Since ‘The Great Bule Room Flip of 2012’ occurred, a cute pack of mice have eaten a tiny hole through a barricade of plywood boards nailed to the lower half of my bedroom door intended to prevent things that crawl from entering. Last night I stayed up late (11p), watching mice surreptitiously excuse themselves from my room. At first I thought there was just one. I pretended I didn’t see it, hoping it would make a painless escape, all vulnerable and out in the open. We made eye contact. Intimidated by my subtle acknowledgement, the mouse sprinted back behind my dresser. ‘Shit’, looking at the time, it’s getting late. I don’t want to go to bed knowing there are mice celebrating HangOutFest2012 while I sleep. Hell, what if they make it up to my bed and find cozy warm spot next to my head or something? The same thing happens again, and again. Mouse appeared, mouse hid, mouse appeared, mouse hid again, this time closer to the door, behind my little basket of shower stuff, and makes a break for the hole. ‘Phew’ I can go to sleep now. I relax on my stomach, peering from my bed, I fix my eyes on the hole for a few minutes. A mouse aspiring to enter my wonderful sleeping quarters from outside of my door, cautiously peers in, I stomp my foot, startle it. Its head disappears, I think to myself ‘yeah right, you little shit!’ I block the hole momentarily with a thick piece of scrap fabric, only to discover there’s more mice in my room. Because the hole was blocked, this confused them. Leading them to frantically scurry around, attempting to find a way out. Inevitably, the aforementioned is repeated two more times.
Indonesia has changed me in many positive ways. One example is that I no longer fear confronting things that have beady little eyes, sometimes scaly, sometimes furry, sometimes creatures with far too many legs for me to keep track of, things that bite, that carry diseases, and most often things that leave lots of little poop droppings on my floor minutes within sweeping. DAMN YOU CICAKS!!!!!!! Scorpions. Cute mice. Massive nasty rats. Fat centipedes. Sprawling spiders that span the size of my palm. And then the rare bodiless goat, that’s right, just the head. What up. These creatures have just become a part of my life; I was briefly entertained by this fact. I wondered what exactly my friends and family back home could have been doing at that exact moment as I played hide and seek with the mice. And how different our lives have become…
Cheers to a brave mice. Cheers to a brave Elle.
((COMPLETE SIDE NOTE)) This drink in my hand is fermented coconut water, it vaguely tastes like Kombucha. It’s fizzy, its subtle smells burns my nose a little bit, it’s sweet and bitter. It’s homemade. I’m diggin’ it. One morning a student pulled a 2L (used Aqua) bottle of this concoction out of his backpack for one of the administrators at my school. I’m told that if it’s left alone in an air-sealed container, it will quickly turn into a strong liquor. Say W-H-AAAAA-T. But I thought it was against the Al-Qur’an to consume alcohol?! I bring this up with some teachers but they assure me that it’s 100% natural, THEREFORE it’s tidak masalah (no problem). I’m confused. They all insisted I try it. I would like more please, preferably in liquor form, kay thanks. 
From Charlottesville to Indonesia 