Critter Alert!

Julie went in the kitchen this evening to grab a knife for me, but instead calls me in telling me to “Come look”. We have a host of geckos, lizards, and whatnot in the kitchen so I go with the idea that it was one of our friends. Oh no! She points out this little mouse behind all of our clean dishes in our make-shift rack! She acts like its so cute! I tell her we have to catch it and get rid of it. She laughs and then laughs at me as I proceed to try and catch this mouse. So clearly I didn’t catch it. We return to the living room and continue our evening in front of the fan. About 20 minutes later the crazy mouse is joining us in the living room! This time I get a better container and proceed to chase the mouse around the living room and Julie’s room. At one point it even ran across my foot and I screamed. Julie found this very very funny. I think she enjoys me only for entertainment factors as life is always exciting with me around.

I even let Roxy in the house at one point to help hunt the mouse. Roxy will hunt the geckos and spiders each night, but did she even help with the mouse, NO! She wanted to play with me instead. I accidently stepped on her paw and she pulled the sit and stare at me while lifting up the paw. She is such a drama queen. She really isn’t hurt but she wants all the attention and knows that we will talk to her and pet her extra when she does this. I have to admit that it’s cute but extremely clever too. Eventually, I did catch the mouse.

After inspection of the mouse in the container, Julie suggested that we make it a classroom pet and we could show our classes. I told her the Director would just love that! Not to mention we would get blamed for having a dirty house (which we rent from the Director). So Julie has named the mouse Stuart and Stuart is in a Tupperware container on a shelf in the living room. I hope that I can release the mouse far from the house tomorrow (yes, this is my personal catch and release/relocation program in Africa. I’m not sure the Togolese will like that so let’s not tell them, ok).

I’m sure that tomorrow will bring the last adventure with Stuart, well I hope so.

Part 2
Stuart died in the night. Since Julie wanted to save him to show our students we just put the Tupperware container on the shelf in the living room. I had an idea that he might not have enough oxygen to make it through the night but I was not so keen on the idea of keeping him and so I just let it slide.
Julie accused me of murder this morning. Then today at lunch she realized that even though I tried to put oxygen in the container before I went to bed I knew that he wouldn’t make it through the night. She told me she was too tired to realize this last night and she knew that I knew all this information and just let it slide. We laughed about it and I took Stuart out for his burial in the yard this afternoon.

I should add that this morning Julie asked me if I’d been in the kitchen yet. I am beginning to dread this question. She told me that it was a gecko this time. It was really a lizard stuck in the kitchen sink. I think he fell off a rafter and couldn’t get out. Julie and I discussed the differences between geckos and lizards. Then I proceeded to catch him. He got away.

He returned this afternoon in the screen on the kitchen window and then again got away. It turns out he is a very wiggly little fellow. But then he hid under the refrigerator. Later he was making a break for the front door and Roxy perked up and almost had him for dessert. I locked her up and freed the wiggly lizard. At least one out of two was released. I would say my relocation program is doing ok right now. I hope it’s awhile until I have to use my critter skills again.

Trauma

I have a girl in my class who is clearly special to me. I mean this in that our personalities are compatible more than the other children. I think it is because she can be bossy, stubborn, she doesn’t communicate her feelings well, and in general is used to doing what she wants when she wants. Hmmm…does this sound like anyone you know? I love her so much and she seems to be doing well in my class this year. The Director is completely impressed as this child hated school last year and seems to love me and coming each day. Her mother has reported that this little girl loves me so much and listens to me that they use my name at home to make her do things by saying “Would Nina like that?”. I laugh but she is adorable and very special to me. At times she is behind on things like fine-motor skills and language development, while other times she seems to absorb information and retain it better than other children. I think she is intuitive and her potential is great if she is not overlooked.

I laugh at the things that she tells me and other children, but by far she makes me feel not so far away from America and my tough kids when she tells me things like “You crazy!” or when I am teaching and she leans forward in her desk with this look of shock and amazement and says “What did you say!?” like I’ve just shared the key to all learning with the class. She makes me smile and laugh so much. Oh and she went through a phase of telling me each day that “Nina, we go to beach at 7 o’clock on Friday, OK?”. It is dark here at 5:30 and there is no way her parents or I am going to the beach after dark, but she was trying to be a big girl and it was adorable. The other children in class sometimes look at her and wonder if she will get in trouble for her scandalous comments (for Kindergarten that is) but then laugh too. Oh and each day during recess she has to play for 5 or 10 minutes and then check in with me and get a hug. Then she will repeat this, unless she is tired or having a hard day then I have to hold her in the sweltering African heat. She is something else.

Yesterday, my little friend was playing at recess and I was parked on a bench in the shade, as always, when she comes running/stumbling over. The look of horror on her face I knew that we were in for drama and lots of hugs. So I scooped her up and she finally caught her breath after many crocodile tears poured from her big brown eyes. I asked her where it hurt and with my little friend you have to ask slowly a few times before she actually starts to make sense. So I patiently wait and go through the process and I get that someone bit her and it was on her collar bone. I check and there is no mark whatsoever. So I rock her some more and she is good. Then the director comes over and wants to know what is wrong and take my little friend to have her point out who bit her. Well, the Director comes back and she said “I don’t understand she said that it was someone in your class but I don’t know who.”. This is funny because I don’t have any bitters, I have a licker, a pusher, a hitter, and a name caller…fresh out of bitters. So I take my little friend’s hand and she takes me to show me. Well, my whole class was gathered around this abnormally large, neon green grasshopper that was hanging out on the wall of the school. May be they are just extra big here in Africa as no one thought anything was weird about it, except me. My children were just fixated with it as they LOVE animals as we have been studying animals and looking at anything moves. My little friend points directly at the grasshopper, not at my students! I laugh to myself and pick her up and talk to her about the grasshopper, which she is now calling a ladybug. She communicated to me that it jumped on her shirt and I can just picture how it scared the beejeebers out of her! The poor thing! Honestly, she can’t really formulate sentences very well, so it’s more of patchwork language than anything with her, but I’m becoming really good at hearing her. I explain to her that it didn’t bite her and yes, that is scary and we had talked about being scared that morning. I have been triaging over this grasshopper for 2 days now. She might be scarred for life.

Today there was a very very small grasshopper on the wall in my classroom and she was very scared to say the least. She nearly lost it when it flew under a desk and was convinced it was in her hair. I hope this doesn’t mean she will hate bugs the rest of her life.

Being Sick In W. Africa = No Fun!

I am sorry for not posting lately. I have been battling with my first Africa cold. I had the toe incident and as my toe healed I grew more sick. It’s like a sinus infection that ebbs and flows. This creates an “I’m better” thought and then the next day it rises up only to knock me flat again. I have looked like I’ve been hit by a train for almost a week now, but I’m not the only one. I know many people with it too. The local people swear it’s the change in weather. I’m not sure a 5-10 degree jump in the weather can create sickness like cold weather does in the states, but anything is possible I guess. I would like to mention that I rest and sleep a lot. There is nothing like laying in bed dripping sweat literally from all the pours in your body, while you’re sick knowing that you don’t have a fever and even the healthy people are this miserable. So I rest, take vitamin C, drink lots and lots of water, and have even been using my coveted alka-selzer plus cold medicine from America. Oh I sponge off with clean water to help me sleep too as my fan is still not fixed and I haven’t been well enough about nagging the guy who said he would fix it. I really need to have that done!
I hope that I’m feeling better soon as my roommate might just tie me up (along with one of my friends) and haul me to the doctor. I really don’t think I like this option as everyone I know who is sick has waited hours at the doctor or hospital. They were then given injections in their bottoms and sent home. All of them are still sick. I DO NOT want injections where the sun don’t shine, thank you very much.

But life continues to move along even though I’m sick. I witnessed a Voodoo parade last weekend, right down my street. These people were dressed in full costume and dancing to the drums other men carried. It was creepy and weird and I hope that it doesn’t happen again.
There was a dead chicken in the road earlier last week and my roommate swears that it was a voodoo sacrifice of some sort. I hope that this does not continue.

On another front, Roxy took her second moto ride to the vet. She is going to start her puppy shots (almost a month late…oops!) next Wednesday. I thought we would start when I actually took her to the vet but apparently he doesn’t make vaccination appointments on the phone and wants to look at her. Or I live in a society where there is a lot of red tape and nothing should be expected to be finished or done when you go the first time. Oh and I am seeing the government veterinarian. Oh the cycle.
The look on the Togolese children’s faces as I walked down the road to catch a moto was priceless. I had put Roxy in my backpack and let her head hangout (see picture below). I was quite a sight. Then the moto drivers didn’t even notice when I was speaking to them about where I was going and how much. It was funny. Just think, I get to do it all again next Wednesday too.
I have also posted a new picture of Roxy and I. She is huge now and grows every night, I swear! She’s great and I love her but trouble and stubborn are her middle names! I guess dogs do take after their masters. =-)

Part 2
I’m finally well after 2 and a half weeks of having a respiratory infection. Not so much fun, but today I got to smell for the first time! It’s too bad that it was such a hot day and all I really smelt was body odor of my students and the taxi moto drivers. All the same I’m happy to smell again!

technical difficulties

OK I typed a few stories but blogger isn't letting me paste onto it...sorry I have to figure it out another day. Here are a few pictures of Roxy to show you how she is growing.

Do you see how much my baby is growing!??? I think sometimes she grows during the night.

Roxy after her second moto ride. What a big girl!

Injury Alert

5 (or more) days ago I noticed that my right big toe was a little sore on the inner side but I didn’t’ think much of it. I went about my fun at the beach with friends and figured I would investigate later. That evening I discovered that I should trim a hang nail and the toenail itself and thought that was it. Nope. My toe continued to swell and turn various shades of pink, red, dark blue, and purple as the pain increased and I grew very sensitive to walking (my major mode of transportation here). I would like to say that for the last 5 days I have cleaned my toe with alcohol and used Neosporin. I even tried soaking in hot/warm water too. I’ve done a really good job keeping it clean considering the dust and sand everywhere here, but it has not stopped weeping or swelling. I was almost in tears the past 2 nights and I would like to state for the record this has put a damper on the fun I was planning for this vacation.
Julie began telling me 2 nights ago that we should call the doctor, but I was reluctant. I work closely with the doctor’s wife and I know him too, but I wasn’t ready to call a doctor over my toe just yet. I promised her that in another day if it wasn’t improving I would call him. Yesterday, my toe was not good and I walked entirely too much on it. It seemed to pound with each step and I dreaded having to walk home that evening. I was talking with my Togolese friend and shared with him about my toe for the second time this week. He told me that I should may be see a doctor and get an anti-biotic or they would need to cut open my toe. I tried to tell him that I didn’t like anti-biotics because they wipe out your immune system and since all my kids are sick and many adults are sick too I would be worried I catch some horrible strand of African stomach something or virus that knocks me out completely. This was al lost in communication and so he just encouraged me again to call the doctor. I told him one more night and then if it isn’t better tomorrow I will. His second offer was traditional medicine. I wasn’t so sure about that but he said that he would bring the product to my house that evening. Of course he shows up when I’m almost in tears and the power was out and my fan had broken. It wasn’t a great moment to say the least. My roommate and I were trying to figure out if I was just overheating or if I had a fever because of this infection in my toe. So he joined in with great concern. He inspected my toe by flashlight and then began applying the “traditional product” to my toe. It seemed to glow like something out of Little Shoppe of Horrors and it smelled like the strongest mentholadom that has ever been made. Vick has nothing on this stuff my friends. When he was finished he looked at me very seriously and told me that I needed to put if on every night and every morning. He told me he was very sorry for me and that he would check on me the next day. After he left I promised Julie I would call the doctor in the morning.

Dr. Erik came to the house at 12:30pm and gave me 2 prescriptions; an anti-biotic and an anti-inflammatory. He told me it would look a lot better by Sunday and that he would call me the next day to check on me. About an hour later my friend stopped by and wanted to know what the doctor said and how I was. He also inspected my toe today. I was relieved that he didn’t say anything else about the “traditional product”.

When Julie and I went to the pharmacy a man with the money symbol around his neck waited on us. Then I paid the cashier and read the ingredients to make sure I wasn’t allergic to any either of the medications. I was good to go and so we left. It’s amazing to me the amount of English that was used on the signs and instructions in the pharmacy, but I was thankful! I even saw a huge H1N1 poster and how to prevent the flu. I haven’t even heard about the flu since I left America at the end of August. I can only imagine what it is like there now.

I would like to end by saying that when you have something wrong it is easier to hide it and people don’t treat you like you’re handicapped before you see a doctor. It is after you have seen the doctor that people react in large ways. I will tell you that Julie hasn’t let me cook or even get out of the living room chair all day. My friend wouldn’t let me walk him to the door. Everyone just wants me to sit around and be waited on while I keep my foot propped up. This is great but there is only so much sitting that a girl can do (and I haven’t exactly been sitting around all week). I love that I have a great support system here and I should listen to them more. I foresee a speedy recovery with all the resting and medication over the next few days.

P.S. When you take anti-biotic they may cause you to be more susceptible to illness, especially when working with children who have snot pouring from their noses all day. I seem to have contracted something, but I hope that the vitamin C I lugged from America will help. But the good news is my toe is great and I am walking just fine again.