*waves alarm on my phone goes off* it’s 7:30 and I don’t want to wake up yet so I hit snooze. I sleep for 10ish minutes more. Sit up, get out of my covers and put my makeup on with a little sliver of light from the window at the end of my top bunk bed. Half of my team is out of the room already and the other half is still in bed. When I finish my makeup I pull out my toothbrush and go to the bathroom to do 2 things: brush my teeth, surprise, and use the restroom. Once I’ve done that I go and get in line for breakfast at 8. I’m still in my pjs and don’t care at all. The line takes about 15-20 minutes to get through when you start in the back of the line, which is what happens for me normally. (I’m not fast enough in the morning to get in front) Breakfast varies between:
oatmeal and bread
Cereal and bread
Eggs and bread
Omelet and bread
Pancakes and bread
Banana bread and bread
Zucchini bread and bread
Chocolate cake and bread
Occasionally we also get bananas with the main thing…. and bread. Nutella, jelly, peanut butter and Hershey’s syrup are ALWAYS options to top the bread.
BREAD!
I have started to limit myself to 2 pieces of bread with Nutella on it in the mornings. I bet you can guess why! Most people have lost weight on the race, but I have in fact done the opposite. I have gained weight. God knew I would be here with barely to no alternatives to the gluten here and so He healed me! Thanks God! (If you haven’t already read that blog I recommend reading it!)
I finished breakfast so fast because it was so good. My team and I are on rotation for doing dishes and cleaning tables and floors. We don’t always have to though. I make tea for myself every morning and drink it in less than 5 minutes. I get dressed for the day, put sunscreen on (I live closer to the equator than y’all do so imma burn if I’m not careful!) and wait around till 10. Sometimes I start a movie and lay on my bed, sometimes I talk to my team in our room, sometimes I play cards with whoever will play with me. 10 is when scheduled ministry starts. 10-12 my team and I garden. We break up big chunks of dry, African dirt and plant seeds and water plants. We also sometimes cut grass the old fashioned way. (See picture) Sometimes while we’re cutting grass the kids that live on the base with us will come and help us out! It’s really sweet. At 12 I go to lunch. Lunch varies between:
Potatoes and bread and rice
French fries and bread and rice
Spaghetti and bread
Chicken and bread and rice
Salad and bread
Noodles with cheese and veggies and bread
Occasionally we will get watermelon instead of rice or bread.
After I eat lunch I make myself some more tea and drink it super fast sitting on my bed in my room either watching a movie or talking to my team. Next scheduled ministry time is at 1:30 and goes till 5. At 1:30 I meet with my squad mates that all signed up for what we call Kids Committee to teach, play with and love on the kids on the base with us. From 1:30 to 2 we discuss the plans for the day. Each day of the week we have something different planned to teach them.
Monday- Bible, music and sports/games
Tuesday- Technology (with the lovely Val and myself) and sports/games
Wednesday- Life skills, art and sports/games
Thursday- Education and sports/games
Friday- Squad ministry day
On Friday’s our whole squad cleans up the base in the morning and then in the afternoon we ATL (Ask the Lord). All I do is sit on the porch outside and kids come to me and talk to me and play with me.
Other days of the week we lose the kids attention by 3:30 or 4 so we’re usually done early. At that time I go to the safety of my bed and chill unless I want to do something different. Cards is always something I want to do and thankfully a few of my squad mates love cards too! Sometimes I’ll make myself some popcorn, put some salt and sugar on it and make tea and hang out with our lovely cooks in the kitchen. Music is always playing so there’s always something to dance to.
At 6 I get in line for dinner. Dinner varies between:
Pizza
Potatoes and rice
Chicken and rice
French fries
Soup, veggie soup and creamy veggie soup
Eating dinner in the dark because the power goes out often at night and by often I mean every night, however, only the lights go out. There are emergency lights that stay on to keep it from getting super dark. When my team and I are on dishes we get out our handy dandy headlamps and a speaker and a phone and jam in the dark to music while washing dishes. Life can’t get much better sometimes! If we’re not doing dishes there’s lots of conversations that happen. Most conversations are about plans for when we get home, or PVT in 2 months, or how we came on the race, or anything along those lines.
I make myself some more tea, (I know what your thinking. I’m addicted to tea! Your absolutely right!) I play cards with my squad mates and talk. Tuesday nights our squad leaders have a teaching for us and Friday nights is movie night with the kids, both of which take place after dinner. I spend so much time with my team and I didn’t realize it until now, writing about what I do everyday. Everyday when there isn’t something I’m supposed to do, I’m talking to my team or laughing with them. I even sit with my team for almost every meal! Nothing wrong with that though! I’m usually in my room on my bed by 9:30 or 10 at night and sleeping no later than 30 minutes to an hour later. Sometimes later if my team has impromptu team time where we sit and have deep talks and laugh our heads off and eat popcorn and drink hot chocolate. Those are my favorite nights honestly!
Weekends only change with what we do because breakfast is still at 8 in the morning, lunch at 12, and dinner at 6. We don’t have scheduled ministry time, however that doesn’t and won’t stop anyone from playing with kids or watering plants or cutting grass. I lay around and do nothing on both Saturday and Sunday. I watch movies, I play cards, I walk to a store 10 minutes away and buy drinks and popcorn, I nap, I do laundry, and sometimes I’ll even go to town and get cash out and spend time with the social worker here named Mango while drinking an alcohol free Malta drink.
I love life here in Ethiopia. It’s so simple in a way. It’s nice to be disconnected from things for a while. God knows what He’s doing with us here!
