Life in Béré

A few people asked some questions after my last post, which was super awesome. I don't plan to post about every detail of life here, because that would probably be boring. So if you really want to know how I slept last night, what I ate for breakfast, what I did after work and with who, when the last time was that I showered, or anything like that.... Send me an email! And I will send you a long, merry chronicle in reply. Should you desire to send me an email, my email address is hisjoyfullamb @ gmail.com.

Having said that, I'll try to be at least somewhat descriptive about what it's like here.

It's hot here. I don't have a thermometer, so I don't know how hot. I'm guessing 85-95 or so. This is almost the coolest time of year, so it cools down quite nicely at night. A few months from now, it will be much hotter. There are also lots of bugs. Mosquitos, ants, flies, cockroaches, spiders.... And I don't like bugs here. They're bigger, or something... So if they're inside, I kill them. I don't like killing bugs in the US, but then there aren't really any bugs there that I consider a threat to my wellbeing.

The food here is interesting. It's good, but very different. We have lots of rice, some pasta, and some other grains I think. They're all white. Hence, there are lots of malnourished little children running around. To go with the rice or boille or pasta or whatever, they have various sauces and such. Beans, spinach, tomatoes, onion... I don't know. Most of the time I don't know exactly what I'm eating. Also there are bananas. And vegetables.

Laundry is either done by hand, or given to a wash lady to wash by hand. I don't think I like the idea of paying someone to wash my laundry. So I'll probably do it myself. :) On the hospital compound, we have lots of lovely western conveniences like running water, electricity, toilets, fans, etc. Its quite nice. Off the compound where I live there is electricity, but no running water or western bathrooms.

Currently, I'm "working" at the hospital during the week from 7am to 3pm. By "working" I mean that I follow a nurse around and watch what they do, help if I can, and try really hard to understand what they're saying. To my great delight, French is starting to sound like French, and not like just any old language. Hopefully this continues.

I have Internet from my phone; it's kind of prepaid, and has data. It's kind of slow and kind of expensive, so I'm trying to not get on Facebook and things like that. Email works great, and also, as of last night iMessage is working on my phone! I'm really happy about that. My Chadian number is +235 65288857. Regular texting from the US doesn't seem to work for some reason, but if you have an iPhone it should work. :)