bleach, aka the bane of my existence in Senegal

So the title of this post is probably more dramatic than necessary, but seriously I HATE bleach. It has really loved to screw up my life lately. And by bleach screwing up my life what I really mean is that I can’t be trusted with. So here they are, the bleach incidents:

To start, I should briefly explain how we purify our water here: First, it is put through a filter to get out the big particles, and then, after you pour some of the filtered water into your water bottle, you add a little bleach to kill whatever is left. Sounds simple enough, right? Right…but you know me; I have a talent for screwing up everything domestic. Well we got to village a week ago or so and after introducing myself and talking with my family for a bit, I went into my room to set everything up. So I put my water filter together, filled it up and set it on top of the cardboard box that it came in. And there was mistake number one (which I saw coming, but decided to ignore). It stayed up for most of the night, but then around midnight, while I was laying in bed wondering how I was ever going to be able to fall asleep in this heat, CRASH. Yep, that’s right, the water filter and its contents go spilling alllll over my bedroom floor. Luckily for me the floor in my room is just cement and my bags were far enough away that I didn’t ruin everything. So I picked it back up, set it on the FLOOR this time and decided to try again in the morning.

So the next morning, attempt #2 at being able to take care of myself (aka stay hydrated) in Senegal began. I filled the water filter back up and then went off with Sakhir, my language instructor, and the other PCTs to greet the village chief and the other host families. I was gone for a few hours and when I got back the first thing I did was head to my room for water. At this point I hadn’t really had any clean water since we left Thies the previous afternoon and there had been a lot of sweating going on so I was pretty thirsty. I walk into my room, and what do I find? Yep, the floor was covered with water AGAIN. Apparently, I hadn’t tightened the spout well enough so all the water that was filtered just leaked straight out. I know…its almost impressive. [Pause to remind everyone reading this that I have a Master’s degree. Which is proof that, in spite of how it appears, I’m actually a fairly intelligent person. What can I say? Domestic stuff escapes me.]

Sooo I took the filter apart again, tightened the spout, and began attempt #3 at having water. Success??? Well I put some water in the bottle, added the bleach and thought "Hurrah, I did it!" Yeah, not so fast, Elizabeth. I spent the next couple of days drinking water that essentially tasted like I had pulled it straight out of the pool at Peoria Country Club. But hey, I’d heard that the purified water here was gross and Crystal Light is pretty effective at covering the taste so I figured, no problem. Anyway, day 5 of our first stint in the village rolled around and Jackie (another PST in my village) and I were hanging out at my house under the tree during lunch. So I casually mentioned to her that I’d run out of bleach (we were given a dropper bottle full of it before we left Thies) and ask her if she wants to go to the boutique to get some with me later. Well she just kinda looked at me like I was crazy, and asked how that was possible…she’s only used a tiny bit of hers. Which of course made me think she was crazy slash hadn’t been filtering her water properly. So I run into my room to check the "Filtering Your Water" section of the PC’s medical handbook and what’d ya know...I’ve basically been poisoning myself with bleach all week. Yep, you are supposed to use 3 DROPS of bleach per liter. Which I of course knew, but had been being an airhead all week and adding 3 DROPPER FULLS of bleach per liter. YEAH. And there you have, reason number 1 why bleach is the bane of my existence. Everyone has gotten a pretty good laugh, myself included, out of what an idiot I am. Mostly, I’m just thankful that Jackie pointed out my mistake when she did. I felt right as rain all week, but I imagine consuming that much bleach on a regular basis would have started to take a toll on my kidneys or liver or something. Please don’t think to badly of me…it could happen to anyone, right?

The other reason that bleach is the bane of my existence is much less threatening to my health, I promise. So I did my laundry for the first time in Senegal a few days ago, and it was quite a fiasco. In case you harbored any ideas that we have access to washing machines or dryers here, let me just correct that misconception right now. Nope, hand washing all the way. Well I got up early one morning to do my laundry and even when I hadn’t touched bleach in three whole days, still managed to have two of my shirts get totally ruined by it. STUPID BLEACH. I was of course majorly upset because it ended up staining two of my favorite shirts (plus I was sleep deprived and that makes everything seem worse). So yes, I cried…over my laundry. What can I say? It had been a stressful week and sometimes you just need things to go your way. So when the laundry didn’t, a good cry was just unavoidable. I of course blamed this failed attempt at laundry on whoever had used the buckets before me. Surely they had used bleach for their laundry, causing my vibrant green and purple shirts to get ruined in the process, right? Wrong, wah wah. Yeah, it dawned on me a few days later that this problem can again be put down to me not knowing how to properly handle bleach. I had of course stained one of the shirts before it got washed. So I took it off, used a Shout wipe to get out the red crystal light, and rinsed it with water from my water bottle. Water that had been treated with excessive amounts of bleach. YEP. Another smart move on my part, I know. And so you have reason #2 why bleach is the bane of my existence.

And on another unrelated-to-bleach-note, when I finally went to get my laundry off the line after being disheartened by the bleach incident, what do I find? Yep, a bird had pooped all over my white bra. Which just so happens to be the ONLY new bra I bought to take with me to Senegal. Yes, have no fear, my life continues to be a joke, even on a new continent.
So there you have my "I’m an idiot" moments thus far. Hopefully they are at least a little amusing. I know I find them laughable, haha. BYE!