Football, pets and corruption

Its strange how people settle into a routine; life here is quickly becoming like Groundhog Day. Every weekday morning I rise at around 6.30, and go for a run or game of football. I then head to the Fatima Institute, as I can charge my laptop there and they occasionally have internet. I work from there, before heading to Checkpoint, one of the very few restaurants here, and eat one of the three dishes on the menu (Groundnut Soup with rice, Cassava Leaves with rice, or jolof rice).

I then head into the office for the afternoon. I work in the Town Hall, which is a strange building with a turbulent recent history. It was occupied by the rebels during the war, and was the venue of the Truth and Reconciliation hearings after the war. I don't like the place, but soon we will be moving – we might even have a generator so we can make use of the luxury of electricity!

After work I head home, feed the kitten (she is only about five weeks old, we look after her in hope that she will kill rats/cockroaches/snakes etc when she grows up). I then light the coalpot, Gearoid and I cook, eat, wash up, collect water from the well, and read until bedtime (which is usually pretty early)

Lately we have managed to get involved in some serious football, we played in a training match for the Sierra Leone Army against the Wuzum Stars, which was awesome. We played the first half only, and I was glad because those lads are super fit and the heat was killing me!

So life is good, but there are always things that bring you down here. I knew that working in Sierra Leone was always going to be frustrating and challenging, but there are times here when I just want to scream. In the last week alone I turned up to give a lecture but no students showed up, someone offered me a bribe, and my friend Rabia had her house burgled whilst she was at my place eating dinner. I suspect that dealing with such issues over the course of the year will define how much I get out of this whole experience.