Damn spider

Today I talked to a spider the size of my hand. Not because I was bored, in fact I had places to be. But I thought that if I politely asked him to leave my house that he would take that path. When he didn't I cursed at him because I didn't have enough courage to kill him. 

But me talking to a spider the size of my hand inside my house eventually ended up with me talking myself into having the courage to kill him. (Referencing earlier posts, spiders and I are not living in harmony anymore.) I grabbed the broom, reached towards the ceiling and he came tumbling down. I smashed his guts on the floor then yelled or maybe I was yelling the whole time. But while I was taking a picture, I yelled again when I found out he wasn't dead yet, smashed more of his guts on the ground and then felt like passing out or throwing up.

Picture of said spider post first smashing. I know what you're all thinking how can he still be alive??

It's times like these that make me think I'm not cut out for living in Africa. 

But the worst part about all of that ^ is the one woman who I have been trying to gain respect from sees me doing a little creepy crawly jig after hearing me yell and asks what's happening? 

I say "bibikely anaty tranoko", which translates to "small animal inside my house". I forget the word for spider all of the time, so "small animal" will suffice, especially in this situation... 

She comes into my house. I show her where the damn dead spider is and she picks it up with her bare hand and throws it outside. She says "insert Gasy word for spider here/or maybe an insult directed towards me", and leaves my house in disgust. 

Good I'm living here for two years, because that's how long it's going to take me to be able to kill a spider with complete composure and how long it will take for me to gain this woman's respect. 

The rats, bats, and cats that live above me

The My house is one of the nicest in my community. I'm lucky to have concrete floors and a tin roof.

 But in between that tin roof and sturdy foundation are the animals that live with me, not by invitation. 

In between, I have burnt planks of wood that is considered a ceiling. We've fixed up the bigger holes so that human beings cant fit through them and somehow we thought that was good enough. I think most of us volunteers in ambonivolo (countryside) hear bats at night. It's not that big of a deal (sorry Marcelo). But when they live and fly and eat and socialize above you it gets to you after awhile. 

Rats are gross. They carry diseases. They can scale walls for gods sake and live above me. I'm not saying it's okay but they leave me alone, are fairly quiet and don't eat my food. I just have to sweep more frequently because of their bowel movements. 

It's the cats. Or cat. There's only one and it is the worst animal to ever live above me. It's loud, it gets into my stuff, it acts cute when it knows I'm annoyed, and it's not even my cat! But the worst part is that it doesn't do a damn thing about the rats or bats. I have sat and heard a rat playing around under my dresser and the cat sat there next to me, gazing up at me with a face that says what are you going to feed me today? 

And it comes and goes whenever he wants. And it's also frustrating that it's name is Mimi, all cats are named Mimi. Why? I don't know. 

If anyone were to ask me what is worse to have out of the three, it wouldn't be the bats, or the rats, I would say it's the cats or cat, hands down, no question about it. 

But we all live in harmony for now, the bats, rats, cat, snakes, scorpions, spiders, ants, and  anything else that can make their way in and out of my Malagasy house! 

Mimi taking a nap. 

Counting down the days until I get to use a laundry machine

My mom taught me how to use a laundry machine when I was 12 or 13 years, I think. Early enough for me to build a strong  relationship with them. I miss them. They are the most under appreciated invention, I think, on the planet. 

Of course I think that now, when I'm standing knee deep in rivers that I'm not supposed to be in because of some bacterial tiny creature thing that can get in through my skin and make me very ill ( so the doctors say...) washing my clothes, with my hands. 

But let's go back to home stay times when I washed clothes, by hand, for the first time in my life. 

Gathered my clothes, went to the river behind my house an stood there as my host mom and aunt showed me the routine and motion of washing clothes the Malagasy way (or the way of all people that don't own machines to help them). So they're 3 articles of clothes in within five minutes and I feel like I understand. I start. They stop me and show me all over again. Ya, ok, I got it! I start. They stop me. We try again until it's no use and I'm standing there watching again. Multiple this experience by three and that's home stay. 

What'd I learn? Keep your clothes clean, wear them as long as possible, and if I want to entertain or frustrate Malagasy women and children let them watch me wash my clothes.

Now, I'm gonna talk about the present. 

So, lucky me I live next to a huge river, I mean massive! It's name is Matitanana (which translates into "dead town", it's so big that it "kills" the towns closest to it each rainy season). So at first people told me to go under the bridge of another river, I listen because they tell me the water is clean and I feel like that's important for washing clothes. I head over around 10AM because then I don't have to walk with my basket full of clothes past hundreds of students heading in the same direction towards a school, and I figured many woman would be done washing their clothes because they insist on waking up at the break of dawn, or earlier. Well, that wasn't the case. I walked with my dirty clothes for about a mile to arrive at the bridge to find at least 7 women, 13 children and 3 babies all looking at me and cheering. I'll translate, they were cheering that the white girl does her own washing! More excitement was shown towards me washing my own clothes in the local river than the Malagasy showed at their own Independence Day party... Quite strange. But let's do this laundry washing in the river business. 

That time was better, I'm getting the hang of it, I think. 

So I repeat this until the water under the bridge becomes too dirty to wash there and me and everyone else need to relocate. So lucky for we go to the big river right in front of my house. It's quite fascinating how this one river is used. While I'm washing my clothes, there are people and goods being transported, women are bathing, omby (kind of like cows) drinking and pissing, children are playing, people are fishing and fetching water, all from the same source. So, on this note, the laundry topic has now turned into a major health issue for this community and all the other communities doing the exact same practices. 

This is dirty water, when people are washing themselves, brushing their teeth, and fetching water that they cook with next to animals walking in and pissing in the same source, we have a problem. And I for one, have no solution for people that have been doing it for years and years. My job is to educate people that they should drink clean water by filtering and bleaching it. Using these practices to clean water to not only drink but clean themselves and their clothes, to improve their hygiene habits and life style to create a healthier way of living. So I'm thinking all of this while women and children are washing their clothes and I standing right beside them doing the same. 

me,

Matitanana