VICTORY!!!

So for about a week and a half now, I have been plagued by a rat. Not even multiple ones, just one rat waking me up every night and making me watch the same episodes of  America's Next Top Model over and over again. I would wake up in the morning and find that the wax block poison I put out has been chewed and over the past week, this rat has eaten 3 blocks. 3 blocks is supposed to kill 3 rats. Not one, damnit.

So last week, at the beginning of this rat saga, I wake up to go to the bathroom. Normal occurance until I saw a rat crawl down the wall RIGHT next to my bed where my head would be. I freaked. I called for the girls to come and get it. Tamandani comes in, and I have lost my words. There is nothing I can say in any language. Chichewa, English, Spanish, all is lost to me. I am trying to hand her my flashlight and tell her it is under my bed. By this time, the rat has probably already ran out the now open door. Tamandani proceeds to check my entire room and then says, "Madam, kulibe mbewa" "Madam, there is no mouse" (I don't know the word for rat). So I have convinced myself I was hallucinating at this point and I calm down and go into my kitchen room. WHERE THE RAT IS CLIMBING ON THE BARS OF MY WINDOW!!! Bless and Tamandani tell me to go in my room and shut my door. They couldn't catch it, but they chased it out of the house. Which I suppose was enough.

The next night, I go to bed after everyone and their mother has reassured me that the mouse/rat has been effectively scared off. But at 11pm, the mouse/rat comes back. I saw him climbing the rafters in my bedroom...I don't know why they choose my room when they can go in Bless and Tamandani's who are not afraid of him. So I had locked my door. I call for Bless and Tamandani and Tamandani comes to my door. I am frozen in my bed and can't get out. Tamandani is trying to open the door and speaking chichewa and saying Madam. I have no idea what else she said, but I just know that I heard Madam. I finally get out of bed and open the door and the rat/mouse is again no where to be found. Again, the girls find it in the kitchen and chase it out.

I set out wax poison blocks and leave for the weekend to work on Camp SKY stuff. I come back and while I heard scritching and scratching most nights, I didn't actually see the mouse/rat. So I just tried to wear myself out so I wouldn't hear it and so I'd be too tired to wake up to go to the bathroom. It never worked, but I didn't see it!

Last night, I stayed up until 11 until I literally could not keep my eyes open anymore and I slept through the night! Yes!

Turns out, it's because the rat is very sluggish now, and also pretty stupid.

I found the rat. I found it! It was living IN my door. There is a hole at the bottom that I had assumed was where the previous mice/rats just walked through, but NOPE, the rat had crawled inside and was hanging out there. I saw its disgusting little feet and its gross tail sticking out from under the door. Tamandani didn't believe me when I called her to come and kill it for me. Bless also didn't believe me. But my daughters very awesomely took care of it. Thank God I adopted these girls (in Malawi, I am now considered a mother because I have girls living with me).