The Hardest Thing in PC

I can wipe my butt with my left hand after pooping greenish-yellow diarrhea, gnaw on cold sheep eyeballs, drink well water with the town's goats, babble in front of a crowd of non-English speakers, patiently sit for 16 hours in a bus aisle covered in baby vomit and sardine oil, shine a flashlight on a woman giving birth in the doorway in the middle of the night at my host family's house with no electricity or other adults around, sit through my French teacher's malaria-induced bathroom episodes, help my host mom cut poop-filled intestines with one hand while eating fresh bbq with the other, and god know what else. EASILY.

My fear of creepy crawlers subsided shwiya after a year in RIM. Hundreds of roaches in the outdoor douche? Dump a whole bottle of bleach in there, close the door, and wait a day. Poop/pee in the sand in the meantime while your "bathroom" is under repairs. Cockroach fights Gecko on top of my mosquito net? Be thankful that thin screen is there. Rat in the toilet hole when you need to pee? Scream, hold it until said rat runs off, then pee. Monthly arrival of hundreds of black beetles or white biting bugs? Never turn your light on, learn to appreciate the stars, sweep the dead bugs away in the morning.

I keep my house pretty sparkly clean by PCV standards, so I was surprised to come home to a cockroach infestation this week. Flying cockroaches took over after I was away for only 2 weeks!

Online research didn't calm my nerves. A colony can develop in a week. One egg case can contain 40 eggs. A female can produce 400 babies. New roach hiding spots, feces, and eggs pop up and scare the crap out of me. Seeing a roach crawl up my wall, then walk on my ceiling or fly and land right behind me is freaky. On one hand, roaches are a pretty amazing species. Individualistic and communal. Survivors. Hard-core. Innovative buggahs. Kind of like an ideal PCV. BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN I WANT THEM IN MY HOUSE!

Bug spray, lysol, bribing other PCVs to miss lEid at site to help me out, loud music, sweeping, mopping, and bleaching/omo-ing everything haven't worked so far. I've admitted to locals that dealing with these flying house roaches is the most difficult thing I've ever done here, and one kind sir has agreed to help me. Most laugh and say to buy bug spray/powder. Going to try another killing tactic tomorrow....But if that works, what am I supposed to do with the carcasses??

I'm writing to vent and to stay awake. Maybe one day in the future, I'll look back on this day and laugh at my silliness. I hope that day's tomorrow.