Earplugs and Mosquito Deterrent
Have you seen those neon pink earplugs? I brought a couple of packages with me, just in case. They have made such a difference for me. The professors' offices here are very small--about 12 X 12 block walls. They might have a window, but it would probably be covered with bars. The sound bounces in these offices like crazy. Several professors, most of them PhD's share an office with their secretaries and assistants. You can imagine how that looks--three desks, at least three chairs, printers, computers, stacks of books, everything that costs money has to be stored behind locked doors. I have also been assigned to one of these offices. Voila--earplugs!
The Sunday services are marathons--lasting between two and three hours so far--100% in French. The praise team is a 16 member group complete with several keyboard performers and 2 guitars. They turn the volume to full capacity. Voila--earplugs!
I lost the battle last night with the mosquitoes. I must have 20 bites on my legs from kicking off the mosquito netting at the end of the bed. I didn't wear any repellent either, which I usually do. This morning I asked Dickie, my house garcon, to lower the netting in order to get it tightly tucked under the mattress. Taking 50 mg of benedril every 4 hours today has diminished the intensity of the bites for me, but I'm not eager to add to the abuse!
I'm still working on my teaching schedule with the university. I'll keep you posted. Thanks for listening. Wish I could have a Primus with you all at the local cafe. Primus is Congolese beer and costs $2.50 USD. Tastes great, too. Whadyyano?
posted by MeJane @ 3:25 PM
1 Comments
1 Comments:
Jane, We missed you at book group today! We discussed Eat, Pray, Love, passed around a printout of your blog and thought about you beginning a year of adventures.
About the mosquitoes.... I hope you got the net issue sorted out and that you won't get any more bites at night, since it's those night biters that give you malaria and the anti-malaria drugs you are taking don't provide 100% protection. We did not have a net in Ghana but used a repellent devise that heated discs in a little holder that plugged into a socket and slowly released the repellent all night. It did not smell bad and was a lot nicer than putting repellent on as we headed to bed. The one we bought was labeled only in French and was by the insect Lebanese grocery store. Do you have Lebanese groceries in Kinshasa?
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