Sunday, October 21, 2012

Close encounters of the first kind

I've officially been in West Africa one week! Well, it's been fun. Today had some landmark events though. If you're squeamish about bathroom topics or scary small animals, don't bother reading any further.

So, I'm doing my business in the bathroom, and I see a flash of a small fury body along the floor. I put my feet up on the wall and finished up. Flushed and washed my hands. Then I sneaked out and trapped him in the bathroom. I didn't scream, though I wanted to a bit. I called a missionary who grew up here and told him what I caught and where.  He grabbed his broom and began the hunt. We heard banging and he came out with it, put it in a bag and saved it in the freezer.

I was a bit in disbelief. There was this sweet dead lil mouse (picture Beatrix Potter type) being saved in the freezer for another missionary's pet snake to eat. Ewww. Ok, we missionaries are a rare breed. But hey, I got kuddos for not screaming and for trapping it in the bathroom! :)

Today also marked the day that I got to see what having intestinal worms looked like (not anyone in our family). Of course, I am slightly medically minded, so I asked (yes, I asked!) to see when someone had the resident doc take a peek. Now I know what they look like. Good info for the future. We'll be taking worm meds as a preventative, I'd say.

So, my friends say, "Welcome to Africa!" I feel like I've officially joined a secret club. Hopefully, these experiences are the only "hazing" that the continent throws my way!  So good to be here - mice & all.

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