29.8.07

Stories from the Past; Peace Corps Lessons Learned

1) I GOT ATTACKED BY A MONKEY. I was at the Waterfall Bar with fellow volunteers. At this place they had a little monkey. We would save a little of the end of our beers and give it to the said monkey. The monkey enjoyed the cervezas. It would spill the dregs of the beer on the ground and then lap it up. Me being the lover of animals and a capacity-builder by trade, I decided to have a one-on-one workshop with the monkey. How to drink from a bottle with optimum efficiency. But when I tried to grab the bottle to show it how it attacked me. Monkeys are cute little creatures but tend to look like a whirlwind of teeth and claws when provoked. I know now, not to ever take a beer from a monkey.

2) MY PIT LATRINE COLLAPSED. I was in my pit latrine near my hut. I needed to go. After dropping my trousers my floor decided to disintegrate into a much larger whole. The whole got much wider and I struggled to not land in a whole filled with my excrement. What saved me from a fate worse than death was the hours of quality time I had spent watching kung fu films with my roomate, Greg. Using my extensive knowledge of archaic martial art technique I shot my hands out at a lightning speed and grabbed the walls. It was fast. The floor continued to dissolved but I managed to grab the necessary anchors to prevent me from falling. I made it. I now know that something as simple as watching TV can save your life.

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