Home Alone

I've had about three weeks on my own here in Musoma while Andrew has been in Uganda, and I have to say, certain patterns emerge. I definitely live differently when he's at home than I do when it's just me here!

For starters, my eating habits are a bit tweaked these days. Sugar bananas, okra, and millet porridge have been appearing fairly frequently on my menu lately. Andrew prefers "regular" (i.e. the kind that gets imported to America) bananas instead of the little sweet ones, and okra and millet porridge do not factor on his list of foods he'd ever eat if on his own. I, on the other hand, have no problem with returning home after a day at the office to eat a nice pot (yes, straight out of the pot) of porridge made out of ground millet, soy, and peanut flour. Mm-mm good. A tortilla filled with stir-fried okra and zucchini and a little banana for dessert is also mm-mm good! Toss in a couple fresh tomatoes for an appetized to eat while waiting for the porridge to cook and call it a feast! (Raw tomatoes also appear on Andrew's list of less-appreciated foods, and rank very, very high on mine.)

My down-time habits have also had a few changes. For instance, I don't read an average of two books a week when Andrew is at home. This stack is not the exact pile I read during this time, since a few of the books aren't here right now and couldn't feature in the picture, but these are all ones I've read in the past couple months.

On top of the stack is the Bible, New Living Translation. I like a variety of translations, but this one has a nice level of natural English discourse and clarity in translation. Second is "Frankenstein", which was a reread I enjoyed during my time in the Ugandan village last week. Just a reminder, folks, Frankenstein is the name of the creator of the monster, not the monster himself. Third is "The Friendship Gap", about making friends cross-culturally. Fourth is "Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith", because Anne Lamott always makes me laugh and want to write a book myself. Fifth is "Mennonite in a Little Black Dress", by my favorite Hope College professor, Rhoda Janzen. Funny, well-written, and one I'll read again. Sixth is "The Help", a must-read for anyone who has househelp! Seventh is "The First Five Years of Marriage", which has the answers to (almost all of) my questions. Finally, this month's edition of National Geographic, my favorite magazine, which my friends here faithfully pass on to me every month after they read it. So if you wonder what I read out here in Musoma, there's a recent sampling! I recommend all of them. :-)

Finally, another change is my daily hours. Even our night guard commented the other day that it seems I go to bed a bit later and get up a bit later when it's just me and Andrew is away... Yeah. Confirmation on that one! Let's just say sometimes I'm a little late for work when Andrew is gone.

Time spent on Skype also goes up with his abscense. Hey, one has to talk to one's parents sometime or other, so why not when home alone?

I'm ready to stop being a widow though. 24 more hours until Andrew gets back to Musoma!