Highs and Lows

Yesterday I had a horrible day everything went wrong and I was so ready to write a big angry long blog rant (know as a grant in internet slang ;)) but I’m glad I didn’t because today I had a good day. Although all the problems from the previous day are still floating there waiting to be confronted again on Monday, at least you don’t have to read my rant. Basically I have two main jobs and one I just added on there cause it’s fun. Of the two main jobs, one is adviser and teacher at a vocational school and the other is adviser for the environment and tourism committee. And then I also do some work with the women’s committee cause I feel like it even though it’s not my job (call it volunteer work). The Environment and tourism committee is doing good work. We’re getting ready for a big art and culture festival in about a month and a half. But on the other hand, ugh headache of the century, the vocational school is in shambles and the whole thing has fallen on my shoulders. As in I’m the only one keeping it afloat. So yesterday was horrible due to various factors surrounding the circumstances of said vocational school disaster. and I nearly cried actually because so many people kept on letting me down over and over again. But then I ran into some friendly faces that cheered me up. Anyway the point of the story is even though yesterday was such a let down, today made up for it cause I had my workshop with the women’s group and they are just really awesome and a good time. We talked about nutrition and food safety and I showed them how to make some English food and some American food and we exchanged recipes. It was really fun and I felt like we accomplished something. I think the nutrition and food safety stuff went over well. We made plans to build some more energy efficient and health friendly stoves and to make hand washing stations outside everyone’s toilets (I showed them how this time and next time we’ll each make one). I think they really like it too. Plus I think our meetings have improved the cohesiveness and morale of the group. I just wonder how I could make that continue after I leave.

The women’s group also helped me build this wood fire stove out of cement. I got the instructions and then we all made it together. It was the first time any of us had worked with cement and it was empowering, surprisingly easy and fun. And now I have a stove which only cost me 13 dollars (had to buy the cement). We mixed the cement in an old canoe and used banana leaves and scrap wood to make the frames for the cement.



and here it is when it's finished. That blue can is where I'm going to put a pipe for the smoke. It's been surprisingly hard to find one though.

Pests

In other news I’ve tackled a lot of pests this week. I was trying to fall asleep on a rainy Tuesday night listening to that bastard rat chew through my rat proof box. What’s the point of chasing him away when he’ll just come back after I turn out the lights again. So I try to distract myself with the pitterpatter of rain drops, the squawks of bats, mosquitoes buzzing, the occaisonal naos falling and pigs grunting. When all of a sudden I hear a thud on the bed next to the pillow. I get my flashlight on in time to see something falling through the slats of the bed frame. Looked like an insect, probably a cockroach. Well I’ll get that mofo. He’s no match for my Tiga Roda (that’s Indonesian for cockroach spray, I assume). But the little bugger’s nowhere to be found. So I decide to go back to sleep. When what do I see out of the corner of my eye but a huge frigen centipede fall out from the two bedsheets that try to pass for a wall right at the head of my bed. He fell onto the headboar, centipedes are the Sahara desert scorpions of the pacific islands. They are 4-8 inches long and have big old poisonous pinchers. They’re not poisonous enough to kill a human but they can incapacitate you for a few days and are capable of killing a little puppy dog like my Marie who was dreaming little doggy dreams at the foot of the bed. The best way to kill them is to pour boiling water on them because it kills their eggs too. Anyhow I managed to boil some water, find it, trap it under a big bowl and pour boiling water over it without waking my roommate or my dog. They must have been really tired cause I wan’t quiet. The thing about centipedes is that they say that if you find one it really means you’ve probably got two or more. So I’m lying there in bed waiting for the other proverbial centipede shoe to drop into my bed. Ugh I couldn’t go to sleep for three hours but another one never came.

Then I finally tackled my rat problem the next day. This story is gross but I’m only telling it because I can’t believe that I did this. Stephanie from a year ago I think would have been jumping up and down squealing as I did frequently when encountering rats in the alley behind Otherside. But Stephanie from last Wednesday caught a rat by the tail in a glue trap and then chopped it’s head clean off with one swipe of her machete as he stared frightened with his beady little eyes. No squealing, just cold hearted rat murder. He deserved it though for his constant harassment of my condiments. That rat bastard is guilty of the maliciously manslaughter of my ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise. Not to mention eating through my not-so-rat-proof rat-proof box. The moral of the story is don’t mess with my condiments, man, or you get the machete. Update I caught and disposed of another rat but then I’ve seen two more since. Damn these bastards are invincible. The good side of the pest news is, the bed bugs are finally gone. Also there is a chicken that lays eggs in my kitchen about every other day. Best pest ever! Chickens aren’t pests you say? Well they obviously don’t wake you up everyday at 5am.