Crazy creatures in the "bathroom"

Living in the village in Malawi, I actually don't have a bathroom. I have an outdoor latrine and an outdoor bathing area. They are on different sides of the yard from each other. Both structures are made of brick with a tin roof.

Everytime I go to use the bafa (that's Chichewa for bathing area), I do a quick snake check now. That's because a few months ago when I went to go take my bucket bath, I heard a weird noise. But I hear lots of weird noises in there, so I wasn't too worried. Until I saw something kinda big moving in the corner. After retrieving my flashlight and shining it into the corner, I found the source of the noise-- a snake, weaving back and forth, with it's hood out like a cobra! I told my neighbors, and they promptly assembled a crowd of 20 and got their machetes to kill it. They're good like that. The kids had a grand old time putting it's body on a stick and scaring each other with it.

And that's not the only thing I have seen in the bafa. Over these past two years, I have seen all all of the following in the chim (latrine), bafa or both, at one time or another:

cobra-looking snake
cave cricket

army ants
flat spiders
blister beetles
giant snails
large black millipedes
probably over a dozen different species of ants
giant cockroaches

carpenter beetles
wasps
lizards
at least five different species of flies
toads

the face of one of the little neighbor boys, through the needlessly large window in the bafa, once he realized I was in there (this only happened once, right after I moved in)

Try peeing with this thing staring at you. It's a blister beetle. Locally they call it something in Chichewa that translates as "The Urinator" because it pees on you and causes blisters to form on the skin

I am not going to miss sharing my "bathroom" with flora and fauna, that's for sure. Indoor plumbing was definitely one of humanity's more convenient inventions. But a latrine is pretty nice to have in a drought.

Of Mouserats, army ants and other small creatures

Earlier this week I prepared my second attempt at a Mouserat trap, using a design I found on the web in a rare moment of somewhat working internet. I baited it with peanut butter and oatmeal. The idea was that the mouse crawls into the tube to get the bait, and its weight makes the tube fall into the bucket. I filled the bucket about halfway with water, hoping it would drown. Otherwise it would just climb out. (Large bins are not easy to come by in the village.)

As I was doing that, the kids knocked on my gate. They had news for me-- the linthumbu (red driver ants) were back. Sure enough, we found them all over the grass in my yard, concentrated in the now abandoned termite mounds. (The termites left once the heat wave started up again). Great.

I put poison out where the ants were, getting bit on the toe by one of the large soldier ants in the process. Curse words did follow.

Then I saw this cool caterpillar by my house. Normally I might have tried to move it elsewhere to save my seedlings, but it's been so dry that I haven't planted anything yet. So it can chew on the weeds all it wants.

While I was inspecting the caterpillar, a little frog or toad hopped by in the dirt. It was the size of the tip of my thumb.

While I surveyed the ants in the fading light, a mosquito kept insistently buzzing near my ear. It's about that time of year again, I guess. First flies, then mosquitos.

Unfortunately, the Mouserat trap failed. The tube just fell into the bucket of water. I used a toilet paper tube for it, but I think maybe the tube was too small. As a Mouserat, it's bigger than most mice. So I will have to find a bigger substitute. The Mouserat seems angry at its near capture, as it is making a ton of noise tonight, and knocking over all kinds of stuff. Maybe it is hoping to keep me awake so that I will be too tired to try and trap it tomorrow night. Pretty good plan, actually.

All this, on top of normal stuff like cooking, doing dishes and lesson planning. I love nature, but I wouldn't mind a little less of it around my house right now.

And a Happy New Year

Hello, 2016! This year will start in Malawi for me and end in the good old US of A. It's kinda hard to believe.

New Years Eve in the village is like a big party. There was music late into the night, and people were out and about, laughing and talking into the wee hours.

When the kids came by this morning, we all wished each other a Happy New Year in English, and talked about our Christmases. Then we decorated a little  Christmas tree, since I didn't have time to do it before I left for the holiday. They got a little carried away with the stickers.

Then we collected fallen mangos, practiced some English vocabulary with the flash cards I made, and I gave then some biscuits. Cuz it's a holiday after all!

In the afternoon I went to my neighbor's house to chat. They were preparing their New Years meal of chicken and rice. These are both expensive foods for villagers so they are usually only served on special occasions. They gave me a small piece of chicken to eat since I said I was making beans and rice for dinner. It was boneless and soft, and I have no idea what part it was except it wasn't a wing or breast. They use the whole chicken here, feet and all. It was well-cooked and tasty. Then they gave me a mandazi (donut) to take home with me.

For dinner I made lentils and brown rice and veggies. It took a long time to cook on the hot plate, but it was worth it. And I made extra so I could share some with my neighbors too. They said it was "kucoma" (tastes good).

Oh, and this evening I saw the first toad of the year! It was two inches long. So cute-- look at it's little feet!