Oh... So They DO Bite

I'm not sure how obvious last month's entries were, but to say the least, it wasn't the best month of my life. Despite my birthday and other lovely things that happened, March was slightly faka-sucky. (Remember, in Tongan, faka is a prefix for 'like'). So after spending two weeks in the capital with all my PC buddies, I felt rejuvenated, motivated, and more focused on teaching, my village, secondary projects, and life as a PCV. It felt nice, having goals and an organized mindset. So I got home on Saturday morning, slept all day, ate, slept all night, and woke up with the feeling of a new day.
Accompanied by 20 bed bug bites around my waist.
I know. Bed bugs?! What the hey?
I thought my body reacted poorly to mosquito bites... the welts are just now going away along with the titanic itch it brought. During the day when I would get sweaty and hot, the bites would swell up to big itchy puffs and just tease me. I hated even wearing a skirt--the fabric just teased all those bites, and I was miserable.
On Sunday night, I guess the bed bugs were full of my waist-flesh, so they didn't come out to play, but between Monday and Tuesday night, I killed nearly 30 of them between my thumb and pointer finger. I was not a happy girl. I would wake up in the middle of the night, paranoia coming out my ears, and would shine my torch (flashlight... I've picked up other English lingo and it's fun!) all over my bed until I felt settled enough to go back to sleep.
On TuesdayI asked the PC Medical Officer what I could do because I was freaking out and wanted to be rid of the bugs. Clearly it's obvious to wash your sheets and hang them out to dry in the sun, because the sun bleaches the sheets and kills the bed bugs. It sounds simple in Clean Life, but in Tongan life, not so.
1. My other pair of sheets are also dirty, and I have no washing machine.
2. We haven't had running water since I've been back, so a neighbor's washing machine is pointless.
3. Hand washing (which I did yesterday) was impossible the first half of the week because I worked during the day, ate, prepared for lessons, taught night classes, went to church... AND it rained off and on Mon. and Tues, so they would never dry. Then what?
So Tuesday night the PCMO suggested I spray my bed with Mortein, the insect remover/Pesticide, to kill the bugs. I was hesitant. Pesticide? On my bed? That has to be not...good, right? So I sprayed the bed frame with the red mortein, which kills bugs on-the-spot but has no long term effects. More bugs came out. Freak-out mode increases. I text the PCMO back again and she says, "Black Mortein, spray your bedding."
The black Mortein, if you recall, is what killed the molokau, many cockroaches, etc. in my "Molokau Massacre" entry. And she wants me to spray this shenanigans on my bed? Well, I did. I sprayed my mattress, the comforter (which I sleep on top of, with sheets over it for extra padding), and my sheet. I did not spray my pillows, thank God, but I doused my entire sleeping area with super-strong Pesticide that left my throat raw, my nose burning, and my eyes fearing for their sight. Bad idea.
Luckily, I didn't die, and I don't think I got Pesticide poisoning. My friends Paul and Bre nearly died out of shock and unbelief...they were slightly afraid for my life and doubted the advise given to me. However, I only woke up with what I call a "Pesticide hangover", i.e. a killer headache. I slept with the fan directly on my face and pretty much didn't move an inch the whole night. I slept on top of my sheet with a fresh blanket wrapped around me.
Yesterday, it was sunny and windy, so I washed everything (sans the comforter b/c it's huge), hung it to dry, and then put it back on my bed. Fresh, clean, bed bug-free sheets.
Still no running water yet, but hopefully on Saturday I can do a massive load of laundry. I totally need too--most of my skirts have mold spots on them, and I'm running out of undies. And I'm totally tired of bucket baths.