Routine

I returned from Cairo Sunday morning and, to be honest, I felt miserable in every way. I had a cold and a stomach ache. I was exhausted from a long overnight flight (Cairo to Kigali with a plane change in Nairobi and stops in Khartoum and Bujumbura). I was sad to part with Doreen and missed home tremendously. I was not looking forward to the next three months.

I slept 14 of the next 24 hours, after which things started to look up. I was no longer exhausted, and my stomach and cold were much, much better. Things continued to look up the next few days as I got back into my routine here. I found myself taking surprising comfort in the familiar. I had a meal with friends at my favorite Chinese place. I went for a short run in the evening along my usual route. I saw colleagues in the Physics Department, said hello to the Dean, and greeted the staff at the guesthouse where I stay. My bed here is very comfortable and the nights are quiet.

It is, of course, so much easier starting teaching this term now that I have the previous semester's experience to draw on. I know my students, have a sense of how things are done, and I generally know what to expect from teaching here. I'm sure there are still surprises ahead. But I have a much better handle on things.

What's surprising to me, though, is how the familiarity of my little part of Kigali has helped me settle down and get back into a routine of sorts. It is not as if I understand Kigali---this is still a new and foreign and confusing place. And it is not as if Kigali or my room in the guesthouse feels like home. But it feels like something. Familiar. Comfortable, in a way. I have the places I go and the things I do.