Gobble Gobble

It's hard to pinpoint what I want to write about this time because there are always so many different directions to go. Let's start with Thanksgiving, First major holiday I have had to spend alone (sorry 4th of July, I totally forgot about you). The weekend before the actual day I had some pretty stellar replacements to keep me company, but certainly missed the usual crowd back home. We bought an expensive turkey (apparently shipped from Brazil?) that made it's way into our shopping town's grocery store, stuffing from America, and other goodies in between. But, just to remind us that it was definitely not a American thanksgiving, below is a picture from the a herd of hippos out in the river.

The view of hippos from the window

The actual night of Thanksgiving was much different. I went to bed without dinner because of more pressing matters. I have already done a snake entry so I won't be too long on this but this time it was way scarier! The mamba (it was a mamba this time!!) in my room and it came out from under my bed WHILE I was sitting on my floor making friendship bracelets. I was a straight damsel in distress, screaming and I even flailed my arms a little. A group of men came and took over the situation while I texted all my volunteer friends describing my very un-American Thanksgiving night.

The long anticipated rainy season is what is bringing out all the snakes. They seek shelter in my hut to escape the rain, while I seek shelter under my mosquito net. The net has been my savior, along with my rain-turned-snake-boots my mom bought me from Marshalls right before I left. Mom, they have been useful in a way we didn't quite predict. Every night from 7:30 pm onward, I literally cocoon myself under the net to prevent getting attacked by 8 different species of scary insects. The one positive thing the change in season has brought is the urgent need for the men to finish my classroom. As of this post, it's done! No more teaching under a tree with school attendance dependent on the weather. Only 5 months late, but considering the construction man was only working for a bowl of soft porridge a day I say its OK and pretty amazing the work it took.