Bugs

Yesterday I was so tired by bedtime that it completely slipped my mind to write a blog post - work has been a little tough as I have been finding my team dynamic difficult to navigate at times. Yesterday was not a very easy day. So I didn't really know what to write because these things dominated my mind for a lot of the day. I wouldn't have had much to say beyond negative things.

However the evening and this morning brought me something to write about.

My little host brother regularly puts things in my hand. More often than not it's one of his plastic toys, or a small piece of rubbish. I had been playing with him for a while yesterday evening and then his grandmother and aunt came to the house for dinner. They usually bring some kind of snack. On tuesday they brought some crisps which Sa was sharing with everyone, including the dog.
Yesterday he put one of these into my hand:
I'm not exactly sure what to call them but I think they're grubs. Large maggots. (The other things are like small apples with stones, and very nice.) I was so surprised I dropped it in the sand. I couldn't bring myself to try one this time round, but Cambodians love to eat insects, so I'm sure I'll get another opportunity! My reluctance to eat one at dinner caused a lot of hilarity! (In other news I have successfully eaten fruit the last three nights without being sick).

Then this morning, I went down to have my morning wash. Recently - I think since we refilled the water tank - there are loads of mosquitos in the water in the morning. I usually splash it around a bit so that they rise into the air, spray a load of DEET at them, give it a minute and then go in to wash. I have been bitten once in the last few days so it seems to be working.

Anyway, I did my little anti-mosquito routine and then went in, started setting my clothes and soap out, turned around and saw this:
It was maybe a bit bigger than the palm of my hand. I don't really know what to say about it beyond that. Last night I was thinking how glad I am not to have come across a huge spider yet. It didn't really move very much so I had a quick wash and ran away. I took this photo after breakfast with my zoom on. Not getting too close to that thing. I asked Channa if it bites and she said yes. So that's fun. Don't know how long its going to be in there.  I guess we'll just have to co exist for now!

I'm on the way to another youth club meeting just now, so maybe I'll have some stuff to write about that a bit later on.

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