ants in my pants

This was a funny situation I found myself in last week…
I was preparing supper one night when all of a sudden I felt something pricking my thigh. It quickly moved from my thigh to...higher and I realized that it was not something just pricking me but biting me. I ran to the bathroom to discover an ant which had bit me about 5 or 6 times in…different…locations. This led to the jumping around you can imagine if one indeed has “ants in their pants.” The burn of the sting wasn’t going away and so my housemate who has been here some years suggested using a little electric shocker on each bite to remove the sting. It’s quite a funny situation with me in the bathroom electrocuting myself to rid myself of the sting. I finally used some other product she had called, “Grandpa’s Salve.” It smelled like a grandpa, not that grandpa’s smell bad. It helped a little. I eventually sat down and ate and tried to pretend it didn’t sting and focus on eating. Then on New Year’s Eve we were having a wonderful time with a bonfire and singing when I thought a thorn had come through the mat we were sitting on. Sure enough I had been bit again by those pesky “angarasas,” as they are called by the locals.

Life seems to remain interesting around here. On New Year’s Eve, after the ants got to me, just past midnight fireworks went off. This is definitely a first for Abeche. The President was in town which is why they had such a special occasion. Unfortunately for those who have never seen or heard fireworks before and those asleep in their beds this meant fear! With a growing military presence around town the boom of the fireworks made some sure that a war had broken out in the city. A good friend of ours didn’t sleep most of the rest of the night.

I also had the…opportunity to attend a Kalawada, funeral, last weekend. At 7 o’clock in the morning the goat had already been slaughtered and cooked and we ate amarada, a mixture of the body parts cut up, esh and wecki, which you’ve heard about many times, and of course fungaso (see last week’s blog). Anyways, it was a breakfast of champions that’s for sure!

I’m back into teaching now. I only accomplished a small amount of what I hoped to last week, surprise surprise. Although I may get a few extra days off now as I’m being treated for malaria. It sounds worse than it is- really! I may not actually have it but around here you treat for malaria right away. Yes I am taking my pills to prevent this but as I’ve learned from many who have had it before you haven’t really become a missionary until you get malaria!

Happy New Year everyone!

I wrote this on January 2, but I have learned that since the malaria pills didn’t work, so I must have had something else. I’m drinking, eating, and taking a few different things now to kill parasites or bacteria or whatever is keeping me down. I think I’m on the way up now though, Praise God! Prayer for health would be great. I don’t think I’ve ever been sick so often in my life. Blog should be back to the regular schedule now, happy reading!