Smelly Stories

Tchad always keeps me on my toes. There is always a new sight, smell, or feeling I realize. Typically, I write about the things I have seen and occasionally spice it with my feelings. Let's be real, even if I was an amazing writer, you wouldn't be able to fully comprehend what we have (and will) experienced in Tchad.  But, in an attempt to "culture" my audience I have decided to write about the new fragrances I have come across. There are two, somewhat funny, stories I want to write about.  The first story took place in my hut.  

It was raining as I walked home that night.  Everything was...a little on the wet side. I did the best I could to rinse the mud off my feet before entering my hut. Continuing my usual routine, I opened the window and prepared for bed.  

I had left my phone on the floor, and turned to grab it. There was a clump of mud laying a couple centimeters from my phone. I was a little frosty because I thought I had carefully rinsed the dirt off. Apparently, I tracked mud into my hut.   

I knelt to pick up as much mud as possible trying to keep my hut clean. BIG MISTAKE!! The mound of dirt was actually poop. I don't know where it came from, how it got there...and I rather not know.  Ignorance is bliss right?!

I was choking on the pungent smell the feces emitted. It smelt like melted M&M that were smashed and mixed with rotten tomatoes and diarrhea. The poop was warm and the fumes clung to my skin. No matter how hard (or long) I scrubbed my hand, I couldn't rid myself of the smell. 

To make matters worse the smell dispersed around the room. I was being suffocated by poop! There was another pellet under my bed, but I refused to interupt it's slumber.  I didn't need another whiff of the stuff. I gave up and crawled into bed. There was nothing more I could do. (The pellet of poop is still under my bed...I refuse to touch it lol)

The second incident was more of an epiphany. As I stated before, I am a creature of habit. I always sit in the same seat at the SM hut. After a week of sitting there I realized that something smelled very Tchadian. (Most Tchadian's don't wear deodorant. Just think of your body odor and times that by 1000. That is how intense the smell is on a good day...but you grow accustom to the smell).  

Most days I would sit in my chair trying to sniff out the source. Let's be real, I always checked to see if I was the source first. Then I would start looking around my seat.  It wasn't an overpowering smell, just a light whiff once and a while.  I was so frustrated because I couldn't find the source! Don't worry I eventually found the source - unlike last time. 

We have clothes lines in the SM hut to hang our towels. They hang over every seat in the hut. Although we showered most of our must away, we were still a little ripe.  Our towels collected the rest of our BO, slowly emitting it right over our head. The hospital staff did warn us we would start smelling like the locals. Now I understand what they meant.