First Day off

June 26

Today was our first day off from Peace Corps training.  It was fantastic.  Jon and I got about 10 hours of (interrupted sleep), but I still felt very rested when I woke up.  The anti-malarial pills that Peace Corps has us on gives me really bad dreams which wake me up, the cow gets milked and moos all morning wakes me up, the servants who are working wake me up, you get the idea.  It’s hard to get any uninterrupted sleep.  Mama taught us how to handwash our clothes today.  After this process, I decided that my clothes will stay cleaner longer.  It’s our first time doing any laundry since leaving the USA, so most of our clothes got a lot of use before washing.  But, I think I can make them stretch even longer.  It’s really not that bad of a process, but it’s time consuming.  After that, I took a really long bucket bath so I could shave my legs.  It’s not something that I really care if I do or don’t do, but I just wanted to feel some comfort.  Then, I helped mama make lunch.  She made us this dish last week for lunch and it’s my favorite one so far.  So, I asked to do it with her so I could write down the recipe.  I got it written down, and I’m psyched.  I can’t wait to try it on my own completely.  Then we had a very pleasant surprise which is why I didn’t get to the internet cafe like I had planned today.  A couple who stayed with my host family last year stopped by.  It was great to get to know them during the day.  They are a very young couple like Jon and I.  I really enjoyed their company and it was nice to be around a couple.  Maybe next week, I’ll take pictures of how to do laundry by hand to show you the process!