Morning Routine
on Annemiek Miller (Rwanda), 04/Nov/2005 13:13, 34 days ago
Have I spoken in detail about my morning routine? My alarm goes at 5:30 and I am usually up by 5:45. It seems early but I rarely turn off the light after 10 pm because most evenings there is no power, causing my eyes to tire and quickly removing the pleasures of a whole evening of reading. On my kitchen table are two large thermoses with hot water prepared by Claudine the previous afternoon. I take one of them to fill a small plastic tub, which I take to the bathroom and set in the bathtub. Yes, I do have a full-length bathtub, but no running hot water to put in it! I then sponge bath standing in the bathtub. (Do I miss a lengthy hot shower? YES! Alternatively, on mornings when I feel so inclined, I will first light the kerosene stove and heat some water for porridge and coffee and put on the computer with my yoga CD. Thirty minutes of yoga followed by sit-ups make me feel virtuous and give my body a good kick-start. Breakfast can be porridge made with Kenyan instant oats and milk powder made by Nestlé. I add either honey or sugar. Sometimes I have bread with a soft-boiled egg or old bread that I attempt to toast in the frying pan, with jam. Coffee requires some of the freshly boiled water or hot water out of the thermos. I put coffee in a little stainless steel pot I bought here and pour theboiling water over it. After a few moments, through a fine sieve, I pour the coffee mixture from the pot into the cup, which usually has some powdered milk in it. This coffee I have grown to tolerate, but it is not up to the quality I would like. Next trip out of the country, I will get a filter holder and bring some filters. I also need to change the coffee, but have decided to finish this big package, as it was really expensive. I will sit at the table in the living room, in front of the window and have breakfast. I may play some music on the computer, but usually I listen to the birds singing. If I am lucky, I can see the outline of a volcano which must be at least 100km away. At this time I also set the small mirror on the table and look at my face, checking for (re)sprouting of facial hair and possibly applying some make-up and brushing my hair. I am planning to buy a large mirror and fasten it to a wall where I might have a maximum of natural light. At about this time I hear the clanging of the gong for the school cafeteria and it is 6:45. I collect my trusty computer bag, (the one I bought when Havergal first gave us laptops), and possibly a backpack if I am doing schoolvisits, and head off to the diocese office. This walk takes about 10 minutes at most. I arrive at about 7.05 and leave my bags in the office, grab my 2 Bibles to join in the Morning Prayer session. (one Bible is Kinyarwanda, the other English). We spent most of October reading Jeremiah and have just started Revelations. People take turns leading the reading and we usually start with singing a hymn. These hymns are mostly African with great rhythms and harmonies. After the reading there is discussion as to the interpretation: Lessons to be learned? Good examples? Bad examples? This is followed by requests for prayers and then the prayer, always in flowing Kinyarwanda. At the closing of the time together, people bring up items of interest related to people or work. By 7:45 or 8 we are all ready to start work. So far, I have not had many days that I spend at the office. School visits on the back of the motorbike have taken up a lot of my time. When in the office, I am at the computer writing observations, making notes, and writing letters. Making phone calls is something I would like to do more of, but the phone is locked for outgoing calls and I have to specially ask to use it.More on the rest of my day later.