A Day at Home

On Tuesday morning, my piki piki driver came to inform me that petrol prices have gone up. Apparently there was a shortage of petrol throughout the country, which resulted in a liter of petrol going from Tsh2500 to Tsh 5000! So my ride, which was initially Tsh3000 each way ($2), is now Tsh6000 ($4). That’s $8 a day! Considering we have a limited stipend, this is a really steep price. I would totally be willing to walk or bike, but the 10 km through the mountainside would be quite tiresome and take me nearly 2 hours to get there…AH! Needless to say, since form 2 exams began this week and I no longer teach classes on Tuesday, I stayed home. Come Thursday, I moved my only class to Friday, and stayed home again to help save a little money. Thursday ended up being a wonderful day though. Mostly because it didn’t rain all day, the sun was out, and it was hot enough to be wearing shorts and a tank top! I was instantly put me in an infinitely better mood!! First thing I did was wash my leggings (I came ill-prepared to this countrynwith only one pair, which I have to wear every day since a motorcycle ride in a skirt would be highly inappropriate otherwise). Then I curled up in bed and finished reading the Hunger Games series, which if you haven’t read yet, you better! SO GOOD! After such a good read, I was hungry, so I figured a loaf of bread would be the best option. I whipped up some dough, did a little kneading, and let it rise in the hot sun. After lighting my jiko, I made a makeshift oven for the pan, and while the bottom burned slightly, the rest of the bread was delicious. Perfect afternoon snack! I was also able to take a bucket bath without freezing and even washed my hair! I was so clean! Then in my spare time, I stayed busy planning my lessons for Friday and writing my final exams for Form 1 and Form 3. In a future post, I’ll include my exams to give you some insight to the curriculum standards and materials that I’m teaching. The only disappointing part of the day was being stung by a wasp, which was definitely a painful experience. And although I’ve been religiously applying Benadryl multiple times a day, the red welt that is still on my arm 4 days later is quite large. African wasps are on a whole new level.

Overall, what a successful day! I went to bed refreshed, clean, full of bread, and happy J Stay tuned tomorrow to find out if Friday was a continued success or a turn for the worse…