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7/6/09
Last week was fairly uneventful for the most part. We were on midterm break until Thursday so the school campus was empty. With no classes it gave me plenty of time to mark my midterm exams. Even though there were only 4 questions on the exam, it still took me hours and hours to do all the marking and record the students’ grades. Technically, the midterm break ended on Tuesday, but Wednesday was July 1, which is Republic Day in Ghana so there was no school. Classes were supposed to start again on Thursday, but as I predicted, that didn’t happen. Only a handful of day students came to school on Thursday, and most of the time they were here they did general cleaning around the school. Since there were only 8 students in the class that I was supposed to teach I decided to open up the computer lab to let them practice typing. The same thing happened on Friday and the students went home by noon on both days. It was announced that the term would be ending a week earlier than had been planned and the end of term exam schedule was posted. It takes 2 weeks for end of term exams, which will start on July 20. This means that I only have one week of teaching left in the term because I have to go to Accra next week for my mid-service medical exams. I can’t say I too surprised at the way the term will end up coming to a close.
This weekend was the 4th of July as you all know, and I was able to celebrate our Independence Day with a bunch of other PCVs. As luck would have it, we have a new Peace Corps staff member in Ghana that wanted to go to the sub offices to meet some of the volunteers. To facilitate this, the administration had the sub offices put on barbeques as an incentive to get PCVs to go to the sub offices. It just so happens that the barbeque at the Kumasi sub office fell on the 4th of July. I am personally very grateful that I was able to enjoy a big juicy cheeseburger in Ghana on the 4th thanks to all of your hard earned tax dollars. It is amazing how spending Independence Day in a foreign country make me appreciate how proud and thankful I am to be an American.
Now I have a couple humorous animal stories to tell you. This last week I noticed that there were increasing amounts of animal stool on some of my kitchen shelves. The thing that stood out most about the droppings was that it didn’t match the lizard feces that I am accustomed to seeing around my veranda. These particular smatterings appeared to be the product of a small rodent. My assumptions were strengthened when I woke to find a ping pong ball size hole had been eaten out of one of my bananas. I searched my veranda, but was unable to find the culprit’s hideout. The next morning when I woke up and went out to my veranda I heard the scattering of little paws and I finally got the visual confirmation I yearned for. My suspicion that a rodent known as Mus musculus was squatting in my veranda and stealing bits of my food without prior authorization. In addition, I was able to identify perpetrator’s lair under my propane tank. In my attempt to catch the mouse, I ended up scarring him out of the veranda and it has stayed away for some days. Last night I can report that the fur ball was once again spotted scurrying around the veranda. I will keep you updated on the situation and how the deviant is dealt with.
I don’t mind sharing my veranda or bathroom with lizards because they offer a service I appreciate by eating the spiders and other bugs in my house. The lizards also leave all of my food alone. I draw the line at mice though, because they seem to produce even more poop than the lizards and they offer me no service. On the contrary, they will chew through bags and eat the food cherish so deeply. I will spare the mouse’s life if it is possible, but if I have to I will not hesitate becoming troublesome rodent’s executioner.
Now I have a short little lizard story. This week I was wiping down my gas burner when I made a shocking discovery. When I removed one of the covers over the gas inlet pipe I found a small tail sticking out. To my further amazement, the tail proceeded to disappear into the pipe. It is apparent that I have a lizard living in the gas pipe directly under my left burner. The most surprising thing isn’t that the lizard would go into the pipe, but how the lizard got into it. The cover over the burner leaves no room for even the smallest lizard to get into it. I’m not sure how, but the lizard must have lifted the cover and wiggled into the pipe. My problem is that I’m not sure how to get the lizard out. The pipe is too small for me to grab the lizard and it would just crawl deeper into the pipe if I did. I thought about using the burner so that the propane might kill it, but I don’t want to have a dead lizard get stuck in the pipe. For now I am just hoping that it will eventually outgrow the pipe and find its own way out. That’s all for now.
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mandy
non-member comment
i *heart* ghana animal stories
kill the mouse. mice are disgusting creatures and they carry hanta virus. i love the lizards though. hopefully the one in your pipe won't die... :S i'm glad you got a cheeseburger on the 4th. it seems very appropriate. can't wait to see your pictures from your adventure to meet president obama. all is well here. cameron is doing great - he met the whole fam last night. he did really well (aka - slept the whole time) and is too cute. i love him! :)