A Valentine's Day to Remember! (Journal Entry)

“Umm, Elizabeth?” Robin said
“Yeah?” I replied
“There’s a really big spider in here…”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah…”

I went in to check out and sure enough, there was a fairly large spider on the wall over Robin’s bed. It wasn’t the largest one I’ve ever seen here, but one of the bigger ones for sure. It took us about a half hour to decide what to do. We had a few options.
1) Use a flip flop- but that meant you’d have to get pretty close to it.
2) smash it with a big stick- but that would mean finding a stick by which time he might be gone
3) using a broom to pinpoint him and then drag him across the wall to the door- but there was the chance he could fall on the bed…

We went with number 3. Robin moved her blankets and stuff, I got the broom. Now, a broom here is about 2 feet long- you bend down and sweep- it’s not done standing up like one would think a broom would be used back home. Anyway, I got on Robin’s bed, on my knees and practiced jabbing the wall a few times and then went for the spider. I got it, but it escaped the broom and ran along the wall a little ways. Robin and I both jumped- I realized the broom wasn’t going to work, so I grabbed my flip-flop and tried to hit him on the wall- I missed, he fell down on the bed, I raised the flip flop up really high and pounded him! Got him!

I pushed him to the edge of the bed and on the flop and swept him out! Yes! Oh, but wait- there was another one- a little smaller, but yes, another “friend” right up there on the wall. I hit him with the flip flop, he fell on the bed, I smashed him too- Yes! Later, Robin found a third, but smaller spider on her picture frame!

So, we figured out a technique to get rid of most of the flies, but now we have spiders. Hmm…I think I’d take the flies over the spiders…

Shortly, after dealing with the spiders, Robin and I heard, “Yuu, Yuu, Yuuu….” Yup, the monkeys had come. We have come to learn a few of the mountain calls the people make, and that one means monkeys! We went out and sure enough, there were lots of monkeys running around in the fields and gardens and on people’s houses! Robin and I got some rocks and I grabbed a stick- we started yelling, “Yuu, Yuu, Yuu” in as deep a voice as we could and started running towards wherever there were little brown creatures! Tuffy, the dog came with us! Chachi called out, “Over here, over here!” We went and found some moving targets to try and hit! In the trees, on the ground, jumping here and there- monkeys were everywhere!

We spent the next hour or so trying to get the monkeys away from the house- Robin and I took turns watching for them when the other one went to the language session. Chachi asked us to watch while she made food, then she watched while we ate, then we watched again while she ate. All afternoon, one of us was keeping a watch and just when you though they were gone, another one would creep up and get a lemon off the lemon tree!!!

It is quite entertaining and tiring actually. Robin and I were worn out after all that. But I was thinking, if this were really my home and my garden and those were my fields and randomly monkeys came and ate lots of the plants, how would I feel? I would feel angry, and would want to do something…yet, these people yell, scream and chase the monkeys for a short time and then go on to other work, basically giving up. How much can you do? It’s a losing battle? I suppose if some crops can grow between the monkey visits, it’s okay? I’m impressed with their patience and endurance to put up with the monkeys!

We figured we’d had enough action and stories to tell for one day, but there were a few more things that were to happen before the day was done. Robin was washing clothes and I cam over to fill up my water bottle…She had just gotten more water to rinse the clothes.
“Um, I wouldn’t get drinking water right now…” She said.
“Why?”
“Well- this water is really dirty…”
(Background- we have become accustomed to drinking water with dirt in it- we just let it settle on the bottom before drinking it).
I looked in the bucket- It only had about 5 inches of water in it, but I couldn’t see the bottom at all- it was basically muddy water.
“Oh…”
We weren’t sure what to do- we told Aunty, but she didn’t seem to mind, just told us to leave the water sitting for a while and the dirt would go to the bottom. We did do that, but this water was so dirty and stirred up that even after 20 minutes there was pretty much no difference in the way the water looked. Robin did realize that using her washcloth would help strain out some of the dirt to filter the water. She offered to let me use some of that filtered water for drinking, but I decided to wait.

Previous to the clothes washing, we had shooed all the flies out of the room and closed the door to keep them out- we have found that when evening comes, the flies like to go inside where it’s warm- so if we shut the door before it gets too cold outside, the flies can’t come in when they want to escape the cold and they have to go find somewhere else!

So, during the water episode, I went back in the room and came back to Robin…
“Um…we have another little problem…”
“What?”
“There is a ton of smoke in the room. I’m not sure if I should open the door because of the flies, or what…I couldn’t make a decision without the other half of Team Grass…”
“Is there a fire in there?”
“A fire!? I didn’t even think about that! I’ll go check!!”

It turned out that there wasn’t a fire, and we decided to keep the door open for a while to air out the room and deal with the flies later. We’re not 100% sure what the smoke was from. After all that, both Robin and I felt we’d had enough adventures for one day, and also felt completely worn out- we decided to watch a movie…besides it was Valentine’s Day too!!!

Just fyi, later that night, the dirty water situation seemed a little clearer and so we drank it. And today, it’s much better- God provides for all of our needs.

A verse I want to commit to memory:
“By God’s special favor and mighty power, I have been given the wonderful privilege of serving him by spreading this Good News.”
~ Ephesians 3:7