Leeches sucked my blood. Mosquitoes are my skinny, little friends. Several people I interviewed over the last 7 months said, “Don’t kill even mosquitoes. Mosquitoes have a reason for being here. Even the mosquito is important. ONLY kill the mosquito if he bites you.” I try to kill the cute little things ONLY when I see them feasting somewhere on my body.

I had a mosquito killing plug in my bedroom. Think Airwick, but deadly. After plugging it in, mosquitoes would drop from the sky in no time. Two reasons I took it down: 1) If it drops a mosquito that fast, is it safe for me to breathe it? 2) Seems the people here know about the importance of plants and animals in the environment. If they want to keep the mosquito in their community and see its worth who am I to argue.

A few people mentioned my last haircut. I had it cut short before Christmas because it was sooooo hot here. About 2 months ago, I got it cut shorter. Now everyone here thinks I am a man, which makes wearing shorts much easier–which I rarely do. Women do NOT wear shorts here. The reason I got my hair cut short is because I got kepinding–bed bugs!!! They were eating my face, the back of my neck, legs, arms, feet, hands … everything it seemed. The pictures do not do them justice.

I was staying with a tribe in the rainforest while I had the kepinding invasion. I mean the tribes living with no water and no electricity. No one in Bengkulu could or would tell me what the bites were. While I was in the rainforest, I pulled my shirt up and showed the men my belly. Covered in bites. I said, “I think I have the chicken pox or the measles.” I was joking but they did not think it was funny. They did not get the joke. Immediately, they responded, “Kepinding. You need to clean out your house, get rid of your bed, and stay away for a long time.”

When a man that sleeps on the floor and takes a bath with water running through a pipe from a river where others take a bath and defecate gives you advice, you need to listen. They said kapinding are dangerous–can make you very sick. The little bed bugs bite you and then poop in the bite. Which might be worse than eating the rat meatballs. I asked the cleaning ladies to clean and move out my bed. For the last 2 months, I have been sleeping on a blow up mattress in the middle of the floor with just a sheet. Do not want the bed to touch the walls as that is where the kepinding can live. I took all my clothes out too!!

This week I visited Abdul in his new office. The biology department has a beautiful new building. I went to the bathroom–which is very nice with sit on toilets. I turned around to flush and this is what I saw. Of course, the first thing I thought … “Please do not let me have something else.” I do not want anything else calling my body home.