Bugs check into Steve's room...they don't check out

Heya Fams and Friends. My first week here has given me many insights into the Muslim culture. September is the month of Ramadan, during which Muslims do not eat or drink anything while the sun is up. Before I came, I thought I might give it a try, just to kind of appease my family, but the idea of going without water is just too crazy for my body which is still adjusting to the climate. My first day of teaching, I didn’t drink enough in the morning, and I could feel myself becoming lightheaded only a few hours later. I don’t think I could make it all day in the heat. Most people don’t expend much energy during this month and many businesses are closed. Some of the other volunteers gave it a try for one day and said that you can do it, but you just have to stay in the shade and do nothing all day which I can’t really do with work, so I just eat and drink out of sight of my family so as to not be rude to them. There is also going to be a large feast at the end of Ramadan, and I was asked by my family if I wanted the honor of slaying the feast goat! I did not hide my surprised expression well, and I hope I did not offend them, but anyone who knows me knows that the task of killing a goat would be impossible. I haven’t seen them kill any animals yet, but I wouldn’t put any long term bets on the goat that lives behind our house. I asked my host family if it was a pet, but they didn’t recognize the word, so I said “animal friend” and they just laughed. They said they sometimes see documentaries on tv about people from Europe or the US who have animal friends and they say it makes no sense to have an animal that gives you nothing. I tried to explain how they give companionship with their life, and you become attached to their personality, but they said that they wouldn’t be able to be friends with it because they would just always want to eat it.

The local fauna here isn’t too incredibly diverse. There are the standard street animals: goats, cows, horses, donkeys (also mini-goats, so cute). There are some pretty large bugs in my room that I have no idea what they could be. My first night here I squished something out of Men in Black that was crawling on my wall. Biggest cockroach I have ever seen. I usually get about one a night. The first time I heard one crawling on the wall I thought for sure it had to be a mouse or rat just because it sounded so huge. Then I turned on the light and saw the thing dart across my wall and stood there with my mouth open just in shock that roaches got that big. After the first blow from my shoe, the thing just looked annoyed, the second hit slowed it down, and the third blow put the wretched beast down. There aren’t too many mosquitoes, which is kind of surprising, because we are still technically in the wet season I think, but there are a lot of flies. At any point during the day, you just have to learn to be comfortable with 2 or 3 flies always being on you. Also, there are all over the food, so I’ve completely lost any fear of any fly-born illnesses. The most exciting animals here are the bats. They are about the size of seagulls and they roost in trees during the day and you can see them in huge clumps, then at night they all emerge and the sky has this prehistoric look to it from these huge flying mammals. I’ll post some pictures of them soon. There are also the rats. I saw one when I was out with the other volunteers at a restaurant. It was the size of a loaf of bread. It looked like it could have taken any cat that I have seen here in a fight, which I guess is how they survive, but wow, just enormous.

I have included some pictures of St. Louis:

There is a picture of my house, the street that I live on, and some pictures of the streets of St. Louis: