A Typical Weekday at HAU

Thought I would share a typical weekday for me at HAU.

Wake up around 6 a.m. (possibly due to the bullfrogs singing. )
6:15 – 6:35 After putting on my “walking skirt, tank top and tennis shoes, I leave the apartment for a walk on the road just outside campus. The earlier I go the better. Already by 6 a.m. there are people out walking, people of bicycles and mopeds, as well as various motor vehicles. If one waits until 6:30 there are quite a number of folks out. Plus, as it approaches 7 a.m., the temperature and humidity are already on the rise.

6:35 – 6:50 approx. run the stairs up and down to the apartment (we are on 3rd floor), do a few exercises in my extra bedroom (which has carpet, and no bed)

7:00 shower

7:15-7:35 make breakfast and do dishes. I like to eat Busoma. It is a ground power that looks something like Cocoa Wheats. A missionary doctor came up with the formula. It contains roasted soybeans, roasted maize, molasses and a few other things. It is cooked just like Cocoa Wheats. It was created to provide nutrition for malnourished children.

7:35 - 8:00 Sit on the back balcony (it is screened in) for devotions and breakfast

8:15 or so – Walk down the stairs and across the drive to the library

MWF – 10:30 to 11:30 is chapel. We walk down the road and to the church about 5 minutes or so. HAU has a chapel band. They are excellent. Songs may be in Kirundi, Swahili, French or English, or different verses of a song in a different language.

If it is Tuesday or Thursday, I teach the cataloging class from 10:30 to 12 noon.

12:15 to approx 2:15 – lunch and a nap. Here in Burundi people take a 2 hour lunch so they can have a catnap. I love it! It is so humid here, that one tires more easily, and the nap is a great refresher

2:15 – 5 or 6 p.m. (or somewhere in between) back to work.

After work:
If it is still light, I enjoy sitting on the balcony and watching the sunset and the sky. The balcony that is outside our apartment doors is on the north side of the building. If we look east, we see the mountains of Burunid – “up country” as it is called here. To the east we can see a small sliver or two of Lake Tangayika, and if it is very clearn, we can see the mountains of the Congo.

Often Wayne and Barb and I chat about our day and catch up on news.

Sometime between 6:30 and 8:00 I eat supper. The nationals eat the evening meal around 8 p.m.

7 p.m. to 9:15: some combination of the following: prepare for class, read, relax, check e-mail or write on the blog.

9:15 – 9:30 Shower (it is humid here – and two showers a day feels great; once in a while I have 3). If the electricity is on – the shower is quite warm.

9: 40 Head for bed. (Often serenaded by the bullfrogs, also sometimes stereo music or singing from campus. ) (sometimes the dogs next door sing along with the frogs… )

On Friday evenings, the 5 of us North Americans here on campus leave about 5:30 and join just a few other white missionaries as a local restaurant. It is fun to catch up on news and fellowship together.