To give everyone a better visual of what life is like here I’ll give you a layout of a typical week here.
Monday:
Wake up around 6:40am, I wash my face, and get dressed (typically a skirt and a dry sweat shirt). I go open the back/ front door to get some air circulating inside the house, gather my dishes from the previous night, and go to the back porch to wash them. I use iron soap (made locally) and get 2 scoopfuls of water from my big barrel to put in my bucket to rinse my dishes with. I then put everything away, make a coffee to go, and walk to school. The walk to school involves talking to EVERY SINGLE PERSON you see. If you don’t say hello your being rude, so its morning-o to everyone. I arrive at school and teach math/physics to my 10th/11th graders. After school, I gather my things and head home. It’s around 12:30 by the time I get home, I make some lunch- maybe an egg/ papaya/cucumber and organize my things from the day. I prep my dinner for the night so that I can wash those dishes, then I either read a book, clean, or watch a show until about 3:30 when the Bridge kids get out of school (AKA my friend Surprise). I then put my plastic chairs outside, sit on the front porch, chat with anyone passing, or poach kids will come over to stare at me (but really) or to ask me for things (also... but really), Surprise or any of my little 12-year-old friends will come and we will chat about how school was, he will ask me any of the absurd America questions he has... for example do people on "that side" feel pain, this is always asked right before or after he is about to punch me. Around 6/6:30 pm I go inside for the night, I typically try to convince myself to do some sort of exercise, then I cook dinner. Dinner consists of ALWAYS eggplant and onion, sometimes beans, sometimes egg /pumpkin. When I finish cooking I sit in my cement corner (better known as dank corner), watch a show on my computer while I eat, for dessert I have either popcorn or peanuts. Then I take a bucket bath, meaning I fill a bucket with water, I have a scooper and take a "shower". I lock everything up check my room for spiders and go to bed (to relive the same thing over and over with slight variation as you will see)
Tuesday:
Wake up around 6:40am, I wash my face, get dressed (typically a skirt/ a dry sweat shirt). I open the back/ front door to get some air circulating inside the house, gather my dishes from the previous night, and go to the back porch to wash them. I use iron soap to wash and get 2 scoopfuls of water from my big barrel to put in the bucket to rinse my dishes. I then put everything away, make a coffee to go, and walk to school, on the way to school I drop my extra battery pack and computer off at the charging station. The walk to school involves talking to EVERY SINGLE PERSON you see. I arrive at school and teach math to 10th/ 11th graders. This means I am done teaching around 9:30am. Being I am done so early I go and visit all my friends inside the market. I say hello to everyone and hear my name at least 100 times being called from every small child. I sit and chat small with the market women about school and how it is, a lot of the times visiting involves just sitting in silence until I move onto the next group of women. Being in the market always involves talking (or attempting) to speak Kpelle, which is saying hello, and when they ask what news, responding with no/no bad news. By the time ive walked the entire market, most likely bought more eggplant, I start to head home. I get home around 11:30 am unpack my things and make lunch. After lunch, I prep my dinner/do all my dishes and either watch a show, or read a book. After I put my plastic chairs outside, chat with whoever walks by, get stared at from my porch kids and chat with Surprise. This lasts until around 5pm, when I walk back to town to pick up the things I put on charge, and walk back home. I sit outside a bit longer until around 6-6:15pm then go inside, convince myself to do a small workout, make dinner, eat in my dank corner while watching a show. I take a bucket bath, then it’s to bed I go to repeat the same day over again tomorrow.
Wednesday:
Please see Mondays day of events
Thursday
Please see Tuesdays day of events
Friday
Wake up around 6:40am, I wash my face, get dressed (typically a skirt/ a dry sweat shirt). I open the back/front door to get some air circulating inside the house, gather my dishes from the previous night and go to the back porch to wash them. I use iron soap to wash and get 2 scoopfuls of water from my big barrel to put in the bucket to rinse my dishes with. I then put everything away, make a coffee to go and walk to school. The walk to school involves talking to EVERY SINGLE PERSON you see. I arrive at school and teach math/ physics to my 10th/ 11th graders. After school, I gather my things and head to Sukako! Well, sometimes I head back home first, but Friday is market/seeing Rachel day! I get in a cab and we drive the 15 min to get to Sukako where I meet Rachel in the market. We walk around looking for things to buy (I typically get passionfruit, cabbage, and avocado), we visit our doughnut lady, she always gives us an extra one, to show her appreciation (we assume). We chat about school/ what’s going on, we head to her house (where she has excellent network coverage) I make a call, and after we chat some more, until around 5:00pm, where I walk back to the market to grab a taxi back to Gbartala. I arrive back in town (grab my things if I happen to put them on charge) and walk home. I get home, soak all my veggies in a water/bleach bath, put them all away and sit outside until around 6/6:30pm. My friend Surprise comes over, asks what I bought and wants to hear all about my friend Rachel. He always tells me he will come with me next time (which he never will, but it’s still said) that he wants to see Rachels house and hang out with her. I come inside prep my dinner, eat in dank corner while I watch a show, then it’s off to take a bucket bath and to bed.
Saturday
The weekends are always a bit of a toss-up for me. I wake up/try and stay in bed until 7:30, not possible to “sleep in” due to the fact that your quite possibly the only one still in bed, you can hear everyone outside, and if you don’t hear people the damn roosters will wake you. If I need to put something on charge I typically do that first, getting dressed walking to town, dropping if off, and coming back home. I then try and do some sort of exercise, meaning if I do that I take my bucket bath early. If not, I putz around the house for an hour or so, make coffee and eat some papaya (I’m being modest, I probably eat an entire papaya). I sit outside for a while, then around 10am come back inside and either watch a show or read. Around 11 is when I deem myself “out for the day” meaning I’ll put my plastic chairs outside, say hello to anyone passing, get an occasional porch kid, this is when Surprise will come over and we will chat or color for a while. If I’m really bored I’ll go into the market to say hello to all the market women. Then around 2pm I go back inside to watch a show, prep my dinner, read, or do any prep for the upcoming school week. Around 4:00pm I go back outside to socialize (yes, Surprise comes back over) and we somehow occupy ourselves until around 6pm. We could be doing a number of things, we could be walking around, we could have gone to his place to sit on the porch with Sumo and Erin (his guardians), or could be playing frisbee (spoiler- they lost it in the bush). If I dropped things to charge around 5/5:30 we walk to the market to pick it up. Then around 6/6:30pm I go inside to make dinner. Dinner is typically canned beans, eggplant, onion, cabbage in some sort of arrangement that tastes okay. I don’t buy meat here because it sits out all day in the market, although I would eat it if someone cooked it for me, the idea of cooking it for myself grosses me out. I then take a bucket bath (maybe... just being honest here) lock up and go to bed.
Sunday
The lord’s day… well it is for the Liberians at least. I wake up/try and stay in bed until 7:30am. If I need to put something on charge I typically do that first, getting dressed walking to town, dropping if off, and coming back home. I then putz around the house for an hour or so, and go outside to do laundry. The goal is to be outside a little past 10am, everyone is at church by then, you avoid a lot of the, oh you’re not going to church, comments. I put my large bucket on the back porch along with my two smaller ones. I fill the large one with soap /water/my clothes and the small one with clean water. I take my washboard, a bar of soap, and get to washing. I do it on the back porch so not as many people see me, as I’m not trying to draw a crowd by doing wash (this would really happen), if I happen to get a porch kid while I do wash I make them help me squeeze the water out of the clothes. Then they go in the dry bucket to be hung on the clothesline once I finish with everything. Once I finish with wash I go inside to clean the house. This involves putting everything away, wiping the counters, doing dishes, sweeping the floor, and maybe... washing the floor. After that its around 12pm so I make coffee and eat papaya. This is also when Surprise will knock on the door and tell me something on the lines of, if I don’t go to church next week I won’t come over anyone, to which I respond, okay, meaning in his eyes I didn’t hear him so he repeats his comment again (we do this like 5 times), until I ask, I go to church, I not go to church that your business? (this is a play off a popular Liberian song) and he replies no, we have a good laugh and our “fight” is over. I then do some sort of exercise and take a bucket bath. After my bath, I put my plastic chairs outside and say hello to everyone passing, get an occasional porch kid and chat with all my 12-year-old friends. I sit outside doing random things for a couple hours until around 3pm I go back inside (or sneak on the back porch) to, prep my dinner, read, or do any prep for the upcoming school week. Around 4:00pm I go back outside to socialize and somehow occupy myself until around 6pm. If I dropped things to charge around 5/5:30 we walk to the market to pick it up. Then around 6/6:30pm I go inside to make dinner and watch a show in dank corner. I then take a bucket bath lock up and go to bed
Of course, the schedule isn’t exact every day, for example one of the days I might have a study session at the school, or John might come to fill water, or I’ll sit and chat with Mary (an adult friend) up the hill, one of the days I might go to Sukako just to hang out with Rachel, or I might take a nap. Just to explain further, I have two porches, my front porch is off the man path so everyone can see me/everyone passes me, my side porch is pretty well hidden so no one can see me (well mostly), I like to consider it social and antisocial porches. If I want to be outside but not have visitors I go to the back porch, if I want everyone to see me and I want visitors I go to the front porch. Sometimes I’ll go “inside” and ill actually just go to the back porch to get work done/have some quiet. Being with kids all day gets tiring, that’s the real reason I have to go inside every so often to give myself a break, typically it’s not just one kid its 3-6 kids, all day, every day.
Monday:
Wake up around 6:40am, I wash my face, and get dressed (typically a skirt and a dry sweat shirt). I go open the back/ front door to get some air circulating inside the house, gather my dishes from the previous night, and go to the back porch to wash them. I use iron soap (made locally) and get 2 scoopfuls of water from my big barrel to put in my bucket to rinse my dishes with. I then put everything away, make a coffee to go, and walk to school. The walk to school involves talking to EVERY SINGLE PERSON you see. If you don’t say hello your being rude, so its morning-o to everyone. I arrive at school and teach math/physics to my 10th/11th graders. After school, I gather my things and head home. It’s around 12:30 by the time I get home, I make some lunch- maybe an egg/ papaya/cucumber and organize my things from the day. I prep my dinner for the night so that I can wash those dishes, then I either read a book, clean, or watch a show until about 3:30 when the Bridge kids get out of school (AKA my friend Surprise). I then put my plastic chairs outside, sit on the front porch, chat with anyone passing, or poach kids will come over to stare at me (but really) or to ask me for things (also... but really), Surprise or any of my little 12-year-old friends will come and we will chat about how school was, he will ask me any of the absurd America questions he has... for example do people on "that side" feel pain, this is always asked right before or after he is about to punch me. Around 6/6:30 pm I go inside for the night, I typically try to convince myself to do some sort of exercise, then I cook dinner. Dinner consists of ALWAYS eggplant and onion, sometimes beans, sometimes egg /pumpkin. When I finish cooking I sit in my cement corner (better known as dank corner), watch a show on my computer while I eat, for dessert I have either popcorn or peanuts. Then I take a bucket bath, meaning I fill a bucket with water, I have a scooper and take a "shower". I lock everything up check my room for spiders and go to bed (to relive the same thing over and over with slight variation as you will see)
Tuesday:
Wake up around 6:40am, I wash my face, get dressed (typically a skirt/ a dry sweat shirt). I open the back/ front door to get some air circulating inside the house, gather my dishes from the previous night, and go to the back porch to wash them. I use iron soap to wash and get 2 scoopfuls of water from my big barrel to put in the bucket to rinse my dishes. I then put everything away, make a coffee to go, and walk to school, on the way to school I drop my extra battery pack and computer off at the charging station. The walk to school involves talking to EVERY SINGLE PERSON you see. I arrive at school and teach math to 10th/ 11th graders. This means I am done teaching around 9:30am. Being I am done so early I go and visit all my friends inside the market. I say hello to everyone and hear my name at least 100 times being called from every small child. I sit and chat small with the market women about school and how it is, a lot of the times visiting involves just sitting in silence until I move onto the next group of women. Being in the market always involves talking (or attempting) to speak Kpelle, which is saying hello, and when they ask what news, responding with no/no bad news. By the time ive walked the entire market, most likely bought more eggplant, I start to head home. I get home around 11:30 am unpack my things and make lunch. After lunch, I prep my dinner/do all my dishes and either watch a show, or read a book. After I put my plastic chairs outside, chat with whoever walks by, get stared at from my porch kids and chat with Surprise. This lasts until around 5pm, when I walk back to town to pick up the things I put on charge, and walk back home. I sit outside a bit longer until around 6-6:15pm then go inside, convince myself to do a small workout, make dinner, eat in my dank corner while watching a show. I take a bucket bath, then it’s to bed I go to repeat the same day over again tomorrow.
Wednesday:
Please see Mondays day of events
Thursday
Please see Tuesdays day of events
Friday
Wake up around 6:40am, I wash my face, get dressed (typically a skirt/ a dry sweat shirt). I open the back/front door to get some air circulating inside the house, gather my dishes from the previous night and go to the back porch to wash them. I use iron soap to wash and get 2 scoopfuls of water from my big barrel to put in the bucket to rinse my dishes with. I then put everything away, make a coffee to go and walk to school. The walk to school involves talking to EVERY SINGLE PERSON you see. I arrive at school and teach math/ physics to my 10th/ 11th graders. After school, I gather my things and head to Sukako! Well, sometimes I head back home first, but Friday is market/seeing Rachel day! I get in a cab and we drive the 15 min to get to Sukako where I meet Rachel in the market. We walk around looking for things to buy (I typically get passionfruit, cabbage, and avocado), we visit our doughnut lady, she always gives us an extra one, to show her appreciation (we assume). We chat about school/ what’s going on, we head to her house (where she has excellent network coverage) I make a call, and after we chat some more, until around 5:00pm, where I walk back to the market to grab a taxi back to Gbartala. I arrive back in town (grab my things if I happen to put them on charge) and walk home. I get home, soak all my veggies in a water/bleach bath, put them all away and sit outside until around 6/6:30pm. My friend Surprise comes over, asks what I bought and wants to hear all about my friend Rachel. He always tells me he will come with me next time (which he never will, but it’s still said) that he wants to see Rachels house and hang out with her. I come inside prep my dinner, eat in dank corner while I watch a show, then it’s off to take a bucket bath and to bed.
Saturday
The weekends are always a bit of a toss-up for me. I wake up/try and stay in bed until 7:30, not possible to “sleep in” due to the fact that your quite possibly the only one still in bed, you can hear everyone outside, and if you don’t hear people the damn roosters will wake you. If I need to put something on charge I typically do that first, getting dressed walking to town, dropping if off, and coming back home. I then try and do some sort of exercise, meaning if I do that I take my bucket bath early. If not, I putz around the house for an hour or so, make coffee and eat some papaya (I’m being modest, I probably eat an entire papaya). I sit outside for a while, then around 10am come back inside and either watch a show or read. Around 11 is when I deem myself “out for the day” meaning I’ll put my plastic chairs outside, say hello to anyone passing, get an occasional porch kid, this is when Surprise will come over and we will chat or color for a while. If I’m really bored I’ll go into the market to say hello to all the market women. Then around 2pm I go back inside to watch a show, prep my dinner, read, or do any prep for the upcoming school week. Around 4:00pm I go back outside to socialize (yes, Surprise comes back over) and we somehow occupy ourselves until around 6pm. We could be doing a number of things, we could be walking around, we could have gone to his place to sit on the porch with Sumo and Erin (his guardians), or could be playing frisbee (spoiler- they lost it in the bush). If I dropped things to charge around 5/5:30 we walk to the market to pick it up. Then around 6/6:30pm I go inside to make dinner. Dinner is typically canned beans, eggplant, onion, cabbage in some sort of arrangement that tastes okay. I don’t buy meat here because it sits out all day in the market, although I would eat it if someone cooked it for me, the idea of cooking it for myself grosses me out. I then take a bucket bath (maybe... just being honest here) lock up and go to bed.
Sunday
The lord’s day… well it is for the Liberians at least. I wake up/try and stay in bed until 7:30am. If I need to put something on charge I typically do that first, getting dressed walking to town, dropping if off, and coming back home. I then putz around the house for an hour or so, and go outside to do laundry. The goal is to be outside a little past 10am, everyone is at church by then, you avoid a lot of the, oh you’re not going to church, comments. I put my large bucket on the back porch along with my two smaller ones. I fill the large one with soap /water/my clothes and the small one with clean water. I take my washboard, a bar of soap, and get to washing. I do it on the back porch so not as many people see me, as I’m not trying to draw a crowd by doing wash (this would really happen), if I happen to get a porch kid while I do wash I make them help me squeeze the water out of the clothes. Then they go in the dry bucket to be hung on the clothesline once I finish with everything. Once I finish with wash I go inside to clean the house. This involves putting everything away, wiping the counters, doing dishes, sweeping the floor, and maybe... washing the floor. After that its around 12pm so I make coffee and eat papaya. This is also when Surprise will knock on the door and tell me something on the lines of, if I don’t go to church next week I won’t come over anyone, to which I respond, okay, meaning in his eyes I didn’t hear him so he repeats his comment again (we do this like 5 times), until I ask, I go to church, I not go to church that your business? (this is a play off a popular Liberian song) and he replies no, we have a good laugh and our “fight” is over. I then do some sort of exercise and take a bucket bath. After my bath, I put my plastic chairs outside and say hello to everyone passing, get an occasional porch kid and chat with all my 12-year-old friends. I sit outside doing random things for a couple hours until around 3pm I go back inside (or sneak on the back porch) to, prep my dinner, read, or do any prep for the upcoming school week. Around 4:00pm I go back outside to socialize and somehow occupy myself until around 6pm. If I dropped things to charge around 5/5:30 we walk to the market to pick it up. Then around 6/6:30pm I go inside to make dinner and watch a show in dank corner. I then take a bucket bath lock up and go to bed
Of course, the schedule isn’t exact every day, for example one of the days I might have a study session at the school, or John might come to fill water, or I’ll sit and chat with Mary (an adult friend) up the hill, one of the days I might go to Sukako just to hang out with Rachel, or I might take a nap. Just to explain further, I have two porches, my front porch is off the man path so everyone can see me/everyone passes me, my side porch is pretty well hidden so no one can see me (well mostly), I like to consider it social and antisocial porches. If I want to be outside but not have visitors I go to the back porch, if I want everyone to see me and I want visitors I go to the front porch. Sometimes I’ll go “inside” and ill actually just go to the back porch to get work done/have some quiet. Being with kids all day gets tiring, that’s the real reason I have to go inside every so often to give myself a break, typically it’s not just one kid its 3-6 kids, all day, every day.