Order of the Day

a typical weekday...

6:30am Wake up to the sound of the auto-mechanic outside my window. Sometimes he starts at 6. Nothing like the sound of engines to start the day. Sometimes I am able to fall asleep again after a little while (with the help of my ear plugs)

8am Wake up for real. Have some tea and bread and some kind of fruit or veggie. Take my anti-malaria pill, multi-vitamin and Omega-3 supplement. Fill up my water bottle for the day.

8:45 Marika and I head to the University. Usually we leave late but this is when we should leave. We catch a tsh (20 cents).

9am Start work. and by start work, I mean turn on the computer and sit down at my desk. Mostly work is checking my email and messing around online (as I'm doing right now, for example). Occasionally I have reports to write and submit to the CIH in Toronto. Last week I wrote a funding proposal and this week we met with the funder and found out they won't fund us until they've restructured the funding system. (Apparently in the past funding for the Universities has gone through the Ministry of Health - because TACAIDS is a government agency - and the Ministry of Health has done something with the money that didn't include actually giving it to the University so now they want to restructure the system to ensure we actually get the money... which is good... but it's going to take time so for now = no money). I have also been meeting with representatives from various student groups to try to set up some kind of coordination of their activities. Some good ideas came out of those meetings and I hope to keep busy by pursuing some of them, like a Secondary School Outreach program. I also have to write articles for our program's publication.

12:45pm Lunch. Staff at the health clinic gets free lunch (I'm guessing it's because there isn't enough staff to cover breaks and since they bring food down for the patients anyway). Someone from the cafeteria brings down a few dishes of something and we get to eat it. I'm not technically staff here but my supervisor is and he doesn't eat here so I get his portion. Lunch time varies slightly and it's important to get there before things run out so there is a bit of a push/shove process. I can usually smell the food from my office when it arrives. Lunch consists of rice and either roasted 1/4 chicken or beef in a red sauce and sometimes some beans or cooked banana or veggies (the same kind every time). So, not a whole lot of variety but it's free and it's here. There are many different places to eat on campus... most serve the same food and are packed with students or faculty around lunch time. I tend to eat in my office and sometime go for a walk around outside for a bit.

5pm Quitting time. By five it's usually cool enough to walk home without working up too much of a sweat. Takes around 20-25 minutes. After work, I will usually go home and change. This is also when I'm most likely to shower because I'm hot and don't mind the cold water so much. Sometimes I will go to the grocery store to pick up a few things.

6pm I usually have an hour or two before Marika comes home. I spend that time reading or watching CNN (which I get at home). Sometimes I do some Sudoku puzzles.

7:30/8pm Dinner time. Marika and I usually have dinner together. Sometimes we cook at home. If we go out, we usually go to Euro - a restaurant around the corner from us. Meals are much the same as what I described for lunch although they also have a really good beef stew. They also have burgers and samosas on the menu but I have yet to try them. Other options include a few places for chipsi and mishkaki (fries and beef skewers). Before going out I change into longer clothing and apply ample mosquito repellent.... I swear those things hunt me down.

9pm After dinner Marika and I often sit around talking. Often Emmanuel will stop by for a while to visit and teach us some new kiswahili words (and test us on the old ones). Sometimes I watch a movie on my laptop.

10 - 12 Depending how tired I am, I'll read for a while and go to bed. But first I wash my feet, re-apply mosquito spray and re-adjust mosquito net. I also often spend a little time killing any mosquitoes I can find. It makes for a more fulfilling day, I think.


And there you have it, a day in the life of Nicole. Next time we examine... the weekend!