Things That Make You Go “Ewwwww”

Yes, this post is kind of gross, but a nice transition from last week’s downer. So I’ll start with the cow. On the clinic grounds they also have a farm, obviously from the pics and stuff, so they have (well now had) two cows that were both pregnant. On Saturday one of the cows literally ate itself to death. I don’t know maybe its medulla oblongata was not working right because the thing just kept eating and eating and well as we all know cows eat very fibrous plant material, and in Lesotho that means, corn husks, which caused a blockage in the intestines and the cow kept eating and nothing was going out and well, it came to a point that it just could not eat anymore and died. This however is not the gross part of the story. So people here don’t really buy meat, partly because it is expensive and partly because they don’t have a refrigerator or freezer to store it. Yes, I am going where you are thinking. Moving on, normally there is a period of time in which a cow should be slaughtered and should be consumed without refrigeration. Another point I should bring up is that it is generally considered good food sanitation not to eat a cow that died of its own accord, despite what it died of. That being said, the cow was, to my knowledge not slaughtered until MONDAY (it died on Saturday) and then SOLD to the villagers (half of which are kids and are immunosuppressed because of HIV) and they were cooking it in the kitchen on Monday as well. Ew. I was offered, yet I declined, the meat. People were walking around with grocery bags full of gross meat to eat that night because it was “fresh“ and didn‘t need refrigeration, and I can guarantee you that every bit of that cow was chopped up and sold. My dad often uses the phrase “they would eat the asshole out of a skunk” to describe me and my sisters, and I think that phrase also applies to the Basotho.
Moving right along, so the other ew might not be so gross but it did make me shudder more than the cow thing, but that’s because it is a little closer to home and no, I’m not talking about the U.S.’s economy. So it is spring here and it is finally starting to get warm and nice and I can leave my door open (but the burglar bars are still locked, don’t worry) during the day with windows open and all that nice springy stuff. Well, yet another back fire. With the onset of spring, also comes the home invasion of bugs and insects and other little creepy crawly things, which happens at home too, but then again home isn’t Africa, and you just have to deal with it. So I’m sitting in my chair in my home watching a little bit of “The Office” and think to myself, I would really like to have a nice cup of herbal tea before I go to bed. So I stand up and glance on the floor (I’m getting chills as I write this) and spy the biggest (okay size of my palm, but still huge) black and brown and furry piece of shit spider that I have ever seen. I unloaded a can of doom (the bug spray here that well when I sprayed it bugs 5 feet away died) on it and let it writhe in the pool of toxins for a while, during which time I went on a bit of a rampage where if it was moving it was getting sprayed. Tomorrow I am having one of the housekeepers come to my house and help me spray my house so no more bugs scare the shit out of me at night. Ew, it was so gross.
Other than that, I went to Semonkong this past weekend which is one of three tourist places in Lesotho. It was beautiful, I’m posting a few pics if the computer will let me. Went hiking and hung out with some other volunteers. Other than that not much is going on, trying to move forward with a few of the projects I’ve got going on here, which, as anticipated, are moving at the pace of molasses in January, so I’ll keep you updated on those. Have a great week/weekend and email me any news!
Quick revision, after I wrote about the initial spider, I found an even bigger one chilling out on my wall. It was big brown, furry and the size of my friggin’ hand!!! I still get chills up my spine when I think about it and couldn’t even kill it myself, I had to have a house keeper come do it for me. I’m cringing right now thinking about it. Well I hope you all are sufficiently creeped out for this week. And once again have a great weekend/week!