I got a cat

ok so the biggest news since i last wrote is that i got a cat to kill mice in order to protect me from snakes. her name is Mona. she's rather talkative (that's as nice as i can put it) and has so far proved to be more of a pain than pleasure. For example, she cried so much in the beginning that my villagers were absolutely convinced that i did not feed her and brought over millet for to her to eat (which was incredibly nice of them, one more reason i am so thankful for my awesome village). after dropping the food off to her, they would then explain to me that i needed to feed my cat and i would then bring out the food that i give her to show them that in fact i do feed her. they would look at the food and then look at the cat and decide that Mona really just wants to leave and go back to her mom. Mona has proved to be a complete embarrassment to the feline species as she has now run away from two baby mice (which i never had before i got her, but her food seems to attract them) and is also afraid of baby chickens. thus she is the complete opposite of what i had hoped. i think the chances of snakes coming into my concession have increased instead of decreased...great.

In other news: its actually super cold here in the desert, especially at night. I have even had to sleep inside my hut a couple times. According to my thermometer it can get to about 45-ish degrees during the coldest part of the night.

I continue to go to the health hut everyday. I help with prenatal exams, baby weighings, explaining the three food groups and lately i have been in charge of shaming the women who don't put hats and other warm clothing on their babies. It's been rather exciting this past month because we just got two nursing students at our health hut, so it's been fun to hang out with people my own age who do not have kids.

My villagers continue to be amazing people. they built me a garden where we have tomatoes, eggplants, carrots, lettuce and a whole bunch of other plants that i cant understand. they seem to (so far) be growing well, but i actually have no idea because i am not sure what any of those plants are supposed to look like, so i am guessing i have more weeds than anything. a woman brings water to the garden twice a day and i am in charge of watering the plants/weeds. i'll let you know what happens.

So things are going so well and i am really enjoying my work. i hope all of you are doing as well as i am! talk to you later!
love always e