Old Posts: Rats! March 2010

Unfortunatly the hospital where I use my free internet, has finally caught on that countless people are sucking up the bandwith. I arrived today to find myself locked out of their network, panicked. I can and will get a password to log on, since I am associated with the hospital. Yet today I am left internet-less, since the office where this can be taken care of is closed for a holiday.

As I sat in the cafeteria, mourning my loss, a pair of American/British/foreign doctors walk in with their laptops. Lightbulb goes on in my head. So I casually wait for them to sit down, log on the internet (not wanting to pounce on them right away, like the technology starved PCV I am) and stroll over to chit chat about the World Wide Web. I politely introduce myself, that I’m associated with the hospital, and could they please tell me what the password is. I am told that everyone gets a “personal” password that they have been told not to divulge to ANYONE, and that they are very sorry, but no they cannot help me, in typical American fashion. What? Secret? Promise? Don’t they know where we are? Don’t they know NO ONE is really going to care, and most importantly, don’t they realize how and where I LIVE?! When I come to use the internet I’m like a heroin addict that can feel their next fix, the sight of the hospital alone releases endorphins of glee. And now, the desired drug in site, I’m denied my weekly dose. Then cruelly forced to watch while others partake in an orgasm of communication with their loved ones back home, with hours of you-tube and The New York Times. I have the urge to wander upstairs and unplug their precious lifeblood.

Ok, crisis averted. I just got a password to log on from a very helpful gentleman. Those young doc’s were very lucky I’m not actually a mean person.

In other news, I am battling a very LARGE rat that has taken up residence in my lovely thatch roof. Its dumb butt has been running laps inside my home up and down and around the beams. Last night I started hunting it. I invited another PCV to come and help with the kill. I made two different striking implements (one long one with a wire swatch at the end to knock it off the beams) and a shorter stick with my hiking boot tied onto it (for close-range striking). The cat has been staying in my room with me, so that in event of a successful hit to the rat, it can finish off the job once its on the floor.

We stayed up late, our eyes trained on the ceiling beams. The paraffin lamp dimly lit the dark room. Suddenly, after a short doze it appeared! Its big white belly visible, its nose in the air. I whisper to my fellow man-in-arms, “It’s time to kill…” and we wake up in time to see it ZOOM! Cross one beam and disappear into the thatch. “Awwww shit, we missed it!” We run outside, only to be accosted by a HUGE spider with iridescent blue legs and find a hole on the other side. It is promptly stuffed with steel wool. After another good look at the spider, we retire to our beds, where I am awakened several times by the return of the rat, running laps. Every time I hear it and manage a little light, its no where to be seen. Clearly I have one chance a night, when it first escapes its burrow, to smack the damn thing. Tonight’s my next chance. Wish me luck.