Routine

So after a long day of cleaning and doing some laundry, i feel like i should talk about my routine. Its been a little off lately because of the rain, but still somewhat the same.

So lets start off with days in which i go to town. Depending on whether or not i have something going on i might set my alarm or not. When i first got to site, i would wake up at about 430 every morning. This definitely was not by choice! A combination of malaria drugs and one annoying rooster would wake me up so early. Now, i tend to sleep in. My sisters normally want me up so around 9 or so they will greet me in bemba and i will groggily greet them back while in bed. Once im up, i make a visit to my pit latrine and then start my brazier to make breakfast. Oh how i wish i had a stove! Getting the brazier started and then cooking can take quite a bit of time but its a good way to start the morning. Depending on whether i have things to do in town, ill either leave right away after breakfast or ill stay a little longer and read or send emails on my phone. To get to masansa, i have to bike about 4km on a bush path and then 6km on the road. It can be a pain sometimes to bike there and back, but it keeps me active. Once in masansa, ill drop my bike off at one of my shop owner friend's house and then walk to school. Basically all i do at the school is hang out in the teachers workroom. I wish there was more for me to do, but im not the boss! After being at the school for a while, ill go to the market to buy a few things and then i bike back. There is another volunteer who has his work in masansa too so he and i hang out ever now and then. Once i get home, i relax a little and then have dinner with my family which is nshima and a vegetable for the relish. After dinner, there usually isnt anything to do after dark so i go to bed. On days i stay home, i do a lot of cleaning and laundry. Both are pain stakingly long ventures. Laundry is done by hand and then hung out to dry. If my family is around, they will do it for me which takes them a fraction of the time it takes me, but cleaning the house is all me. I have two rooms to my hut so i start with my bedroom sweep it all out and then move to the next room. The problem with cleaning is that i have to move everything and in small quarters. I started at maybe 11 this morning and didnt get done until 4 or so. With a grass thatched roof, a lot of dust and other particles fall and land on everything, so the house needs to be cleaned often.

Then there are the days i want to leave masansa entirely. On those days, i have to get up early to bike to masansa by 730 to get transport 50km to the boma, or large town. Transport consists of a pick up truck jammed packed with people and their belongings on a dirt road. If i want to go to the peace corps house in serenje then i have to hitch another 100km. Its a hassle and takes hours, but its nice to spend some time at the house every now and then.

Ok. Its 730 in the evening right now, but im absolutely exhausted so i think its bed time!