One of the many "joys" of Africa

There are many things to enjoy about living in Mali. There are also some frustrating things. I don't think I can say anything good about the driving around here. Kids running into the street without looking. Bikes turning into lanes without seeing who is behind them. It is dangerous and stressful. Makes sense since most of the people driving haven't taken a driving lesson. I'm thankful that I get through most days without hitting someone. That is a blessing.

Then there is the lack of speed when it comes to getting things done. Everything is slower here. An errand that would take 15 minutes in the States can take an hour easily, if not more. I was thinking, though, as I sat at our equivalent to the DMV trying to get a paper signed for our car (which took an hour and a half, not bad for the DMV I guess) that many of these annoying things have actually made me better. I'm more able to go with the flow. I'm more calm when things go wrong. We lived the past 5 days without water in our bathroom because there was a huge leak that was just fixed about 2 months ago. This would have really bothered me before. Now it really wasn't a big deal. No water in our bathroom, ok, we'll go to the boys' bathroom where the new door handle just broke off. Speaking of broken door handles, the guest bedroom door handle has broken off as well. When we wash clothes, the water drains out into the ground because something like our septic tank is full. But we just go along. No big deal anymore. I am thankful for this. I'm thankful for not getting so worked up anymore about simple things.

I even have gotten used to bugs for the most part. I remember reading a facebook post of my friend once where she talked about trying to kill THE fly in her house. That day I had killed over 60 in my house (that was an unusual day as they had worked on our front door). But regardless, bugs are always in the house. Right now we have somewhere between 50 to 100 little bugs that come out every night right beside the kitchen sink. Don't know why. I just wash them off and move on. Even the bug in the drink I can handle. I do take the insect out but I continue on with my drink. However, this "joy" was found in Caroline this week. And that's a whole different ball game.

We have these small black ants in our yard that bite. My kids are deathly afraid of them. If you tell them there is an ant around they start to scream. They are more afraid of ants and mosquitoes than of bees or wasps. Seriously. So if you ever see them run away screaming when you mention an ant, you'll know why. The bites are wicked. They really hurt. Apparently if you don't scratch it after the bite, eggs are laid from the bite and continue to grow under the skin. Once it grows bigger, to the size you see here, they are lumps under the skin that you squeeze out like a huge pimple. I cannot tell you how disgusting it was to see the first one come out and then start wiggling around. Growing INSIDE your body, even if it is an animal, just seems wrong. I, of course, handled this in a great manner, asking Brett if Caroline was going to die and if WE were going to die because they would start to grow in us. All of this, by the way, was in earshot of my children. Dawson's eyes were huge as I was asking my questions. Thankfully Brett got me quiet eventually. Surprisingly, though, Dawson didn't want to touch Caroline after that. oops. He has come around. We've explained that it is NOT spread to humans. It will not kill her or even make her sick. It's just annoying and gross. Thankfully I handled the second removal of larvae much better. Hopefully that is the last.