Weekdays in K-Town

Finding a routine in Kailahun was not very difficult, when life takes place within the confines of 1km stretch of road, there really are only so many choices. Any deviation from the routine means showering in the evening instead of the morning or something wild and crazy like that. Yep, routine is definitely the name of the game here in Kailahun and here is how it goes....

Morning for us begins somewhere between 6:30am and 7:00am. It depends mostly on how long the roosters and chickens can keep their mouths shut and how much cloud is in the sky to keep out the light. This time of day is surprisingly busy around town because the temperatures are at their most pleasantly cool so everyone is trying to get some work done before it gets too hot. For Matt and I, this is not so much the time for manual labour but the time for coffee. One of the few comforts we brought from home was a coffee press that gets used every morning so we can avoid the more readily available Nescafe. While Matt makes the coffee I might do some laundry out back or maybe try to fashion some breakfast out of leftovers from dinner or whatever we happen to have. You would be surprised how much curry fried rice can be the breakfast of champions.

If it is not too cold and I am not being lazy then I will usually shower in the morning but that is when the water is at its coldest and now that the rainy season is bringing cooler nights and mornings the colder water is contributing to “cranky Jaime attacks” so this aspect of the routine is currently under review.

Dressed and fed, we leave for work around 8:15 to be there for the 8:30am start. Our roommate usually bikes to work but Matt and I walk so we can hear the cries of “pumui” (white person) from every child we pass - believe me, there are many! Once at work, we are generally in front of our laptops for 3-4 hours before the “bread man” comes by to sell us our daily bread and give us a break from work. 5 minutes later it is back to work.

At 2:00pm, the generator at work is given a break so we go to take our lunch. Over our lunch break we usually walk the 10 minutes to the market and buy any supplies we need for dinner that night. We might then buy something to eat – usually one or more of roast corn on the cob, bread, avocado, boiled egg, groundnuts ( peanuts) or fried cassava. We will also engage in a little requisite complaining about how uninspiring our choices for lunch. Now that there is a new “restaurant” in town (bringing the total count to 4) we will sometimes splurge and eat there instead.

Local kiddies looking at books on our front porch

Lunch ends theoretically at 3:00pm but they are sometimes slow in turning the generator back on so the staff generally converge under the mango tree in front of the office for a bit of a chat. By 3:30 we are back in front of computers where we will generally stay until 6:00pm.

After work, we walk the 15 minutes back home and spend some time playing with the neighbourhood children before getting started on dinner. I must report that we have had considerably more success on this front though not so much thanks to your comments on my previous post (blender, cheese and vermouth - really?). We eat a lot of stew-type concoctions on rice but have managed bean burgers, egg dishes (frittata = good suggestion!) and even fajitas on one occasion thanks to a recent trip to Freetown. On weekends our roommate makes delicious chapattis. At 7pm our generator comes on so dinner is usually eaten in front of the television where you can find us until about 10pm when the generator goes off and we go to bed, fall asleep and do it all again the next day.

Matt with neighbourhood kids 

Next post: The titillation of the weekend!!