The meaning of boredom
I recently completed my longest stretch in village: 12 ½ weeks. With school out and the entire village asleep for the 30 days of Ramadan, I discovered the true meaning of boredom. I certainly enjoyed relaxing and playing with my kiddos, but there are only so many hours a sane person can do that.
I’m proud to say that I only suffered one near-break down. Here’s what I did to survive in no particular order:
- cleaned compulsively
- watched Seasons 3-5 of The Wire
- launched a war against the ants in my hut
- wrote blog posts from the perspective of my dog
- finished reading seven books
- started reading more books
- chatted with my village friends
- visited my Peace Corps friends in their villages
- held babies
- drank tea
- taught my dog how to spoon (he prefers to be the little)
- completely re-organized all of my roughly 6,000 songs
- made playlists for various scenarios such as going to the beach and doing laundry
- watched Season 10 of Keeping Up With The Kardashians
- read every magazine featuring Caitlyn Jenner that I could get my hands on
- exercised a lot (and lost 7 pounds!)
- played countless rounds of Crazy Eights also known as “cards” because it is the only card game Gambians know how to play
- talked to my dog
- talked to myself
- made a detailed list of the food I will eat in the order I will eat it when I go back to America
–JDF
