I had originally planned to have August just be in one blog post. But I guess I like to talk about myself too much.

The second half of August consisted of a little over a week in my village and four days at CAMP TREE.

Going back into the community felt a little weird after being out for over two weeks. I don’t know how to explain it but it’s a common feeling for Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs). You’re going back into a community where you have been away for so long, back to no electricity or running water. Plus you are always a little nervous about what you’re house is like when you come back. Have all the spiders I’ve killed come back for revenge? Do I even have a house anymore or is it just one big spiderweb? Have mice/rats gotten into my house and turned it into their own little mouse resort, eating all my food? I always open my door very slowly and hope for the best.

I’ve been pretty lucky so far and haven’t had any major issues. Some other PCVs have. One guy returned to have some mice eat all around the lid of his peanut butter jar. The mice never fully got into the actual jar, but they did manage to poop in it. I’m telling you, if mice came into my house and turned my peanut butter into their own personal toilet, little mice heads would be rolling! Peanut butter and jungle oats (oatmeal) are a vital part to many PCVs lives, they are easy to cook, good source of protein and remind us of home. Every time I’m low on either and know I’m not going to the BOMA for a while, dooms day scenarios start playing in my head.

The last week of August was reserved for Central Provinces Camp TREE. Camp TREE is a camp that is meant to teach kids about the environment and how to take care of it. We got to go to this national park and camp for three nights. Each PCV got to take a boy and a girl plus a counterpart. This was pretty exciting for some kids who had never been out of their village before, no less been camping. At the camp they had western style bathrooms and showers. Basically they had a big water drum above the bathrooms and that was be used to flush the toilets and another for the shower. Because majority of the children that come from the village have never used a western toilet, things got a little interesting. Bathrooms in the village are basically just holes in the ground that you squat over and do you’re business. So siting on a toilet is a very strange thing for people who have never done it before and we’re never taught how to use one. We think some of the girls were standing/squatting on the toilet seat, because the toilets were often very … messy.

Camp TREE was pretty fun. I think the kids had a great time. Even though we didn’t see any, we could hear hippos and hyenas at night. We got to go for a nature walk and a cruiser ride around the park. We seen alligators, warthogs, lots of monkeys, deer and different types of birds. It was cool and the kids loved seeing all the animals because most people don’t have them around their village.

As I remember from my time in the Amazon, monkeys are total assholes. There was a pack of monkeys that were above our sleeping area. I became friend with one of them. We played peek-a-boo together, waved at each other, totally thought we had became friends. I guess not because next thing I know the monkey is trying to pee and poop on me! I faired better than others, one monkey pooped all over a kids backpack.

So that was August for me, not a ton of time in the village, but still pretty memorable.