22 September 2007
Okay, I take it back. I take it all back!
Forget everything I said about the insecticide spray. It's lovely. It's wonderful. It's the best thing since sliced bread. It's a lean, mean killing machine and it saved me from the most hideous, monstrous, gigantic spider I have seen in a very, very long time. And for that I am forever grateful. Oh, and by the way... Yes T, spiders CAN jump. If only you had been here to see it in action, then it would have been you it jumped at and not me!
21 September 2007
Will It Never End?
I just opened my laptop for the first time in months (I usually use T's) to get some old files I needed and it is covered in mold! Mold, everywhere, mold! How am I supposed to clean this! Will it never end?
This Is War!
We've been attacked!... by mold. There is mold everywhere - inside the kitchen cabinets, in the closets, on our shoes, growing on our clothes. Yuk! This whole place has smelled musty from day one, particularly the kitchen, but it's easy to ignore such things when you know that closer inspection will only bring unwelcomed news. So the mold made a major mistake when it decided to make an open attack on our clothes. There was a problem and we couldn't deny it any more. I had no choice but to declare war immediately.The wardrobe was the first casualty. It is now a wardrobe skeleton, with no back panel or doors. All the clothes went straight into the wash and the closets and cupboards were doused with bleach. But this is going to be a on-going battle. Cotonou is extremely humid and consistently warm. It's paradise for mold. Even with the air conditioners running it's always damp and I'm finding mold in new places. Just yesterday I opened the night-stand to discover that the outside of my passport was fuzzy. My passport! I can't exactly soak that in bleach!
But it's not just mold that plagues our Cotonou residence. There are the ants. Tiny little reddish-brown ants by the thousands that go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah! On Monday the apartment was fumigated with insecticide to kill all the bugs hoping to infest our home. By that evening, the ants were back, marching in their little single file lines across the kitchen counter. I think the only living thing that suffered from the fumes was me.
Next, we have the rain. Apparently the late summer dry season lasts less than a month because we're back into the rain again (which probably isn't helping us with the mold situation). Whenever it rains the patio around our building becomes completely flooded and we have to use cinder blocks as stepping stones to get in and out of the front gate. We've got it pretty easy though. Many homes are under water and I've meet at least two Beninese who have had to move because of the flooding. If you've been paying attention to the world news you've probably noticed that massive flooding is widespread in Africa at the moment, especially for our neighbours in Togo and Ghana. Niger and Burkina Faso have also been hit hard. Benin is swamped and has been all summer but according to the BBC news maps of worst affected areas, Benin is one of the only West African countries not in (or almost in) a state of emergency. I can only imagine what it must be like for those around us. A Sunday afternoon drive around the Beninese countryside makes our flooded patio seem like a blessing. Next time I'll bring my camera and try to get some photos.
And then, of course, there are the mosquitoes, which all this standing water isn't helping with either. But we have our defences...
First, there's the trusty mosquito net. This usually works, though sometimes we wake up to find a mosquito in the net. Oh, how irritating! The net is supposed to keep them out, not trap them inside. I think it would would probably work better if we were able to tuck the edges of the net underneath the mattress, but T is too big! His feet stick out over the end of the bed! At least this makes it easier to get in and out of bed in the middle of the night. When you've got to go, you've got to go and trust me, you don't want to be stuck in a net.
Next, there are the bug sprays. I brought my deep-woods-New Hampshire knowledge to this one. We've got Avon Skin So Soft for the low-mosquito evenings when we don't feel like coating ourselves in DEET and showering when we get home. And then there's the high-DEET super spray for the long haul nights outside.
For a long time T was a fan of this insecticide spray. I think he liked that he could chase a mosquito down with the can and watch it meet its end. There was a huge stock of this in the apartment when we moved in. I hate this stuff. It gives me a massive headache. Luckily, we don't need to use it much any more because we've found something better...
But it's not just mold that plagues our Cotonou residence. There are the ants. Tiny little reddish-brown ants by the thousands that go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah! On Monday the apartment was fumigated with insecticide to kill all the bugs hoping to infest our home. By that evening, the ants were back, marching in their little single file lines across the kitchen counter. I think the only living thing that suffered from the fumes was me.
Next, we have the rain. Apparently the late summer dry season lasts less than a month because we're back into the rain again (which probably isn't helping us with the mold situation). Whenever it rains the patio around our building becomes completely flooded and we have to use cinder blocks as stepping stones to get in and out of the front gate. We've got it pretty easy though. Many homes are under water and I've meet at least two Beninese who have had to move because of the flooding. If you've been paying attention to the world news you've probably noticed that massive flooding is widespread in Africa at the moment, especially for our neighbours in Togo and Ghana. Niger and Burkina Faso have also been hit hard. Benin is swamped and has been all summer but according to the BBC news maps of worst affected areas, Benin is one of the only West African countries not in (or almost in) a state of emergency. I can only imagine what it must be like for those around us. A Sunday afternoon drive around the Beninese countryside makes our flooded patio seem like a blessing. Next time I'll bring my camera and try to get some photos.
And then, of course, there are the mosquitoes, which all this standing water isn't helping with either. But we have our defences...
First, there's the trusty mosquito net. This usually works, though sometimes we wake up to find a mosquito in the net. Oh, how irritating! The net is supposed to keep them out, not trap them inside. I think it would would probably work better if we were able to tuck the edges of the net underneath the mattress, but T is too big! His feet stick out over the end of the bed! At least this makes it easier to get in and out of bed in the middle of the night. When you've got to go, you've got to go and trust me, you don't want to be stuck in a net.Next, there are the bug sprays. I brought my deep-woods-New Hampshire knowledge to this one. We've got Avon Skin So Soft for the low-mosquito evenings when we don't feel like coating ourselves in DEET and showering when we get home. And then there's the high-DEET super spray for the long haul nights outside.
For a long time T was a fan of this insecticide spray. I think he liked that he could chase a mosquito down with the can and watch it meet its end. There was a huge stock of this in the apartment when we moved in. I hate this stuff. It gives me a massive headache. Luckily, we don't need to use it much any more because we've found something better...
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-
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The plug-in, electronic mosquito destroyer. Plug it in at night with a fresh insecticide tablet and you've got up to 12 mosquito free hours. It even smells nice. And the best part, no headaches.
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And last, but certainly not least, is my personal favourite, the POWER RECHARGEABLE MOSQUITO-HITTINGRACKET! All I have to say is Thank you China! A curse upon all those that say you can't innovate, that you only produce cheap knock-off's and total junk. They have clearly never encountered the glory that is the power rechargeable mosquito-hittingracket.
This beauty plugs directly into the wall (with an American prong no less) to charge its internal battery. The instructions indicate that the battery can be recharged over 200 times. It's been two months and we've only charged it once and it's still going strong! Why does it need to be charged? Because the metal strings of the racket are electrified. Yes, you electrocute mosquitoes. You dance around your house swinging and swatting your beautiful racket, sending the little buggers to their the doom with a little spark and a satisfying crackle. This is my new, all-time favourite pastime here in Africa - mosquito hunting. I'm thinking of sending one to everybody for Christmas.
20 August 2007
Where did you come from, where did you go?
The street people are gone. They packed up and left. Gone. Just like that.
The dirt road in front of our house is empty - empty but for a few heaps of trash still burning, the only evidence they left behind. Foul-smelling smoke permeates the neighbourhood and forces our windows shut. Even then I can still smell it.
I might not have noticed at all if it wasn't for the smoke. I don't usually walk that way and they moved so quickly. It must have been less than a week before they had disessembled their shabby homes, burned everything, and disappeared. Where did they go? And why? Did the children get to bring their toys? The tires the boys raced, where are they? Burned? Or rolling down another street, someone else's street?
But for that matter, where did they come from? Who were these street people? I never really knew. There is so little I know about this place - this country - its people. They were my reminder of all that I didn't and still don't know. Now their absence is my reminder. I miss them already.
The dirt road in front of our house is empty - empty but for a few heaps of trash still burning, the only evidence they left behind. Foul-smelling smoke permeates the neighbourhood and forces our windows shut. Even then I can still smell it.
I might not have noticed at all if it wasn't for the smoke. I don't usually walk that way and they moved so quickly. It must have been less than a week before they had disessembled their shabby homes, burned everything, and disappeared. Where did they go? And why? Did the children get to bring their toys? The tires the boys raced, where are they? Burned? Or rolling down another street, someone else's street?
But for that matter, where did they come from? Who were these street people? I never really knew. There is so little I know about this place - this country - its people. They were my reminder of all that I didn't and still don't know. Now their absence is my reminder. I miss them already.
17 August 2007
On your mark, get set, go!
T and I have a little race going. The big question: who will get malaria first? A morbid game, I know, but in our situation it isn't a question of if we'll get malaria; it's a question of when.
"Wait, what?" you ask. Well, in case you were unaware, Benin is a hotbed for the little parasites that cause malaria and the mosquitoes that spread them. To top it off, we stopped taking the anti-malarial pills we were using a few weeks ago. We're on our own now, without any form of protection. So why did we stop taking the drugs? Simple, the one we were taking costs around $5 a pill and isn't recommended for use beyond three months. There are other pills, sure, but they also aren't meant for long term use and come with a heavy list of possible side effects. And not just an upset stomach. Well, there's that too, but also central nervous system damage, vivid dreams and - get this - suicide. Yeah, so no thanks. I'd rather have malaria.
And so we've accepted our fate and made a game out of it. Unfortunately, we haven't got all the rules sorted out just yet. For example, who wins? The person who gets malaria first, or the one who stays healthy the longest? Of course the first person who reaches the finish line first wins, right? But do we really want to encourage ourselves to get malaria? Hmm.... Getting malaria first does come with serious bragging rights, but then again, you've got malaria. So should the prize go to the one who needs comforting in their time of illness? Or should it go to the one who managed to stay healthy and now has to put up with all the "I don't feel good" whining? Tough questions.
But in the meantime the race continues. T takes the lead for sheer anticipation, but then again, I woke up the other day with three bites to the face. Three direct hits, courtesy of a mosquito that found its way past the bed-net. I don't know, folks. This is going to be a close one.
"Wait, what?" you ask. Well, in case you were unaware, Benin is a hotbed for the little parasites that cause malaria and the mosquitoes that spread them. To top it off, we stopped taking the anti-malarial pills we were using a few weeks ago. We're on our own now, without any form of protection. So why did we stop taking the drugs? Simple, the one we were taking costs around $5 a pill and isn't recommended for use beyond three months. There are other pills, sure, but they also aren't meant for long term use and come with a heavy list of possible side effects. And not just an upset stomach. Well, there's that too, but also central nervous system damage, vivid dreams and - get this - suicide. Yeah, so no thanks. I'd rather have malaria.
And so we've accepted our fate and made a game out of it. Unfortunately, we haven't got all the rules sorted out just yet. For example, who wins? The person who gets malaria first, or the one who stays healthy the longest? Of course the first person who reaches the finish line first wins, right? But do we really want to encourage ourselves to get malaria? Hmm.... Getting malaria first does come with serious bragging rights, but then again, you've got malaria. So should the prize go to the one who needs comforting in their time of illness? Or should it go to the one who managed to stay healthy and now has to put up with all the "I don't feel good" whining? Tough questions.
But in the meantime the race continues. T takes the lead for sheer anticipation, but then again, I woke up the other day with three bites to the face. Three direct hits, courtesy of a mosquito that found its way past the bed-net. I don't know, folks. This is going to be a close one.
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