Goal-line saves and school girl squeals.

I know, I know. I promised a hiatus from blogging during exams but this tantalizing tidbit couldn’t wait. As if exams weren’t exhausting enough between dodging teachers, whiny students, a see-sawing Dean of Studies, and a earthen heat wave, Evan and I returned home earlier this week to find a visitor in our house. A most unwelcome visitor.

You see, our house has some vulnerable points where all sorts of unsavory guests can sneak into, or invade, our living spaces. Prime among them are the doors, which leave at least a good half inch space between their bottom-most edges and the smooth concrete floors. We’ve had mild ant invasions and massive, more troubling spider invasions. Birds and bats swoop dangerously close to open doors (Sawa's had birds in her house before), flies are constantly buzzing through the living room, and wasps occasionally make an appearance from the porch or courtyard. We also have geckos from time to time, which are always welcome since they eat the bugs with uncanny ability.

Yesterday marked a new low in the long list of uninvited creatures. I arrived home a few moments before Evan and proceeded to drop my bag in my room as I waited for a call from mom and dad. Just as I rested my exam-laden bag on the concrete floor at the very edge of my bed, a small, dark object skittered from under my headboard, zoomed across the room, and vanished out of my bedroom door. I stood stock still, unsure of whether to chase or scream. My mind instantly began cranking; I knew exactly what I had seen. A hairy, dark gray, jumping rat. A rat!

Evan and I do our best to keep the house clean despite the constant water shortages we deal with. With that said, sometimes dishes have to wait a day or two to get cleaned properly. We never leave food on the floor and usually do a good job of removing garbage. I shudder to think what that rat got into during the day or what it might have done had we gone to bed with it still in the house.

After a quick appraisal, we deduced the rodent had absconded to Evan’s room. A once over and a poke here and there revealed the interlocutor under Evan’s bed. We managed to clear him out once, twice, three times but he just scurried back under the bed after leaping into Evan’s empty closet. Finally, we managed to herd him out of the room wielding a broom and an oversize squeegee. As the rat made a break for Evan’s bedroom door, I bolted to avoid his frantic escape and prevent him reentering my room. I hopped the step up to my room, spun on my heel, squeegee in hand, only to find the rat still bearing down on me. The squeegee head met rat torso in midair about twelve inches off the ground. The rat crumpled on impact, hit the floor, floundered momentarily, regained it’s footing and bolted the opposite direction into the living room. After more herding we managed to get him out the back door and away from the house.

For anyone who has never faced removing a five inch rat from their home, it is an oddly terrifying but hilarious experience. I’m sure Evan and I gave some silly shouts at key moments when the rat was on the move, but the rest of the time we just cursed our luck and laughed really hard. Thank goodness it was only one, because that is not a task I want again. But wait!

After dinner with some friends and lecturers at the local polytechnic university, Evan and I settled down to some popcorn and a movie. About an hour into the movie, my eye caught movement on the floor to my left, along the wall where our desk sits and next to the back doors. The f-ing rat was back! We managed to trap him into the kitchen, block his path to the rest of the house with an extra mattress, and then force the rude intruder out the courtyard door. During his second escape, the rat nearly managed to jump over the mattress into Evan’s chest before flopping awkwardly backwards and fleeing through the open door.

Good riddance. Doors are all now specially barricaded to prevent another intrusion.

Flexible schedules, phantom deadlines...and other examinable topics.

Exams are underway at Nyagatare Secondary School. While we got off to a decent start this past Friday, thanks almost exclusively to the extremely diligent but highly surreptitious work of Sawa, things began to break down this morning. We started fifty-five minutes late, which is both the good news and bad news...we started late but managed to start before the hour mark!

Exams tend to be very stressful at N.S.S. because there is a so much disorganization and so little planning. Sadly, the volunteers tend to spearhead much of the work (unfortunately initiative is not something our colleagues exhibit with great frequency). As such, I will return to blogging in about a week with what I'm sure will be an entertaining recount of the week's frivolities. I'll also give a brief rundown of the upcoming holidays planned for Southern Africa.

Until then.

Zach

ps. What a sorry end to the World Cup. The two most deserving teams play a marvelous consolation match filled with exciting attacks and admirable professional behavior. Two petulant and disturbingly violent teams combine for a lackluster, tepid finale. Too bad for SA and the rest of Africa.