I slept in until 7 am on Sunday, after my late night. That’s the latest I’ve slept in here since the sun comes up at 6:15 am. I am very glad that I can sleep through the call to prayer now and Tanya is very jealous of that. It’s a good thing my mom isn’t here because she wouldn’t have a single night of undisturbed sleep since the call to prayer at 5:15-5:30 is far louder than any insects we heard on all of our camping trips. 🙂
Tanya and I were discussing what to do that day since we didn’t have any plans when Jaclyn appeared and said she was going to church. She asked if we were going to the beach after she got back at 11:15 so we felt obligated to wait for her. Her timing was quite unfortunate because high tide was at noon so the best swimming would be between 10 am and 2:30 pm. If we didn’t leave home until 11:30 and it took an hour to get to the beach, we’d only have two hours to swim before the water was too shallow and that didn’t sound worth it. We decided to go to Kendwa because it’s the sole beach where you can swim all day since the ocean floor drops away very quickly near shore. This is the beach that I went to on my first full day in Zanzibar and met up with Stacy. I really wanted to go to a different beach to see something new but that didn’t really work out.
When we got to the beach it was sprinkling a bit so we walked along and found a place that had beach beds under thatched roofs to shield us from the rain. After we got settled the sun peaked out and we tried to swim but the water was very cold. I submersed myself for two minutes before getting goose bumps and getting out again.
Jaclyn was awful all day. She didn’t really speak to anyone and laid down on a bed away from the rest of us. Later on when Tanya and I went swimming, she also came in the water but didn’t come near us at all. She wouldn’t even sit on a sofa in the restaurant with us while we ordered our lunch! And when we ate she didn’t say a word unless she had to. In the afternoon when Hai, Tanya and I went for a walk without her, Hai asked if anything was wrong with Jaclyn. Sadly, we could only answer that she’s like that all the time. Sometimes she’s okay, but others she just makes everything uncomfortable.
I took a nap in the afternoon and read some more of the Arabian Nights. It was a nice relaxing day and it was better than staying at home but it wasn’t that great.
When we got home the power was out and had been out all afternoon. The power situation is getting worse and every day I just hope it holds out a little longer.
Tanya went out with Paulo, leaving me alone with Hai and Jaclyn. We were going to go into town for dinner but then the power came back on so I was able to cook. I spent an hour and a half making a Moroccan lentil and bean stew all by myself. It wasn’t a lot of work because most of the time the stew just simmered but neither Hai nor Jaclyn said anything about how good it was; Jaclyn didn’t even thank me for making dinner. We all sat in silence until I started asking Hai questions about his life. It was incredibly awkward and I wanted to cry out of frustration. As soon as she was done eating, Jaclyn washed her bowl then scurried to her room like always, leaving someone else to clean up afterward. I dislike her more by the day.
Hai went to bed early since he was still jet lagged, but Tanya and I talked for a long time after she got back. If it weren’t for Tanya I would probably go crazy since I’m surrounded by crazy people. Luckily Tanya’s great and we can laugh at how ridiculous Jaclyn is. I went to bed at midnight feeling slightly better but still counting down the two and a half weeks until I go home.