Last week I was met with a rather menacing bug on my mosquito net. I called my host mama in for an intervention, and she confirmed my suspicion. This time it was a scorpion. She got a plastic bag, wrapped it around her hand, scooped it up and flung it into the fire.
Good news: Mosquito nets protect against scorpions too.
Bad news: Kenya has scorpions.
I thoroughly inspected my bed before getting into it, insect-free. To mark the occasion, my 7-year old host brother drew me a picture of a scorpion and a spider. I guess everyone copes in their own way, but I'd rather not see one again, in real life or through an artist's rendition.
Otherwise, things are going well. The weather here is hot and dry and cools off nicely at night (and this is the cold season!). Sometimes on my walk home I get followed by a swarm of schoolchildren (see Madonna, it happens to me too here) who ask me various questions and test their bravery about who will get closest to me. I don't mean to attract such attention, but I know it must look like a circus.
At my homestay I'm learning how to do my laundry by hand (the Kenyan women make it look easy by the way) and cook some of the local food over a charcoal stove. I'm popping huge blisters on my feet and avoiding sunburn successfully thus far.
Hope all is well with everyone.
p.s. The chicken (who we've started calling "dinner") lives to see another day.
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13 comments:
Yikes! Avoid the scorpions - this from a Scorpio, so I should know.
BAH!
Yikes is right. I'm glad you steered clear of this one!
This is the scariest blog entry I've every come accross.
schorpioenen .. ieks!! je maakt wat mee daar in Kenia! Het wordt nu wel helemaal echt het wilde Afrika. Jammer dat je niet op mijn verjaardag kan komen ;)
Inderdaad misschien is meereizen met die twee uit het internetcafe nog een optie haha. Heej geniet lekker daar "miss attraction 2007" dikke kusX
Good Lordy!
When I lived in Nicaragua, the "chompipes" (nasty little wannabe-Chickens, that look like anorexic dodo-bird/chicken hybrids) would run into my hut and wake up up at the crack of dawn. How did they get inside the hut, you may wonder? Oh - well, because it didn't have doors.
I'm glad you're having such amazing experiences. I miss you dearly.
ERIC
inderdaad van die scorpioenen zou ik ook niet echt vrolijk worden, maar je benaderd het nogal positief, niet teveel bij nadenken zou ik zeggen! Opvallen ja, dat kan bijna niet anders met dat blonde haar van jou!
Hier gaat alles zijn gangetje, jasper en Thomas zitten in de proefwerk week dus er moet veel gestudeerd worden. Volgende week weten ze of ze over zijn, nog even spannend dus.
groetjes Maria.
Met de kip alles goed?
scorpions oh my! this sounds like quite an adventure, and that poor chicken...
fyi...we saved gay marriage!
45-151
big mad love
Glad to hear from you. Scorpions , yikes ad a slew of other words~~ I can't stand them. Be careful where you sit down and so on..Good idea to do a scorpion /insect / critter / varmint check before retiring for the night.
You ARE the celebrity in the village so let the kids have fun. How's the bag with candies doing? Do not use sparingly. We can always send you another bag.
Lots of Love to the best niece in the world - oops...I hope Frida isn't listening.
Byeeeeeeee, oom Jac and Tante Nel
Hi Annemarie, I am not sure if you can get into this link but thought it very inspiring for African HIV people, seeing onbe of their own go through despair to finally find a way to create a new life.
www.msf.org
Curious what other bugs or bigger animals you will encounter.learning to recognize, avoid or deal with them. Also knowig where they put their nests :under stones or in between them teaches us not to pick up a stone too quickly or sit on them before you have inspected them. (my lessons in AZ). But when they come in the house all you can do is inspect your shoes always before you put them on, iron your clothing (killing egg sacks of whatever) but I am sure people over thtere can tell you much more. Trouble often is that it is part of their environment and they just take care of it. Like we have too many cars and too many drunk drivers and the chance to get hit by them is so much bigger than being hit by a scorpion bite which will not kill you. It is burning and painful but bearable, speaking out of experience. Let your host explain what you should do when you do get bitten and follow that advice. Sometimes they use very good concoction of herbs etc. Love Nicolien
Hi Annemarie, The link I posted I came accross by going through different sites. Checking it once more it did not show to me what I wanted you to look at. Here is the full link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/05/africa_my_life_with_hiv/html/1.stm
Sorry Annemarie, After double checking the last link it did not work again. This one should be bettr
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6757945.stm
and you go to Featueres and click on "My life with HIV", which is the last one.
This all after reading about Elton John's concert in Kiev, Ukraine, where HIV is growing so fast and one artist could make alrteady such a difference. Curious what the situation is where you are in Kenya?
Nicolien
Tante Nel, I was listening! But i'm not offended , ieder zijn kwaliteiten he? One has to be the best, and I'm okay if it's Annemarie! haha ;)
Hope all is well over in Kenia. How's "dinner" doing? Still no sunburn? veel liefs, dikke kusX
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