One of my friends in the UK said he found the daily details of my life interesting, so in the tradition of Seinfeld, I have decided to describe a bit about my daily life in hopes it will be interesting to you. I wanted to describe a somehow typical day. So when I get up, usually the first thing I do is check to see if the water is on. I have a tap outside and the water flows through it 2-3 times a week. So when it comes I fill up my bucket in my concrete outdoor sink and transfer it to the 2 barrels in my kitchen. I go back and forth with the bucket for as many trips as it takes to fill my barrels. Once the water is sorted, I take water from my water filter and make coffee and start my breakfast. My friend Jenell recently remarked that when she returns to the States she will miss “every morning being a Sunday morning.” My mornings are the most relaxed part of the day. When I finish my breakfast I do my dishes using 2 plastic basins outside near my sink, one for washing and one for rinsing.

After the dishes, I bathe using the “bucket bath” method. I have a large bucket with clean water and then a smaller plastic bucket that I use to dip into the clean water and pour over myself. I stand in a large plastic bin to catch the soapy water. When I finish I pour the water into my toilet. So the actual amount of I use each week is not so much, since much of it is recycled.

After my morning routine I go to the clinic and see what there is to do. I spend time on the computer working usually and help with whatever is happening at the project that day. I usually at some point take my bike and go into town. I check my mail and get fresh bread and stock up on items at the store. I try to go after the heat of the day. If it is market day I will go to the market to get whatever food is in season (now it is tomatoes, yams, okra, and onions). I will often stop by the hospital and greet my friends there. Greeting is a really important part of daily life here. Taking time to say hello to people and inquire about their work, their family, and their health is important, even if you just saw them the day before.

When I come back the kids (from the orphanage) are out of school and will often come over to my house to play. If I have a lot of work to do I will tell them to go away, but if I don’t I take time to play with them. Sometimes I put on music and we have a dance party, other times we just run around and laugh. I finish work around 5 and start dinner. After cooking and cleaning up, I either do 3 things: read by myself and listen to music, go have a beer at the outdoor bar behind my house with my friend Helen who is an English volunteer and play scrabble or card games, or go see my friend Val at the hospital and hang out with his friends and chat or watch DVDs. I have electricity most of the time but they do rolling blackouts every 4 nights and every 4 days for 12 hours. So basically every 2 days the lights (and fan) get shut off for 12 hours during the day or night, depending on the schedule. So that is a snapshot of my daily life, it may not be too glamorous, but I really am lucky. A lot of volunteers don’t have electricity or cell phone service, or have to get in a crowded tro tro and travel to a town where there is a decent market. I may not be as hard core as them, but I am okay with that :)