn on the hot water heater for the shower. I could leave it on all night but I don’t want to waste the electricity since I pay for it myself. Then I go fill the kettle with water. I get my lunch ready. Lunch is usually something cold but thankfully not yet a sandwich. After a while I go to the shower. It’s usually just lukewarm. I then prepare breakfast which is usually cream of wheat or oatmeal. Sometimes it’s just bread with peanut butter and honey. Peanut butter and honey are staples for me. I then do the dishes and head out for school. I’m lucky enough to be driven to school. I don’t know why that is but I’m not complaining.
I arrive at school anywhere between 7:10 and 7:30 and some of the children are already running around in the room. School officially begins at 7:30. By that time all of the children have arrived.
I leave school around 2:00 pm each day sometimes after having checked my email using the not-so-high speed access. Checking email usually takes at least an hour. I often save emails to read later at home and reply from home in Office then paste it into an email later.
Most days I go into town to buy food. Carrying food is not simple as the mini buss is often packed full of people, chickens, bails of maize flour and who knows what else. Getting in and out if a gymnastic workout so I try to keep my bags to two. This means several trips a week to town. I usually go to the two main grocery stores. One feels like a warehouse with dark aisles and lots of dust. The other is much like a western grocery store with the addition of alcohol, school supplies, small appliances and some clothing. I also go to the open market where the prices for produce are much more reasonable.
Upon my arrival home I pour the water I boiled in the morning which has now cooled, into a bottle for drinking water. I then boil another kettle to use for washing the vegetables. I begin to prepare my dinner which may be a stir-fry, grilled cheese or some sort of avocado with rice concoction.
I eat early because my “lunch” break at school is at 9:30. By the time I reach home I’m very hungry. I usually eat while watching some TV show from my laptop. As of yet I don’t have a TV and my radio caught on fire.
I clean up from dinner, sweep the house, do some cleaning and organizing and put my mosquito net down for the night. After that I either watch more downloaded stuff or play a game on my iPod. I’m usually exhausted so I often go to bed before 9:00.
I always wear flip flops in the house because I often find dead cockroaches. I usually find them by stepping on them.
Life here is not easy for me. It is boring, lonely and frustrating. My friends here rarely call me and almost never come to see me. Anyway, that’s an observation for another post.
Thanks for reading.
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