Monday, July 18, 2011
Saturday, July 16, 2011
A day in the life
So after briefly forgetting that I have a blog, I am updating! Not much is happening here-- I have been moved in at site for 2 months now. I am still getting to know everyone and working on my Pulaar. Tomorrow I am headed back to Thies for "in service training" which is like more specific training on how to do my job. When I get back from Thies (which will be around August 1), I will head back to site and start my baseline survey. I might have explained this before, but the baseline survey is a survey of the community-- their sanitation, environmental behavior, health activities, etc. After the survey, I will ideally have a better idea of what my village actually needs/wants me to do.
I realize that the things I think of as commonplace and almost boring now are really hard to convey to ya'll back home. For example, the other day I was on the phone with my mom and she was like, "Is that a rooster?! It's so loud!" I hadn't even noticed the chickens until she said something. So here is a overview of my daily routine. I wake up around 7-ish usually to donkeys and chickens and goats and sheep. I make coffee and have breakfast inside my hut and usually head out to greet my family around 9. Sometimes I do laundry, sometimes I go greet other people in the village, sometimes I just hang out in my compound with my cousins and kids. I try to stay outside my hut until lunch which is anywhere from 12:30 to 2:30. It is almost always maffe tiga which is rice and peanut sauce. And by "almost always" I mean every day. It's not bad and I really hate being surprised when it comes to food here, so maffe tiga does not bother me. After lunch I go to my hut for the hot part (actually the whole day is hot, but after lunch it is especially hot) of the day and read or sleep for a while. In the afternoon I go hang out with my nene and baba (mom and dad) since I live next door to them and not actually in their compound. We just sit and talk-- usually about how hot it is-- and eat bananas since I live next to the plantation and my entire family (and probably entire village) works there. Around 6ish when the sun starts to go down I come back to my hut and "shower" then hang out until dinner which is usually at 8:30 and which is usually rice or lacceri haako (pounded corn and leaf sauce). I can hardly stay awake after dinner so I am always in bed by 9:30. That's pretty much it! After IST, I will be working in the mornings and afternoons on my baseline survey. Updates coming soon on my progress with that.
I realize that the things I think of as commonplace and almost boring now are really hard to convey to ya'll back home. For example, the other day I was on the phone with my mom and she was like, "Is that a rooster?! It's so loud!" I hadn't even noticed the chickens until she said something. So here is a overview of my daily routine. I wake up around 7-ish usually to donkeys and chickens and goats and sheep. I make coffee and have breakfast inside my hut and usually head out to greet my family around 9. Sometimes I do laundry, sometimes I go greet other people in the village, sometimes I just hang out in my compound with my cousins and kids. I try to stay outside my hut until lunch which is anywhere from 12:30 to 2:30. It is almost always maffe tiga which is rice and peanut sauce. And by "almost always" I mean every day. It's not bad and I really hate being surprised when it comes to food here, so maffe tiga does not bother me. After lunch I go to my hut for the hot part (actually the whole day is hot, but after lunch it is especially hot) of the day and read or sleep for a while. In the afternoon I go hang out with my nene and baba (mom and dad) since I live next door to them and not actually in their compound. We just sit and talk-- usually about how hot it is-- and eat bananas since I live next to the plantation and my entire family (and probably entire village) works there. Around 6ish when the sun starts to go down I come back to my hut and "shower" then hang out until dinner which is usually at 8:30 and which is usually rice or lacceri haako (pounded corn and leaf sauce). I can hardly stay awake after dinner so I am always in bed by 9:30. That's pretty much it! After IST, I will be working in the mornings and afternoons on my baseline survey. Updates coming soon on my progress with that.
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