Sorry I haven't written much lately, but really, to me life here is the same old same same. Here is a rundown of how my days tend to go- to me, this is boring everyday stuff, but maybe it will be interesting to the likes of you:
Most days, I wake up, set a pan of water to boil, let the dog out (or else she stands on me until I do), and then I go back to doze until the water boils. I have a hot plate in my bedroom, which makes me really spoiled. Once the water is boiling, I mix it with cool water from the tap in my backyard (another thing that makes me spoiled), and I take a bucket bath in my shower (spoiled!). While I am bathing, I have another smaller pan of water that I boil for my coffee.
After bathing, I make breakfast, usually pancakes. I mix the batter from scratch, which is actually pretty easy. I can get dressed as I fry them in my skillet, a benefit of having your hot plate in your bedroom. Finally, I eat my breakfast while reading, I drink half of the coffee at the table, and bring the rest to school so that I can be nice and caffeine buzzed when I teach. If I am running good on time, I can drink my coffee slowly and really savor my book, but usually I have to sort of bolt down my breakfast before I run across the street to the school.
At the school, I teach my classes and sit in the library making sure that the students are working. At my desk, I plan or grade, but mostly I read books. The best times are breaks when the form one students rush in for new books. The classes I teach are Life Skills for forms one and two, and English for form one. The form one students are great, they work hard and ask good questions. The form two kids are troublesome and I have to keep on my toes with them, and usually have to plan very structured lessons that bore me. With the form one kids I can get more creative.
After school, I either have meetings with my women's groups, or I go to the market. Umoza meets on Thursdays, the Kaweta group on Wednesdays, and the Science and Tech. Club meets on Mondays. Other times, I might nap. I also might make a snack before the meetings, popcorn is pretty easy to do.
On Fridays, I go to Chintheche, I check my mail and go online. After that, I buy my food for most of the week. There is a guy who sells lots of different vegetables who I like to visit because otherwise its only onions and tomatoes all week. I also have a place I like to get my flour from, a fruit guy and an ufa lady. Ufa is the flour I make Hector's food with. The man I buy my fruit from is a cheerful little old mad who greets me the same way each week: 'Hello Madam!!!!'. My ufa lady always asks about my dogs and tells her friends about me, she lets me try my tonga on her. Of course, there is also Bright, at the internet cafe, and the guy at the post office who likes to joke with me. When I get parcels, the guy at the post office might pretend I have nothing, and then bust out a pile of packages and laugh- he never tries to get bribes, good man. After shopping, I sometimes visit my carpenter, who is a good guy, and is fun to talk with. He has made all of my furniture.
On Saturdays, I do my laundry while listening to the BBC, and afterwards I tidy up my house, sweeping and mopping the whole house. This usually takes all day, so that by four, I am done, at which time, I read or sew. The little neighbor girls might come over to play at that time, which is nice, they are quiet and polite, but Hector scares them.
On Sundays, if it is hot, I'll go to the lodge. Hector usually comes too. There I read and swim until I get light headed and have to go back.
My evenings are the best time, and they are the same every day. I will read until the sun sets, and I can't see anymore, and I'll turn on the light to keep going. At around six, Zach calls, and we talk while I make dinner. I can most days fix a whole meal and eat it while we talk during his lunch break. When we are done talking, he goes back to work, and I'll read at my kitchen table with a handful of candy to cool my mouth off (I use too much spice in my dinners almost every day).
That's about it-
Beeb
