There is no typical day. We are still trying to figure our lives out over here. But that’s not what you came for. We enjoy hearing about other people’s routines and “typical days.” We can read these with envy but they can also be validating if the person is following a similar path or perversely satisfying if they are toiling in the weeds far from the wants, goals and standards we have projected onto their lives.

I will of course try to stir up as much envy as possible. Don’t worry, I can guarantee you would not envy my bank account.

6-630 AM: Wake up. I have an alarm set for 6:30 but the birds — specifically bulbuls — almost always have me up before that. Some people have this idea that roosters are good alarm clocks. Let me tell you, there are few things I am more certain of in this world than this: roosters are shit alarm clocks. Roosters will start crowing at 2, 3AM. Their temporal sense is almost as bad as pigeons’ spatial awareness. Bulbuls on the other hand start singing when there is a twinge of daylight. They do what roosters are supposed to do.

Wake up – 8 AM: Sometimes go for a walk, see some birds. Sometimes sit in the garden, listen to some birds. Sometimes both. Almost always: journal, read, absorb morning sunlight.

I am laughing out loud writing this. Like many other people, The Algorithm is steering me towards sobriety, cold plunges and morning sunlight. Andrew Huberman seems like a great guy and I think he offers great guidance when it comes to health and wellbeing but widespread adoption of anything is a red flag for me and right now it feels like some of this stuff is getting rammed down my throat.

Why do I become more skeptical – and sometimes resentful? – of something when more people do it? I don’t know where this aversion comes from. Short circuit in my brain I suppose. Considerable anecdotal evidence backed up by science should be a winning combination.

Anyway, I do sit and watch the sunrise. It is a very enjoyable experience.

8AM – 845 AM: Herd cats. Our kids go to a school that starts the day at a very humane 9AM. At 8, we get them up and make breakfast, employing various forms of trickery and deceit to try and get our daughter to eat something other than the innards of a baguette smothered in ketchup.

845 AM: Take the kids to school. While I do miss our adventures in Bamako rush hour traffic, a 15 minute leisurely walk through sandy streets with birdsong, bougainvillea and mango trees is quite special. We do sometimes ride the scooter. And there is a bus as well. Spoiled for transport options!

9AM or so – 10: Write, write, write. Here but mostly elsewhere. Some projects you know about and some you don’t. Yet.

10 AM: Coffee. I will sometimes have a cup of coffee that I regret fifteen minutes later due to what is almost certainly mast cell activation syndrome, a topic for another day.

10 AM – 1230 PM: Work work work. Typically more writing, website stuff, fielding emails, convincing people to come on scooter trips in West Africa, opening up all the windows and doors and enjoying the seabreeze.

1230 PM : Eat delicious home cooked meal. I do cook on occasion but Bintou is the culinary director of the family. She has serious skills. Yassa poulet with rice today.

130 PM: Extra curricular activities. The only person that was more surprised than Moussa the Mechanic when I asked him if I could be his apprentice was my wife. I am also trying Wolof on for size, taking some lessons and trying to absorb as much as I can. The pronunciation is very difficult for me, but I am coming around to the language otherwise. Ca va aller, ndank ndank,

3PM : Free time. Sometimes I will do some more work, sometimes a siesta, sometimes a scooter ride, sometimes a dip in the ocean. This section is pending a real job and/or other more “serious” commitments, like starting a scoot shack/campement in the bush not far from where I am writing this. Inshallah.

5PM : Welcome committee and beach time. The kids arrive and we have a mini-celebration before going to the beach. On some days Bintou has dance class a few steps from the waves. Everyone else plays nearby. Swimming, sand castles, boogie boarding. Will this get old at some point? Maybe. Not anytime soon.

730-8PM : Dinner. This usually involves nice conversation with Bintou and Andre while Liza clutches her tablet with more force than a mantis shrimp strike, screaming anytime a piece of food comes near her. We are all hoping this phase will pass. It is a phase, right? Of course, whether or not it is a phase or not, Bintou and I need to dust off our toddler playbook, something we have been slow to do in the tumult of relocating.

9PM : Bedtime. Have I made you jealous yet? If yes, stop reading now. This part of the schedule is a trainwreck. It will not sew envy. We are colossal failures when it comes to sleep training. There are typically a few fleeting moments of late evening joy, sometimes during a bedtime story, right before Liza decides the book needs to be torn in half rather than read by anyone. Eventually we all – somehow – fall asleep.

What’s your “typical day?”