A Peaceful Home

We’ve a peaceful house.  Or so my daughter tells me.  We found geckos in our house.  Last night it was 2. Tonight it’s 5.  I can see one peeking at me right now from behind the A/C unit. Z says, if you have geckos in your home, you have a peaceful home.  They are cute when you see them expectedly, but disconcerting when you enter a room and flip on a light and they scatter.  Or, like last night, open the trash can lid only to have one leap out ferociously onto the wall.  I may have screamed like a little girl.

They mean us no harm, though,  and may be doing good by keeping the bugs down.  This is a help because, in addition to the large beetles of last week, we discovered tiny ants so small that they are only visible when light hits them at a certain angle.  At least to my eyes.  The faux granite countertops further disguises them. They have an uncanny ability to detect sugar from long distances.

Imagine my surprise when I gave my used glass of Coca cola a quick rinse and filled it with water for a drink.  Those ants that I didn’t gulp down leaped off the glass onto my chin and shirt.  This is most a most unpleasant sensation.

So, I am now obsessively spraying and wiping the counter tops with every pass through the kitchen. I’m hoping the geckos will come in handy.

Shopping at the Blok M shopping center.  This is less posh and more for locals.  It is full of small, individual shops with clothing and jewelry and cell phone repairs etc.  Bargaining is expected, but prices were already pretty good from what I could see. There is also a grocery.  We like the prices which are cheaper than the expat market.  But of course things are more unfamiliar and require some close reading of labels.  

Reading t-shirts that people wear is also entertaining, like the one we saw today.  “Michael Goes Plastic Surgery”  That’s it. No logo, no number, no website. Just black and white like those Frankie Goes to Hollywood shirts I knew in high school

Also, we came across a large display of Chocolate Sprinkles.  4 or 5 brands of them, varying from Dark to Milk to Festive.  In the world of grocery shelf space this was disproportionate.  Like 3 feet top to bottom of chocolate sprinkles.  Suggested uses include, ice cream, of course, but also, milk, milkshakes, cookies, dessert rice and toast. How are these people so thin?