Machismo, Mundane Moxie, Mice

After nearly two and a half months here I finally broke down and bought a fan. Now that I have it, I wonder why I waited two and a half months to get one. I guess I just couldn't decide which one to get, where to get it, how much to spend, etc. I'm starting to realize that being a student missionary doesn't necessarily mean denying or depriving myself of comfort (within reason of course). I mean, I'm already restricted in plenty of other ways. For instance, I'll never have an oven here. A fridge seems unlikely too. I don't have A/C, a couch, a washing machine, a queen sized memory foam mattress (My small mattress is 4 inches of foam, but it's amnesia foam, and I can feel the boards underneath). Until recently, I was inexplicably trying to make things harder than they needed to be, I guess thinking that it would somehow enhance my experience here. Trying to live on nothing (financially and materially). I guess that's the "tough guy" showing through. But I'm not camping for 8 months, I'm living in an apartment, so I might as well act like it. Plus, I'm here for a while, so comfort isn't such a bad thing! Decreases the desire to leave. I bought a pillow for my hard wooden chair. Although I've regained the weight I lost when I first arrived (another perk of allowing myself some comfort is eating more), most of it hasn't returned to my keister (not that there was much to begin with), and I'll be candid, the bone on wood contact was starting to make me ache. I'm also constantly trying to expand my cooking repertoire, and I most recently bought a cheese grater, so now I can make hashbrowns. I even bought 1000 francs (2 USD) worth of Heinz ketchup packets in the imported food store, something I wouldn't have dreamt of doing a month ago.

I've also learned a valuable lesson on habits. Since a few weeks ago, I was fighting having a daily routine tooth and nail. I felt like if I established a routine, that I wouldn't get the chance to do anything fun, exciting, or spontaneous while I am here. I've finally realized that routine has so much value, though. I naturally need structure in my life. I was trying to change that cold turkey here and be a total drifter. It was really hard! Without it I ended up wasting a lot of time time. And yet more time thinking about what to do. My life is much less structured than it was before I came, and that's good enough I'd say. Baby steps! Without routine you can't have impulsiveness because there's nothing to deviate from! I've had, and will continue to have opportunities to do cool stuff here, and that really comes down to patience. Part of spontaneity is being able to jump when the right chance comes your way, not necessarily seeking that chance out! There's still room for fun and living in the moment: The other day I spent 10 minutes stalking and unsuccessfully trying to catch a chicken with my bare hands. Another day after work I just laid in the sun and relaxed for a while. I'm trying to take opportunities to enjoy the slow pace here.

Speaking of waiting for exciting events, I found a mouse in my apartment on Tuesday night. That was a rousing occurrence! He was hiding where I couldn't easily get to him of course, but I made enough noise behind his vantage point to scare him out. I had the door open, and chased him all over the apartment with my broom (breaking it in the process). He ran under my armoire and disappeared. I figured he had run out of the door which is right beside it, but wasn't sure. I was almost more uncomfortable with the uncertainty than knowing he was there to begin with. This lasted about 10 minutes until I saw him run back under my stove cupboard where I first saw those beady, red little eyes. The chase was back on. I finally got him herded out of my flat, and I'm now mulling over preemptive measures. I could easily buy rodent poison, but I'm hesitant to have any toxic chemicals in my small, ill-ventilated apartment, especially since he was under the cabinet where I keep my food. Even worse, I can just picture a very sick little mouse with strychnine pumping through his tiny blood vessels. He crawls into some uncharted nook or cranny in my apartment and breathes his last there in that unreachable crevasse. Then he would have the last laugh and it would really stink! My other option is to set traps, but I fear that bait will be more of an invitation to battalions of ants than to my occasional mammalian visitor. Plus, since I'm not sure he's made my apartment his home yet, I'd hate to lure him into my apartment just to kill him. I'd prefer he just stayed out, but living and consequently pooping in the "man cave" (my entire apartment is the "man cave") is not an agreeable arrangement. I could set the trap outside, but I can just imagine one of the local chickens with an affinity for peanut butter running around with a mousetrap clamped on its head. That picture would be worth a thousand words for sure! The other downside is that I'm not sure where I'd get those traps, or if they're even sold here in Buea. Sticky paper is available, but I've had past experiences involving bloody mouse footprints and nothing else to show for it. The mouse may have been so shocked by the round of broom hockey I played with him that he won't return, but I'm not counting on that. Plan C would be to adopt a cat. I think that might summon lots of fleas though, and Lord knows my body is already a canvas displaying the appetite of the little bitty bugs who can fit through my mosquito net holes. Plus I'm not sure how I'd potty train a cat, or take care of it while I'm at work. Maybe just let it out during the day and bring it in at night. I could feed it handsomely with very little cost to me, but that might decrease its motivation to hunt mice. Plus once I left Cameroon it would be without a home, and I wouldn't want to abandon it or anything. Maybe I should get a python instead! That would be lower maintenance for sure, but reptiles smell awful. I don't know what I'll end up doing, probably just putting off a decision like I do with most other things here.

TL;DR
I'm learning that living within my means doesn't have to mean denying myself of affordable comforts. I went for 2 months without a fan and then decided I'm not Bear Grylls, so I can stop "drinking my own pee" (Figuratively speaking, I assure you). I'm also learning that spontaneity requires routine. It's complicated, but all outlined in paragraph 2. There was a mouse in my apartment, I'm still not sure what to do to keep him from coming back with his friends and relatives. Poison, traps, cat, snake, all things to be considered. In this laid back culture though, I'm finding that when it comes to making decisions like this (beyond what I'm having for dinner or doing this weekend), I kind of just don't decide until the last second (or even more likely, never). Definitely out of character for me, but I'm rolling with it.