T.I.A.

                One morning at the seminary, I woke up a bit grouchy. When my alarm went off at 6 am, it took everything in me to force myself to get out of bed. I walked to the bathroom with my eyes still shut, my fellow 40/40 participant making snide comments about how lovely I was looking that morning, I grunted in reply. I drug my feet all the way to the toilet stall. I pulled down my shorts, tied up my skirt and  sat down, after a moment or two I opened my eyes, and to my surprise I was not alone. A spider the size of my palm was just chilling on my right shoulder, like we were playing pirate.  Immediately I spazed out, failing to knock it off my shoulder, it retreated down my back. Somehow, I managed to get my undies back up before I busted out of the stall screaming, “Get it off! Get it off!” Two teens girls (13 year olds), stood with tooth brushes in their hands frozen in horror, as I ran backward towards them with my shorts around my ankles and a gigantic spider on my back. One ran the other way; the other stood with her eyes closed flailing her tooth paste tube in my direction. Then suddenly, Krista burst forth out of the second stall, which I was dancing directly in front of, in one motion she knocked the monstrosity off and stomped on it, just before it went into my undies. She literally saved my butt.  I was now very much awake and indebted to Krista for life. T.I.A. This Is Africa. It’s something we ex-pats are learning.  I was shaking and I was laughing, I was hugging Krista for saving me and I was scolding the teens for doing nothing. T.I.A. Later that day, I was standing in line at an ATM, when I put my card in it pretend to make the transaction but did not give me either money or a receipt. The female guard standing there was hassling me and telling me to move along. T.I.A. So I had to find an internet café, so I could check my accounts and be sure I was not just jipped, but the only internet café there was sooo slow. It took at least 45 minutes just to sign into my checking account and check a few emails. T.I.A. After that I still needed Kwatcha to pay for things with, so I was back in line for like an hour at another ATM waiting for them to put money into the machines. T. I. A. It’s the best way to live, it’s very similar to Timon and Pumbaa’s “Hakuna Matata” life style. You can get mad… and I was angry that day. But in the end, this is Africa, the same rules do not apply here. You can’t choose parts of Africa; you have to take it with the good and the bad.