Officially March

Well, it’s officially March and the beginning of my fourth month in Africa. I can hardly believe I have been here three months already, but at the same time…I can. I’m starting to miss going out for dinner. And going to Wang’s for nachos and a pitcher of beer with Lisa. And the Daily Show. Seriously. NOBODY TELL ME WHAT’S HAPPENING ON LOST! Just send me the new season when it comes out on DVD .

Dinner. So, honestly, I only eat dinner about half of the days out of the week. I don’t know why, but a lot of the time I’m just not hungry when the sun goes down, especially if I didn’t eat lunch until late (or made some – albeit poor – popcorn in the afternoon). And if I’m not fixing to make dinner when the sun goes down, I just do all my before-bed rituals, get under my mosquito net and read til I’m too tired to keep reading. The other half of the week, when I do eat dinner, it’s almost always a concoction from the dehydrated foods I brought with me and my mom has sent in packages from Harmony House. My standard meal has been the following: black beans, beefish bits, corn, bell peppers, tomato, spiced with cumin and garlic salt and topped off with a triangle of Laughing Cow cheese and piment sauce. Well, regrettably I ran out of that dehydrated stuff during my last dinner and tonight had to come up with a new concoction…which ended up VERY similar to the old one: taco bits (which I think are just beefish bits with some spices), pinto beans, bell peppers (had another package), FRESH tomato (from my marche!), sautéed onion (also from my marche!), Laughing Cow cheese, cumin, garlic salt, piment sauce. So, basically the same thing. If things go the same way they did before, this should last me a couple of weeks. But THEN what (perhaps kidney beans with taco bits? But I’ll be out of peppers! OH THE HUMANITY!). I really have to try making stuff with the chickenish chunks. Maybe I’ll try chickenish chunks, peas and boiled potatoes (from John’s marche). OR sweet potatoes (from my marche!). That’s a nice American meal right there. The other thing I have made with my dehydrated stuff is Hamish bits and tomato in a cheese sauce consisting of cheddar cheese powder and evaporated milk. I eat that with bread. It’s not that good.

The point is, if I don’t want to have rice or pasta for dinner every night, eating the dehydrated stuff is kind of my only option unless I have been to John’s marche and stocked up on stuff like eggs and potatoes, but even then that’s usually what I have for lunch (breakfast is usually fresh squeezed orange juice). It’s bad to depend on food brought from home, but considering the narrow scope of ingredients available and the time it takes to prepare it, it’s just way easier, especially because I’m only preparing one serving. And a lot easier to get protein that way.

Package Ideas. Anyway if you are fixing to send me a package, the following from Harmony House is always good: black beans, beefish/taco bits, corn, bell peppers, tomatoes. Like the burritos I used to eat five times a week for dinner, this is my staple dinner. Also, spices. With suggestions on how best to use them (the only spices I really know how to use are cumin and garlic salt, so if you send me something else suggest what I should use it in!). Other things I will always rejoice to receive in care packages: dark chocolate, Jiffy Pop popcorn (you know the kind that sort of comes with it’s own disposable pan and pops into a big bubble on a stove top), cheese, granola bars (for bike rides), dried fruits (particularly apricots or dehydrated blueberries and strawberries would be awesome!), doggie toys/treats for Yogi, and single-serving (fun sized) American candies to give to my water fetchers. Never underestimate the power of a bon-bon. Also, I have gotten more colds in the last three months than I can count (in fact, I have one right now!). Echinacea (or Elderberry/other natural immune system boosters) and Emergen-C (I’m particular to the Tropical flavor and not a huge fan of the orange flavors but the Immune Defense one is also good for the extra Zinc) would be AWESOME. Oh, and books. Especially novels. I am blowing through books here faster than I can think! MERCI!

Books. I started a new book today, called The Time Traveler’s Wife. It seems cheesy but it’s one of the only ones I have left (I got it from another volunteer during training). The other unread books on my shelf are: Walden (or Life in the Woods – yeah, not sure if I’ll ACTUALLY get through that one), Angela’s Ashes, Sea of Poppies (from Ian, who finished it, but apparently it is only the first in a trilogy, the remaining part of which he does not have), and Into the Wild and Nine Hills to Nambonkaha, both of which I have found difficult to finish in the past (they both have bookmarks in them somewhere where I stopped reading). There are libraries at all the regional houses and other volunteers send books they’ve finished around, but if you’ve read something really good or entertaining, feel free to pop it in your next package. The books I have thus far completed in Guinea: A Man Without a Country, I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell, Sundays at Tiffany’s, Howl, Digital Fortress, Tonto and the Lone Ranger Fist Fight in Heaven, and Archy and Mehitabel.

Bedtime. The majority of nights I am in my bed by 8pm and asleep by 10. Even on Saturday nights when the dance hall bumps until the wee hours of the morning (last night it went til 4am). I haven’t had too hard a time blocking out music and movies playing at the video club next door. I get up depending on what my dog is doing. Sometimes he makes me get up REALLY early (like 5am today) and sometimes it suffices to ignore him and he’ll entertain himself until maybe 7. If I get to sleep until 8 or 9, it is a great morning.

Laundry. Sucks. It’s not super easy to do and the whole time I’m doing it, I’m being laughed at because I don’t do it right. However, my stuff is clean at the end, so as far as I’m concerned I am doing it right. For the most part I only wear my wrap skirt on bottom. So my laundry pile is pretty much my wrap skirt, a bunch of Old Navy tank tops, a couple of bras and a pile of underwear. Oh, and towels (kitchen towels, dog towels, bath towel). Although recently I started wearing my long shorts when I am going to bike somewhere. So I’ll have to wash those, too. But yeah. Laundry is hard. Never stop appreciating your washing machine, people, even if you have to go down the block to use one. Ian pays a neighbor 5 mil to do his laundry (about a dollar). I have not easily found someone to do the same for me here, but I haven’t really looked. It’s hard enough just finding someone to help me with water.

Anyway, I’m getting tired, and I’m sick, so that’s all from Africa tonight.