Imagine that I would walk nearly five k's over hot sand in the blazing Tropic of Capricorn heat to use the Internet. But that's exactly what I just did ;-). I got a text from Thuso that the Internet was back up and went from the clinic to the school confirmed that it was indeed working, then from the school back to the clinic and then home to grab my laptop and back to the school. Round trip probably 5 k's.
There are a few other things I never dreamed I would be doing that have now become commonplace to me, including but not limited to:
Reusing my bathwater. I fill the tub every morning in case the water goes out sometime over the course of the day, and then use and reuse the water for whatever I can think of. It's often got sand and floaties in it, but I'm generally grateful for the wet, and occasionally the cool. This is what you do when you don't have electricity to have a fan! I have swam in lakes cleaner than what comes through my tap but I have generally found that I'm able to have good humor about it. After I sit in the water to cool down I leave it in for the point in a few hours when I will need to cool down again. It's just a few shades short of hot but I make it work. My mother has lovingly reminded me of the days when I had to boil water to bathe with. Dishes are cleaned, laundry cleaned, body cleaned. Sure maybe it's not "sanitary" but that concept makes me laugh these days.
Getting altogether too excited at the concept of sleeping in a tent. It is now so incredibly hot here that I can barely sleep through the night in the oven that is my house, (go figure, you get rid of the night terrors and they're replaced by heat. I swear to you I'm laughing!) and am thrilled that my mother has sent me a tent. I cannot wait for it to arrive so I can sleep in my yard. Prior to Africa I had been camping for real precisely once, and it was a nearly complete trauma. I never thought camping would be an upgrade, but it is and I love it. I think perhaps the reason I never wanted to camp in the past was somewhere deep down I had a feeling I would be doing it for two years straight in some distant day in teh future.
Baking. Like for a hobby. So far I've made (from scratch and occasionally without measuring cups): brownies, coffee cake, apple pie, and peach cobbler. I have to honestly say I wasn't sure I had the baking gene in me. Everything I've made has been edible and Simon (not typically a man of many compliments) has even said it's quite good. My mother and grandmother are shocked and surprised and my mom has said that if I come back from Africa knowing how to cook a miracle indeed will have occured. I have informed her that baking is not cooking, so don't anyone hold your breath.
Cohabiting with spiders, bugs and other creepy crawlies. I have a general policy at this point that if the size of a creature (including legs) is close to the size of my palm, they have to die. Anything smaller is generally friendly and someone to talk to. With of course the exception of the scorpion that recently stung me, but that was at J's house so that doesn't really count.
Imagined that I could be this hot. Tempurature wise that is, as my hair is beginning to "fro" as it grows. I wake sweating and fall asleep sweating. I drink 4 litres of water a day. The dust blows and sticks to me. My brainpower gets a little foggy from 11 am onward and by 2 my mind is completly useless and I stare into space. I dream about ice. I pant like a dog. It's lovely.
That I would become an expert at ID-ing animal shits. Whether it came from an elephant, cow, donkey, goat, dog, mouse or lizard I can tell you who did it. And that's kind of sad....
And many more things that I discover and soon become commonplace every day!
Africa is fun!
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