June 19, 2013 — Noiroublanche
June 19, 2013 — Noiroublanche
The last traces of air-conditioning are wearing off. I am half- awake now, and coughing, because the room is suddenly stuffy. I grudgingly open my eyes when I cannot locate water after fumbling in the darkness for a few seconds. I have fallen asleep on the wrong end of my bed, legs facing the headstand where my 1.5l bottle rests, out of reach.
Something vibrates under my head, half-hidden underneath the pillow. I am surrounded by my electronic companions — kindle, phone, laptop, ipod; still plugged from before, to take advantage of the six hours of generator-powered electricity I get every day. My phone says the time is 12:17 am.
Sighs. I raise my mosquito net, climb out of bed and open the windows. It is a clear night sky so I can make out outlines of mattresses scattered across the adjoining compound, the one with the bungalows. Many people can only afford to live in corrugated iron sheets or mud huts with thatched roofs. I suddenly feel guilty for whining about what must seem like a privileged lifestyle to my neighbors.
Back in bed, my laptop switched on, I start to edit this speech I am writing for work, checking the numbers against various spreadsheets and adding more officious flowery language to its conclusion. Half an hour later, I take a break and check my phone. I was never very good at working in the wee hours. I see from my tweet deck column that I must have fallen asleep around 9:45 pm. Having spent a lifetime avoiding physical exertion until very recently, it’s no wonder that I pass out after a 30 minutes work-out.
Nigerian twitter does not disappoint, and after scrolling through the latest brouhaha for a few minutes, I begin to write another piece that may never make it onto my blog.
Only a few hours later, I am awoken by an annoying alarm briefing “Good Morning Ekwulekwu. The time is 6:30 am. The weather is expected to be 42 degrees today”
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Noiroublanche works as an economist in the world’s newest country. When she is not being contrary, she tries very hard to live intentionally, and to write instead of talking non-stop for hours on end. She blogs at www.noiroublanche.wordpress.com, and rants on twitter as @eefa2.