I can’t remember the last time I slept as well as I sleep here. Someone suggested the altitude, but I’m not sure. The work certainly isn’t near the pace of what the typical school day at work brings. Perhaps it is the cold night air and the three duvets I sleep under to stay warm?
The evening falls upon us pretty quickly here. The locals will say that sunrise to sunset is between 6 am and 6 pm. In reality, it’s close, but not exact. The evenings get dark pretty fast, and if I don’t leave the Malewa Trust office by 6:15, it is too dark to walk home. I learned this the hard way last week when I stayed until 7ish and then got a bit nervous as I walked the country roads in the dark. (Just days earlier, I had such a liberating feeling… there I was, walking the country road under a setting sun, in KENYA!) I decided to run home- about 40 minutes downhill couldn’t be that bad!- but the roads are horrible, and I hit a rock, then flew, Superman-style, down the dirt and rock road on my stomach and arms. I managed to cut up both hands, with most of the damage done to my right elbow. A nice deep cut and some bruising to the elbow was a good reminder to stay safe and leave for home earlier in the evenings. (I'll spare you all the photographs of this!)
The Ardingly students brought a telescope here so we’ve had the opportunity to look up at the moon through that. I enjoy the night sky from outside my cottage- the stars hang so low and I’ve watched the new moon develop into a big full moon since my arrival.
There’s no need for an alarm clock in the mornings, as there are many, many bird sounds in the morning to wake me. I’m not a bird-lover (definitely stemming from the two times I have unexpectedly “caught” their droppings), but I wish that I could identify all of the calls I hear each day. Each morning, there is a bird that sings and pecks at my bathroom window to say hello. The birds really do fill the air with music all throughout the morning and early afternoon hours.
