What I do all day

Do you ever wonder what exactly I do all day? I have the impression that some people think I lead a very adventurous and exotic life. I will let you decide for yourself. A day in my life would go something like this:

5:30am.: Wake up to the sound of my host mother yelling at her sons to get up. I consider getting up and doing productive things, and then promptly dismiss this thought as ludicrous.
6-6:30am: Make a concerted effort to get out of bed. This usually results in my enjoyment of watching hungry mosquitoes foiled by my mosquito net.
7am: Breakfast at the market. Catch up on the gossip, discuss how terribly tan and thin I have become and how this will make my parents not recognize me upon my return to the states. And when they finally recognize me, my darkened, emaciated state will cause them to weep. On a side note, black coffee with a scoop of ovaltine is pretty much the best thing ever.
8am: A bike ride. Ah yes... Good for physical and mental health.
9am: Fling cold water on myself with a bucket. Otherwise known as bathing.
9-11: Running around to various NGOs, working on various projects
11: Fling more cold water on myself
11:15: Lunch time!
11:30-1: Nap time!
1-2: Teaching
2: Another bath
2-5: Getting water from the well to fill up the basin in the bathroom, doing dishes, should be lesson planning, more often reading. This is also coconut time. Afternoons are not complete without coconut consumption. Also, for many people this is still naptime. This month is monsoon season. Or at least it should be. But it hasn’t been raining that much. I’m told there is always drought in the year of the cow. Who knew? But when it does rain, it rains in the afternoons. This is an awesome time to sip hot coffee and read a Henry James novel.
5-7: More teaching!
7:Dinner
7:30: bath number 4. After this we hang out and watch tv until bed. I usually read. There was major drama the other night because the tv went out completely. The family really didn’t know what to do without tv. It has been kind of repaired, but now instead of the two channels we got previously, we know only get one.
8:30: Bedtime!

In other news, there is popsicle drama. I may have mentioned that a guy straps a large orange cooler on his moto and drives around and sells popsicles. Like the ice cream truck in America. Like the ice cream truck in America, the popsicle moto plays a little diddy as he goes by to let neighborhood children know he’s coming. Unlike in America, these little diddies are usually from movies soundtracks or they are christmas songs. And they sound like they are being played on the kazoo. Every moto driver has his own unique sound. In my village, we have “Theme from Titanic” man. He passes by six or seven times a day. Six or seven times a day I am treated to a kazoo rendition of My Heart Will Go On. But the other day, what did I hear but “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies”! What is this! Indeed, “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies” man is cutting in on the turf of “Theme from Titanic” man. What will happen? Who will win the money of the neighborhood children? Will I go insane from hearing not one but two kazoo medleys all day? Stay tuned for more details.