New Roommates

1/8/2012

This morning I woke up to a dark figure four or five inches long on my wall.  I thought I saw it move so I grabbed my flashlight and flipped it on to reveal a lizard crawling into my curtain that separates my room from the bathroom.  Awesome.  Can’t sleep.  I saw it crawling around on my walls again before I went to bed so I ran to get Reinhardt who was working security.  When he saw it, he laughed and revealed its true identity: a gecko.  Geckos are completely harmless and they are so common here that they’re in every room of most people’s homes.  It’s too hot to close the windows and there are no screens so I keep them wide open all of the time – even at night.  While Rein was trying to convince me that the geckos will not crawl on me when I’m sleeping, he mentioned that I will have good luck.  “What?” I asked, not knowing what he was talking about.  He then nonchalantly told me there was a praying mantis in my doorway, and sure enough there was.  (It means you will have good luck if there is a small green animal in your doorway).  Well, looks like I’ve got a roommate or two!  

Sunday was a lazy day.  I got to sleep in, read a little bit, and then I hung out with Fish and Reinhardt at the front most of the day.  A large man from Cameroon came in to the YMCA just to chat for a while mostly about money, America and its differences to Africa.  A few other notable strides today: I tried lamb (a delicacy here in South Africa) as well as figs.  Both were not bad and I felt adventurous trying them.  Around midday, Rein and I went to the grocery store to pick up all of the food that they donate to the YMCA every week.  The YMCA then gives that food to the street kids.  There is a surplus of food at the YMCA (three huge freezers are completely full of donated food) but we are only supposed to feed the street kids on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  When I asked why we can’t give them food since we have extra, Fish explained that if we give them food today, next Sunday they will be back expecting more and if they don’t get it, they will trash the place.  I spent the evening reading and making friends with the geckos.