Friday, January 27, 2012

Life in the dry season.

Hello all! Happy Friday and congratulations to you and me for making it through another week! Unfortunately, this week wasn't terribly exciting until Megan's arrival on Thursday this week so that's where I'll start.....

Shopping on the face of the sun....
One of the towns nearby has a pretty sweet clothing market (or so I had heard from fellow volunteers, one of which met us there) on Thursdays so as soon as Megan arrived and I finished teaching we headed out. Unfortunately, because of the dry season it was as close to actually walking on the sun as I will ever get and less people were willing to set up camp and sell us ugly clothes so the pickins were slim but we were all lucky enough to at least purchase one item of clothing. I got two skirts, one of which looks like it was made from 60's couch cushion material... we'll see how that goes.

The BUS!
As most of you know by now there is a bus that runs down the main road that I live on and it is by far my preferred method of transportation and for the most part I plan my life around the bus schedule. On our way back to Sega once reaching the main road we realized all the matatus headed that direction were empty which generally means you can sit anywhere between 15 minutes and 2 hours waiting for it to fill up with people. This time however, we got extremely lucky and I happened to see the bus in town and my reaction was “ACACIA BUS” and bolted through town to get to it hoping Megan would follow behind, luckily she did. We discussed how absolutely lucky we were the entire ride to Sega and decided it was as close to teleportation as we could possibly get in Kenya. Success.

Flash, sizzle
My house has one electrical socket. ONE. Luckily we have available for purchase surge protectors that allow me to plug in several things at once! It's like the 20th century!
Recently I bought this pitcher type situation that heats water and I figure it'll save me a little bit of gas if I start using it.
As I'm preparing to take a bath, I turn on the water pitcher and suddenly hear a sizzling noise.
“Did your extension cord just fry?”
Yes... yes it did. None of the outlets work on it anymore. I decide to just use the luke warm water and bathe in it.
When I come out and start trying to prepare the water for Megan we decide to go directly to the source and plug the heater into the electrical socket itself.
Megan says to me “I can't get the plug out and I don't want to break your socket.”
I try.
I try again.
Man it's really in there.
A hammer is now involved. I pry the plug out of the socket. This takes several attempts. SUCCESS!
Wrong.... one of the prongs of the plug busted free of the plug and is now stuck in the socket. It will not come out. Cool.
(Note: The situation has officially been remedied, I got a new surge protector and hired someone to replace the entire electrical socket. Mission accomplished)

Just a Frog
I lied about starting on Thursday but this story is important to the next story. Since I've been recovering from this absurdly long lasting cold I've been taking a lot of naps during the day.... which then means I don't sleep that well at night. I heard something crash in my kitchen in the middle of the night and I was sure it was a mouse. Sure of it. I waited to listen and see where it went and I heard it shuffling around near a plastic bag near my bed. Stealth style, I grabbed my flashlight and waited for another sound so I could turn it on. NOTE: If I did spot this mouse with my flashlight my plan was basically to tuck my mosquito net in tight and probably cry... I don't know what I thought I was going to accomplish. So... I heard the crumple of the bag and beam my light in the direction of the noise and realize it's just a frog which is a great relief to me and I eventually can get back to sleep.

The great mouse hunt of 2012
Thursday night Megan and I made tacos, we ended up with extra tortillas and cheese which I responsibly packed in ziploc bags to keep fresh and keep the rodents away.
At 4 a.m. I hear it! I know this sound. It is definitely the nibbling of a rodent through a ziploc bag. Again I lay in bed silently (next to a sleeping Megan) waiting to make sure I know where the sound is coming from. I know but by the time I get my flashlight on the it's gone. I lay down silently... waiting. I hear it again. Ninja style I slide out of my net and carefully pull back the curtain currently separating my “bedroom” from my “kitchen/living room/dining room” and BAM turn the light on. I hear it run.
I am a woman OBSESSED.
I proceed to shine my light in ever nook and cranny in and around the area. I find it. It's hiding out under the stove which is impossible for me to get to.
Viper makes a noise outside and it makes me scream.
This wakes Megan.
Megan makes a noise.
This also makes me scream.
Apparently i'm jumpy at 4 a.m.
I explain to Megan I have staked out the mouse and am not sure what to do about it.
We turn the lights on and start devising a plan.
One of us will poke it from behind, it will run out from the stove and the other will trap it under a sufuria (cooking pot with no handles). BRILLIANT!
(I hope you're picturing this vividly, we're in pajamas)
Megan grabs a knife (don't worry, it's the least sharp knife on the planet, I struggle to cut tomatoes)
I am standing by in my ready stance sufuria in hand sick with POWER!
Megan pokes
The mouse instead of running out from the front of the stove runs out from the side flies over the chair and disappears.
We have failed. We both screamed and I am now running in place proclaiming how much I hate mice.
After serious investigation of the house we never found it again and we didn't hear it in the kitchen again.
Rodents:1 Humans:0
Womp womp.

The Price is Right Kenya
Sometimes my brain works in mysterious ways. This is my pitch for a new reality tv show in Kenya. Just picture it! The price is right, the way it is, only with a less ridiculous host..... you guess the price of things and if you guess over, sorry there's nothing we can do for you. However, If you guess under the price we send you into the market place and you have to try and bargain for it at that price, if you are successful you get half the points for half the money or half the furniture (I obviously haven't seen this show in a while and will need to talk it over with the producers)! Congratulations!
I think it would be thrilling to watch any human haggle for the price of something to win something on a reality tv show. Think about it.

Alright, that's all I've got for you this week folks! As always, thanks for reading!!!

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