Schedule

This is the much anticipated (ok, maybe not that anticipated) entry of what I typically do:

6ish AM I awake.
7 AM I get up and disassemble my bed.
7-8ish AM I eat breakfast which consists of powdered milk and museli. Lately, I have been eating delicious Odwalla granola bars my mom sent me and drinking orange juice.
8-10 AM I take my buckets to the robinet or communal faucet to get in line for water. The water is only turned on for about 4 hours everyday, so I have a small window to get the water I bathe with, drink, wash clothes with etc. While waiting, I usually sit by the robinet with the other women absorbing Pulaar and being laughed at when I don’t understand. Most of the women are there all morning going back and forth from their houses with balancing huge buckets of water on their heads without the aid of their hands. I have not mastered this art, yet. I can walk the short distance to my room with the smaller of my three buckets on my head while holding on with both hands.
10-12 PM I really don’t know what I do during this time. It fluctuates. I learned how to make tea one day called Ataya. I also play with the 14 kids in my compound usually. I sometimes do laundry or read.
12-1 PM I have gotten in the habit of helping Penda make the lunch. I work very slow because I am afraid I will cut myself while skinning the potatoes or cutting the onions. The women in my compound find it hilarious that I try helping. I am glad this makes them laugh.
1:30ish PM I have my first of usually two lunches. The families are split up into two eating groups. I first eat with four mothers. Usually, their food is better, so I try to fill up with the vegetables and fish.
2:15ish-2:40ish PM It depends on how fast Penda cooks and how hungry the other women are. I eat my second of two lunches.
3-5 PM I go in my room to read and relax. Sometimes I sit with the women and drink Ataya. Sometimes I wander out of my room only to find that everyone is napping. It fluctuates.
5-7 PM This is the time when things start moving again. A few times I have gone to the disponsaire to participate in causeries. I have also done some baby weighing and vaccinations. Most days, though, I just go around and greet different families to keep up my good name on the dirt streets of Gudude Diopbe.
7-8PM I take my bucket bath and fix up my bed for the evening. Lately, I have been sleeping in the foyer of my house because it has gotten so windy and I don’t like having to move inside in the middle of the night because of a sandstorm.
8-10 PM During this time, I just chill with the women in my compound. Once I ate dinner at 9:15 and that was the earliest I have ever eaten. Usually it’s not until 10:30-10:45. I usually fall asleep and just eat a few bites and then go back to sleep. Sometimes I refuse to move because I am too tired. My family doesn’t like this, but I don’t like eating at 10:45. I have been trying to eat more during lunch and snack on food from home at night.
11 PM I am out like a light.