UPDATE March 9, 2008

March 9, 2008

Ahh, school is back in session and fall is in the air. How do I know? The signs for HIV/AIDS testing in Jameson Hall in the main quad are up. Time for everyone to get tested? What are the letters again? ABC—Abstinence, Be faithful, use a Condom. It’s really important to use protection. Let me give you an example.

On my last visit to the States, my brother gave me something to protect my toothbrush. It’s like a little plastic, snap-close-cap that goes over the brushes-and-bristles end of the toothbrush. Now my toothbrush cup has five, count-‘em, FIVE toothbrushes. There are only three people who formally or legally live in the house. So I haven’t figured out why there are five. But they may belong to people who live there informally. Anyway, only 2 of the five have protection, one being my toothbrush thanks to my brother. So I’m in the bathroom and I’m using the restroom. I finish using the restroom and I try to turn the faucet on to wash my hands. The only problem is that the toothbrushes in the cup lean out of the cup at an angle and leave little room between the faucet handle and the toothbrushes themselves. Anyway, I finish using the services, and I go to wash my hand and as I try to grab the handle and turn it, my hand touches the head of someone’s toothbrush. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .uh-huh. Someone’s toothbrush. Do you

a) Go and tell the person, you touched their toothbrush with stained hands?

b) Pretend nothing happened and hope the person doesn’t get sick.

c) Go and buy another toothbrush that’s exactly the same and brush with it enough times so that it looks 1 month old.

d) Drop some disinfectant or soap on the handle so that after the next brush they weird taste makes her throw it away immediately.

I’ll leave you to guess what I did. Just remember. The temperature is really hot here: you don’t just sit, you sit and sweat.

The last time I sat down in one of the restrooms here, when I got up, I was surprised to see an ant crawling on the place where I was sitting. I was immediately scared because the last time I sat down with an ant, I was bitten (or at least I believe I was bitten) in such a way that I blew up and was green (Have you seen the Hitch peanut fiasco and the Incredible Hulk? Combine the two). No reaction this time. . . .yet.

UPDATE

Hey, this is Victor. That was just for those who said that I start every update with a bathroom story. The fact that those (above) stories stood out this time should remind you that you haven’t seen them in awhile. I can count at least 5 updates that didn’t start with such a story. So I’m very proud of myself. I didn’t write too much social commentary this time. Maybe you’ll like it more? I don’t know. It’s a simple update.

Things to look out for this time:

• Section at end with e-mail from Peace Corps Volunteer in Ghana who met with George Bush
• The movie section (some interesting African titles)