A Glimpse into My African Life

What I like about living here is that you have time to decide things. A few minutes ago I was just lounging on my bed/couch and eating groundnuts, about 5 pm, just deciding what to do with the next couple hours. As I lay there in the heat with the fan gently blowing hot air at me (at least it dries your sweat), I decided to give you a little glimpse into my african life.
My week started on Monday at about 7:20 am. The vice principal of my school came to my door to give me some more tests to grade because I had come looking for him on Saturday, but he had just left (it was 9 am). Luckily I had woken up about 10 minutes before, so I didn't look like a complete bum with him waking me up 3 hours after everyone else starts their day around here. I graded these tests for a couple hours then went back to sleep. I was awoken by a call from my postmate to go to the market. Off I went. The good ole market. I bought some vegetable oil, which is a luxury here because most people use palm oil, made from palm trees. I don't like palm oil all that much because they put it in the same bottles as they do gasoline, so I always think the palm oil tastes like gasoline. I know its probably in my head but oh well. Then we bought some fresh squeezed mango juice and sat outside the shop to drink it. I saw some of my students out there and they were being wild and dancing like Michael Jackson, or at least trying to. After that, I took a moto taxi back to my house and graded more papers, while sitting on my porch. Then I did something I'm not proud of. I took the wrapping off my homemade tortillas and they had gone moldy. I didn't feel like making new ones, so I just scraped off the mold. I was a little nervous because I remember something about red and black mold being bad and green and blue being ok (hence blue cheese btw). This mold was black. A little later, my neighbors were eating lunch and of course they invited me over, so I had 2nd lunch. We eat under a mango tree in our yard. The food is on a big platter. It's a big mound of couscous with follere sauce on the side. The coucous here is just like putty because its made out of water and flour. So you grab a golfball size piece of couscous with your hand and then dip it into the sauce. My neighbors are pretty well off so the sauce it delicious (keep in mind I've been here a year). Its made with the traditional follere leaves and smoked fish. There's also probably garlic, salt, maggi (msg in a cube form) and okra. While we were eating my neighbors argued about when it was going to rain.
After 2 lunches and more grading, I went to my postmate's for dinner. She made dinner while I threw out/ took a lot of her stuff because she's going home for the summer (not a Peace Corp volunteer). I had so much stuff in the end that I had to call a moto taxi to pick me up and take me home.
On Tuesday, I got up and went right to school. I filled out 2 classes' report cards, which took 2 hours, not including the trips to another room to get the key to the room in which the report cards were kept, and a tea break. Somehow I was there from 8-1pm. I went home and had leftover pasta with tofu for lunch. I really needed to do my dishes, but I couldn't move in the heat. I read for a while, and then got hungry again so I made a boatload of zucchini tempura with mustard-soy sauce. Then I watched some TV on my hardrive and went to sleep.
Wednesday I woke up and went to school to do 2 more classes' report cards. Then I went to the tailor and the market to buy some more mango and some follere juice. The juice lady gave me a freebie because I am her best customer. I took a moto back to my house because by that time it was noon and really steaming. Then Claire and Mamdih stopped by because they had business at the prison (long story). We sat on my porch for a while and then they left. After that, I made myself an omelet with peas for lunch. Then I finally mustered up the energy to do my dishes because literally all of them were dirty and I had to use a dirty plate to eat my lunch on. After that I finished a book, watched one TV show, then started another book because my computer overheats. Tonight I'm going to go to dinner with the other volunteers in town because its my friend's last night here for a while.
So, this is a little taste of the exciting, action-packed, development-working life I lead here. Hopefully I change someone's life along the way.;)