Monday, October 19, 2009

Killing the rat

Killing the rat.
The school started a rampage against the rat population living in our educational facility. It began by putting out sticky pad traps. These traps are not affective in killing the rat but in catching it. Seeing how the traps cost money, the Cambodian staff thought it was best to save as many of the used traps as possible. So after a rat was caught on the sticky trap, it was ripped off. The ripping generally killed the rat.
One day, a rat was caught in the school office. When the maintenance worker came to collect the dead rodent, he needed to dispose of the carcass. As you do with most waste in Cambodia, he just threw it out the window. However, this particular window was above the children’s playground. Yes, he threw the rat out of the window and into the playground. A dead rat.
Of course the expatriate office staff screamed when he did this. He was sent to retrieve the dead rat and dispose of it properly.
Luckily no children were walking under the window during the original “disposal” of the rat. If I had been walking under that window when the rat was thrown out… Well, I would not be writing you from Cambodia; I’d be writing you of my departure.

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