A Day in the Life of Mary

5:00 am : My family wakes up and eats pre-dawn breakfast (only during ramadan)

6:00 : my first alarm goes off to make me go work out. I usually ignore it.

7:00 : my second alarm goes off. Or I wake up because I have to pee really bad. I'm just bein real here folks. Just be glad my bowels are back to normal. Anyway, I usually eat breakfast around 7:40. It's always bread. With peanut butter, cheese, egg, or salad. And super sweet hot milk tea that they call coffee. I prefer cheese and bread. Otherwise I'm too full

8:00 : Classes start. 8-10, 10:30-12:30 Usually Language training and some technical training. We're finally doing local languages since we found out our sites so I've been learning Susu. We learn by "competencies" which are like subjects of conversation, not really starting with structure. It's sorta frustrating, but it's exciting to be out of French class.

12:30-2:00pm : Lunch. Either at"kilometre cinq" (the bigger market a bit outside of the training town) and then the regular market. I am usually lazy and go to the regular market. I get a bean sandwich, then add most of a small avocado and 2 packets of laughing cow cheese. It's the shit. No fish, no oil. If I could get some tomatoes and bleach them I would have an epic sandwich. I need more veggies in my life, less carbs.

2:00-3:30, 3:45-5:00 More class. Cultural training, med stuff, safety stuff. The classes we have vary by day but the schedule is the same.

5:00-6:00 Internet time! YAY. Connectin to the woooorld. I need to start listening to the news more too, I won't have this luxury in the future.

6-9 : Family time, or cafe time, or working on homework time. For example, I might go to the cafe and get a cafe au lait, then come back and eat with my family, then hang out for a bit til I start getting bit by mosquitos or the conversation dies or I'm tired or I just need me time, and then I go back to my room, brush my teeth, and crawl under my mosquito net. For dinner my family alternates the usually rice/sauce/fish product and something else, like salad or spaghetti. My dinner is almost always cold. But it's covered, so I think it's safe. I'm eating a billion germs anyway. I just try not to think about it.

9-? Reading/writing time. I ususally write in my journal and then read until I'm sleepy enough to overcome how sweaty I am. This is the main reason I am already almost out of batteries. I gotta invest in some candles, but then I can't read in bed. Hmm.

That's training. It's exhausting, challenging, frustrating, and tiresome. I think it will pay off. I'm learning a lot, and I enjoy the trainees, the trainers, and my family, but sometimes I just want to sleep all day. I've also had a sinus infection (I think?) and I had pretty bad digestive issues the first few days here, so my body likes sleeping too. Luckily, the weather's been really nice. Aka it's been raining almost every day, which guarantees that it stays cooler. When the sun's out, it's pretty brutal, so I'm not looking forwards to the dry season, aka summer.

Today was kind of a rough day for no reason, especially since I got a package, but it IS Friday, so I'm gonna listen to some music, hang out with my PCTs, and try to cheer up.