The Good, the bad and the annoying

Halloween at Ejit was really great this year. Annie and I had at least 30 kids inside our small house engaged in various stages of mischief with an overall effect of barely contained chaos. Annie dressed up as a pumpkin and I went as a vampire/skeleton hybrid. I scared them all when they first saw me (some of the kids jokingly said I was ‘the black magic’) but only one kindergartener refused to enter the house for a while because I scared her. The whole thing was exhausting but well worth it. It was a highlight of the kids and my week.

I apparently caught something during the kaimem two weeks ago. Poor Ejit has had some of the worst luck among all of the groups on Majuro. Scabies, pink eye, giardia, a stomach virus and now Dr. Pinano and I think that I have a mild form of amoeba. I won’t list the symptoms here for the faint of heart, but if you want to find out what they are a quick google search will provide you with the information. (It’s the digestive form, not the brain eating type). Just remember that I have a mild form of it. There’s another kaimem coming up this Tuesday and I’ll be sure to watch out for suspicious food this time.

We have new neighbors next door and although we like them they bought over their dog. As we’ve mentioned before the dogs on Ejit are brutal and this particular dog is pretty small and scared all the time. It is smaller than the rest of the grown dogs on Ejit and it’s sort of cute. Unfortunately the dog has an incredibly frustrating way of expressing its insecurity at night. At around midnight the dog begins sustained, frantic and loud barking because it wants to be let inside. The first night this happened the dog barked for 15 minutes straight. Finally I went outside with my kali stick and whacked the ground threateningly at it. This worked for a little while because the dog ran away and barked at some other house outside of our hearing. Fifteen minutes later the dog came back but after a few barks it guess it grew tired and went to sleep. Last night it started up again but this time as soon as it started I went outside and threatened it. Fifteen minutes later I needed to go back outside and threaten it again but things are improving. Hopefully it will stop barking soon.

I know it sounds cruel but I haven’t physically hit the dog and if I have to choose between the dog and my sleep I’ll pick my own sanity every time. I’ll post more on this as it develops. Maybe I’ll mention to our new neighbors that I’d love to try dog…