Why is that corner moving?

Why?  Obviously it’s because there’s a snake coiled up there, that’s why.

Pretty standard Monday evening.  Did a little typing, organized some paperwork, cooked me some dinner, battled a snake that had set up camp in my bathroom, took a shower, ate my dinner, watched a show.  Yep, nothing too eventful.

But that snake.  Oh boy, did that suck. It had been particularly hot today, and after spending almost every minute of it sweating, all I wanted to do was take a shower before sitting down to enjoy some curry fried rice. Mozambique apparently had other plans for me though, and instead decided that this would be an ideal time to fight my first snake.  I don’t have a light that works in my bathroom yet, so when I walked in, I was confused why the corner I had just cleaned the day before looked a little funny.  Why is it dark-colored and moving?  I quickly drew the conclusion that probably meant there was some sort of animal there.  Probably a karma snake.  I was really hoping to be wrong.  I had hoped it was just a strand of the mop I had been using to clean earlier, left behind to scare me later one.  Not so much. 

Sure enough, coiled up in the corner of my bathroom was a snake, both beautiful and petrifying.  Not the biggest specimen I’ve ever encountered, but this vicious beast was probably half a meter in length and up there on my list of biggest snakes I’ve ever seen that haven’t been in a book or behind glass (I haven’t seen many).  But it’s dead now. 

Had to do it, there were no other feasible options.  So, armed with a jagged metal pole (the broken off handle of what was at one point in time a mop), enxada (Mozambican hoe-ing tool) and a bucket, I went to work.  I didn’t really want to kill it, but at this point I wasn’t sure how else to get rid of it.  He was a climber, so putting him in a topless bucket just wouldn’t do.  My hands are already blistered enough from my attempts at farming the other day, I don’t need a snakebite on there too to compliment the one that looks like Japan.  Because I was lacking the proper tools and not sure what kind of snake it was, it had to be offed. You know…for science.

(Well, isn’t this night turning out to be splendid.  Right after I finished typing that sentence, I went to go plug in my fan. Wouldn’t you know it, but it doesn’t work because one of the prong broke off.  And when I went to go turn on my makeshift light fixture hanging in my living room, would you know it but it start smoking and then blew out.  Now it’s sweltering, dark and quiet.  In a house where I just murdered a snake. Tonight just isn’t my night.)

So, other than my midnight battle with a potentially venomous serpent, the day was pretty good.  I spent the morning wandering through the market, talking with various people.  I conversed with countless Mozambicans, met a guy from Somalia, another from London, and another who had moved here from Pakistan.  Later, I even found out that I’m not as America-deprived as I thought, and that there are three real-live American families living here in Montepuez.  They’re a group of missionaries, most of whom have been here for about nine years now.  The three families live on a complex that’s dotted with mango trees and various buildings they constructed to protect them from the elements (and house snakes).  They also happen to be wonderful and handy people and said that if I ever get a little homesick, I have a little piece of America at my disposal a few klicks down the road.

Recently, they brought in two new American’s to teach their nine children in a beautiful mud-brick and mortar school house that they also just built. Just like us, these two post-grads are on a two-year contract, though their situation is a bit different than ours.  They teach four or five hours each week-day morning, and then have the afternoons and weekends to do as they please.  Furthermore, the families have set them up with a fully-equipped, and gorgeous home on the complex. 

Today, Kara and Rebecca (the two teachers) were kinda enough to invite Anna and I over for a pizza lunch and some good old fashioned English conversation.  After stuffing our faces with pizza, apples slices, carrots and Kool-Aid, they introduced us to a few of the missionaries (Chad, Allen, and Rachel), showed us around and sent us on our way.

All in all, karma snakes aside, it’s a pretty incredible day.