so far

In the morning when it is still dark, the rooster noise starts especially for us. At 6 Simon’s alarm goes off with the same sound that was the ring tone for my BFF- add that onto the heavy dose of dreaming, sleeping in a new place and when I wake up, I am pretty confused. Simon has maté and breakfast while I sleep more/try to get up. Then he comes in to wake me up for real and we sit together for 20 min. Or like today, I was really confused and could not get up. So he told me it was my choice to get up if I wanted to spend time with him and sometimes that means I would have to do something hard. I told him that he was rude and I was still really confused.

Enter a bunch of waking up noise from the neighbors. Simon leaves for work around 8 and then all goes quiet. That’s where I am now. It’s overcast. I was going to wash my undies, but the grey days don’t have the highest drying potential. Friends of the jungle, I learned that the Baat fly lays eggs in wet clothes after 5pm. So wash and hang super early, iron the clothes taken in after 3 (to be sure), or bring the clothes in and let them hang for 3 days at which time the eggs will die. If only Nosucio, the Ear and I had known.

Last night I told Simon that I felt like a kid here – I don’t have responsibilities, I play with kids, I am intensely interested in my new surroundings and my language faculties are limited. He said something really lovely in response like, your Africa-self is still growing.

Yesterday we went to the hospital in the afternoon to deliver and account for some things for the project. Simon said that he thought I would be a good logistician (someone who takes care of shit) because of my innate need to organize things. I studied a lot of Spanish yesterday, but it seems to go so slowly. I can listen well, but when I open my mouth to talk it doesn’t sound like those people who are native speakers. I wouldn’t say that I am bored necessarily, because things are just pretty calm here. But I do feel like I should be doing something besides just whatever I feel like. It feels weird to have come all the way to Africa to sit around for most of the day and do nothing. Besides some light cleaning, yoga and writing. Maybe if I get into creating prep-intensive meals then I would feel more useful. Only 3 hours till lunch…