Forget needing an alarm clock, there are plenty of other noises to wake a person up around here. Of course you can always count on the roosters, but sometimes also the cows, donkeys and sheep, not to mention the pigeons (whose little feet on the corrugated metal roof sound more like Big Bird's feet) to let you know that they're awake and you might as well be awake too. Other early morning noises include: the Ethiopian Orthodox Church's call to prayer (a man singing over a loud speaker from the church occasionally accompanied by a musical instrument, for certain holidays it can be heard in the middle of the night too) and the buses and trucks bouncing down the road into town. The buses either have their music blaring or their horn honking on their way through town to alert people to the fact that, 'hey, the bus is here, this is your chance to catch it' which is great except when its before 7am, in my opinion. With any combination of these noises I'm usually awake sometime in the six o'clock hour.
For those that are curious I usually wash my hair once a week and bathe once or twice a week but never on the same day because that's too much work. Seriously! I'm a person who loves a hot shower and feeling all squeaky clean. But with no running water (except at nicer hotels) it's been an adjustment. Bathing now means splashing a little cold water on myself and calling it good. Because it's cold I use remarkably little water. It might come as a surprise that it actually feels satisfactory and even good, but it does! Of course if I had the option for a daily hot shower I'd take it. I wash my hands and face often and with the supply of wipes I brought from home and those sent to me (thank you!) I manage to feel as fresh as a daisy everyday. Hair washing day involves flipping my head upside down over my basin and pouring cold water over my head and shampooing and conditioning like usual. It's my indulgence. It takes a fair amount of water but it feels so great to have clean hair and to be able to wear my hair down and curly for a few days before pulling it back for the rest of the week.
The water supply comes through a water pump in our compound randomly every few days. Usually the landlady or neighbor will tell me when it comes and I will fetch a bucketful to last me for a few days. If the water doesn't come then the landlord has a storage container that they keep mostly full that I can collect from. I have to manage my water supply to last for bathing, washes dishes, washing clothes, and making water for drinking and cooking. We also collect rainwater and I use that for washing my feet and shoes. I'm impressed with how little water I use but I'm sure I still use more than the average Ethiopian, they know how to use water efficiently. Washing clothes takes up the most water and its a lot of work to do it by hand so things get washed way less often than they would back home. I wash a few things every week and hang them out to dry - just a few things at a time is about as much as I enjoy doing.
It's difficult to know how to dress for the climate of this particular region of the country. There is a significant temperature difference when it changes from sunny to cloudy and then even cooler when it rains. Layering is the name of the game.
I have no refrigerator of course, I prepare all of my meals as I go. The fresh produce that I buy at the market gets eaten within the week. I make rice, pasta, soup, etc. with varying combinations of vegetables and eggs. As a person who is happy to eat vegetables all day, everyday, I've felt satisfied so far. At the supermarkets in the bigger towns I've bought things like tofu, quick cooking oats, and cheese.
Other sights, sounds and smells that I might experience on any given day include: the call to prayer from the mosque, the spirited services of the Protestant church just down the road (they pipe it out over a loudspeaker), kids playing directly across the street in a small open, recreational space, the sound of women pounding (grinding) coffee beans at different times during the day, the smell of incense burning when coffee is being prepared, dogs barking at night - what starts as just a few turns into all the dogs in town, the occasional smell of burning trash, motorbikes buzzing down the road.
Every evening the landlady still brings me buna (she's also started bringing me a cup at lunchtime, so much for cutting back!) and sometimes bread or on chillier evenings she brings me a cup of some sort of hot porridge. I'm pretty sure she told me she's going to teach me how to make the porridge so when I return to America I can make it there. I told her that where I come from in America its really cold sometimes and she says this porridge is good for health when the weather is cold. She is so kind, sweet and generous, I don't think there is a nicer landlady out there. She works all day cleaning, washing, preparing food and coffee, taking care of other things around the compound, and does it all with a smile on her face, I swear. Amazing. I suspect she and I are about the same age, it's strange to think about how different our lives are.
Lately I've been spending my evenings catching up on episodes of Fargo (thanks, Amy!) and eating nut goodie bars, dontcha know?! Sometimes I listen to podcasts that I had saved on my phone before I left the US or read books on my kindle. I should be spending more time studying the language but for now it feels good to take a break and enjoy things that I would do at home.
Love from Ethiopia!
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