A Day in the Life...

i wake up around 6:30am just as the sun is beginning to rise and the neighborhood begins to awaken. it is not yet hot and sometimes a dense fog hangs in the cool morning air. i go to the kitchen, fill a pot with water from the filter, light the gas stove with a lighter and a fast hand to boil water for my tea. tea bags are not common, so the tea comes in a powder almost that you put in a sieve and pour hot water through into your cup. i put milk that comes in a plastic bag purchased at the bakery into my tea along with sugar. most mornings i have yogurt that i make the day before by warming milk, adding 3 teaspoons of good yogurt from bangalore, and then setting out in the sun in a glass container for the day. i add in oats, almonds, milk, bananas, and coorg honey. the coorg region is known for its honey, although it is much lighter tasting than most of the honeys in the states. there are 3 different sizes of bananas. the little ones are about 2-3 inches long and sweet - i like them best. if i have time, i do some yoga. the roof top is beautiful in the mornings for yoga, but the roof is slanted and i am afraid i will roll off into the field next door that is a make-shift sewer pit.

to take a bath, i put 2 pots of water on to boil in the kitchen. i mix that hot water with the water from the tap to have warm water for a bucket bath. i am getting more used to them, i think - i learning how much water i can use to wash my hair and still have some left over to rinse. the bathroom has a drain in the corner and the floors are sloped. there is no flush for the toilet, you just fill up the bucket with water and poor it down the hole. laundry is done by putting your clothes in a bucket with some detergent and letting them soak and washing them by hand. you can pay someone to do your laundry for you which entails beating your clothes on a rock, but so far i have done it myself. i hang them out to dry along the railing of our second floor apartment. it only takes a couple of hours for the clothes to dry because it is about 90 degrees here in the afternoons.

the rent for the apartment is only about $60 a month, so $30 each for my roomate and i. the electricity goes out every day from 7:30-8:30pm to conserve energy - so we have flash lights and candles ready at that time and often cook and eat dinner by candle light, which is actually quite nice. in reality though, the power is off most of the day which can be annoying especially when you are working on a computer and watching the battery life dwindle or when you have just bought milk and the refrigerator is off for most of the day. the apartment itself is simple, but nice. we are at the end of the road on the second floor. the landlady lives downstairs and doesn't speak any english and we don't speak any kannada, so we just smile at each other awkwardly. when she has something she needs to tell us, she brings her grandson. today, she brought 4 women to tour our apartment...not sure what that was about. i am adapting to this temporary life here and starting to learn the ropes; appreciating the little things - the power being on, hot water, learning that one of your friends has an oven, a shower...finding nutella in a local store!! :)