7/24/10
7am Iganga time
I think the fact that it's so easy for me to naturally wake up so early here is partially to do with the time change and partially (more partially) to do with the fact that I actually feel I have a purpose in getting up.
Today I am going to continue attacking the termite hill. Lindsay is turning the worn-down building that resembles a Roman coliseum (but smaller of course) into an outdoor classroom. The first step in this process is to destroy the solid mud termite hill in the corner that is about 3 feet high. We decided it would be best to dump water on it to break up the dirt and then use hoes to break it up. Once the kids saw what we were doing, they immediately rushed over to help. They showed us a closer place than the boar hole to get water, waited at the open window sill to reach down and grab the bucket of water from us, and poured it on the mound. Meanwhile, others were picking away at the mound and breaking up the dirt.
There came a time when we needed more water, so I was walking to the little pond to fill up a bucket, under the empty windows. I turned around to tell Sam something and all of a sudden, a huge, shovel-sized pile of dirt fell right on top of my head! It was so funny, I couldn't help but laugh. Sam pointed out that things like that wouldn't be funny in America but here, where we don't care about dirt, it was pee-your-pants (but not really) funny.
Oh, another thing that has transformed from a nuisance into a game is our mouse infestation. These brave little buggers, with bodies no larger than our pinkies, came out from under the couches every dinnertime, hoping to snag a bite. We watched a little one literally put its front paws ON the mousetrap, and lick the peanut butter off. Sam decided to try to drop his shoe vertically on the mouse when it came to the trap next. When it did, and he did, it started flopping around so Sam had to stomp on it a few more times to kill it. The things we find amusing halfway around the world.
The Queen termite:
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