Although I’m beginning to get used to the concept of sharing my home with giant wall-crawling lizards, I still can’t help but let out a shriek whenever I turn a corner and see one of those unholy beasts scurry across the room. Like spiders, they are good in theory because they eat bugs. Unlike spiders, they can be the size of a small cat. The air conditioner lodged in my wall provides the perfect conduit for these little creatures to venture in from the great outdoors. (yeah, our new house has a couple a/c boxes. fancy shmancy!) But one creature that is not welcome in our new home are those nasty little hopping spiders. 3 of them met their maker today. Hopefully the 4th escaped and will tell his friends to set up shop in someone else’s home.
The overhead light in the bathroom is slightly dysfunctional. It flickers on and off in a strobe light type fashion, and I’m a little concerned about having a seizure whilst brushing my teeth, so we’ve opted not to use it. Consequently, Amy looked like she was going spelunking while she got ready for bed. She walked into my room brushing her teeth and wearing a headlamp—picture to be posted soon.
We’ve managed to borrow two mattresses from people at FGH, and we have them on the ground, lying on top of straw mats. I just need to get a couple bamboo poles to fashion a frame that I can use to drape my mosquito net over my bed. Africa has done wonders for my creativity! After 3 stifling years of med school, I’m reconnecting with my childhood skills of fort-building; turning empty rolls of t.p. and wrapping paper into swords, telescopes, and fishing poles; smooshing the chairs together in the living room to play “boat” (Remember that Hannah? We always made Elliott be the fish). I’m fairly certain that I can turn coconut shells into lamp shades. And we’ve already got a couple capulannas for curtains. I’ve devised a method for washing our clothes in a giant bucket. And after a long day, when I come home all hot and dirty, there’s nothing better than a cold shower! (no hot water) What else could a girl want?!
Amy and I christened our new place by sitting in our giant hallway/front room (which by the way is perfect for doing cartwheels) eating pizza, drinking red pop, and watching “Little Women” on our computer. Pretty nice way to spend an evening, eh?!
Yesterday was the last day of 3 days of FGH meetings. Our days were packed with listening to people speak about various aspects of the organization and how the clinics are running. All of this, mind you, was in Portuguese. I now have about 10 pages of vocab that I scribbled down furiously during the talks. A recurring theme of the meeting was that Amy and I were labeled as “fearless,” as a result of our lack of inhibition when it comes to speaking Portuguese. Now, let’s be very clear. Not once were we told that we spoke well…we just dazzled people with our ability to embarrass ourselves without caring. I’m giving us an A for effort.
Following the meeting, there was a big party in Dr. Paulo’s backyard (where we have African dance class). There were about 10 people who formed a drum circle and just went to town all night. So we danced around the drum circle under the palm trees and the beautiful African sky, and they played and chanted. It was all very magical and surreal.
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