August 30/31st 2008
For those that are unfamiliar with the colloquial concept of a "deal breaker" it can be loosely defined as a situation or component of a situation which results in the participant changing their mind or "breaking" off their association with the "deal" or situation as it might be. In my current situation, a deal breaker would be something that would cause me to fill my bags and hop on a flight back to Canada.
Prior to coming here I am sure at one point or another we were forced to say what a deal breaker would be as Laurier International Placement Students, but I tend to be stubborn when it comes to setting my mind to doing something….at least until I have tried it. Prior to packing my bags, all I knew was that I wanted to do an international placement, and I was going to do an international placement. There were no deal breakers.
Two days ago I was getting ready for bed when I noticed a very odd looking grey bump on the bathroom curtain. Some may know where this is going. I gradually got closer to the bump, which I then realized was a long blob and eventually was close enough to see that this blob had antennae and a slight slimy path below it. Best word this insect-o-phobic Canadian princess can come up with is "slug". So pushing back the previous sentence description of myself, I conjured up brave travelling curious investigator Amber, and ventured to my camera to receive many images in my camera of my new friend. (Aren't I glad I'm a Gemini?)
Feeling reassured by not having anything in the bathroom that could be sluggered with (think tampered by a slug), I set out with my day. Minor panic attacks would reappear everytime I ventured back to my bathroom and saw the slime that remained on the curtain, but otherwise I had a pretty productive day. Grisham had me captivated for hours, I learned to count in Swahili (moja, mbili, tatu, nne, tano, sita, saba, nane, tisa, kumi) and practiced some greetings I was told would be helpful (habari za leo? Etc). While Denis and I did not managed to match schedules for wandering the city, he kept me company before dinner and we decided another day would be good for a walk.
For those of you missing the slug. Don’t' worry. Keep reading.
While waiting for my dinner of sausage pizza, I watched an interesting yet extremely cheesy show called "Cobra Squad". Thinking back to my days as a South African soap opera fan, Cobra Squad fits in quite nicely. Think Miami Vice in half Swahili, half English dialogue and simple plot. So simple, that in my first episode the characters spent most of the time trying to find a killer and randomly while sitting on the beach in Kenya, and then again while riding ATVs in Dubai, a random helicopter came by and started shooting at them. Thankfully they were ok, but the woman of the partners unfortunately had to leave her ATV behind when one of the wheels become submerged under the sand. I'm sure you are now as excited as I am to discover what happens next.
My pizza arrived and tasted quite good, however the dough was probably a full inch thick with an amount of cheese and sauce that is similar to what I would have back home. I ate the top 1/4 to 1/2 inch of crust and toppings and was full before eating half of it, but managed to almost eat three quarters. When my bill came I remembered that I owed some money from my chicken and chips meal last week and was short by 500 Shillings. I think that the staff here must think I'm very weird, I haven't been able to break my "large" bills and tend to try to pay for dinner with them but they never have change so I always end up owing them a little bit to pay the next day.
I was quite excited for an earlyish night last night because today was my first day of orientation and I knew that there would be a lot of information to take in. I thought showering at night would be a good idea to make sure I wasn't rushed in the morning and there tends to be more hot water at night for some reason too.
Well. I had turned the water on and strategically placed the curtain so that no one could see into the bathroom, flipped the switch so nice hot water came pouring out of the hand held shower head and proceeded to wet my hair. This is not a romance novel. When the water pressure seemed to be a little lighter than the day before I started playing with the sliding wheel to see if I could increase the pressure. This is when I became aware of what had happened to my roommate. Brave travelling Amber was no where to be seen. I must have stared at the shower head for a good 3 minutes wondering what to do. Do I go get someone to help me? What if it is poisonous (I'm in Africa remember?)? What do I do with the shampoo in my hair? Do I stop showering? Keep showering and pretend its not there?
I think you get the picture.
Finally some common sense showed up and I decided to pry the little sticky bugger off the shower head using a metal cup holder by the side of the tub. Then pushed him on to the bathroom floor. I have now decided it must be male because no female slug would disrupt a good hair washing. At this point I was confronted again with a dilemma. If the slug was poisonous, could I get sick by using the shower head and pouring whatever goo was still on the shower head on to me? And could I really go to bed without washing the shampoo out of my hair and being clean. I pretty much figured that if I had started showering with the slug on the showerhead then any poison that he had would have already gone on me, and there was no reason not to continue washing my hair.
By the time I finished my shower and grabbed a towel, this is what I saw on the wall of the tub:
For those that are unfamiliar with the colloquial concept of a "deal breaker" it can be loosely defined as a situation or component of a situation which results in the participant changing their mind or "breaking" off their association with the "deal" or situation as it might be. In my current situation, a deal breaker would be something that would cause me to fill my bags and hop on a flight back to Canada.
Prior to coming here I am sure at one point or another we were forced to say what a deal breaker would be as Laurier International Placement Students, but I tend to be stubborn when it comes to setting my mind to doing something….at least until I have tried it. Prior to packing my bags, all I knew was that I wanted to do an international placement, and I was going to do an international placement. There were no deal breakers.
Two days ago I was getting ready for bed when I noticed a very odd looking grey bump on the bathroom curtain. Some may know where this is going. I gradually got closer to the bump, which I then realized was a long blob and eventually was close enough to see that this blob had antennae and a slight slimy path below it. Best word this insect-o-phobic Canadian princess can come up with is "slug". So pushing back the previous sentence description of myself, I conjured up brave travelling curious investigator Amber, and ventured to my camera to receive many images in my camera of my new friend. (Aren't I glad I'm a Gemini?)
Feeling reassured by not having anything in the bathroom that could be sluggered with (think tampered by a slug), I set out with my day. Minor panic attacks would reappear everytime I ventured back to my bathroom and saw the slime that remained on the curtain, but otherwise I had a pretty productive day. Grisham had me captivated for hours, I learned to count in Swahili (moja, mbili, tatu, nne, tano, sita, saba, nane, tisa, kumi) and practiced some greetings I was told would be helpful (habari za leo? Etc). While Denis and I did not managed to match schedules for wandering the city, he kept me company before dinner and we decided another day would be good for a walk.
For those of you missing the slug. Don’t' worry. Keep reading.
While waiting for my dinner of sausage pizza, I watched an interesting yet extremely cheesy show called "Cobra Squad". Thinking back to my days as a South African soap opera fan, Cobra Squad fits in quite nicely. Think Miami Vice in half Swahili, half English dialogue and simple plot. So simple, that in my first episode the characters spent most of the time trying to find a killer and randomly while sitting on the beach in Kenya, and then again while riding ATVs in Dubai, a random helicopter came by and started shooting at them. Thankfully they were ok, but the woman of the partners unfortunately had to leave her ATV behind when one of the wheels become submerged under the sand. I'm sure you are now as excited as I am to discover what happens next.
My pizza arrived and tasted quite good, however the dough was probably a full inch thick with an amount of cheese and sauce that is similar to what I would have back home. I ate the top 1/4 to 1/2 inch of crust and toppings and was full before eating half of it, but managed to almost eat three quarters. When my bill came I remembered that I owed some money from my chicken and chips meal last week and was short by 500 Shillings. I think that the staff here must think I'm very weird, I haven't been able to break my "large" bills and tend to try to pay for dinner with them but they never have change so I always end up owing them a little bit to pay the next day.
I was quite excited for an earlyish night last night because today was my first day of orientation and I knew that there would be a lot of information to take in. I thought showering at night would be a good idea to make sure I wasn't rushed in the morning and there tends to be more hot water at night for some reason too.
Well. I had turned the water on and strategically placed the curtain so that no one could see into the bathroom, flipped the switch so nice hot water came pouring out of the hand held shower head and proceeded to wet my hair. This is not a romance novel. When the water pressure seemed to be a little lighter than the day before I started playing with the sliding wheel to see if I could increase the pressure. This is when I became aware of what had happened to my roommate. Brave travelling Amber was no where to be seen. I must have stared at the shower head for a good 3 minutes wondering what to do. Do I go get someone to help me? What if it is poisonous (I'm in Africa remember?)? What do I do with the shampoo in my hair? Do I stop showering? Keep showering and pretend its not there?
I think you get the picture.
Finally some common sense showed up and I decided to pry the little sticky bugger off the shower head using a metal cup holder by the side of the tub. Then pushed him on to the bathroom floor. I have now decided it must be male because no female slug would disrupt a good hair washing. At this point I was confronted again with a dilemma. If the slug was poisonous, could I get sick by using the shower head and pouring whatever goo was still on the shower head on to me? And could I really go to bed without washing the shampoo out of my hair and being clean. I pretty much figured that if I had started showering with the slug on the showerhead then any poison that he had would have already gone on me, and there was no reason not to continue washing my hair.
By the time I finished my shower and grabbed a towel, this is what I saw on the wall of the tub:
Perhaps under different circumstances I would have been excited by my new roommate, ok doubtful, but late at night when you have already put on your pjs and glasses what is a girl to do when this is what is living on her wall?
I took a deep breath and closed the lid for the toilet, packed up all my toiletries that were in the bathroom and locked them up in the bedroom and closed the bathroom door. Tomorrow is another day.
The next morning I woke up feeling great. Sunday
Morning! Who can complain. I had no plans except to learn some more Swahili, organize my room and do some relaxing reading. Perhaps go for a walk with Denis later on if we met up.
Into the bathroom I went….No slug! Woo hoo! But wait. That meant that my new roommate was now in a location that where I couldn't find him/her (do slugs have biologically determined sexes?)
Obviously not in the snail family, this sucker can move!
Not to suffer twice from locking my friend in the bathroom I had a much better idea this time. I locked him in a water bottle where he has lived ever since!
It honestly makes me a little nauseous just to look at that photo!
So now I am slug free, at least temporarily, and have two other empty water bottles waiting for pets. Surprisingly I slept pretty well, and realized this morning when I woke up refreshed for a day at work, that finding a slug on my showerhead is not a deal breaker. Close. But I am still here surviving.
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