An Unwelcome Hitchhiker

First of all, let me apologize for being such a stranger lately. The past couple of months have been busy and between adjusting to a new job in a new country and getting to know new people, the blog somehow kept getting pushed farther down my to-do list. A longer post will be coming soon, but to give you all the very abridged version of events: I'm now working in Southern Sudan and have spent the past month "in the field."

This particular field site - Ganyliel - is a bit more swamp than field, which means it's more isolated than our other sites, but it's certainly been an interesting month and is an absolutely beautiful area (with some truly amazing birdlife). Luckily for me I arrived at the tail end of the rainy season, so I have been able to get around a bit and have also gotten to play Pied Piper to troops of giggling kids on my evening runs. Ganyliel isn't very big (even saying that is a bit of an overstatement!) so there's really only one option for a running route: down the airstrip to where the ground starts to turn marshy and then back again. It's not a particularly exciting route, but it is a fun way to get some exercise while entertaining all the people I pass along the way ... a win-win for everyone :-)

Or at least it was ... until Tuesday.  Tuesday, I went for my normal run with a few stretches and crunches thrown in at the end. Then I went to take a shower, took off my tank top and, well, take a look below to see what I found hanging to the INSIDE of my shirt.

That's right.  A bat!!!!!  (To answer the inevitable questions - yes, I have gotten the rabies vaccine and no, I don't have any idea how I managed to not notice that there was a small furry mammal hitching a ride in my clothing!)