Lovin' the New House!

Written May 27, 2011
I am writing this blog entry on my bed which is located in my beautiful new room in my amazing new house!! I LOVE IT HERE! Tonight is going to be my second night by myself. The first night was great. It was almost as if I had no idea what to do with all the privacy! I spent most of the day unpacking, then I read for a couple hours in my hammock, then cooked a delicious meal (Knorr Pasta Sides, Stroganoff), and then set up my Bug Hut tent to sleep outside. I was outside in my tent for a good 4 hours before my fear completely engulfed me and I had to go inside. It's unfortunate, but I have been afraid of the dark for since I can remember. In college I even slept with a night light! I'm totally cool when I have someone in the room with me, but when I'm all alone I need some kind of light source, sad I know. Back at my homologue's house I had a tiny flourescent light wired into my room that was powered by his solar panel. It was almost as if my homologue knew about my fear and prepared for it even before meeting me! Unfortunately for me I don't have enough money to buy a solar panel, and thus there will be no tiny flourescent light for my new room. To make up for this I left my head lamp on for the entire night, well until dawn when I woke up and switched off the light and then went back to sleep. I'm sure you're thinking that this is going to get ridiculous after a while, but no worries! I have rechargeable batteries and a solar charger!!
Anyway, besides my nighttime darkness issue, I'm seriously obsessed with my new house. This morning I was able to walk to the bathroom in just shorts and a sports bra! (My house is completely surrounded by a very high wall) Back at my old house I basically had to follow all the conservative clothing rules at all times, but now that no one can see me, anything goes!! Today I also spent some quality time with my garden, tilling the soil and so on. I can't wait to see what my green thumb is capable of! I was also able to do my laundry outside! This is big because for the past 9 months I had been doing my laundry in my room because I didn't want people watching me wash my clothes and then critiquing what I was doing (when it comes to manual labor Malians won't let you do the work on your own, they will either take over completely or constantly critique what you are doing and tell you that you should be doing it this way or that way). It feels so good to be able to do anything and everything without always having eyes on me!
Oh and cute story: I think my homologue and his family miss me living with them. I have barely been gone for 24 hours and they have already visited me like 20 times. My homologue keeps coming to check in on me. He's like a mother bird who's experiencing empty nest syndrome. Oh and tonight his son and Brehma (the boy that lives with them and helps out with the chores) walked all the way to my new house to bring me tea! Too cute!