Day in the Life

This week, Dr. Midega, Professor Khan, and all of our new friends have traveled to Tanzania for a conference and won't be back until Thursday. That leaves us with a pretty empty office and a lot of work to do to prepare for our upcoming Uganda travels.I figured I would go ahead and walk you through what a typical workday (Monday-Friday) looks like:8:00AM - Wake upTake malaria medicine (I ran out this morning....eeeek!) Spray bug spray and open the door to my deck to let the morning breeze in!8:20AM - BreakfastWe usually order what we want for breakfast the night before or a few days in advance. It can be as long as a 30 minute wait to get your food, depending on how busy everything is. The kitchen staff at the Guest Centre are all very nice and thoughtful and have taken the best care of us.9:00AM - Back to RoomBrush teeth, get my bags, make sure everything is good to go.9:15AM to 12:50AM - Office[Sometimes our morning office time is shorter depending on how we feel or what is going on....today we stayed longer, but our colleagues usually leave around 12 or so to go to lunch. It depends on the day!]Depending on the day, we will be at the office throughout the morning. This week, for example, we are entering our data from the Kenyan push-pull farmers into a statistics program to analyze the results and then we are starting to work on some of the opinion sections of our reports. One of the contingencies of participation in this program is that interns prepare a research report and present it at the Global Youth Institute in October -- and, as crazy as it may sound to those of you who despise writing, I have a feeling this is going to be one of my favorite parts of participating in this program. I will have a tangible report that I can take back home to show everyone about my work!1:00-2:30 - LunchLike breakfast, it can sometimes take a bit of time to get lunch as well. Lunch is sometimes one of the busier meals of the day due to seminars or conferences that are hosted here or tourist groups that stop by. We request this meal in advance too and today was we had chicken salad sandwiches, green beans, and chips (french fries). Oh, and a plate of watermelon and oranges!2:30-3:00 - BreakLunch usually doesn't take the entire 1 1/2 hours that I've allocated for it above, so we usually get some free time to be productive (or take a nap). We try to be back at the office around 3..sometimes earlier, again - it depends on the day.3:00-4:55 - Afternoon Office WorkWe are back at that office around this time! During our first week here, we stayed until we were the only ones left (no one had told us to leave!) and it was around 6:15PM. Now, we usually leave around 5 as by then others have already left or are finishing up their work.5:00-5:10 - Change and Get Ready for GymI take my stuff back to my room, change into other clothes, tie up my tennis shoes, and walk to the other side of the compound to go to the "Processing Room," aka our gym. The trainer is also the pharmacist at the clinic so the gym is open from around 5-7PM each evening.(On days we teach, it looks more like teach 5-5:35, gym 5:45-6:45)5:20-6:20 - GYM!Depending on the day, the evening schedule from 4:30 onward tends to change quite a bit. If we're teaching, for example, we would teach from 5-5:40 or so and then go to the gym. If we get done at the office early, we may go to the gym from 4:45-5:30 and then swing by the school or do something else. I've been biking for 30-45 minutes a day and then  I do whatever (sometimes awful) exercises that the trainer tells me to do.6:30-7:00 - Chill out!I usually clean up, change clothes again, and tie up any loose ends from the day. That could be sending emails, checking up with Lisa the program director, or trying to find lost pakas (cats) that need extra loving. Sometimes I go to the Guest Centre and sit outside or sit in the lounge. Other times, I try to plan the next four years of my life (love college), or sometimes I take a nap.7:15-8:20 - DinnerDinner is served from 7 to 9 PM every evening, but it's best to go around 7-7:30 to enjoy the last few minutes of sunlight. It's worth it to go around 6:50 and just look at the sky from the shores of Lake Victoria (if and only if you can survive the pesky lake bugs)8:30-9:30 - Chill OutI usually talk to my family or Joey, work on stuff, or just get ready for the next day!