Infested

Hey all,
Lots of new news about the project over the past few days…
Let me begin with the infestation that we discovered in my jail-cell-esq room. I noticed a few bugs around my bed the other night. So, two nights ago I lifted up the mattress and discovered 150+ little black bugs crawling around under my bed. Needless to say, I was rather disgusted. I then spent the next two nights sleeping on the tile floor in the living room…
I have been very nice, up until this point, about my feelings towards my former roommates. I have tried to be a good sport, not complain too much about anything, but I am more than fed up. They leave dirty dishes on the stove. The stove itself probably hasn’t been cleaned in the 7 months that they have been here. They leave standing water in and around the sink. One part of the house was dedicated entirely to empty plastic and glass bottles (my other, more neat, roommate and project manager cleaned this up today), under which is a caked on layer of old coke and beer. I can deal with all of this, but what I cannot deal with is walking into the bathroom to find beard hair trimmings around the sink. Honestly, take the extra few seconds to clean up after yourselves!
Thank god they left this morning. There were nice enough people, if you don’t have to live with them. Now it is just me and the project manager Aaron. I have moved into a non-bug-infested room and Aaron and myself are doing a complete cleaning over haul this weekend. I also sprayed the hell out of the bug haven with “bygone” spray. This stuff had a deadly aroma to it…
The project has been great the past few days. We celebrated birthday yesterday and had a piñata, candy, dancing, and chocolate covered bananas. We had a huge turnout. Unfortunately, I get the feeling it was only because we were having a party. Carla did tell the kids that if they don’t start showing up for school they won’t be able to participate in the next party.
Then today myself, some of the volunteers, and Mauricio (Carla’s strange, but oddly endearing son), had a water fight. Very fun. Then we played duck-duck goose and soccer with the kids. One girl full-on punched another in the face today as well. It’s always fun trying to deal with those situations.
I also went to my first Nicaraguan night club last night. Definitely an interesting experience. I had a few Nicaraguans girl try and dance with me, which is strange, because the girls usually avoid the gringo guys. It is the Central American dudes who usually pursue the gringo girls—especially if they are blond.
Speaking of blond, the people look very different here than what I am used to in Central America. Their skin is a lot lighter and, in some cases, they have colored eyes and hair. I can definitely see the Spanish blood here.
That’s it for now. Until next time,
Patrick