little "friends"

Well, it's been a week now, and I need to stop and say a few words about...bugs.  I had my first real encounter with the C.U.S's last week when I went up to the cho at night with my flashlight.  A C.U.S for those of you who are wondering, is a Cockroach of Unusual Size.  I won't go into any detail here for those of you who are of weak constitutions when it comes to such things.  Let's just say I now understand one reason for the bucket in the bathing room which I go to the bathroom in at night instead of going up to the cho (most of the time).  Way more information than you wanted to know, I'm sure, but hey, I'm a nurse and this is just how we talk about life.  

My first *close* encounter with the C.U.S.'s was last night right here in my kitchen.  I had found a tub full of tupperware and was carrying it in to show Pat in the doorway between our apt's and was talking about how they must have been under the counter because...."aaaahhh....aaaahhhh.....aaaaaahhhh" I screamed a few times as several C.U.S's scrambled out of the tupperware I was holding, and promptly dropped the tupperware onto the ground and did a little jig in my sandals...you know the kind, the "aaahh, I can't believe that just happened" jig.  Okay so maybe I am a dancer, just of a different variety than most.  I was laughing, Pat was laughing...she said later "wow, that was a good laugh, thanks, I needed that!"  

This close encounter was at about 9pm after returning from the Myhre's where I'd eaten dinner.  I was putting away the dishes here in my own place so that I'd have room to dry the dirty ones in the sink I needed to wash, then of course couldn't bring myself to wash the C.U.S infested tupperware in cold water like I wash everything else, so I had to boil some water on the stove for that.  Then I went to turn on the oven to bake bread and guess what scurries out!?!?!  you guessed it...more C.U.S's.  I did a little more squealing and Pat came to my rescue (we had to light the pilot light after all, and I was all concerned from past experience with a dear baby sitter-friend-now supporter Miss Meg, that Pat was going to burn her face and hair by doing that after I'd had the oven on, but it was fine in the end because after all the pilot light wasn't on so the gas wasn't filling the oven like the incident in Pgh. a couple decades ago).  It turns out there was FOOD left in the oven from the person who'd lived here previously and had to leave earlier than expected due to Ebola (but really, I think there was time for getting the food out of the oven for goodness sakes!!).  So, the oven got lit, then bread got in the oven, the water boiled, the tupperware and sink full of dishes got washed...and before it was all done it had been an hour!!!  The saying around here is that living takes longer in Africa...evidently!

Then there's the cold showers...yikes...breath taking experiences each and every night before bed.  But by the time I get to washing my hair I'm pretty okay...it's like swimming, when you first jump in it sometimes takes your breath away because it's so cold, but after you swim around a minute or two you get used to it.  Now, if you've ever lived with me for longer than a day, you know that I love a LONG HOT shower, which I have not abandoned appreciation for by the way, I'm already looking forward to our couple of days in Fort Portal in a few weeks where I think they might have hot water?!  We'll see.