My house is a zoo

So, beyond the daily tasks of chasing chickens out of my house, dodging the goat to get to the pit latrine, and being charged by the bull while fetching water from the nearby borehole, I had another furry friend visit me last night. Just as I was about to brush my teeth, I heard something scurry (flutter?) behind me. I turned around rather nonchalantly to be faced by a bat. Actually, it was falling down in the corner of my bathroom desperately clinging at the bat-proof tiles. I let out the strangest noise. I could not repeat it if I tried. It was surprisingly low-pitched and elongated. Yeah, weird right?

What did I do? Grabbed the grass broom of course. I see people do it in the movies all the time! Well, except with sturdier brooms. Anyway, I swatted at it several times. It all happened so fast and I immediately started feeling so sad for the little guy. Rabies rabies rabies. Right! Don’t feel bad—get the little sucker out of your house! So, I went to plab B since he was kind of stunned anyway. Snagged my new steel tupperware, trapped him beneath, and slid the lid under. Pretty much caught him like I do bees and wasps that invade my house.

Now what? I can’t just leave him in there. I can’t just let him fly free. Knowing my luck, he’d flock back to me like the moths and enswa since I glow in the dark unlike anyone else around. But, thank goodness for neighbors. I went to Rachel and Ronnie’s (Bwaita was also sleeping in the chair) and showed them my trophy like a cat bringing back a half-dead mouse. They just laughed and laughed, “Ah Nangobi, you fear the bat!” I probably looked so disheveled because I worked up a serious sweat catching that thing and I was already in my PJs, which I completely forgot about. Definitely not culturally appropriate since I don’t wear a long skirt to bed. Oh well, we’re like family anyway. They took the tupperware off my hands and wished me a good night.

And that was that; my first bat escapade in Uganda. I can’t wait to see what other critters come my way over the next two years. Oh yeah, some dude came to cut my grass the other day (hack at it with a machete type thing) to keep the black mambas from encroaching on my house. Equatorial Africa, gotta love it.