Mosquito Indiana Jones

I’m doing an absolute disservice for myself by trapping mosquitos in my mosquito net with me at night. It’s accidental, of course, but I woke up one day with bites all over my right leg. This misfortune has made me question my competency for life, or to be more specific, my competency for surviving Peace Corps service.

How does one make preparations for success only to have those preparations fail? I’ve begrudgingly accepted that no matter how prepared, there’s no such thing as a sure thing. I’ve accepted that sometimes things just happen; in those cases, timing is everything.

That mosquito must have already been hiding in the covers or pulled a crazy good Indiana Jones as I was stuffing the ends of my net underneath my mattress. Regardless, it’s just another reminder to stay on my toes in this country.

Figuratively, Mosquito Indiana Jones will forever undercut my attempts for success. I like to imagine that his role is the self-doubt that naturally manifests from attempting to adapt existing skills to new jobs in different cultures. He’ll make me nervous before a big language test. He’ll give me food poisoning before an important social function. He may even be there as I board the plane back to America in two years. He’ll always be there, and all I can do is work hard just to stay in the game. All I can do is try to find ways to close the mosquito net before he can fly in. Basically, I’m on the defense until I can figure out the rules here.

Although I have to admit I started to overcome my fear of Mosquito Indiana Jones when a cockroach fell from the ceiling and onto my head. Apparently, I’ve got bigger things to worry about.