The internet is zooming right now, so I’m going to try to write a quick update.
I think I posted about a ginormous cricket last night. Well a few nights ago, as I was pulling down my mosquito net, I saw a huge spider on my bed. I think I gasped really loudly because Sam (the other teacher) asked me what was wrong. I answered, “Um, there’s a huge bug on my bed.” “What kind of bug?” she asks. “I’m not really sure.”
I was very proud of myself that I hadn’t screamed. Everyone else was already in bed so I couldn’t call Eddie to come take care of the spider. (And at this point I had no idea what type of spider it was.) I found a jar and captured the spider (all without screaming). Sam examined it and was convinced it was poisonous. I had a bit of difficulty falling asleep that night. I kept thinking something was crawling up my leg.
The next morning I showed the spider to Carol. She said it was not poisonous. Actually, it’s pretty rare to find a poisonous spider here. I have had no more dreams of creepy spiders.
Yesterday one family headed down to Yaounde to pick up C (the missionary lady Sam and I will be staying with). Carol wanted to send some baskets and trays with them that the prisoners had made. A lady there in Yaounde sells the baskets and sends the revenue back here for the prison. Well, the baskets had this ugly plastic covering the bottom, so Carol asked Sam if she could paint a little design to make them more attractive. Sam asked if I could help her since she didn’t think she would have time to do all of them. I hesitantly agreed to help. In case you didn’t know, my artistic skills are very limited.
For some reason I decided to paint a giraffe on my tray. I’ll never understand that one. Of all things, I choose an animal. I’ve never even painted or drawn a decent horse. Regardless, I set to work on my giraffe. Sam assured me that she would fix whatever I messed up. Well, when I was ready to give her my giraffe, she refused to fix it, but told me to. So amazingly, I painted a decent looking giraffe. The best part is that someone will buy the tray and think that it’s incredible that it was painted by an Africa prisoner!
