A day

*Note: Most of you know that I've been home for a couple of weeks, adjusting to the culture, the pace of life, and the cold! It's been good to see family and friends and dog, but I am homesick for Tanzania and the Maasai girls. I still have some things to write about our experience.

One of the questions that friends have is, "What was a day like for you in Tanzania?" So here's a rundown of a typical day:

6-6:30 am: The day would begin to brighten, the roosters are crowing outside the window (have been for a couple of hours off and on) and when I hear the water rush into the pipes, I push aside my mosquito net and get up.

6:30 am: Flush the toilet while there is water in the pipes. Then go to the back and start to fill the water buckets with my red bucket (see photos above). Fill the sinks with water and the pots and begin to heat water to wash dishes. I would spend time looking out the window and the back door. Beautiful.

6:45 am: When the water is boiling, put it into the sinks and start washing dishes. I would also take some water from my drinking water bucket and use the electric teapot to start heating water for coffee. I had a french press which was so nice!

7:00 am: Drink coffee and play spider solitaire on my computer and try to wake up.

7:15 am: Some days I'd just loll about and eat breakfast; usually yogurt and cereal. Other days I'd go over for chapel with the girls at 7:20 am. Once in awhile I had to give the morning devotions, which was always a little stressful for me. Most mornings, I would just relax and eat breakfast and prepare for the day of teaching.

8:30 am: This is the earliest classes would start for me. Everyday was different. Sometimes I didn't start teaching until after tea, sometimes at 9:30. I taught English, music, and sports and games. Most of my day was spent in the dining hall, writing on the whiteboard and teaching English.

9:30 am: Another class of English.

10:30 am: Chai. I would meet with the other teachers in the teacher's staff room for deliciously sweet chai everyday. I loved this part of the day.

10:50 am: English class or music.

11: 50 am: English class or music.

12:50 pm: Lunch. I would again join the teachers for beans and ugali (M, W, F) or beans and rice (T, Th). Ugali is a very common food eaten almost everyday in Tanzania. It looks like mashed potatoes, but is made of corn flour and water and is basically tasteless until you use it to soak up the juices from the beans. Somedays we would also have cooked greens which the Tanzanians call "Chinese". Go figure. One day we even had cake made by the students in their nutrition class. Yum.

1:30 pm: English class. Class usually wouldn't get started until 1:45 or so because of clean up after lunch. Which believe me was a job and a half! You would not believe the amount of food on the tables and floor. But it worked out well for the dogs and chickens who would wander in during the afternoon classes to scavenge for leftovers.

2:30 pm: English or music.

3:30 pm: Usually the day was over at 3:30, but a couple days of the week we would do games and sports which included various games like: Red Light, Green Light; Duck, Duck, Goose; Tag; Relay Races; various circle games; and so on.

4:30 to 8:30 pm: Mostly I spent this time hanging out with myself in my place. I read about a bazillion Agatha Christie novels, played on my computer, planned for the next day, wrote on my story or in my journal and did a lot of staring out the window. I often walked to the teacher's college to do e-mail (if I got lucky and they were open, the server was up, and there was electricity!), going for walks, or sometimes walking into Monduli. For supper a huge favorite was grilled cheese with the wonderful baked bread and Blue Band!!!!!

8:30 pm: I would usually get ensconced in my fort of the mosquito net and read and drop off to sleep. On nights with no electricity, I went to bed much earlier, believe it or not! I got a LOT of sleep in Tanzania.

So, here is a typical day in my life while in Tanzania. The weekends and Thursdays were quite different with trips to Arusha, washing of clothes, hanging out with Jean and Marv, and whatever other adventures came my way!