life skills

the nurse's hostel that i live in is not the most luxurious of accomodations - there is no hot water, the shower doesn't seem to work (though there is a bathtub), there are no laundry machines, there are tons of cockroaches and other insects in the kitchen, etc... etc...

i've had to adapt a little bit along the way:

1. hand-washing clothes: now, i don't even normally do laundry at home (since my mom does it, all by hand i must add since she is reluctant to spend money on the washing machine), so hand-washing my clothes has been a new experience. throw clothes in the bucket, scrub with soap, add laundry, sit, wring, and then hang outside to dry

2. makeshift screwdrivers: earlier today, my doorhandle and its frame fell off. i managed to acquire a couple new screws, but in the absence of a screwdriver i had to use the blade end of a butterknife to screw them in and then used a hammer to finish the deed

3. mosquito nets: sleeping under an insecticide-treated bednet is highly recommended for children and traveller's to malaria endemic regions. i have to sleep under my bednet, but for some reason EVERY night there is this one buzzing insect that always gets in... we wage a constant war with one another, and last night i upped the ante by bringing into bed my bottle of bugspray and just spraying like madness whenever i heard the oh-so-annoying buzzing

4. exercise: there are no gyms here, and biking here is scarier than biking in China. since running is contraindicated in my plantar state, it's rather hard to exercise in lusaka. i just take long walks to the mall where i eat subway. i yearn for some heart-rate accelerating activity, but i suppose i will just have to live with the status quo for now