The mold is in control

I must let you all know that I have a new temporary focus living here in Samoa right now. Like many of my fellow PCV’s, I too have started the war against mold. I know that in Samoa, there is a fair share of it, but I feel like since it has been raining now for weeks on end, the mold is starting to breed to new levels. Sometimes I think I have a hold on it, but then I pick something up and it literally is covered in mold. My walls have started to get these brown streaks down the side of them. It looks like muddy water, but I know it is yet another form of mold. I tried to wipe it off with bleach water and a sponge, but it is a stucco-like wall surface and so it was eating through my sponges.

I should have known better bringing the leather journal that Mark the worm guy gave me back home. It is a beautiful journal and I use it as my scrap book. Today, I saw it lying on my shelf and it was a light green color. I quickly reached for a paper towel and wiped it down with a good dose of bleach. Many clothes I have washed and then re-washed and then soaked in bleach water. It finally gets the smell out for awhile, although I do have many clothes items that are spotted with light patches now from all the bleach.

Even my bag got wet when I was in Apia and I had to soak it in bleach as well. Read Mari’s entry on the stuff and you will understand how frustrating a war it is. I haven’t given up on my war against ants either. That still ensues, but it helps that to prevent the mold I wipe everything in bleach: ants don’t like bleach.

So, my day to day life consists of teaching, fighting the bugs and trying to make a dent in this war against mold. Mortein (bug killer) and bleach are the 2 things I could not live without right now. I think starting the dry season and even next years wet season won’t be as bad. It hasn’t rained this much in a long time in Samoa. So hopefully soon we can go back to drying our clothes on lines outside. Until then, they are drying on lines inside in air that isn’t moving all that well. The house is falling apart from underneath me. How do I stop termites? How do I stop the mold? How do I stop the ants? I am trying. I will let everyone know when I find a way to permanently eradicate them all from my house…