being grateful for the small things

You may have heard me mention that there are a million bugs in the house. Millions.

A few weeks ago we decided to fix the bug problem. Ha ha ha. I learned, yet again, that here things never really seem to work how you intend. But I digress…

We hired an exterminator to come and spray every nook and cranny in the house. We knew that the bugs would find their way back into the house, but we assumed that we would have at least a short time without bugs, and then when they returned we may be able to kill them as they entered. Ideally, we were going to have fewer bugs. And we were all so excited about it.

Well, the exterminators came and they did in fact spray everywhere. And bugs died. It was a happy moment. But the joy was short-lived. Unfortunately, it was the weak and infirm bugs that died. Some of the spiders and geckos also didn’t fare so well, so sadly I had to bid adieu to some of my first friends here. But the mutant bugs didn’t seem to die. And they have since multiplied profusely. So now we not only have more bugs than before, we managed to kill off all the weak and slow bugs and we are left with the mutant bugs that laugh at us.

Which brings me back to the ants in the house. There are basically 3 types/sizes; the nice ones being the large black ants (similar to those found in sf), then there are the two smaller types, both of which fall into the pyscho mutant category.

Prior to our extermination attempt the ants would crawl on the table, on your food and even climb into your drink. But they would never crawl on you. Now, when you feel something crawling on your arm or your leg or even on your face… in the states you would just think it’s the wind or a stray hair. But not here; here the sensation of something crawling on you is due to the fact that there is something crawling on you. Our attempt to exterminate the bugs seems to have angered the ants and brought out their mutant side. These mutant ants have no fear.

My roommate and I were laughing the other day since she was telling me her boyfriend’s apartment doesn’t have the small ants, only the larger black variety, and that in his apartment it is the large ants that crawl on you. I said that we were lucky only our small ants were mutant. She agreed that we were lucky. Then we looked at each other and realized that we had just said we were grateful that only small ants crawl on us.

It’s important to be grateful for the small things in life.

Yes, I live in Africa now.