Little Friends



Little Friends

A brief summary of my small friends who make a BIG difference

Meet Bill

The best advice I have ever received regarding making friends was from my sister.  She always told me that a name makes all the difference.  Whenever you are in a situation in which you feel alone, or you are weary of those around you, just name them, it helps.

So everyone, I would like to introduce you to my new friend, Bill.
(Pictured below)

"Bill" -- Shown next to the table leg for reference

After being here in Amman for just a few days, we hadn't had too many problems with bugs in the apartment... until I stayed up late studying one night and felt something tickle my foot.
I originally assumed it was nothing, until I heard something crawling on the floor, and looked down to see "Bill" making his way along the tile.

Once I realized that he had been crawling up my leg, I was completely frozen in shock, and had to scream for my roommate, Alexis, to come and help me get rid of him.  When I called and told her there was a bug, she came in with one of her sandals ready to crush it... until she saw its size.

It took us both a few good minutes to get ourselves together and mentally prepare for the task at hand, without waking up our other roommates.  Alexis was my hero that night, when she grabbed a glass to put over him.  We walked the glass toward the door to let him go, when we had the terrifying realization that there was a ledge on the door, and we were going to have to find a way to get him out without touching him, and Bill was way too heavy to be carried on a piece of paper.

After 20 minutes of staring at him through the glass cup that we placed over Bill, we found a small piece of cardboard that we finally were able to use to get him outside.

So what's in a name?  A little bit of comfort, because when you name it, you get attached to it; and we did put that thing back where it came from... outside.

Meow

Anyone who knows me can tell you that I am definitely defined as being a "cat person."  When I found out that there were cats in Jordan, I surely thought that I would become the "crazy cat lady" and adopt every kitty in sight... but that has not since been the case.

When I first came, my roommates warned me about how horrifying the cats are in this area.  Since neither of them were fond of cats, I just figured that they were biased towards the little animals.

So today while I was working on some homework, I heard Vanessa screaming in the kitchen, so I ran there as fast as I could, and took a pic of what I saw:

Vanessa cowering in fear of our neighborhood cat

Apparently, the windows were open to let out the hot air while she was cooking, and one of the cats tried to jump into our kitchen to eat her food.

Well, I didn't think the cat was that bad until it started hissing and screaming at us while we were trying to close the window.  Once I saw its face, I wanted to cower in fear too...

Meet Diablo, our new "pet"

The cats here aren't so friendly and they aren't much cuter either, but I would much rather be naming a cat than a rat.  So thank you, Diablo, for getting rid of the rats!

Medical Mysteries

After the second day of classes, we (thankfully) hadn't had too many more problems with the apartment and we all started to get along with Bill and Diablo, and we were all living as one happy family.  Except, when I woke up the next morning there was an unexpected visitor that came to my bed in the middle of the night.

When I woke up, my ear was at least three times its normal size, and I could not hear out of it.

My right ear 12 hours after the bite

 

Between the four of us living in the apartment, we had killed an average of 4 spiders per day.  We knew that it was a problem in the apartment, but we had no idea where these spiders were coming from, or whether or not they were harmless.  In addition, everyone had been bit by mosquitos throughout the week, but what happened to my ear was definitely not a mosquito bite.

 

The issue? 

There were so many different types of spiders, that we had no idea which kind actually bit me, which determines the type of venom.  On top of everything else, there was the language barrier so it was extremely difficult asking natives what I should do, and time was running short because we were leaving the following day to Petra and Wadi Rum, so going to a doctor simply wasn't an option for me.

Close up of the inflammation

 

After a lot of prayer on what to do about my ear, I received an email from my professor requesting a meeting for the classes.  This was a perfect opportunity because she speaks perfect English, and she knew exactly what to do!

 

The pharmacists in Jordan are almost as qualified as doctors when it comes to knowledge of medications and diagnoses, and the pharmacist who I saw was extremely kind.  Between my broken Arabic and her decent English, we were able to communicate about the problem, and she gave me a gel to put on my ear four times a day.

 

Finsteel -- The miracle gel for insect bites!

 

It took a few days, but my ear has finally gone back to its normal size, but there is a small scar on the injection site from the spider bite.  Thankfully though, my hearing is coming back and I feel much better.  However you will notice in the posts to come that my hair is always to the right side in many of the pictures to cover my ear when I went out.

 

Thank you all for your prayers, every day is an uphill battle but it is also an adventure.

The Lord is taking care of us and He listens to our prayers.

God bless!