Routines

When moving to a new place people often talk about getting in to a routine.  These routines help you start feeling at home and to integrate in to your new situation.  That being said my weekly routine is mostly defined by school.
Mondays through Fridays tend to be almost exactly the same.  I wake up between 6 to 6:30 am every morning.  In the summer time this is pretty easy for right now the sun is up before 5:30 am and, because of the sheer curtains that are widely available here, it is hard to sleep in past a certain time.  In the winter this proves to be very difficult.  The sun rises around 6:30am and it is still very cold in the morning.
The first thing I do when I wake up is open my front door and get a good idea what to expect, weather wise, that day.  Lesotho is a very windy country which translates in to the weather is extremely unpredictable. Often times mornings are still and clear.  The wind usually starts to pick up in a few hours and there is always a chance of afternoon showers.  And when it rains it pours and, because this is Lesotho, when it pours it also hails.
The next item in my morning routine is using the outhouse and dumping my pee bucket.  I don't think I've mentioned this before but Basotho use a pee bucket when it's too cold/dark to go to the outhouse.  In the summer, the nights are warm and I take my headlamp (keeps you from using your hands in the outhouse) to lead the way.  But in winter, and when it rains, a pee bucket is a very convenient alternative.  I also use it as my make-shift sink when brushing my teeth, and as a drainage system when dumping the water from my bath.  I dump this water in to a hole filled with rocks that is far away from our water source.
After brushing my teeth I start making breakfast.  Oatmeal has always been my breakfast of choice even in the U.S.  Here it's nice because it's healthy, easily available, and it can cook while I'm getting other things done.  While it's cooking I can make my bed, feed my cat, pick out my outfit, get dressed, and assemble everything I need for the upcoming school day.  By that time my oatmeal is ready to be eaten.  And I can listen to the radio and figure out what is going on in the world.  By this I usually mean South Africa since I usually listen to an Africaner station based in the Free State ( the area bordering Lesotho).
My school is a 5 minute walk from my place.  I usually leave my place between 7:15 and 7:30.  I'm usually one of the first teachers there so I open the staff room and start prepping for my upcoming day.  My coworkers usually arrive closer to 7:45.  Most of them live in the camptown and commute to town on a taxi.
At 7:45 assembly starts.  Assembly is how we start and end the school day here.  Students sing a hymn, say the Lord's prayer, and teachers give any announcements such as inspirational speeches from the Principal, club meetings, or what students will be punished that day for speaking Sesotho.  Yes, all students are expected to speak English all day unless they are in Sesotho class.
I teach 18 40 minute periods a week.  Most teachers are expected to teach between 25-30 periods a week.  But I am a volunteer and I am not expected to take a full load.  That being said there are teachers in my school who teach less periods a week than I do.  The amount I teach each day varies.  On Tuesdays I teach only 1 period while on Thursdays I teach 3 double periods for each of my classes.
Our school is set up with 4 periods in the morning, a 20 minute break, 3 periods, a 1 hour lunch break, and 3 periods until the end of school.  This takes us to 4:00pm.  We have a cook at my school who cooks lunch for the students if they pay a 100 rand fee.  Before lunch was part of the school's fees but schools have had to cut fees because of a government mandate and we can no longer afford to feed the students.  We usually eat papa (the equivalent of rice in the Basotho diet made from maize) and moroho (green vegetable that can consist of cabbage, spinach, and/or, rape) or beans or samp (like papa but bigger pieces) with beans.
At 4:00 the students line up for assembly, sing, and leave school.  I then head back home.
When I head back home I take a minute to eat something and then I clean my dishes from the morning.  I pump water that I will use for a bath and to wash my dinner dishes.  I then spend my evening watching TV shows on my computer, cooking, bathing, and at 9:00pm it's candles out.  When I eat dinner depends on the season.  I hate cooking in the dark because no matter how many candles I have lit I cannot see what I am cooking or eating.  So I cook when there is still plenty of light outside.  I also have to boil water to take a bath.  I boil a large pot's worth of water and I cool it down with the rest of the water in my bucket.  The leftover water is then used for washing my dishes.
On Fridays we have a half day and end at 1:00 (right before lunch).  No food in served and students and teachers go home early.  I usually use this day to do some grocery shopping in town since I have plenty of time to get back home before dark.
On Saturdays I usually head to town again to hang out with fellow PCVs or just chill in the camptown.  Villages are quite boring and the events of the weeks tend to be funerals.  Every Saturday there is a funeral or two in the village.  So going in to town is a preferred alternative.
Sundays are dead days for me.  Basotho are very religious people so Sunday is church day for them.  This means that almost nothing is open and transportation is unreliable.  I use this as a cleaning day.  I wash my clothes, clean my house, and spend the rest of the day reading and watching stuff on my computer.
Every once in a while my weekly routine changes if I spend the weekend at another volunteer's place one weekend or I leave for the week to do things for Peace Corps but for the most part this is what my life consists of.  I can't say it's very interesting but I am enjoying it.

Aparna