Friday the 13th

Last evening I was invited out to dinner with colleagues and the volunteer I replaced. There was the customary mix-up on when to be where but we all made it. Dinner included beer over ice, lots of clinking of glasses, rubbery and dry meat and soup.

Arriving home about 21:30, checked e-mail and decided to go to bed. Turning on the bedroom light, I spotted a little something black on the bed, partly covered by the sheet. It must be something from my back pack, which I had emptied on the bed in the morning before leaving for work. On inspection, it was something that a dog or cat left. Yes somehow an animal had got into the house, and used my bed as a bathroom. I was NOT HAPPY.

Looking out the back door over to my landlord's house, it was as expected, dark; he and his family were already asleep. What to do? Take the easy route. I put a fan in the bedroom, blowing out to reduce the odor and went upstairs to sleep. There is no screen on the window in the upstairs bedroom, so it stayed closed against mosquitoes, set my phone alarm for 06:00 am, turned the fan on and went to sleep.

In the morning, when I turned on the water in the upstairs bathroom, there was none. The water in the bathroom had been turned off. I turned the main valve and was sprayed by a hose that had no end; this explained why the water was off. I quickly turned it off and headed for the shower downstairs

I opened the back door to see if my landlord was up. His wife was in the space between our houses. I said hello and asked for her husband. She speaks no English and did not understand what I wanted, although I did say the word "problem" in Khmer. Before long, my landlord was headed to my door. We discussed how dog or cat dodo could have happened and stripped the bed.

After work my landlord brought the washed sheets back and we made the bed.

I guess Friday the 13^th started a little early for me.