Install Prep & How Hot It Is Today

Today I'm going to go into the market to finish buying things for installation at my site. Peace Corps gives us an installation allowance, and yesterday I bought a foam mattress, a couple trunks, some odds and ends, and a variety of buckets, tubs, cups, spoons, and kettles.

These are the type of kettles we bought for our latrines. I'm pretty sure toilet paper will not be available for purchase in our villages, so most people are going to be switching over to "the water method," which is what Senegalese people do. (People use water and their left hand to clean themselves off in the toilet, which is why it's really, really not okay to eat, greet, or do pretty much anything with your left hand here.) Most people also have a few of these kettle floating around for handwashing, teeth brushing, ablutions before prayers, and so on. Handy!

So. I could go one and write all about cultural insights and all the ways my life will change while living in Salémata, but really I just want to talk about how hot it is right now.

 

It's 8:30 in the morning at and it's already getting pretty warm. When there's a little wind it's much better, but yesterday afternoon the breeze died and the humidity went up to 112% (I checked on Wunderground) and coming back from the market was kind of like swimming through hot pudding.

The silver lining is that because it is so hot during the afternoon no one does anything except dozing in the shade, drinking water by the liter and eating mangoes. Could be worse.