Bugs and what's missing

We've had our fourth tarantula sighting this week at Tubaniso.

There is a new thing, what I like to call a cross between a white scorpion and a small tarantula that RUNS at the speed of light, that likes to run around our huts.

In addition, I found a mini tarantula ON MY BED today. I haven't sat on my bed since. I have to sleep there!!

Also, we find random lizard turds all over absolutely everything. They're on our beds, on our mosquito nets, on the floor, on our clothes. It's disgusting. We just pop them off the beds onto our friends' beds so they have to deal with them.

Last night, the bugs came out.

I have never seen so many bugs in Mali! It was like an overnight mass movement of all Malian bugs to Tubaniso. Our nyegen floor was moving last night because it was layered with flying termites. They shed their wings, so today, our nyegen floor was painted with shiny termite wings. Real nice.

And last night, the shower light burnt out, so I had the pleasure of dodging the biting carnivore ants while I was taking a shower in what seemed like a cellar closet (aka the showers here).

As we speak, I'm getting attacked by a bug that looks like a small bird, stingray and grasshopper mutant. It keeps flying around, landing on me, landing by me, and flying off. I just swatted another flying mutant jackass bug off of my computer. My computer screen has smears of insect brains and insides all over the screen.

We're just approaching rainy season so the nasty little insects are coming out in full force. I just looked down and saw a fresh lizard turd perched next to my foot. Lovely.

I found out that my new site has enormous, black scorpions everywhere. In addition to being the hottest place in the world, literally, there are huge scorpions. I can only hope there are no mutant cockroaches in the nyegen at night, but I am pretty positive that at this point mutant monster cockroaches are going to be a way of life for me for the next two years.

That mutant ass stingray bug just jumped onto my computer, I screamed, and the Malian security guards yelled and laughed at me. I moved my chair away from the light, which is the culprit of the bug movement near me.

Now there's a huge termite mound stuck to the side of the dining room. And the Internet just went out.

The homologues are here, and mine's not. My new homologue is at my new site, at Kita, in the Kaye region.

But what I really wanted to talk about in this post, that turned into a Malian bug update, is homesickness.

It's striking again, let's just say that.

The last four months have been wonderful, it's changed my life, I've learned such valuable lessons about myself, made lifelong friends (and family) and have really learned that a positive attitude is my best friend, especially in this circumstance.

But there are times...there are times...when I just really miss some people and things from home.

I find myself day dreaming during the training sessions about the people and things I miss from home. What I feel like I'm missing here, are the people who know the real Laura. The people who know me better than anyone else.

When you're in a situation like the Peace Corps, you choose to emphasize certain parts of yourself and diminish other parts...and it changes you and brings out other parts of you...new parts...but there's something about being so far away from home, that brings out survival instincts.

You make snap decisions, snap judgments, that you know are the result of trying to survive in a foreign country. It's both a good and bad thing, in my opinion.

I think about driving around, blasting music in Alison's convertible while we were in college. We'd scream the words of songs and zoom around, and it was the epitome of fun during college.

I had a dream about hugging my dad last night. It was father's day and I talked to him for the first time in a long time. In my dream I gave him the biggest squeeze, like I always do when I haven't seen him for a long time. No one's a better hugger than my dad. I dreamt about it because I really miss my American family! And I miss hugs too! No one in this country hugs or touches.

I just miss nights like the ones when the weather would be awesome and me and my best friends would drive around and find random things to do and random people to which to talk. I miss going out in groups, where everyone was my best friend.

The homesickness will probably be gone by tomorrow. Unfortunately, the bugs won't.