Yesterday morning I tried to wake up to watch the World Cup. It was pretty ambitious—the game started at 4:00am my time. I was up for kick off and about 30 minutes of the first half, but I rediscovered the reason why I don’t watch soccer and decided it best if I just go back to sleep. I woke back up around 7 and actually got my day started this time.
My morning didn’t hold much excitement. For how busy life is throughout the week, things really seem to slow down on the weekends. I know my coworkers always say that Saturday and Sunday are their days of rest. Sometimes they’ll stay in bed all day. If they have kids maybe they’ll pawn em off to some relative for the weekend. Often, they say that they don’t open their compound gate for the two day period. So, because of this, I struggle to find activities for my weekend mornings. Yesterday morning I used this free time to work on my computer, learning some new skills I can use for my data analysis work.
At noon I had an appointment with a coworker/friend to take me to a Saturday thrift market. It was pretty large and bustling, but it didn’t possess the type of commotion that occurs at Goodwill Bins when a new roller comes out.
My friend who took me seemed pretty tired (like I said, Saturdays are rest day—not meant for activity) and didn’t show much interest in sticking around the market for long. I got the tour which was nice though, and I think I’ll have to go back at some point because I spotted some stalls where I might be able to find a pair of dress pants for $4 and I can’t say no to a deal like that!
We took a little break for lunch after wandering through the market. Everything was mostly quiet which didn’t at all align with the vibe of the area. The market was absolutely massive and cramped, the restaurants crashed right up against it, and there was no clear line where the market ended and the food started. To make this differentiating even more difficult, some vendors walked through the restaurants with goods on display. In spite of all of this, everything somehow sounded calm—it didn’t feel that way though. Anyways, lunch was good (I’m sad I forgot to take a picture of it) and I got to watch the recorded second half of the USA match which worked out perfectly.
I wasn’t aware of it, but we hadn’t explored but half the market. There was a whole other side dedicated for food items. It was a quick trip through the vegetables and I was on my way back home with no spoils but a pair of sunglasses.
After the market I endeavored to go for a long run along the train tracks I had discovered just a few days prior. Unfortunately I didn’t get too far; the sun was beating down pretty hard and I didn’t have as much grit as I thought, so I ended up turning around at mile 4 and walked back towards the city. I’m not too upset about it though, all it means is that I have another chance to explore that way with brand new eyes.
On my walk home I kept my word of trying a new place for dinner. It was fairly early (by Tanzania standards) and not much was prepared yet (as you can see). Fine by me though, I had a great excuse to just order my french fry omelette.
I got back to the hotel around 7pm and was more tired than I had realized. I took my shower, read for a little bit and then got to sleep by 8:30pm. I think I needed that sleep though because I’d disturbed my schedule a little bit with the ambitious plans of the morning. Today I should probably do my laundry at some point while I have the time, but I’m really starting to dread whenever I have to do it. I also have plans to go have lunch with a friend like last weekend—hopefully I’ll be early enough to where I can get in on the cooking action and try to learn a little bit.