Africats

About 2 ½ weeks ago now… I actually have no idea how long since it's so easy to lose track... but the time feels about right, I finally got my cat! Unfortunately it was a package deal and I also got my cats sister that day since the girl keeping both of them was moving. I was nice enough to say I’d take her till she had a home. Ugh.. It was way too stressful for me and after about 3 days I couldn’t handle both of them. I went from never having a cat to having 2 cats! I didn’t even like cats and I still really don’t like cats. They climb on things and dogs… can’t the way cats can plus cats just DON’T get it when you push them off a table or off your mosquito net. The first day I kept them inside with a basin full of dirt for the litter which they are really good at using. I’m thankful for that but their poops stink. On the second day I let them roam around and play since I was sure they knew where to come back. They are fun to watch but when they are outside I have to stay home since they don’t have a way to get back in without my door being open. On the third day they were playing outside like ‘normal’ and I hear a little ‘peep-peep’ and think nothing of it. They were occupied with something in the back corner of the yard and I was occupied with not yelling at them for climbing on things. A few minutes later they are both staring at something near the door in my house… now I’m curious and suspicious.  There in my house is a Shrew (almost like a mouse but with a longer snout). The cats were chasing it INTO the house! All they were doing was staring at it and doing nothing. Before it could run away and hide I quickly found the closest box, emptied out the tampons, and scooped the little bugger up. It was so cute I almost wanted to keep it and get rid of the cats instead. I couldn’t kill it with its little scared peeping noise so I walked out to the banana plantains and dumped him where I knew he could bury himself in some soft dirt and be happy. That night I was lying in bed with the kitties crawling all over me and Elend Ad-Venture(cat) gets up, walks over to the corner of the room and starts staring at nothing. So okay the cat is a bit weird. Then the female (Veronica or Ronny previously known as Ramsey under my care) gets up and starts walking backwards by the corner as Elend is walking forward. I knew something was up at this point so I turn on my solar light and get up out of bed…. There sliding across the floor is a BIG African looking centipede! It was like making the Creepy Crawler  replica and placing it on my floor. This thing was blood red and uggglllyyyy!!! I’ve seen centipedes in the states and this one was just so mangy and nasty looking. Yuck! So once again it was up to me to grab a flip flop and take care of business the right way.

Early last week Candy (a PCV from my group in my town) took Veronica off my hands and since then it’s been a BIT less stressful.  An hour after Candy leaves she sends me a text “I think I lost the cat.” But all is right with the world and the cat came back to her. Ha.

I feed Elend what I can without trying to spend a fortune. I bought expensive cat food ($3) in Mbarara when I went shopping on my way home from the All Volunteer conference but it’s not enough and too expensive to feed him every day. Some mornings I’ll cook eggs and give him the yokes or share some oatmeal. I bought some stinky silverfish from the market which is just dried up minnows and he enjoys those for a snack but I don’t enjoy the smell. Another cheap meal is to boil meat and with the water you boil the meat in cook rice so the rice obtains the meat flavor. Unfortunately there is a ‘Foot and Mouth’ disease or something like that in the area so all the butchers have temporarily closed. It’s a good thing I don’t enjoy the market meat here. When you go to the market and ask for 1 kilo or whatever of meat… they look at the hanging slab of cow, or goat, or whatever and hack chunks off with a machete completely destroying the meat giving you bones and all. It would be good if only they knew where to cut the meat. Plus the meat here looks so fatty most of the time I don’t think you would get a solid piece of beef if you asked. I’m surprised the meat here doesn’t look leaner… but what do I know about meat anyways.... I used to be a vegetarian. 

I’m starting to fill out camp applications for a staff position that PCVs are directing in December J And I’m getting a lot of interest for nominated campers from and around the school which is really good. I got a late start but we should turn them in by the due date later this week.

I’ve also been looking up tickets for Dar Es Salaam from Uganda so I can go on a Safari near Mt. Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar over Christmas and New Years with a bunch of PCVs and my brother Michael!!! Plane tickets to Uganda from the states are a lot cheaper than I thought. Only about $2,000 round trip! Surprising. That’s still a lot of money but I’m excited my brother is willing to spend that much to see me and get a ‘cheap’ vacation complete with a tour guide (me) for around Uganda J

So many adventures to have… so little time…. 

And thanks to Jake he let me borrow his laptop for a few days and now I'm addicted to Game of Thrones. Check it out if you haven't already it is strange at times but good!