On Sunday I spent something like 12 hours cleaning my room from top to bottom to make sure it's ready for my sisters visit in July. Plus, I hadn't cleaned my room, I mean really clean, in a really long time so I was over due. I had noticed a few cockroach infestations that I wanted to eradicate for my sake as well as my sisters. While I was cleaning I had a few gagging moments when I discovered a new hiding places for the disgusting little suckers (at least they are the little ones, not the big ones) - in a six pack of bottled water and my duffel bags were by far the worst. I'm sure my neighbors wondered what the crazy white woman was doing outside: I kept throwing the bags against the ground to get all them out and then danced around stepping on as many as possible. After I moved everything out of the room and swept 9 times and got on my hands and knees to scrub the floor, I sprinkled Blue Death all around the edges of the room and in strategic places. Blue Death is supposed to be amazing and help keep all kinds of critters away.
I woke up today and bathed (not the gross part, I do bathe regularly) and washed my hair. It was really freakin' cold so I decided to blow dry my hair. I haven't used my dryer probably since last September. After I turned it on I smelled something a little funny. I quickly turned the thing off and shook it – only to have a few last straggling cockroaches come tumbling out. DISGUSTING! I screamed, jumped around trying to stomp and kill them before they scurried away to find a new hiding place. I banged the dryer against the floor for 10 minutes before I was convinced that no more were coming out and that it was ok to blow dry my hair again.
What a way to start my day!
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Just another day in the village...
Susan and I went to Enable today. She lives next door to me so if we’re working together for the day, we’ll leave together. Today she comes out sporting white high heels. She introduces them to me by saying she’s on top today – she’s taller than everyone else. She looked hot but I shook my head as I looked down at my sensible village shoes, my chacos. Lucky for her we got our ride to Enable but while we were walking through the village to the office, she tripped and almost fell. She said that when you’re on top you have to be careful because you’ll always fall. We laughed when we both caught the double meaning.
As usual, I was frustrated with Maria (my supervisor) because she failed to communicate again, not just to me but to Susan and Charity as well. But I found her when I was on my way to the Kodumela office and we were able to catch up and chat about everything that we needed to. We disagreed on some things but agreed on others. Our talks always seem to take place in a car and today was no different. At least I got a free ride.
Later on I was in a meeting with our committee members and down from the rafters a lizard fell right square on my head. I squirmed and then he was on my chest. I let a little “eeek” escape and shook him off. Right in the middle of the meeting! But two seconds later, we were right back on topic, no one really phased.
After the meeting I offered catering to the committee and they declined. Two minutes later they decide they want cold drink and bread at least. I send one of the committee off with R100 for food, not thinking he would spend it all. He returns with 7 bottles of cold drink and 7 loaves of bread, successfully having spent all but a few rand. There were only 8 of us in the meeting. I got upset with them because that was way too much food and a waste of the money but they don’t seem to do anything in small portions when it comes to food. And after I gave them the money for transport, they all piled in the truck and got free rides home.
As I was packing up and planning to go buy a grilled chicken (it’s delicious, grilled outside over a fire and smothered in hot sauce) to bring home for dinner I heard the far off growling of thunder. Lucky for me I had left my rain jacket at the office the other day when I actually thought it might rain (and of course it didn’t). By the time I got to my village the rain was coming down but I had my jacket and ended up getting a ride to my street so I wasn’t too drenched.
When I got home Annah asked who told me that it was going to rain today, how did I know to be prepared? No one told me, it was just luck that I left it at the office the day before. We laughed together at my good fortune.
And now the storm is here, complete with the loud reverberating sounds of thunder and the threatening streaks of lightning. I’m already cozy in my pajamas just about ready to dig into my dinner of fresh picked green beans, hot juicy chicken and a loaf of white bread (yes, I took one from the committee!). Just another typical day of village life…
As usual, I was frustrated with Maria (my supervisor) because she failed to communicate again, not just to me but to Susan and Charity as well. But I found her when I was on my way to the Kodumela office and we were able to catch up and chat about everything that we needed to. We disagreed on some things but agreed on others. Our talks always seem to take place in a car and today was no different. At least I got a free ride.
Later on I was in a meeting with our committee members and down from the rafters a lizard fell right square on my head. I squirmed and then he was on my chest. I let a little “eeek” escape and shook him off. Right in the middle of the meeting! But two seconds later, we were right back on topic, no one really phased.
After the meeting I offered catering to the committee and they declined. Two minutes later they decide they want cold drink and bread at least. I send one of the committee off with R100 for food, not thinking he would spend it all. He returns with 7 bottles of cold drink and 7 loaves of bread, successfully having spent all but a few rand. There were only 8 of us in the meeting. I got upset with them because that was way too much food and a waste of the money but they don’t seem to do anything in small portions when it comes to food. And after I gave them the money for transport, they all piled in the truck and got free rides home.
As I was packing up and planning to go buy a grilled chicken (it’s delicious, grilled outside over a fire and smothered in hot sauce) to bring home for dinner I heard the far off growling of thunder. Lucky for me I had left my rain jacket at the office the other day when I actually thought it might rain (and of course it didn’t). By the time I got to my village the rain was coming down but I had my jacket and ended up getting a ride to my street so I wasn’t too drenched.
When I got home Annah asked who told me that it was going to rain today, how did I know to be prepared? No one told me, it was just luck that I left it at the office the day before. We laughed together at my good fortune.
And now the storm is here, complete with the loud reverberating sounds of thunder and the threatening streaks of lightning. I’m already cozy in my pajamas just about ready to dig into my dinner of fresh picked green beans, hot juicy chicken and a loaf of white bread (yes, I took one from the committee!). Just another typical day of village life…
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
