Lizards ):

Nothing happened today! It was very uneventful just as I thought it might end up being. But happy Easter! (: May the Lord be in your thoughts always.

So in the houses in South Africa, there are these little vents (almost like floor vents, but way larger with grid-like squares instead of slots) on the tops of the walls in all of the rooms. And, as I have so joyously found out, things crawl into them from outside, like lizards!! I have been startled by something moving from the side of my vision many times, only to look over and discover a lizard crawling up and down my bedroom wall! I struggle so hard not to scream at the top of my lungs and refuse to sleep in this room anymore every time it happens, like I would do at home. It’s the hardest thing for me!! And they just crawl all around, or hide behind the curtain on the window or down behind one of the beds in my room as they please and then eventually crawl back into the holes and disappear. It is probably the most horrifying thing to wait for them to leave; I am frozen standing by the door watching them until I see them leave through the holes every single time it happens because I can’t do anything else! If you know me, you also know that my number one fears are spiders and insects of any kind. Insects are EVERYWHERE here and it’s practically killing me. I was walking to the little local mall just down the street from my home stay, and I was wearing sandals because it’s cooking down here, and all of the sudden it felt like bugs were all over my feet, and sure enough…I look down and find the most giant ants in the world (they’re humongous here I can’t even believe it!) crawling all over my feet; probably ten on each! And they bite down here and it stings a lot! So I was jumping up and down screaming and kicking my feet to get them off of me, while my host brother stands there laughing at me because bugs are nothing to anybody that lives here. I wanted to cry as soon as I got them all off ): and I have to spray myself with this bug repellent spray before I go to bed so that I don’t get eaten alive every night. The first night here (they keep all of the windows open because of how hot it is, and they have no screens) I got four mosquito bites on my lower arm, as I mentioned above, and I STILL have them! And they are still pretty huge and itchy…the worst! They’re so red too, and I haven’t even scratched them, amazingly enough. I’m afraid they’re going to leave scar-like marks on my arm. I’m getting itchy everywhere just thinking about it; euh that makes me shutter! Enough about bugs..