A Monday in the life of me

My alarm went off, as usual at 6am. I rolled over. grabbed my bible and spent the next while reading, contemplating and praying. Got up, had a quick shower and started making my porridge- 7am. Took my vitamins (good girl!) and grabbed a big thick 'development' book to engross me over brekky. Didn't work- my housemate was heading out to 2 villages today so we chatted about the usual- the condition of the roads, the status of the dreaded bridge that Im convinced is going to finally collapse when Im on it, the health promotion presentation she has prepared, when she'll be home, dinner ideas etc.
She mentioned-as she walked out the door- that a BBC radio report said that Hose Ramos Hortes was shot in the stomach and Roneido shot dead. I suddenly felt sick. I have a soft spot for Timor Leste- and sometimes I really wish they'd get a break- or give themselves a break...or something. what next- gain freedom only to descend into civil war?
I called Mum and dad to tell them and while i was gasbagging-Mama P- our part time cleaner arrived. I greeted her and rattled off what needed to be done- with my mum exclaiming in my ear that 'you're speaking Yawo!' hehe- so I was! all the hard work must be doing something!
I put a cup of kidney beans in water to soak for dinner and then did some stretches while listening to recorded homework sentances from last week and yesterday. I got a bit behind last week- but Im organised for this week.
Swa- arrived promptly at 9am and we sat on the back verandah for the lesson. Reviewing old vocab with word games requiring sentance construction. Trying really hard to say lesson instructions in ciyawo instead of English. Discussing and collecting new vocab of job roles and places around town. I told her about Timor and she said she was worried about the Malawi elections in 2009. Apparently the current president is good- but the old president- who's friends with the lovely General Gadafi of Libya is quite determined to get back into power. I'll be here for those elections. great. By then the 2 hrs was up, so she recorded all my new vocab- with example sentances and since I had to go out- I offered to drop her home in the car.
First we picked up her daughter from day care and I realised that thanks to working for me- she has to put her 18 month old daughter in day care- then after our lesson walk approx 1 km to pick her up- then approx 2.5 km home-in the middle of the day with her daughter strapped to her back. I pay travel money- but she prefers to save it for other living costs. I had another 'Im in Africa' moment as I drove to the post office and stopped to buy some mosquito coils- with her breast feeding in the front seat. Seat belts? baby capsules? nope- this is Africa. After dropping her home I heated up some leftovers for lunch and had a nap. The internet was still down from yesterday morning so no exciting emails to read.
Woke up, reviewed the list of words collected in the morning lesson - then headed off to a colleagues house for my fortnightly 'mentoring session'. Its great to chat freely with someone whos been here longer (9yrs longer!)and understands. We talked alot about money- how to deal with being asked all the time, what to do with employees who have no concept of financial management and responding with compassion and some understanding of the situation- rather than out western black and white view of money. Basically she said I have to decide what constitutes a crisis worthy of a pay advance, loan or gift and help where my conscience tells me too- without being a walking talking ATM or allowing them to get into a debt trap with me. Much easier in theory than practise!
I arrived home by 3.30 ready for my afternoon grammar lesson- but Es- showed up after 4- as usual. 'I hope I have malaria!' she exclaimed as she greeted me. She had been to the hospital to tell them she felt cold sitting in the sun and they had given her anti-malarials. Lucky its the beginning of the month- otherwise she'd be getting panadol. we looked at lost of examples from the Ju-Wa noun classwhere the verb following a singular noun is prefixed by 'wa' but prefixed by 'ju' or 'ji' if the noun is plural. we got (deliberatley) sidetracked onto pronunciation- partly cos I couldn't take any more in and partly because both 'ju' and 'wa' aren't natural sounds for the Australian tongue- they're more like 'djya' and 'lwa' (big sigh).
She left after 5.30 and I got onto making dinner- that ended up being a bland beans and rice recipe that I won't be repeating. We had 2 surprise extras for dinner- one team mate who just got back form Blantyre, and a friend who dropped by borrow some DVD's. A nice surpise. After dinner I proof read an article my housemate is writing for an Australian publication about her work here and offered some suggestions for the conclusion. She is facing poverty personified. Villages with really bad diarreah (sp?) from a contaminated water source- but no alternative water sources and very little firewood resources for boiling water. They know the recipe for rehydration fluid: clean water, sugar and salt- but they don't have clean water and they can't afford sugar. 1 out of 3 is terrible. She also had a daddylonglegs above her toilet so i was called in for a 'relocation operation' :)
well, now its late and the internet is obviously back on - yay! so please email me or leave me a message. Im really enjoying life here- but sparkels from the outside world really do light up my day!
g'nite