Killer Moths and Such. No Big Deal.

Although I generally do not support war, I have waged one of my own. Truthfully, I am not willing to lay down my life for my cause, but I am risking some pretty serious lung conditions. What ever are you talking about Lila? My war is against the bugs of the country, particularly those that inhabit my room. While the people here are lovely, gracious and welcoming, the bugs are anything but delightful, and are sort of the bane of my existence right now. I have risked near asphyxiation from the bug spray in order to eliminate the gargantuan cockroaches that were having a wild fiesta in my room.
I was basking in the glow of satisfaction about having spread to the Cockroach Nation that they face certain death if they enter my room, when I realized that my memorandum had not reached the Moth Nation. For a good hour, I was on a mission killing all the little moths in my room, and apparently they called the Lord Voldemort of the moth kingdom to come to instigate a battle with my broom and me. Never in my 22 years have I seen a moth of this magnitude, and I FREAKED OUT. It looked like an eerie, creepy bird with an eight-inch wingspan. So I was flailing around the room with a broom in one hand and my flip flop in the other, letting out little bewildered, anxious sounds as I tried to slap the moth out of the sky. Don’t worry. I won. Though, just to add insult to serious injury, the moth left a giant death mark on its way out the door that I had to mop (Bright Side, I did find Pine Sol here. Sweet smell of America). It is certainly an unwinnable war, nicely paralleling the one happening in our own country…hey, at least I realize it though.
This week was super busy, apart from my craziness happening with the bugs. I play B-ball at 5 am a few days a week with a few sweet kids from the town. If that sounds early, it is, but apparently the early bird gets the worm. This early bird just gets tired at 11am and wants to take a nap. Last Monday, I had to present myself in front of about 350 kids. I taught at 2 of the schools in the area, one public and one private. As well, I went with the public school director to an Environmental Presentation in a neighboring municipality. It really is great to know that there is a growing interest in the environment. However, it struck me that for breakfast and lunch, they used the most nonbiodegradable substance of Styrofoam. And threw it into the trash. And didn’t attempt to recycle it. Even a little bit. I don’t know how to say Styrofoam in Spanish, so I couldn’t point out the obvious contradictions. But, my mood is generally happy and hopeful. There are lots of good things to be done, and many frustrations that are already emerging. One of my great Randy-Mac professors told me not to adopt an “asi no mas” attitude, meaning something like “half assed is alright, we did something, sort of, right?”. This is definitely the attitude that many organizations take here, so I’m holding strong Professor. I continue to remain hopeful.
Although I know that frustrations will continue to rear their unsightly little heads (hopefully they won’t be in moth form), a great quotation comes to mind from Gabriel Garcia Marquez: “I have learned that everyone wants to live on the peak of the mountain, without knowing that real happiness is in how it is scaled”. I know that there are lots of problems, and lots of things to be done, but I will have to start little by little. I’m going to start scaling. Vamos a ver.

Miss you mi familia and mis amigas! I’m posting a Google image of the giant moths I found, as I was too terrified that it might come back to life by snapping a photo of it. As well as my favorite family photo. (It is on my computer background and everyone thinks we are crazy locos, which isn’t a far cry from the truth, except for you momma, you are the least crazy )