... where's the produce section?
What is available for produce in our village depends on the time of year. We were really looking forward to mangoes but we overshot the season this time. Right now we only have (weird green) oranges, apples, potatoes and bananas. Sometimes the traders bring pineapples and watermelons from Nigeria. Learning how to buy, haggle and use the produce before it goes bad from the heat is an interesting challenge.
We bought these pears in the capital and are making them last
... got milk?
NOPE. We miss cheese. Cheese can only be bought in larger cities that are hours away from here! All our milk is powdered milk but we've learned to make home-made yogurt with it, which is a luxury. Luckily, a few people on the compound have taught themselves how to make ice cream that we can enjoy together!
... but we got eggs.
We can get eggs three times a week from a trader. They make up our easiest and main source of protein, purely because the meat we get is always tough. At first it felt strange buying a flat of eggs that had been sitting out in 35 degree heat all day, but they're great! When we do buy meat, we buy it from the back of a motorcycle on Wednesdays.
... critters in general.
Canada doesn't make bugs like Niger. There's always a crack in your house, or your door doesn't fit straight and it's suddenly a zoo in your home. We have a lizard or gecko somewhere in our house and we find traces of it every day. There are moths the size of your palm and beetles the size of your thumb. The roof over our porch is sagging because it's full of termites and every morning they have found a new crack in the floor to come explore.
There are also bugs in our rice, but we've learned to let them float to the top of the water and skim them off. Flies buzzing all over food at the market is not a big deal anymore.
We've only seen one baby snake here so far, but we know there are dangerous ones out there. Lydia has seen several viper bites at the hospital already. There are also scorpions and camel spiders lurking around and we're grateful not to have crossed their path.
... earwigs specifically.
Earwigs are easily the worst things about living here. Lydia engages in nightly chemical warfare against them dumping white powder called Rambo around the perimeter of the house. As we near harvest season, they migrate away from the fields and right into our homes. Though they're not particularly dangerous, we find them literally everywhere. They fall from the ceiling, hide in your clothes, crawl out from the drain, find their way into your bed, your shoes and dangerously close to your toothbrush. When it comes to Josh's interactions with this particular bug, he likes to give them refuge inside his asthma inhaler and shoot them deep into his throat. He can tell you from personal experience that they taste like gasoline.