Good Morning

Thought it might be interesting to describe a typical morning for me here in Rwanda. I rarely set an alarm - only when I need to catch the 6:40 am Express bus out of town. I generally rise with the sun. My bedroom gets sufficiently bright around 6am, I usually don't get out of bed until 6:30 just out of spite. I'm almost always awoken by noise outside my house before the light gets me though. This morning, for example, was a day of announcements. When the village government has some sort of official message to relay, it uses a very personal system. A man walks around the streets at about 5:30 am and stops periodically to blow his whistle and shout at the top of his lungs. It is very effective. I wake up every time and hear it. Of course it would help if I actually spoke his language. I always catch - Ladies and gentlemen and sometimes something about umuganda (the community service every last Saturday of the month). I've heard that other villages in Rwanda have the same system. Some announcers have a drum. Maybe I'll find my announcement man one day and try to convince him to use the kazoo my sister sent me in the mail.

So back to 6:30 am - I peel back my mosquito net and crawl out of bed.

My bed is not actually a mattress, or what Americans would call a mattress. It is called RwandaFoam and is literally a piece of foam with fabric sewn over it. It's about 2-3 inches thick, although you can buy thicker ones. It hasn't hurt my back at all and I've been sleeping with it on the concrete floor for six weeks. I'm really impressed by my body's ability to be comfortable anywhere. Last weekend I slept on a straw mat on top of a concrete floor. Maybe when I get back home I will begin living very simply.

I immediately turn on Voice of America to have some noise in the house. It has English news from 6:30am-7:40am. It's a great indication of when I should be heading to work.

I head out to my latrine, which is behind my house. I don't mind having a latrine, except my concrete floor is cracking and I'm getting paranoid it may break one day. Just one more thing to talk to the landlord about. Other PCVs like to egg me on by asking if I've ever seen that scene from Slumdog Millionaire. Not Funny.

I wash my hands, wash my face and brush my teeth along the back of my house. I have a nice little concrete drainage system that just leaks the water into my neighbor's yard -making me feel even more guilty when I have water and no one else in my neighborhood does. Then I go into my house and take a bucket bath. What exactly is a bucket bath?, you ask. Well fill up a bucket with water, make it slightly cold. Stand naked in a basin and try to splash water and soap on yourself effectively enough to be considered clean. I usually find that all the soap doesn't wash off but I'd rather save some soap for later than be covered in dirt. Washing my hair is a whole 'nother debacle so I only wash my hair twice/three times a week.

On a day when I'm feeling extra productive, I bring my kerosene stove into my backyard. I light it up using some matches. (I've found that the lighters in this country are incredibly unreliable and most likely broken when you buy them). I set my pot of water on top. I've finally achieved the making of oatmeal in less than a half hour this week! (No more chastising me for bad nutrition, Grandma!) So yes, I've conquered both the kerosene stove and the boiling of water. Success at last. I make fairly decent oatmeal with honey, cinnamon and nutmeg. Adding in fruit or jelly is always an option too. Tea is also made. The rest of the water that I boiled is saved to be poured into the filter and used as drinking water at a later time.

Then it's a quick slathering of sunscreen and I'm off to work.

I almost forgot - what is becoming the favorite part of my day - as soon as I step out of my gate in the morning, the neighborhood kids shout my name. I'm sure it's because I become a small child myself and get a huge grin on my face and wave excitedly at them.