A Typical Day Living with My Ivorian Family

In the morning, I would wake up, take a bucket bath, eat leftover rice and sauce for breakfast, and rice with my Ivorian dad into work on his motorcycle.  Then in the afternoon we would ride back home after work.  I mostly hung out with my Ivorian sister, Bintou, who was near my age.  We would pull up water from the well to fill a few buckets to use for cleaning and washing.  We would wash the dishes outside.  I was usually not allowed to do the hard ones because I did not do it well enough.  A good washing requires the use of some dirt to help scrub off the grime.  Then my sister would get a fire going and start dinner.  Usually she would mash up tomatoes and peppers or whatever was needed for a certain kind of sauce with a large wooden mortar and pestle.  These would go in a pot, and she would add water and seasonings.  In the mean time we might sweep the dirt courtyard and take the trash to a corner outside the walls of their courtyard.  We had to wash the rice and pick out the stones.  Then I would take another bucket bath because you have to take two every day.  Afterwards I would sit and talk with my sisters and brothers while we waited for dinner.  We ate around 8 PM, and my sister would put the rice in dishes for people.  My brothers and cousins all ate out of the same big bowl.  They all eat with their hands, but gave me a fork.  I tried to use my hands sometimes, but they usually laughed at me so I just stuck with the fork.  After dinner we might watch television together.  They particularly enjoyed WWE wrestling or Indian soap operas.  Frequently people would stop by the house and visit in the evenings.  On the weekends we would wash our laundry, rest, maybe visit people, and go to church on Sunday.