Things I Did Today That I Most Likely Wouldn't Have Done If I Was At Home In Pennsylvania (all in the name of living and learning)

* Rose at 5:30 to wash my clothes by hand (Not that this has been a regular occurrence for me. In fact, I hate to admit that this was the first time I've offered to do my own laundry. Apparently Mama Kiri was only willing to accept my offer if I agreed to begin at 6:00 am.)

*Ate an entire baguette with margerine for breakfast- Now, this has definitely become routine. It's hard to imagine beginning my days here any other way.

 * Made myself a warm shower by mixing cold water from a bucket with boiled water from a thermos

 * Worked my way through a French-language Manga depiction of the Gospels following the death and resurrection of Jesus

 * Rode on the back of a motorcycle to and from work

 * Thought to myself how uncharacteristically cold it was, even though it's late October and was probably over 80 degrees at the time

 * Pretended to take a group of 40 middle schoolers on a plane trip to New York

 * Spent an hour having coffee in the office of an accountant, who's name I still haven't been able to catch, because we happened to cross paths on campus and what possible reason could there be to NOT take a little bit of time away from work to say hello?

 * Looked up how to say "alcoholic" in an attempt to explain to this accountant the status of my relationship with coffee (Note: the words are the same in French and English)

 * Passed a gas station filled with well over 50 motorcyclists all waiting to buy fuel, due to some shady nation-wide fuel shortage that has resulted in prices at least doubling for the duration of this month

 * Consumed food that is slimy on purpose (that is to say both that it was intentionally slimy, and I also ate it willingly)

 * Hand-wrote multiple copies of song lyrics because I haven't yet figured out where I might be able to find and use a printer

 * Played the ukulele while singing French and English worship songs with a small group of young adults under the setting sun

 * Took a long walk home from worship group due to the aforementioned fuel shortage, which left my friend and usual transportation-guy moto-less for the day

 * Wore a skirt with the face of the First Lady printed all over it. In the States, this would be considered tacky, but here it is not uncommon to see beautiful women wearing beautiful dresses printed from head to toe with pictures of someone's face, with phone company logos, or perhaps with the word "Hello" in multiple languages.

 * Ate a salad with my hands, or as Mama Kiri and I call them, "the forks of God."

* Lay in a darkened living room for hours, alternately singing with the females of my home, drinking in the silence, and playing with my favorite month-old puppy, Patrick.

* Reflected on my lovely day in the safety of what I like to consider my fort: a bed enclosed by a sturdy, four-walled mosquito net that keeps out everything bad, except when I occasionally trap bad things inside with me