12 September 2007

random old post that i never posted

28 August 2007

When I left for Southern Sudan, I thought I would never wear trousers while I was here. I intended to wear culturally appropriate skirts every day and be all demure (ha – that part’s funny, no?). I dropped that idea quickly, because I am covered in bug bites from head to toe. I have a bite on my eye that has made my eyelid swell up. I have a whole crowd of bites on my ankles.

The cancer-causing DEET spray does nothing. The mosquitoes and the flies LOVE the stuff. It’s like a snack for them, apparently. Yum, DEET and blood. The only good news is that apparently at least some of the bites (the ones that HURT) are the cow mosquitoes, not the malaria-carrying ones. I knew there was a bright side to the pain and itching. Somewhere.

The only way to avoid the bites is to stay as covered up as possible. Unfortunately, it’s at least 95 degrees F here most days (unless it’s cloudy or raining), and it’s not one of those “at least it’s a dry heat” situations. Yet I’m wearing socks. And gumboots. I have to wear gumboots for the bugs and also because it rained again, so we are ankle-deep in mud and haven’t dared move the car in days. The driver comes and putters about under the hood, cleaning things. He starts the car and inspects the workings of the engine. Then he turns it off again. After an hour or two, when it’s clear that we are going nowhere through the mud today, he sits and waits.

The gumboots are another reason to wear socks and trousers. I got new gumboots (best $17.50 I’ve ever spent). They are very pretty, with a lovely green stripe around the bottom. At least they were. I can’t seem to keep them even marginally clean. Everyone else walks around with a little mud on their gumboots. The mud on mine is so thick that I can hardly lift my feet sometimes. I try to scrape it off on the edge of the step or in the gravel, but it sticks. Being all new and stiff, the boots rub on my ankle and around the top so that after an hour or two in a skirt or without socks, they hurt unbearably. They are still the best $17.50 I’ve spent. They don’t pinch my toes. They can handle the mud. They keep off the bugs.

Right now, I really wish I hadn’t taken that pair of olive green trousers out of the suitcase at the last minute. I only have three pairs, including jeans. (In the heat. Can you imagine?) And since the yard is all clay mud, they get quite dirty quite fast. All those cute skirts = complete waste of suitcase space.

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