A Day in the Life of Me

2am wake up to a loud banging in my salon. Think 'is it larium getting to me or is it my cats?'
3am dream about waking up to loud banging noise, in dream think 'is it larium getting to me or is it my cats?' wonder if this is actually a dream.
7am Knock on my door, wonder if it's larium
7h05 There's another knock my door, it's real. I go and answer it. I ask as I grab my pagne 'C'est qui?' receive response of 'C'est moi'
7h10 Open the door to find my landlord. 'Hi Melissa, I've come to say good morning, did you sleep well?' 'ca va' 'How is your health?' 'ca va' 'How are your cats?' 'ca va' 'Is your cat pregnant again' 'oui' 'will you give us a kitten?' 'oui' 'OK have a good day' we shake hands and I close and lock my door.
7h15 unlock and open door again to go pee. Get told by neighbor 'bonne piss'
7h20 close and lock door again and go back to bed
7h30 realize that I'm not going back to bed, read in current book.
7h40-8h00 kick cat off my mosquito net repeatedly while trying to read
9h00 wake up with book on my face
9h15 get up and boil water
9h20 heat up leftovers from the night before. Rice and tomato sauce for breakfast!
9h25 Go to get fried wagasi from plastic bin with lid, find it open on the floor. I shake my fist at the sky for dramatic effect and say as menacingly as I can 'damn cats.' decide to hard boil an egg.
9h45 eat leftovers
10h00 go out to pull some water from the well, a petite sees me and tells me I'm doing it wrong, pulls my water for me.
10h15 realize that I've been boiling my water for an hour, turn it off decide to have a cup of tea
10h15 read while having cup of tea
10h35 brush teeth and spit into my shower drain
10h45 decide to do laundry
11h00 get all set up to do laundry, and realize that I have no soap. Go put on a shirt and wear pagne as a skirt instead of a wrap dress to go and buy soap.
11h15 nearest boutique is closed, it's monday
11h20 next boutique only has Omo, rumor mill says Omo has been banned in China due to harsh chemicals present in its cleaning power. Contemplate how dangerous these chemicals are against the amount of clean clothes I have. Decide I'll test my luck, I'm probably getting cancer anyway.
11h30 start laundry and get told by a petite that I'm doing it wrong, petite does my laundry. I put a tea bag in a glass jar with some sugar and then stick it in the sun. sun tea later on today!
11h45 receive a call from a work partner. We need to 'faire le programme' about something. Make plans to do it over lunch today at 12h30.
12h30 Lunch time! Put on real clothes, tissue shorts and a t-shirt with marche flip flops. Read while I wait
13h00 still waiting for my friend, good thing this was the only thing I had planned to do today
13h15 my friend sends me a text 'je viens'
13h45 friend finally arrives and we go to lunch
14h00 order a beninoise, rice, and two chunks of wagasi.
14h10 tanti number one brings beers, leaves them on the table and forgets to open them. I use my key chain bottle opener to open our beers. Tanti number two comes with our food and a spoon and fork for each.
14h20 tanti number one comes back with a bottle opener laughs that we have already opened our beers and goes away. Mama comes up and says hello by giving me a big hug with a big smile on her face. She tells me that she has big plans for her bar. Shes going to put in another building, a fence, and one day she'll even have a projector so that people can watch the world cup games! (she actually does get all this accomplished before world cup. The projector does actually work making her bar the coolest bar in town)
14h30 my friend and I discuss work. He thinks there should be a new post a few kilometers south of here. We make a plan to go visit next week. Mission will be to determine interest from community. My friend tells me without a hint of sarcasm 'wow we've done a lot of work today'
14h45 we order another beer and get joined by some policemen.
15h30 we order another beer because the gendarmes have also joined us
16h00 I decide to walk to the market
16h05 another friend finds me on the road and gives me a ride to the market.
16h20 say hello to all my marche mamas, they tell me I've gotten fat since they saw me last I make a mental note to exercise today. I get tomatoes, onions, piedmont, greens, pure water sachet, spicy peanut ball, a couple of eggs and some dried fish
16h45 get picked up by another friend on my way back to my house
16h50 politely decline his marriage proposal as I get off his motto, but thank him for the ride.
16h55 get greeted by my cats jumping out of my window through the hole in the screen they've made
16h56 walk into house and find my bike has been toppled over, I wonder how one full size cat and one kitten could do so much damage.
17h00 feed obnoxious cats fish, equal amounts in two bowls
17h15 get changed into work out clothes and go for a bike ride
17h20-17h40 contemplate how effective development really is while riding my bike
17h45 it starts to rain
18h15 arrive in my house soaking wet and muddy. Feel relieved that I had that random plastic bag in my bike bag which saved my iPod.
18h20 make a playlist on iTunes for a couple hours of music, set up my computer in my kitchen and then take a shower
18h45 cook up dinner, rice with a sauce of everything bought in the market, topped with a hard boiled egg.
19h15 put copious amounts of salt on my dinner, then eat it
19h45 It starts to rain again, I put my buckets under my eaves, get soaked in the process
20h00 receive a call from my mom in the states. 'Sorry mom I can't talk because it's raining' she doesn't seem to understand, so I explain that I can't hear her due to the rain on my tin roof
20h10 read some more in my book as a cat is curled up my lap
20h15 As I'm putting on some pj pants in my bedroom the power goes out
20h30 I stumble around, stub my toe hard on a chair, step on a sleeping cat, walk face first into a door frame, finally find my phone and turn the flashlight on. I set up my solar powered lantern and thank the donor who thought about us peace corps volunteers.
20h35 My toe is bleeding, I go to my med kit and realize I've run out of band aids but I do have gauze and duct tape, that will work.
20h40 read some more, notice that I'm going to have to chose a new book soon
21h00 power comes back on
21h30 finish book, write it down in my book list, rate it on a scale on 1-5. its' my 107th book read since swear in
22h00 chose a movie to watch and thank Jim and Austin for setting up the Natitingou server
22h15 play a game of solitaire instead
22h30 pick a movie, Anchorman- The Legend of Ron Burgundy
00h00 finish movie, lock house, cat proof kitchen, chose new book, get into bed, tuck in mosquito net and read until I fall asleep. Last thought before drifting off 'Wasn't Peace Corps supposed to turn me into a worldly well rounded individual? I feel kinda like a 23 year old cat lady instead.' I then remember that I'm actually 24.