Yesterday evening I was exhausted. Having walked 2 hours roundtrip to take the bus to town and running errands all day is enough to exhaust me on a good day. On top of that I had only slept very few hours the night before and I decided to play soccer with the kids before the sun went down. I ended up falling asleep on my bed with my clothes on, net off and lights on at 7 o’clock. When I woke up a 9, I was a little confused, but mostly drowsy. I changed into pajamas, put my net up and went to use the bathroom before bed. Here is the problem with using the bathroom after the lights have been turned off; critters. Rats, bats and toads. You have to dodge the rats on the floor/walls while bobbing to avoid the bats that begin circling once you turn the lights on. Now I was under the (false) belief that I had concurred the toads. They were an obstacle that was behind me, I had concurred that fear. Wrong. Last night as I was half asleep and shooing a toad out of the kitchen with a broom I glance into the bathroom to see two other toads. Well shoot. I can easily shoe toads away in an open area, but a small-enclosed space is another story. I would have to enter through the door, and then try to find a way to position myself in a corner (without startling the toads) so that I could try to sweep them out the door, but the door opens into the bathroom and only opens about a third of the way. In the end I went back to bed and hoped that if I woke up desperately needing to use the bathroom then the toads would have relocated.
I live with rats. Okay no news there. But as previously stated they seem to be more frightened of me then I am of them. My strategy: avoidance with a dash of denial. It was working wonderfully. Key word: was. So a few days ago I dropped a file of papers in a plastic bag on the floor behind my dresser. At the moment I was feeling lazy and decided to pick them up another day. Fast-forward a few days. I had heard some squeaking in the morning coming from my dresser, but I wasn’t too fazed because the rats usually like to hang out behind the wall that my dresser is pushed up against. Well after Sugar kept sniffing the dresser all afternoon I decided that I had to investigate-deciding that it would be better to know then to continue in unknowing. (Usually that is not my opinion, I usually like to put off certainly as long as possible, because without certainty there is still hope) So after putting on my rubber boots to protect me feet, getting the broom and cat, and doing a little freak out dance and inner squeal, I pulled the dresser away from the corner, lifted it up, and closed my eyes. Nothing happened. Upon further inspection there were no rats, but chewed up papers and lots of rat shit. Bummer. The delusion that I was safe and rat-less in my room was thus shattered. As you may have guess this is the reason for my sleep deprivation from earlier in the story, because when you know that rats are coming into your room it is much harder to sleep.
Now I have been to the store and I have bought sticky rat trapping paper. (Couldn’t find rat traps and rat poison seemed to dangerous- I don’t want to kill the cat or Sugar) So…now I have sticky paper that I can put on the floor that will trap the rats and then I just have to ‘dispose’ of them. So says the directions. I like the idea that I could catch the rats and teach them a lesson: It is not okay to fuck with the gringa. But then again I am going to catch LIVE rats. I think the only thing that may scare me more than having rats enter my room at will, is having to deal with a live rat stuck on a piece of paper. Rock and a hard place.
In less dramatic news, life continues at a glacially slow pace. I am working on being a member of the community by just being here. I am occupying space in public areas, playing lots of soccer and talking about a community meeting to present my work plan. I am getting lots of plans about when I am going to start up again with English classes. And although I could very easily start more classes tomorrow I am holding back. I think rushing into English classes would be a cop-out. I have some other projects I would like to work on, and although they will definitely be more difficult I need to force myself to take the more difficult road, or else I may end up teaching English classes for two years without ever delving into some of the deeper and more difficult needs. One day at a time.
Tomorrow I am meeting a friend from the soccer team and we are going running in the morning. I’m excited to have workout partner, because historically that has been the one thing that gets me up and motivated about exercise. And maybe running will improve my soccer, because my soccer is in desperate need of improvement- I am just not that well-adjusted to being an inadequate athlete.
Gigantic thanks to Mom, Ajla and Michelle. I received and opened all of your packages yesterday and it made for the best day ever!!! Endless gratitude.
Loves, patience, and courage,
Chelsea
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