A day in the life…

At some point during my day, today, I thought, “What I have done today is not exactly normal or anything I would find myself doing in the States.” So, I just wanted to share so you could get a little more perspective into life here.

I woke up this morning, knowing that I would not be going to LCH because it is still holiday (though I have been doing some extra tutoring M-W) and because I wanted to accomplish some things around home before my friend Sarah comes on Sunday.

First off, I woke up to crying Marvin, the courtyard-neighbor’s son who seems to always be crying. Since all my windows face the courtyard, there is no escape from the noise. Lucky enough it was almost 8am and a good time to get up.

I went for breakfast and had tea and some luxurious toast (ha) that I was able to make with the toaster I just bought yesterday. Then it was time to clean my room. This might sound like a normal task, but remember that instead of a vacuum I have a broom make of some sort of plant. And my mop is a rag that I move over the floor while hunched over hoping no one walks into my room to see a nice view of my butt high in the air.

After my room was spick and span, I set out to make granola. I learned while visiting the US from my dear friend Cheryl and have tried once since I have been here, but the first attempt the granola burned so I have been a little hesitant since. But the past week I have been desperate for breakfast foods, seeing as the local brand cereals taste something like cardboard and Kellogg’s cost $8 a box. So, granola attempt number 2. I was able to find most the ingredients I needed to make granola from scratch.

While the granola was baking in the oven, I went to the sitting room to iron my clothes. Really, having a dryer is a blessing in so many ways… 1. You don’t have to hang your clothes every time but just toss them into the hole next to where you are taking them out of. 2. It doesn’t matter if it rains; your clothes still get dry. 3. You rarely have damp clothes that you have to spread all over your house so they can fully dry while it is raining outside. 4. You don’t HAVE TO iron. Well, drying clothes on the line means that you always have to iron, everything. But in between my ironing of shirts I would run to the kitchen to stir the granola so it wouldn’t burn.

Yesterday Pastor came back from another town and brought home 2 basins full of small mangos. I joked that I was going to bring them to the street and sell them for 100 shillings each, and that there are so many I would make a good profit. Well, once finishing my granola and ironing, one of my sisters here suggested that we use some of the mangos to make fresh mango juice. So, we got our little stools and sat down, outside, to start peeling and slicing about 25 small mangos. The juice turned out really nice after we blended and strained it.

Then it was time for lunch- posher (corn meal mush) and dodo (like spinach of some sort)- and after lunch I sat down to sort my kilogram of g-nuts (peanuts) from any stones or spoiled nuts that were there from the market. I got my IPod, turned on a sermon, and spent the next hour listening and stirring the gnuts as they were roasting.
Seeing as it is rainy season, I have tried to start a small vegitable garden inside the compound, in the small space Mama set aside for plants. I have some lettuce and beans growing, but it seems that some of my seeds didn’t germinate or got washed away. So, after cleaning my house, making granola, ironing, preparing mango juice and eating African food, I went back to my “garden” and planted some more seeds and transplanted some of my herbs.

Now, I am about to grab my umbrella and Bible to walk to church for women’s Bible study. But first I have to plug in my camera batteries to assure that they get charged, since we have power now but there is not telling if it will be there later.

Power depending, my night will end with a meal of dry fish mixed with g-nut sauce and posher while watching American Idol (we are down to the top 4!- please don’t tell me, I don’t want to know).

At some point in my day I was thinking how maybe today I resembled a modern day Proverbs 31 woman, preparing clothes, tilling the earth, feeding the family… Ha. I know I am no where near that woman, but the Lord allowed me a fresh perspective of His goodness, provision, and simple delight in the day He gave me today.

Tomorrow (Friday) I am escorting the student from each class that made the highest “marks” on their report cards. We (me, students, and some teachers) are going to Entebbe Wildlife Center. The kids are SO excited to be traveling so far and getting to see some animals. I will post photos when we get back. Please pray for journey mercies.