I learned a valuable lesson this morning.  When in Gbarnga, go to bed early.  Why?  Because the rooster does not care that you stayed up late.  Your alarm is set for 5:15am, no matter what time you actually need to get up.  Yep, that’s what I learned this morning.  The rooster, his chicken and their baby chicks live here on the property, so I am writing this post as quickly as possible because my rooster-free sleep hours are quickly dwindling.

Today was an awesome day.  It started with a cold shower.  Remember, there is no hot water.  I would say it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be but hogwash – it was worse!  It took me forever to point the shower hose as my body, but eventually I did and got clean.

After a quick 20 minute high speed adventure to the hospital, I met the 23 new students I would be teaching.  A mix of Registered Nurses and Physicians’ Assistants, they were primed and ready to learn.  It was a morning packed with information, and they seemed to be taking all of it in.  One of my students from Cohort 5, Caroline, is here as a co-facilitator.  We discussed which parts of the class she would teach today and she was phenomenal!!  I felt like a proud mother watching her teach the information she was just learning 6 months ago.  When my nose started bleeding (oh, I brought a cold with me from the US and have had constant runny nose.  Blowing nose + Heat = nosebleed), she picked right up and kept teaching while I went to get things under control.  It was great.

We arrived home about 5pm.  Sat in the yard with our housekeeper and security guards shooting the breeze and eating dinner for about two hours.   Went to the pharmacy, bought some cold medicine (small, white unmarked pills in a Ziploc bag – that will be interesting at airport security), did some work, and voila, the day is done.

So, today was rather uneventful, yet spectacular.  Photos for your viewing pleasure, of course, have been uploaded to this link: https://plus.google.com/photos/102428141509725093638/albums/5968491000844312753?authkey=CL_H9fyeqZDvPA

P.S.  Oh, I did see Cletus’ little brother in the hallway this morning, but he and I had a stare down and developed an understanding.  I trust he will not be climbing in bed with me tonight…