It’s all Joan’s fault

Not my former roommate, Intrepid Joan.  This is the other Joan, who is also a law student, but is Ugandan (Intrepid Joan is Kenyan).  Other Joan also wears specs (glasses), and we were all in the same dorm last January, but this semester it’s Other Joan and me up here in the tippy top, and Intrepid Joan is down in Winfred Brown.

This morning I soaked my sheets before going to breakfast so that I could return, rinse them, then put them on the line before starting the rest of my day.  JWS (Joan with specs; I like that so much better than “other Joan”) was out doing wash, and that made me think to wash the couple other things that were waiting.  Then I decided that if my sheets were going to be clean, I’d want my towel clean, too.  So we shared the bar soap (which you use after the clothes have soaked in the powder detergent), and I did my usual ridiculous job of washing the towel, exacerbated by the fact that I had used too much powder detergent, so it took more than usual to rinse.  And it usually takes a fair amount.

See?  I would have stopped after the sheets if it weren’t for Joan.  But I’m happy it’s all done, and that it’s not raining this morning, like it has the last three mornings.  It’s the dry season, but we so needed the rain, so thank you, Lord.  It was way, way, way too hot.

Joan and I celebrated our domestic victories by having a cup of coffee after.  Now I need to delve into African Traditional Religion, then go spend a bunch of my cash on printing out coursework, because I didn’t think to do it yesterday when I walked by Eva and Ritah, the ladies who run the printing/copying place I frequent.  

Prices on printing have doubled since I was here last; it’s now 200 shillings a page (~ $0.08 if I converted properly).  The challenge is keeping small enough bills, especially since I tend to print earlier in the day, so in that regard, the price hike is actually helpful, even if now I have to think about how much it will cost.  Now that I’m at the top of the world, I really, really, really dislike starting at the bottom, where the printing containers are, and going up to the dorm.  Yes, it’s good exercise.  But that doesn’t mean I have to enjoy it.