Everybody knows I’m a teacher, but there’s so much more to my every day life than teaching! Here’s what a typical day looks like:
- 7:00 AM: Wake up, make tea, revise notes for class (if I have one that day).
- 8:00 AM: Walk to school, stopping in the staff room to greet the secretary and drop my books off. After greetings I head to the computer lab to turn on the servers, routers, and computers. I usually don’t have class until 10:30, so I will check e-mail, catch up on news, and work in the computer lab until 10:00.
- 10:00 AM: Tea break. I’ll spend a half hour or so drinking tea and chatting with other teachers. Sometimes I bring a book and read that instead of chatting.
- 10:30 or 11:00 AM: Class for 1 or 2 hours, depending on how my mood is and how much material I have to cover.
- 12:30 PM: Lunch. On MWF it’s githeri (corn and beans, staple food around here) and TR it’s rice and potato stew (blah). We chat and eat until around 1:30 or 2:00. Sometimes I go home and do laundry at lunch too.
- 2:00 PM: Work in computer lab, either researching class notes or maintaining the lab computers and servers.
- 4:00 PM: Ride bike to Tala market (1.5 km). I usually do shopping for vegetables on Tuesday and Friday, but there’s plenty of other things to buy in the market. Drinking tea and eating a chapati is a must in Tala market, I do it almost every day without exception. Other days I go visit the barber and have him clean up my beard.
- 6:00 or 7:00 PM: Ride my bike home and change out of my work clothes into my cultural dress (shorts, sandals, no t-shirt). Only after I’ve done that can I start thinking about preparing dinner.
- 9:00 PM: Dinner is usually done by this time (sometimes I get a late start!) and then I can sit down to do any combination of the following: check e-mail, watch a few episodes of Arrested Development, read a book, prepare notes for the next day’s class.
- 11:00 PM: Bed time!
So there you have it, that’s my daily routine. It’s nice that I’ve actually got a routine now… my little, lonely house is starting to feel like home to me now (though it’s a bit lonely!). Post a comment if you have any questions!
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Lover of Linux, death metal and Indian food, blogs about living and working in Nairobi, Kenya.
Who makes the lunch you have at work?
I don’t see anything about sweeping or laundry… that’s what I spent my days doing! That’s awesome you go to the market every day… I know I dreaded the market sometimes :)
Mom: The matron makes the food at lunch! She cooks for all the staff and all the students, so it’s never anything very complicated (or tasty!). I usually bring an avocado, a pepper, and some cilantro to add. Hah!
Sara: Yeah, I do a lot of laundry. In fact, my laundry is outside drying on the line right now. Oh, now it’s raining. Oh well!
Hi Alan, It sounds like your breakfast begins at lunch time. You have a great routine and the food sounds really good to me. You’re clever to bring along additions on the rice and potato days. I read your blog quite regularly and am happy to hear about what you are doing. Thanks for sharing the book chapter I really liked it and purchased the audio download of the book. I think my book club would like it a lot.
Andy and I are doing great. Muggins and I have another dog to play with. Jordan was given a Jack Russell terrier puppy that he named Savage; I call her Savvy. I take her to a toddler puppy class just as an excuse to see and play with more puppies. I go pick her up, bring her home to play, then take her back home; a grandma type set-up. She has taught Muggins how to play again and they have a great time; he is very fit now.
Andy is officially retired all of a sudden (because time when by so fast) and he had to turn in the laptop. I’m loving my new 15″ laptop and the free 8GB iPod Touch that came with it.
Sorry that you have to miss all the presidential political ads and their irrelevant exaggerations here; want me to save some on my TiVo for you?
hey! i realize, i’m a bad person, because i read your blog but never comment, and i always get really happy when i get a comment from you, b/c you’re the only one that does these days.
anyway, your day is waay different from mine, and i’m jels of the fresh food you get! maybe i’ll do a day in the life, also….
Hey man, I had a plan to do this with my blog and take some illustrative photos to string it together…well it didn’t happen, but I’m glad you did it! Sounds like an interesting, if mellow, lifestyle you’ve got going. I’m working a 9-5 in vancouver doing engineering these days, and hoping in a few years I’ll get another chance to go overseas. Keep up the good work, I’ll be reading! Jon