Apartment Found!

I haven’t written a blog in while and so here we go… what’s new?

First and most importantly… I found an apartment! Technically we are supposed to live with our host families for 2 months and it’s been one month, one week, but I am so ready to move out and I have been slowly putting together my apartment. I have a good host family and they give me space and the food is really good most of the time, but I’m so ready to not eat dinner at 11 and not eat bread and oil for breakfast. I’m ready to take my bucket baths indoors instead of outside…. Ha and I’m ready to blare my music while I hand wash all my clothes. Also I’m ready to go to the bathroom in peace, (the lock on our bathroom doesn’t work and it’s right by the front door…). Also the bugs that keep eating me up everynight are not my favorite… All those things aside, I’ve enjoyed staying with my host family and look forward to still eating meals with them and seeing them very often. It’s amazing what we get used to and honestly if it weren’t for the new bug bites everyday, I wouldn’t be in such a rush to move out.

But let me see… my apartment is 2 bedrooms, a salon, big kitchen, and I have roof access! The roof access was the most important to me. I can do laundry up there (I already made my clothes line). I can grow plants. I can sunbathe if the mood strikes me. I can read. I can enjoy the stars and even sleep up there if the weather really does get sweltering. Speaking of the heat… we’re probably about the same as Illinois now. 90’s ish most the time, but wow I forgot how much I am able to sweat. No fancy smanshy air conditioning here. So if I’m sweating and so unwilling to go outside here when it’s the 90’s… I can’t imagine what my fellow pcvs are going through to the south where it can get almost 145 degrees. Seriously… I’d be a puddle in that sort of weather. I’d have to sit in a little baby pool and constantly drinking water, because it’ll all come right out through my pores, as quickly as I drink it, I sweat it out. Gross… I know that’s exactly what everyone wanted to know… haha

So just in case if anyone is wondering what I actually am up to everyday now that I’m out here on my own. I don’t do a whole lot…. But the days fly by. On a good day… I go to the health clinic, study, talk to a few people. Do some laundry? Read? Nap? Lately I’ve been cleaning my apartment a lot. Um… have tea with families and I have a few friends. Sometimes we go on walks. Oh yeah… hang out with the site mate. He’s got me into dominoes and watching the Wire. Good stuff.

So yeah… so far very laid back. Soon I hope to go swimming in the river and um… start on my community analysis in depth. It depends on the day, but yeah sometimes I definitely wonder what I’m doing here. I can say that for the most part I’m really happy and enjoying myself. It’s only been 3 months, but so far this whole thing has been a huge confidence booster. I mean I found an apartment without really being able to speak the language well. There are no classified ads or realtors to go through. You find friends and community members to help you connect with the people who have an extra house or empty downstairs. Anyways I hope to start being more consistent with my writing soon and I’ll do my best to get more pictures up soon. I think my pictures speak louder than my words. Hope all is well in the States.