Have You Ever Tried To Balance That Beam?

08 Octobre 2010: Vendredi: Malaria Pill Day

I've realized I haven't posted or written anything about my daily routine - or about the activities which occur frequently. Rather - I have been using my journal as an escape: a soundboard for all my frustrations, anxieties, excitement and things I would express to another English speaking person.

So: Here is a day in the life of moi. Set on Repeat.

4:00 Wake up sweating. Go back to sleep even though some of the women are beginning to wake up and start their day.

5:00 Again - Wake up sweating and to the sound of women walking about the courtyard. Sometimes they're cleaning dishes, pounding shea nuts, corn or peanuts. Ignore these noises. Must sleep.

6:30 Wake up. Get up (on most days). Unzip BugHut2, slip on flip flops, grab lantern and go inside house. Look around for dangerous insects (i.e. scorpions and spiders). Boil water for oatmeal. Read. Eat breakfast.

7:15 Take bucket back & get ready to go to the CSPS. Make sure to apply sunscreen. Fill water bottle with filtered & bleached water.

7:45 Leave house. Lock door. Green all the women in my compound in Gurunnsi. Walk to CSPS. Stop at least 4-5 times to greet other villagers on my way: either in Gurunnsi, Moore, or French. Mostly Moore. Alway shake hands. Always.

8:00 @ CSPS. Greet the major and other staff members (only 3). Greet patients, if any. Sit around watching consultations - small talk. On Thursdays there are baby-weighings. Usually a lot of women and possibly sensibilizations. Some days are vaccination days. And each month there are standard vaccine days.

12:00 Go home and repose! Fix lunch: usually left over dinner stored in my desert fridge. But on marché days (every third day) I wander around the little square of vendors deciding on what I want to buy, and if they have what I want. But always, always buy these galettes made out of shea butter and petit mil which resemble little fat pancakes. Mix this in with powdered milk and filtered water. Add lots and lots of sugar & voila! cereal-type lunch. yum.

15:30 Work out a bit. Lunges. Abs. Jump Rope. Push ups. etc.

16:30 Get water from the pump. Repeat [x] times: depending on how full my big trashcan is of water. Usually every three days I need to refill the trashcan completely which takes about 4-5 bidons.

17:30 Take bucket bath

18:00 Begin to prepare dinner - usually fideo! Sometimes with chicken (if I'm lucky enough for someone to give me one). But it all depends on what produce I have. Sometimes just a veggie soup. Sometimes just pasta. or tô with the pharmacist.

19:30 - 21:00 Eat dinner. Depends on the time it takes to prepare and fix.

20:00 - 22:00 Go to bed. BugHut2 outside. Bring a book, journal and letter writing material. Write, read, reflect until tired. Sleep. If no rain, sleep soundly. Otherwise: be woken up abruptly by thunder, wind, or rain and hurridly gather nalgene, lantern, journal, book, etc from tent and take inside. Then retreive BugHut2 and bring inside. Go back to sleep...sweating of course.

6:30 comes early.