Typical Day

Yesterday, someone asked me what a typical day consisted of here in Niger.. So, here it goes.

I spend my entire day fighting off ear wigs.

I’m joking, but have you ever seen one? We just sprayed for them yesterday, but the spray made most of us really itchy.

Here is a more accurate description of my “typical” day:

Occasionally, the wonderful Mr. Boyfriend calls me just as I am waking up. Then it is time for breakfast before school starts at 8:00. Marie and Laurey have Bible/Prayer, History, Hand-writing, Language Arts and sometimes Literature/Reading before our 10:30 break. After break, we have Science, Math, and anything that wasn’t done in the morning. We usually also do some activities depending on the day and lesson.. Fridays is piano day! It’s usually a pretty full morning for school. Each day, I am surprised at the depth of Sonlight Curriculum. How many of us learned about Ancient World History in 2nd grade? I don’t even think I could locate the 7 continents.

After school, we have lunch around one.. My afternoons currently consist of picnics, trampolines, preparing the next days lessons (though I struggle to pronounce many of the Historical names), reading (for myself and sometimes to the girls), reading the Bible, checking my email to see if I have a student teaching placement, and lastly learning/practicing piano. The last one is quite the task, but I think it’s a great thing for the girls to learn, and I can’t expect them to learn without staying ahead of them!

Dinner is around seven, and following dinner I usually watch some Gilmore Girls on my computer and reading as well as working on a few special projects... We are still lacking running water, so if I’m feeling dirty enough I might take a bucket bath.

Weekends here are really relaxed compared to my 12 hour Fareway days. (I miss you all!) On Saturdays we usually go to the pool in the early afternoon and eat lunch there. On Sundays church is around 9:00 with a Bible Group in the evening.

I have also been using the “More with Less” cookbook a lot, but I’m afraid my English Muffins will never work out in my favor.

Other typical day things may include:
…Going to Maradi
…trying to use my Hausa with the guard (or others)
…Running (this is interesting considering the amount of sand that accumulates in my shoes)
… waiting for the power to come back on
For those on the count-down, I think we are down to 90 days left in Niger.