Alektorophobia, Bromidrosiphobia, Vermiphobia, Nosemaphobia, Thaasophobia...

...are just a few of the fears you SHOULD NOT be suffering if you want to come visit me. Or do the Peace Corps.
Definitions courtesy of http://www.planetpsych.com/zPsychology_101/disorders/phobias.htm
Alektorophobia - fear of chickens (actually, these 'H5N1' days....)
Bromidrosiphobia - fear of having an unpleasant body odor
Vermiphobia - fear of worms
Nosemaphobia - fear of illness
Thaasophobia - fear of boredom

Also courtesy of the aforementioned site, however, are a few phobias that could sure as hell help me out a bit with my work here, including:
Coitophobia - fear of sexual intercourse
Aphephobia - fear of touching or being touched
Cypridophobia - fear of venereal diseases

And finally, one which most definitely helped me out personally on Sunday evening:
Arachnephobia - fear of spiders

I was leaving my neighbors house since my parents called me and I hate being in the spotlight (they stop ALL conversation, stare, and try to stifle laughter while listening to my English conversations). So I was walking out of their courtyard, it was dark, and suddenly I felt something a bit furry scuttle up onto my foot, and instictively kicked my foot out in front of me to get rid of it. 'It,' it turns out, was something that looked an awful lot like a freakin tarantula.

I immediately grabbed a stick and killed it.

Or that is what I would like to be able to say I did. What I actually did was stare in shock for a minute, then call one of the 15-year-old girls who lives there to come look, at which point she immediately took a big stick and very skillfully, with one great thwack, killed it.

I guess it was a combination of shock and wanting to look at it - I really actually don't think I was very scared, though I definitely had goosebumps afterwards. It didn't bite me, so that's good, because apparently it would've hurt, real bad. It was my first such instance with a scary creature of these sorts, but wonder if the recently underway rainy season, and the corresponding explosion of insects, might mean this could be a recurring experience?!

Yes the rains have finally started. A few nice downpours over the weekend, all my tubs and buckets and cement pots nicely filled, and rainwater tastes GOOD. I planted, with the help of my soon-to-be-axed-but-doesn't-know-it-yet guard, squash, carrots, spinach, peanuts, beans, garlic, onions, and potatoes. Will leave the maize farming to the professionals. Same with impossible to grow, bug-infested tomatoes.

The rains have also brought illness, so beware, you Nosemaphobics. Last night I drifted to sleep, under my mosquito net, to the buzzing of I presume dozens of those malaria-infested pieces of shit. Today I have a runny nose and scratchy throat. But I have also gained a bit of weight, so no longer suspect I have intestinal worms. And no diarrhea. And probably no schistosomiasis. There, in a nutshell, you have a picture of the state of my health in Tanzania. Now I am no longer obliged to discus health problems until, say, my 50th birthday.

That's all for now. Oh, and apologies to all you Nomatophobes out there for my last blog entry [Nomatophobia - fear of names]