Transitions and First Impressions

　
　 A sunny, HOT day in Malawi. Classroom nearly set up and ready for the big first day tomorrow, but it is far too hot to do any more work just now. Instead, myself, the cat, and the friendly gecko on the wall are all sprawled in the shade in a Sunday afternoon daze. As my mind is floating in air like bathwater, and therefore is incapable of forming coherent thoughts, let me share some excerpts from my journal over the last few days…

Jan 30^th, 9:00 pm, Chilumba, Malawi

          Upon my requesting that my new boss, N., help me set up my mosquito net, (I was mildly concerned about the legions of bug corpses on top, and how to let it down without them landing all over my sheets…) she obligingly came to my room to demonstrate.
         “There….
(Ewwwww. Pause. As I started to write this a dead bug fell from somewhere and landed on my page…. Ahem… continuing…)
         “There are essentially 2 types of mosquito netters…” N. explained as she nonchalantly tossed the net (and all the corpses….) over my bed.
         “The first type let the net hang all the way to the floor, with no gaps. This is what I do, as all our nets are quite long.
        “Some people however, are quite paranoid about critters and snakes etc, so they tuck the net into their mattress the whole way round.”
        At this she gave a sort of shrug meant to indicate that this was completely unnecessary, to which I replied with a non-committal agreement-style noise in reply.
        Obviously, ten minutes after she had left the room, every millimetre of my net was tucked into my mattress.
       
Ok, ok, I know, wimpy right? But here is my defence:

A) N. is SO hardcore! Not only has she been here 15 years, but I also just watched her squash a cockroach on the fridge door. Using her bare hand.

B) There has been a long-legged, long-antennae creature crawling up the wall in front of me the whole time I have been writing.

C) That giant spider on the wall that I felt so comfortable with earlier, when he did not MOVE? Well, I came back from brushing my teeth and he was no longer on the wall!! Careful inspection of my sheets and pillowcases has taken place, and net will be staying tucked in!
(As a side note, I am happy to report that as of February 3^rd I was comfortable sleeping with my net simply dangling on the floor J )

Jan 31^st
Not even phased by the bugs tonight! They are my friends! (So long as each of them stays in their habitual spot!! AND safely on the other side of my net!)
Eish…. Already got a couple massively itchy bites on my ankle though… uh oh….

Feb 1^st
Ok… I am definitely going a little crazy… I just crawled into bed and felt a little sad when I realized that my giant spider friends and long legged wall climbing creature were missing… They were Deeted to death earlier this evening! :(
And this is night 3??

Feb 2^nd
I am writing this, laying on my bed with the net still up, and I am not even a little afraid of creepy crawlies! Although a mozzie did just land on my pillow…. Hmmm…

Stay tuned for a continuation of the Battle of the Bugs...