A Day in the Life

This is our back yard where we do our laundry and below is our common area where a lot of us study kinyarwanda

So this last week I feel like we have all really gotten into a routine.  A day for me is to wake up around 7:30 to get to breakfast by 7:50.  It is usually a little cool in the mornings, maybe 75 degrees.  We usually have some type of bread with either jam, butter or peanut butter (never all three the same day) and some tea or coffee.  From 8am-10am is usually our first language class.  We have four people per language class.  Some of the class are outside some of them are inside.  Each class has a chalkboard and four chairs and a teacher.  10am is our tea break followed by either another language class from 10:30-Noon, or a medical class or a technical skills class.  Lunch is from Noon – 2:30.  Lunch is usually rice, potatoes, or noodles, with either carrots, green beans cabbage, or some kind of liquidy spinachey stuff, and on occasion, chicken.  I usually eat pretty quickly, then either walk into town to the Internet café, or walk over to the fabric shop to see my host family.  This is usually the hottest part of the day, but no hotter than 85 degrees.  I would say the weather is perfect here!  At 2:30 class starts up again with either another language class, medical class or technical training skills again (we usually have 2 languages, and then 1 either tech or med class) At 5 we are free to do what we want until dinner at 7.  I usually go for a run at this point because it is not so hot.  I am happy I have been able to go running almost everyday, it’s such a stress reliever for me to be able to run as long as I want and listen to some GREAT pop music!  Dinner is usually noodles with some sauce or beans and rice, cabbage, carrots, or green beans, and sometimes either chicken or goat.  Dessert is always either pineapple, passion fruit or Japanese plums.  The food here is pretty tastey, but I can’t help but daydream about some sweet sweet In and Out and especially Ben and Jerry’s.  After dinner we all go back to our houses (there are three houses- eight girls in my house) and either study, write in journals, read books, hang out, walk to the blue bar, or watch a movie.  So there you have it, a day in the life of a Peace Corps Trainee!