A bit of silliness, in bullet-point form

Sometimes I wonder what I must look like to my neighbors. I feel like they watch me from their windows – if they had blinds they would crack and peer through them – and say to their spouses, “That crazy white woman is wearing a red and silver sweater vest and green, flamingo-print boxers, and she’s pacing around her front lawn/red clay area barefoot, holding a kitten.” That’s what they would’ve said this afternoon, if they had the occasion to look up for a moment from washing clothes, preparing matapa, and/or feeding babies. The outfit isn’t as strange here as the kitten part. The kitten knows where his home is. He’s claimed my bed, too – his basket wasn’t good enough – so it’s a good thing Paul and Eli brought over flea shampoo. He is oh-so-soft and mostly bug free now. He is also climbing up my mosquito net.
Good things, in bullet-point form!
• School may or may not start tomorrow, and if it does I have a lesson planned about the characteristics of mamíferos (mammals), and those specific to human beings. It should be riveting. My biology text says that human beings are the only specie capable of symbolic thought, but that’s bullshit because gorillas can learn sign language. They can also paint, and fecal matter has been exhibited in museums before, so I don’t see why feces throwing can’t be an art form, as well, if the feces are well aimed. It’s certainly a form of expression, and the biology text says, “O Homem é capaz de comunicar, expressando a sua criatividade de maneira artística através da pintura, da dança, da escrita, da música, etc.” Throwing fecal matter was implied by the “etc”.
• I don’t actually have a second good thing in mind, but I’ll use this bullet point to say that I just saw the rat’s tail flick up in the rafters, and Roux – adorable as he is – is just as jaded as a Mozambican human about rats. He’s retired from testing his claws on the mosquito net, and is sleeping on my foot. I – as is required of me as a new owner of a small, cute thing by Clause 2 of the So You’re the New Owner of a Small, Cute Thing Manual – will continue to transcribe every detail of the kitten’s existence for the next few weeks. He just blinked; can you believe it?
• Wait, there’s something else that is good. Paul and Eli hired some guy to build the Mozambican version of a copula in the front yard, and it’s going to be amazing. Also, I’m excited to see other PCVs again. They are coming up on Friday or Saturday, depending on the person, for a pig roast on the missionary’s compound – which I was at for lunch today, and Sigi continues to be a great cook and sympathetic host. I wish it were possible for the cats up in Nampula province to come down, but it would take them four days to travel.