I followed myself around yesterday, just in case anyone is curious what a normal day is like for me.
7:34 : I have this thing where I only get out of bed when the numbers of the minutes add up to the hour: 6:51, 7:07, 7:16, 7:25. There's something about the symmetry of the clock and beginning the day when things are balanced that appeals to me. Weird? Probably.
Make bed, shower, get dressed. It's rainy and there's a chill in the air which calls for long pants and my favorite, old sweatshirt.
8:01 : Tuesday is donut day, yes, DONUTS! They are homemade and delicious. I start with a small bowl of oatmeal and a banana so I can feel better about myself when I eat two donuts and put one in my pocket for the road.
8:30ish : Make a mug of poor-man's chai to take back to my room. One cup of black tea, a heaping tablespoon of powdered milk (no dairy products here), a tablespoon of sugar, and a generous sprinkling of cinnamon.
Some morning nourishment for my heart, mind, and soul.
Check email, read the news, grade papers, stretch, finish lesson plans for today's classes. This is my work station, it's comfortable and has the best morning light. I keep the flyswatter within arm's reach at all times to attack any flies, ants, mosquitoes, or spiders that invade my room; a flyswatter is definitely on my "Things I'd Take to a Deserted Island" list.
11:30 : Walk to the office to print a newspaper article and make copies for my class then head to school; things always take at least twice as long to do as I expect.
12:00 - 12:40 : Teach P.5 English. Today is library day so all the kids read a book then have to identify the characters, setting, and plot as their homework assignment. I forgot my camera but I promise that's what happened.
12:45 : Lunch. I decide on the vegetable stew for such a dreary day, fruit cocktail (courtesy of the container donations), and chappati, a greasy tortilla-like flat bread - I like to spread mine with peanut butter, sprinkle cinnamon on top, then roll it up. Have a long chat with Mr. Mourice about the price of kerosene and the benefits of installing a solar panel to his house in Mombasa, Kenya where his family lives.
1:35 : Mend a couple pairs of shorts for one of the boys that I'd been putting off for a week. The sun comes out so I sit in the chair on my porch and do a little stitching which takes me for-e-ver.
2:15 - 3:00 : P.6 English class. I'm currently teaching punctuation which is more of a challenge than I ever anticipated. Apparently the concept of quotes and quotation marks is a difficult to comprehend, so I'm using newspaper articles to show examples.
Reading an article from the Sudan Tribune newspaper.
Introducing the "5 Ws + H" rule, my journalism professors would be proud I think.
3:00 : Wander up to the play area and find that Josephine is tracing the little kids' hands to send to their sponsors in the States. I offer to help but she has it under control so I do the next helpful thing and wrangle all the kids away from her for playing and games.
Rutha gets her hand traced.
Clockwise from top left: Maria (eyes closed), Vicky, Esther, Sikili, and Faith with their dolls.
Rejoice Lilly and Ruben found a mango!
4:45 : Wash clothes, sweep floor, clean spider guts off the wall from an incident the previous night that I didn't attend to.
5:15 : Tag along with Leah, Charity, Moses and Noella into the village. Moses and Noella are siblings and we go to the compound where their grandfather and cousins live for weekly children's church.
Charity, Noella, Moses and Leah sing and tell Bible stories.
Charity gives each of the kids a vitamin and leaves the rest with their mom.
Noella and Moses with their eyaba (grandfather).
6:00 : Dinner. Rice and beans with a heavy dose of chili sauce to add some heat and tanginess, fresh pineapple and mango slices.
When I leave the dining room I find that Isaiah and Nyoko are sitting on the bench. Nyoko is just hanging out, but many nights Isaiah sits on that bench while I eat dinner and waits for me to come out to play. Seeing him simultaneously warms and breaks my heart because I know that while I'm here today and will play with him after dinner, someday I won't be here, I'll be another person that's abandoned him. For now I cherish these moments and his sweet, beautiful smile.
Isaiah, left, and Nyoko
6:20 : Bath time for all the kids. Every other day or so I hold baby Benjamin while his house-mother bathes the other boys she cares for. We like to look for birds or bats flying around and he'll point and follow them with his finger and say, "Ba. Ba. Ba." Today he tried to feed me his mango but I politely refused, not that you can tell from the picture. This is possibly my favorite time of the day.
7:00 : I go to the dining hall to help the older kids with their homework. Most of them are busy writing letters to their sponsors so I play editor, ask them about their day, listen to their stories, quiz them in social studies or math, and write down a few new Arabic words for my personal dictionary.
8:00 : With a coloring book and crayons in hand I head to Isaiah's room so the boys can color pictures, even their house-mother wants in on the action.
9:00 : Lights out in the dorms so I head back to my room. Read some emails, grade some papers, prepare some lesson plans, shower, take malaria pill, brush and floss, read, say some prayers.
11:15 : Crawl under my covers, tuck in my mosquito net. A long, full, great day as usual. Goodnight moon.
