The other day, I was talking to one of my fellow volunteers, and she goes, "So....what do you do all day??"
As it turns out, she was feeling a bit worthless, so we chatted about how we'd just gotten here, and right now, getting to know people IS doing something, etc etc.
But then I figured people on the home front might also wonder what I do all day, so here's what I did yesterday!
I apologize in advance for the level of detail...as you'll see, I literally had nothing better to do. (Or at least, nothing that I wanted to do)
6:05 - snooze once, wake up, make first cup of coffee, check email/viber, realize I'm out of internet credit, transfer some and consider going into Tenko this weekend to get more
6:30 - second cup of coffee, start this log, turn on podcast ("how animal domestication works," by Stuff You Should Know)
6:50 - pause podcast to move chair into the shade.
Upon standing, look over courtyard wall and notice kids going to school (I live near the primary school); realize that I didn't go get water before school time as I had intended. Alas. Move chair, play podcast. Watch lizards eat ants while listening.
7:45 - brush teeth, get dressed, fill water bottle.
7:55 - wonder what I'm going to do until my class at 10. Enjoy breeze, look off into the distance for any hint of rain clouds. (No such luck)
8:00 - decide to read, but find myself wishing I hadn't finished The Count of Monte Cristo yesterday because I enjoyed it more than I'm enjoying book 2 of The Magicians.
8:05 - Set alarm so I don't end up being late for class. Listen to all ringtones and wonder who at apple makes up ringtones? Do they outsource that to a ringtone specialist? Whoever made the most recent ones is much better at it than whoever made the "classic" ones. Decide on "Uplift." Return to book.
9:20 - Alarm. Pack backpack, remove bike from shed (more on this upon the official presentation of my house), and realize I gave myself entirely too much time for this. Refill water bottle, put out solar panel, and have a little snack of PB&J (not a sandwich, just PB&J mixed together in a bowl).
9:40 - Depart for my school; notice that my back tire is a little low, decide to deal with it when I get back home. Immediately regret this decision when the bike ride there feels like it requires more effort than usual. Grudgingly admit to myself that if I hadn't seen that the tire was low, I probably wouldn't have noticed a difference.
9:50 - Arrive; see my homologue!!! This is only the second time I've seen him since the day I arrived at site, so this is exciting! Chat with him, the English/French teacher, and the director for a while. Both other teachers have class at 10 too, so I figure at least I won't be the only one who's late.
10:?? - finally start class. Today is 5eme (about the equivalent of 7th grade)
11:00 - end class even though we haven't finished, because I'm nice like that.
11:10 - almost home but see an SUV at the primary school. Oh look, it's the older French couple that I met last night at the Chief's fete for Tabaski! They (and whatever group they're with) are the people responsible for building the library in my village, but (as I have noticed) the library isn't getting much use. SO they came to do a training with the primary school teachers on how they can use it more. They shared with me some frustrations about the obstacles they face working with Burkinabe, who just don't do things the way we're used to.
11:15 - back home, change into my home clothes (tank top and shorts) and in light of how sweaty I am, add some oral rehydration salts (ORS) to my water bottle.
11:30 - my homologue arrives to visit! A bit earlier than expected...he had said that he had class from 10-12. Hmm. Whatever. Throw on a skirt over my shorts. I show him my solar panel and we discuss furniture. He's very impressed by my calendar.
11:45 - He leaves, and as enjoyable as the visit was, I'm not entirely sure that he understood what I want as far as furniture...so I guess I'll find out at some point. Drink ORS/water while updating this log
11:55 - Wait impatiently for the kids at the primary school to go home for lunch/break time so I won't have an audience at the pump. Consider going before everyone is gone so that they'll pump for me. Organize things in my house to kill time.
12:10 - I hear a moto! It's my director, seeing if my homologue was still here. Alas, he is not. Director continues his running joke about me cooking for him by asking what I've cooked. He leaves and I listen to a class at the primary school singing something. Super cute. Note some dark clouds but I don't think it's going to rain any time soon. In case you were wondering, I have become a pretty good rain predictor. Not as good as a Burkinabe, but maybe I'll get there someday.
12:20 - excitement at the primary school is dying down, so I decide that I'll go at 12:30 to get water. Generally just sit in my chair, drink water and think about random things for a bit.
Look over and see that my vitamin and doxy blister packs (both come in sheets of ten) are off by two. That will never do; I resolve to fix that today and tomorrow.
Survey my "pantry" area and decide on tuna salad for lunch.
12:30 - put skirt on, lock door, and go get water. It takes a bit longer than usual bc some of my neighbors were there at the same time.
12:55 - get back, see a missed call from Chris, so I call him back - he was in Ouaga getting an MRI of his knee but nothing is torn! So he's very excited to be going back to site tomorrow.
1:00 - make lunch -- "make lunch" implies that I did something beyond cutting up an onion and a tomato and opening a can of tuna and a jar of mayo and mixing things together with some spices; I did not.
Fill water bottle, grab chair, phones, and kindle, and move outside.
1:10 - eat lunch
1:16 - finish lunch and realize that I eat way too quickly. Considering how slowly I do other things simply because there's no reason to rush, one would think I would take my time to eat. Maybe I'm just too good of a cook, and the food I make is too delicious not to scarf down. HA. I'm sure that's it.
1:18 - turn on data to check the news. Wait for it to load. While waiting, move solar panel to its afternoon position and then sit and look at the lizards and think about things.
Decide to burn some trash this afternoon.
Swat some flies away from my person.
Wonder if my arm jiggles when I write on the chalkboard. Decide to do start doing some tricep dips to mitigate, just in case - but not today. Maybe tomorrow.
Again notice a dead branch currently caught by other branches in the tree. Remind myself not to sit in the shade under that part of the tree until it falls.
1:30 - news still hasn't loaded so I decide to give up for now and read a bit.
1:40 - news has loaded!!!! Take this intermission to refill water bottle before going back to the book
2:30 - kindle battery dies, so I bring solar panel inside and switch the set up from charging the battery via the sun to charging devices via the battery.
Decide to be somewhat productive, and continue the task of cleaning my nasty walls, which I started this weekend.
2:35 - put on some muzak for the project and get to scrubbin
3:30 - I'm about 2/3 done with my big room, and I decide that's enough for today.
Wash dishes from lunch and determine that it's sufficiently hot/still to burn trash easily.
Fill up bath bucket and the second bucket that I'll use to refill my water filter before I go to bed.
3:40 - burn trash
4:15 - clouds are starting to look more legit, so maybe there's hope for rain yet!! I've finished burning my trash and even tore up half of the giant box that my solar panel came in to use as future kindling - not a bad thirty minutes. Back to the book.
4:20 - the ants are persistent today!! They keep crawling onto my feet and making me crazy, but luckily I find a way to curl up in my little chair so my feet don't touch the ground. Always feels good to outsmart insects.
5:05 - the kiddos have been released from school and are joyfully expressing their approval of the hour. The clouds haven't brought rain yet but they did bring cooler air and nice breezes, so I'm not complaining. And I see more in the direction from which the rain likes to come, so I'm hopeful.
Refill water bottle and consider a snack. Since it'll be dark and mosquito-y soon regardless of any potential rain, I decide to postpone the snack until I'm in the house for the evening.
5:20 - CHECK ME OUT!!!! It's getting all nice and blustery!! New prediction: if it doesn't blow right past, it's gonna raaaaaain!!!!!
5:30 - the wind keeps blowing my door shut, so I'm taking that as a sign to move inside. And hey, since I'm here now, it may as well be snack time.
Make a little something I like to call village pudding. Will explain more another time, but basically it's chocolate and that's all that matters.
Hear rain start as I'm mixing. WOOHOO!
5:35 - eat village pudding and relish in the sounds of rain upon my tin roof
5:45 - return to book (which, by the way, has recently gotten more interesting)
7:05 - it stopped raining at some unknown point and I go outside to go to the latrine and notice that the full moon overhead looks positively werewolfian.
7:15 - chat w Chris a bit on his way from happy hour back to the transit house** for delivery pizza** and cards against humanity. My stomach calls out for pizza, even though I'm not actually hungry at all, so I keep reading to distract myself.
**NOTE: yes, there is in fact delivery pizza in Ouaga!!!!
And the transit house is a dorm-like house in Ouaga (property of Peace Corps Burkina Faso) that we can stay at for cheaper than a hotel - and for free if we're there for Peace Corps business!
8:45 - sad but true: about to fall asleep reading. Decide to turn off the alarm for the morning.**
Muster up the energy to take a bath and get to bed.
Fill a pot with water from bath bucket, and while it's heating up a bit, fill water filter.
Take a nice little bucket bath
**NOTE: apparently my internal clock is too good - even without the alarm, I only slept ten extra minutes.
9:00 - unplug light, and hop in bed with absolutely zero shame that I'm going to bed at 9pm
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