Sleeping Like A Log

The first time I tried coffee was in Tanzania. I absolutely loved it and it became linked to the good memories I made there. Having it with chapati for breakfast during the weekend was a great pleasure. I bought some coffee cans from Morogoro and Dar es Salaam. I sometimes have a glass of coffee at breakfast but I usually have it with a loaf of bread or freska as chapati isn’t common here. I generally love baked goods, but unfortunately, I suck at cooking especially at baking. I tried to make chapati twice before but it dried out too quickly. It became hard to chew and hurt my teeth. 


During my college days, I used to have Nescafe and tea on the nights of my exams, thinking it would keep me awake as long as possible. However, after drinking it, I used to go to sleep early as usual without any trouble.
Come to think of it, when I had tympanoplasty done I went unconscious as soon as the medical team injected me with an anesthetic. I also don't have much difficulty to shift my sleeping schedule. For example, in Ramadan, I stay awake until the Sahoor time (almost 4 am) and when it ends, I return to my normal routine and sleep at 12 am.

Maybe it sounds like an advantage, to sleep quickly and deeply most of the time but it’s not always the case. In order to wake up in a specific time, I have to set an alarm on vibration mode as I often can’t hear it when it's set as a ring only. I only wake up early without alarm when I’m worried or when I sleep in a bad mood, as a consequence, I usually get up on the wrong side of the bed. Even when I was in Tanzania, most of the days, I slept well, except for some days in Membe when I frequently woke up late at night but I always managed to get back to sleep.


I have this obsession that while sleeping at home alone, a robber would sneak into my room, take something precious and due to my hearing impairment, I would hear nothing. On the streets, sometimes I hear a vehicle’s horn but I can’t recognize where it comes from so I keep hysterically looking in all directions. Being hearing impaired often makes me feel unsafe and embarrassed, especially when I go out.

One day, I bumped into my brother getting out of his work car on a street, he told me he had been calling to me. Obviously, I didn’t hear him. Many similar situations happened, I remember during my journey to the Udzungwa falls while going up the falls, holding my phone in my hand, one of the fellow travellers turned around and said; “your phone is ringing”. Even at home where there is no as much noise as there is outside. One time when my mother, my sister and I were having lunch, my sister started to comment about our neighbor who was talking so loudly on the phone that anyone could hear what she was saying. I looked at her and whispered to myself; “Everyone can but me”.

I once asked an acquaintance who works as an audiologist how much my hearing loss is. He said almost 90% in my left ear and 30% in the right one. I was shocked and asked if I would go deaf one day. He said no I wouldn’t go completely deaf. I don’t know if he was telling the truth or just didn’t want to panic me, but if this is going to happen to me sooner or later, I’d want to know in advance.