Creature Corner

This week's list of kills:

• 2 mice
• 1 rat
• 1 scorpion
• Numerous mosquitoes
• 1 moth (the size of my hand)

And thanks to a helpful guest, a tarantula-sized spider also lost it's life. One of these days the critters will learn to stay away. Thank goodness for sticky traps and DOOM (bug spray that probably has 'cancer' listed as one of its ingredients).

Griffin and Matt stopped by Pajule during their tour of the north to get a night of real village living under their belts. I didn't disappoint... power was out, we caught a rat and the highlight of their 24 hours in Pajule- drum roll... a trip to the piggery. Other highlights included a trip to my 'market,' constant dust storms and boiling temperatures. I sent them off to their next destination in an overcrowded car, with Griffin riding in the hatchback trunk. What can I say, I'm a great hostess. 

Matt and the rat

At the piggery

Bacon, Bacon, Bacon!

Someone wonderful sent me a box of fully cooked Oscar Mayer bacon. I've been saving it for a special occasion, but decided that every day should be special- carpe diem and all that. Plus, I needed an incentive/extra protein for the 4+ hours I spent doing laundry this morning. Bed linens, towels and a mountain of dirty clothes done. Swollen and raw knuckles to prove it. I need to find a new 'helper' asap (mine moved to another town awhile back, thus the mountain of neglected laundry).

Anyway, on the menu today...

• eggs and bacon for bfast
• blt for lunch (substitute collard greens for lettuce)
• kale/collard salad with hard boiled egg and bacon bits for dinner

I think I need to eat the entire package of bacon between today and tomorrow since the package has been opened. It would be a crime to let it spoil. Unfortunately, I don't think this will be hard to accomplish : /

2 months!

Only 2 months until I get to squeeze the best kiddos in the world! And most of the fam too! SO EXCITED!
Get those cheese sandwiches hot and the pivo cold... I'm blowing this dust bowl and heading to Prague! It's going to be a week-long hugathon!

Too cute for their own good.  Don't they look like Hansel and Gretel?

Peace Corps may have made me tougher

... but not tough enough to kill a rat.

I caught one this afternoon on a sticky trap I purchased in Kitgum over the weekend (I couldn't find the snap traps). My plan was to trap it, close the book-like trap around it and take it outside where I'd hit it with something hard... like my slasher or a pan. As we know, things don't always go as planned.

Once I saw the little guy or gal, all the hate and courage drained out of me and I couldn't get closer than 2 feet away without recoiling. Poor little thing was trying with all its might to escape. This is where Denis, my fearless friend comes in. He came over, quickly put it out of its misery and threw it away. Thank goodness for good friends!

Hope I only had one rat roommate, but I think that's wishful thinking.

Where Ice Cubes Go To Die

Weather forecast this week predicts 100% chance of dust tornadoes followed by all day ash storms.

Yep, it's that time of year again (and my last dry season)!!!

Sunday Funday

This morning I went to the first mass and sat with the choir. Afterwards, Fr. Charles and Fr. Leonsyo blessed our tractor that will do it's first work tomorrow morning!

After church, I was invited to a friend's for tea.... we sat outside under a papaya tree and had our lemongrass tea and 'escorts,' consisting of chapati (fried pancake) and mandazi (deep fried bread). And I wonder why I'm gaining weight.

We spoke mostly about family and religion. And the dry season, of course. The process of taking tea took about 2 1/2 hours. From there, we were invited to visit the extended family's house for a 'program' to celebrate a young woman's accomplishments at school last semester. I know this girl well and she ranked #1 in the Acholi sub-region. That is a big deal. Knowing what the word 'program' means here, I buckled my seat belt for what I knew would be an all-day event. It was. Even 1 of the 2 daily newspapers in Uganda came out to interview the student. She's a rock star that wants to be a doctor. At the conclusion of the meal (beans, posho and sweet potatoes), a few speeches were made. When it was my turn, after I congratulated the star pupil, I 'appreciated' everyone for having me for supper and for welcoming me into their community. The MC responded saying that the fine people of Pajule no longer view me as a visitor, but as a member of the community. He said that my Acholi language is clear (not sure how true that is) and that I can even be 'stubborn' in the local language (stubborn means funny or cheeky, which is probably true because I know a few jokes...).... Anyway, I don't know how true his sentiments were, but it was nice to hear.

When I finally got home, a little before dark, I trimmed about 2/3 of my passion fruit vine so that I could make it to my bathing area without getting tangled up. I had an audience of about 15 kids as I cut down the foliage. Two ladies came by to collect some of my 'sukuma wiki' (more commonly known as collard greens) and I promised them some seeds when the rains begin again. I got a young boy to go and fetch 4 jerrycans of water for me, and he wouldn't except a payment (which would have equated to about 75 cents- which is the going rate here). He's my neighbor, so I'll have to make him something good to eat.

All in all, another good day in the village.

Blessing the tractor

Irene, the best student in the region, and Alfred her proud father

Irene's happy family

Weekend

Today I had lunch in a mud hut with a woman and her 15 children. She is a widow who has 6 biological children and is taking care of 9 more that were orphaned. She's a subsistence farmer who lived through the reign of Obote and Amin, and was shot twice during the war in northern Uganda. She is one strong lady.

Tomorrow I'm going to the 7 am mass to be followed by the blessing of our tractor at the Catholic Parish.

Just another weekend in the village.

I Smell a Rat

What in this picture does not belong?

Yep, those are baby rats. In my toiletry drawer. This is what happens when I leave for a week and a half... someone else moves in. In this case, a whole family. 

I'm sorry to have displaced them, but I'm not sorry that they'll have to take their feces elsewhere. The mama rat took a pair of my undies from another drawer and carried it to my soap drawer for her nesting place. I'm glad she was comfortable and surrounding by good smelling things when she brought her children into the world. I'm not glad that I had to throw away a perfectly suitable pair of underwear in a place where non-stretched out undies are precious commodities.

My friend Emmanuel helped me remove the little hairless future monsters. He's also the one that helped me shove stainless steel into the holes in my ceiling where the bats were coming in. 

They're almost cute, aren't they? Almost. I think it may be time to get a cat.