Rat Pack

I am so repulsed right now.

(Heebie jeebie body shake)

I just made a discovery that has completely ruined the last 24 hours of my life.

I have noticed these last few days that I am really craving sweets because we don’t eat dessert here and the sugar in my tea every morning is about all I get. My Aunt Ronda sent me enough mini Snickers to have one every day I am gone and they are my saving grace right now. Thank you again!

Just a few minutes ago, I had a massive craving for something sweet and went to my room to grab a Snickers out of my bag. I reached in blindly and felt chocolate on my fingers.

“I don’t remember opening this.”

Boom. It hit me. The rustling plastic I heard last night… that was not the garbage sack. I frantically pulled the package out of my bag to find a corner of the unopened package had been nibbled away as well as one of the individual wrappers to get to chocolate.

OH NO YOU DIDN’T...

I was freaked out all over again and kicked my bag as hard as I could on the off chance that it might still be in there. I threw the half eaten Snickers into a bag, tied it up and through it in the garbage. Sick. Sick. Sick! I was so disgusted I had a nasty rodent IN MY BAG which was sitting on the bed next to mine, and beyond offended it went for my chocolate! This all leads me to believe that it couldn’t have been a measly mouse. I think it was a rat. A rat pack, like Frank, Deano and the rest of the gang and it, or they rather, climbed on the bed, into the side pocket of my bag and defiled the one thing that satisfies my soul… The nerve!

This is SO getting personal.   

It is clear my safety is in jeopardy, and I am launching a defensive battle in the name of protecting all I hold dear. I will have the troops secure the premises (meaning try and figure out how to tightly shut my door with no latch) and pull out all the ammo we’ve got and load the bazookas. 24 hour watch effective immediately. This is war, people. Me against the world of rodents and reptilians, and I am going to go William Wallace all over that thing if it dare breach my territory.   

Oh what I would give for the United States Air Force in my back pocket right now.  

I really hate I am so bothered by this stuff. I guess when you pray not to be scared  of certain things, you get the opportunity to practice courage. That makes sense to me even though I don’t really like it, but must we bring the chocolate into this?!

If it’s not Houdini, it’s the Rat Pack. Unbelievable.

On a lighter, non-militant note, today was a good day. Abraham’s lady friend Zee is here, and I really, really like her, She’s like Abraham in that while they are Ghanaian, they are keenly aware how the rest of the world works. The walk from Abraham’s to the orphanage is quite a trek, but it went by fast today because she came with me and we talked the whole time. She’s a cute, athletic little thing like thing like my college roomie Hannah Richardson kind of cute, and her hair is corn-rowed into a really long pony tail. I have never seen such a thing, but I like it very much.

She really likes the kids as well so we spent hours playing games with them this afternoon. If I stay here much longer, I am not going to be able to leave them. Every day I love them more. The little ones made up their own game that had them all laughing SO HARD and it went something like this: chant something in Gonja (the local dialect) and then at a certain point, they all scream, tackle each other and dog pile onto the cement floor of the patio. Oh yes, there were bonking of heads and getting pounded into the ground, but there were no tears.

I can no longer afford to leave my camera at home. This stuff needs to be caught on tape. It’s too good.
The little girl who was sick yesterday was running around like happy kids do, which I was delighted to see.

Tomorrow is Sunday, and I am so excited for church because it’s at the orphanage with the kids. Abraham has them sing every Sunday, and I already love it.

Well, I should go brush my teeth, take all my anti-everything-in-Africa meds and paint up for battle. And yes, I will be stomping loudly all the way down the hall to my room…