Beyond the Peace Corps and Through the Looking Glass: Roommates and Visitors

Holy Copulating Lizards!!

Contrary to popular belief, I've had lots of visitors here in my Santa Monica duplex...they've just not been human.

Shit – there’s an ant on my computer screen – on the inside. Maybe it’s my fault – I’ve kept the computer in a zip locked bag for the first time – to protect it from the humidity and the ants, who purportedly wander inside because it is warm there (WHY would you WANT to be warm here???), and are rumoured to eat computer parts. Now that I’m protecting it, perhaps this lone ant got pissed and went deep into the beast…now his sizzled ant body obscures some fonts and confuses me.

Such a weird evening – after a weird evening kagabi (last night). The rainy season is upon us and the past two nights have shown thunderstorms – still going on now at nearly midnight. Last night I was determined to finish painting the kitchen and didn’t link the darkness and early hour to arrive at rainstorm coming….so, I was just finishing when the downpour started. I started to smile, but stopped as I felt major drips. Sigh, the gutter – open to the outside, but on the interior of my kitchen and CR, had a myriad of holes rusted through it.

Hundreds of Holes!

I had been painting in my paint outfit of yellow tank top and now multicolored khakis, and tried to continue. I had to laugh as I became more and more wet and a veritable waterfall deposited water on the floor (newly linoleum-ed), and yes, on the newly painted walls. The dribbles of water turned to continuous streams, and the sea foam green began melting onto the floor.

The fresh paint slithered off the wall in the rain :(

You just had to laugh…And then the lights went out.

I was hot, sweaty and soaking wet, so decided to hop in the shower with my flashlight…first checking that nothing else was in the shower. For some reason (probably all the affection I received for my birthday the day before) I was smiling and thought this situation comical. I finished and felt refreshed, stepping from the bathroom into the kitchen – only to be met by 5 frogs, marching from the outside straight into the bathroom. This cracked me up further.

He looks pissed!

Nightly meetings of frogs

Today I ventured into town and got paint for the bathroom and kitchen trim – and a putty to seal all the holes in the gutter before the next rains. Little did I know they would be tonight…but I puttied away, breathing in those heavy fumes, thinking I’d got most until I got to a spot that looked totally rusted out. Doing the best I could, I cleaned up my mess and walked into the living room to make a banana smoothie for dinner.

But I stopped in my tracks when I saw what was on the floor mat – seemingly dropped from nowhere.

However, never having seen one outside of a zoo, I had no idea how to get rid of it. So, of course, I grabbed my camera and took a picture! Sitting the camera down, I got a thick piece of paper and turned back to scoop it up and put it outside – but, it had vanished! I took my flashlight like a CSI dude and combed the rooms – nothing. Having no clue of the type, I took the picture to my landlord who said – where did you see that! It’s venomous … great. He told me I had to crush it. OMG, I can’t even crush beetles – first, I’m terrified that they will rise up and attack me; then, I think I’ll miss and they will retaliate; or the gunk will cause me to slip; or, or, or…and this thing was about 3” long – and, I mean there was the Scorpion King and all – who knew what could happen. My landlord assured me that scorpions don’t climb but did walk around and that I should be very careful – he said that they didn’t have the antibiotics needed if I got stung. Then he regaled me with stories about how, 10 years ago, when they moved here, this was all forest – and the things they saw were amazing. He hopes that I’ll get to see the flying lizards (!) and the scaly anteater, only on Palawan.

I told him that I’d been badgered by a Torong (an enormous bee the size of a big hummingbird, whose loud buzz as it dive bombs you is terrifying) yesterday, and that people told me it was because of my white hair

(you can see from the picture that I believed them and huddled under a dark blue blanket – and it left me alone!). He said that those also are venomous, and that if you swat at them, they will attack. I must have known that, because I ran from it, screaming….oh, yes – this was during the first big training at my site, with 20 social workers there (you cannot see them laughing at me).

So, I have been on high alert the rest of the evening, waiting for the scorpion to show it’s claws…to no avail. I hope I believe Noynoy that they don’t climb (although that makes no sense to me)…but my mosquito net will be secure tonight, and I hope my bladder holds through the night, which promises to be a wet one with the storm.

About 30 minutes into the rainstorm, I started violently due to movement out of the corner of my eye – the scorpion! No, too big…wait, there’s another, what??? Hmmm, the frogs are now coming under the door from the kitchen – and under the front door – hopping right through the living room as I watch. Why bother? They’ll just be back…so I leave them alone…only looking up when one jumps up and sticks to the wall and begins to climb!!

I took a few pictures, but he disappeared somewhere into the roof – hopefully he’s next door. But, I counted 15 frogs tonight and know that 6 are in the shower waiting for me. And I had an epiphany as well – I’ve been hearing huge thud sounds the last two nights that freaked me out – what was falling on the roof? … tonight, watching the frog shimmy up the wall in the living room; and another up the door in the kitchen, I figured it out – it was Falling Frogs!

Tomorrow the carpenter arrives to put a ceiling in the 2^nd bedroom so that the termite poop/dust stays up in the ceiling and doesn’t coat the room and everything (one) in it. I hope that the scorpion shows itself then and that carpentert is man enough to kill it for me. And that the ant in my computer screen disintegrates rapidly without attracting anything else.

I’m off to shower with my pets.

PS - In case I don't write about it - the carpenter did come the following day and removed an 8" dead rat along with all the termites in the ceiling. I laid the linoleum in the kitchen and nearly stepped on this...