Okay, so not many places here have fans, and hardly anywhere has AC. In school we have a few very loud AC units, and if it was up to me, they would be blasting 24/7. Sadly, some people think hearing our lecture is more important then enjoying AC so it's only on some of the time.
Home is a whole different matter. There is definitely no air conditioning, and we have no fans. My sister and I share a room that is just big enough to squeeze in two twin beds, and then they have placed a desk in the only space available to walk in. Basically, there is no space to stand in the room, you just kind of climb over everything and lay down.
Between the two beds, one of them stops the door from opening, and half of the other is used for storage space. I was originally given the full bed which I just about fit on, but as the nights went by, I started to think that I was going to suffocate because my sister hated opening the window.
I said that if she was afraid fo being shanked in the night, I was happy to take that bed, as I would much rather get stabbed with a breeze on me then suffocate to death in an airless room. She laughed and told me that it wasn't people she was afraid of, but snakes.
I almost smacked her. Her cousin, who sometimes lives with us, apparently explained to her that it would be nearly impossible for a snake to climb directly up the wall and through the window, but she did not believe her. My feelings about being bit by a snake (even though it's really not feasible in the situation) are identical to my feelings about getting stabbed, so I forced her to switch beds with me.
I began sleeping in the 'storage bed.' It is used for quilts and my luggage, which I mostly live out of. When I lay down on the bed, it is about a foot to short, so to sleep, I either have to put my feet up on the pile, or curl into a ball. Considering the reason I switched beds is because I thought I was being broiled alive, doing this -->
Sadly, sleeping next to the window had not been as satisfying as I had dreamed. With the window open and the sun-deflecting curtains open, there is still curtain that is meant to be a sheer modesty curtain. The problem is that it may look sheer, but it may as well be made of iron. Occasionally I can hear the breeze outside and I imagine the curtain letting in air, but I think it's just my imagination.
Last night was especially bad. Sne and I were home alone because Mama Busi was working the night shift at the hospital. As we got ready for bed, I could feel the stifling heat of the room bearing down on us. It like we were swimming in hot murky air. I tried to sneakily move the curtain aside so that the breeze was free to come through (as Mama Busi had done about a week before). But in the darkness I heard Sne squeak "I'm scared."
Annoyed, I moved the curtain back. For a few minutes I tried to fall asleep but it was too stuffy. Finally I told Sne that I was going to sit against the window with my head under the curtain. She couldn't find a plausible reason to be scared of that, so she didn't complain. I stayed like that for two hours, praying that I would doze off in the awkward position, but my body wanted to lie down. I hoped that Sne would be asleep by that point, so I lay back down and tired to sneakily push the curtain aside. Once again, "I'm scared" came out of the darkness.
Fed up, I took my pillow into the tv room, and lay down on the blissfully cool tiles. I drifted off almost immediately. At one point I realized that a blanket would be nice and went to grab mine from the room. I know at some point in the night Sne came out to the living room and told me to go back to the room, and I told her to leave me alone (hopefully I wasn't too mean, but I am not known for being particularly kind when someone wakes me up, especially when I am so comfy). Around 5 AM I thought it might have cooled down in our room, so I went back and continued sleeping peacefully.
Today I had a Zulu test and seemed to preform better then I thought I would. I also finally found a way to get out of my writers block. I think it just proves that sleeping on the floor should definitely be more popular. I probably won't get away with that kind of shananagans when Busi is back home, but one can hope.
I go to the rural homestay in Saturday, so I will be without running water (not too different from my home here), no electricity, and definitely no internet. We have heard a lot of rumors about it, but I think only time will tell about whether or not it will be significantly traumatic.
Oh, and yes mum, I've started my malaria medication.
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