I recently changed rooms at the high school. You wouldn't think there would be much of a difference between the small wooden boxes where we exist but, in fact, there are several things to consider. The benefits of my new and improved residence is that it is on the end of the hall, and has almost wrap around windows which are screened! The biggest thrill: more light = less mold. That doesn't mean that my clothes are any less mildew-y than they were before, but it makes me feel like maybe my pillow won't develop a layer of scum every 4 or 5 days.
Each room in the high school seems to have it's own personality. Ryan's room, for instance, has proven to be the living place of some of the most gigantic cockroaches in the Amazon. Megan's room, on the other hand, was the place where grasshoppers came at night to say their final words, and leave their final marks on the mortal world. In the morning, she would sweep out a good 10 to 20 grasshoppers, and find several fresh grasshopper excrement stains on her mosquito net. Thank the divine Creator for mosquito nets.
You might find interesting some of the things that were going on in my OLD room of which I was unaware for 5 months:
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| At first glance, this may seem to you a normal, well worn climbing shoe... |
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| ... but on closer observation, it has become a nest for baby spiders. |
We sometimes wonder how our presence in the world has changed the Earth's natural cycles, ecosystems, biospheres... We see that big cities have been invasive on many levels. They have introduced pollution, taken away habitats, and created stresses for humans and animals. But even as we try to get "closer to nature," or to get away from the destructive nature of a "Western lifestyle," we can see that our very presence is taxing on the environment.
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| I don't think that crayons are a staple in the normal diet of a jungle cockroach. |
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| But they have certainly taken a liking to mine which had been sitting on my top bunk for 4 months. |
I'm fascinated by the work it takes to keep our habitat habitable here in the middle of a web of ecosystems and species of flora and fauna. The jungle seems to swallow things whole. If we leave the banana plantation to fend for itself for too long, it is overgrown with stinging nettle and other tall grasses and tree saplings. One old classroom which is no longer in use is nearly unrecognizable as a thatched roof hut, as the elements have taken their toll over the past year. The dorm building that is vacant this year has been infested with termite nests. Since we are currently in a gap year, and have only between 8 and 10 students at the high school at any given time, we are unable to keep the school from getting a bit rundown.
As humans we really are a quite invasive species. Even as we try to live in conjunction with nature, we bring a great amount of stress to it. Even to as (seemingly) small of a degree as our crayola crayons.
