Well, in what may go down as one of the worst nights in Uganda, I got mugged on Saturday night. Ironically while trying to go home in the early hours of the morning so that I could make it to church on time the next day.
The thieves made off with my camera, tablet, phone, and a good deal of my inner peace. Not to mention, a brand new deo *words cannot express my disappointment*, my pocket knife *which was supposed to provide for self defense, we see how that worked out*, my nice lip gloss *that I've had for years cause I hardly ever wear lip gloss*, they keys to my house *this made things awkward later*, and worst of all my green army shoulder bag with the buttons on it *I have had this bag for ages and collected those button for so long, some of them were gifts*.
At the end of the day...
Its all material things.
The main thing is that I was not harmed. (Well, mostly, I have a few scrapes and bruises) I lost a great deal of pictures on the tablet and all of my phone contacts, both of which will be difficult to replace, but not necessarily impossible.
I was strangely not carrying my wallet, there was no money in the bag, and no IDs.
God is pretty gracious.
In other, more amusing news... I have been having a small rodent problem in my house, so the other night I picked up some mouse traps at the grocery store. Normally I don't go in for glue traps. They seem ineffective cause they don't really kill the mouse, they just stick to it... and sometimes those things get desperate and walk off with the trap and all. However, the mice I had seen were fairly small so I wasn't too worried about it.
Attempt number one: I think the rat got so desperate that it chewed off its own tail. At least that is what it appeared like. I found the trap... moved from the kitchen to the living room... with only a tail as evidence of the rats entrapment.
Attempt number two: I woke at around 11 to sounds of furious struggle. I go to the kitchen and what to my wondering eyes should appear but a rat (not a mouse, mind you, a RAT) the size of a small kitten stuck in my trap. This thing was probably the biggest wild rat I have ever seen. (and don't get me started on people who keep rats as pets... what's wrong with you???) So I stand back and do some quick math. Gauging the size of this thing, the depth of the glue in that trap, estimated strength of body muscles, adrenaline being released in his rat body, etc... and conclude that this rat may not die as intended by the makers of sticky traps with its final struggles coming to a un-gory end as it submits to the quicksand of the glue trap. There is a real and very eminent threat that this thing may in fact fight its way out of the trap and once again be lose in my apartment. This is not an idea that I openly embrace. I had no idea that things had gotten to this level and certainly have no intention of welcoming such a housemate.So I do the only logical thing. I go for my machette.
But this thing is huge, and I don't have much of an angle for a good fell swoop with a machette (which if you didn't know, is how a machete works best). So I am here hacking at this thing and its not dying. Pretty soon I realize that its me who is making noise every time the machete drops again. By this point, my heart rate and breathing pattern are verging on hysteria. I try to call a friend to come and help me, but no one is available or answering their phones. I must face this thing alone.
The struggling continues in the kitchen but I just hide in my room and pray that it is over soon. Once the movement finally stops I creep back to look. Finding the victim presumably dead I kick the entire thing outside and bar the door. Lets just say I didn't sleep very well that night.
However, the compound cats were well fed and slept just fine!
