R.O.U.S (Rodents of Unusual Size)

For all of you who have seen The Princess Bride you may remember the large rodents you saw in the fireswamp (which were actually tiny people in rat suits) which, while scary, you never believed were real.  However, I can now tell you THEY'RE REAL!!!  They exist in Cambodia!  And I'm only SLIGHTLY exaggerating.  So now on to the story: there are mice/rats in our room!
So three nights ago Clarissa and I were peacefully asleep in our host family's house (after listening to the horrifying sound of cats fighting right outside of our window).  We thought we were safe!  Then it began.  Little sniffling sounds.  The sound of tiny feet pitter-pattering across the floor. The rustling of a bag.  The scratching of tiny paws on wooden surfaces.  It barely woke me before I returned to sleep.  We woke up the next morning to find the little trails the rodents had left behind everywhere!  So we deep cleaned the entire room (thanks to my environmental health class lessons on pest management!).  We went to sleep that night confident we'd outwitted the little monsters!!  Little did we know...
At 5am we woke up to the screeching of rats in our room! They were so loud and sounded so close, we both freaked out!  We couldn't see them and neither of us wanted to leave the safety of the bed and turn off the light.  So we made loud noises, but as soon as we stopped they'd come back out!  When we turned the lights on on our phone they eventually stopped, so we left the lights on all night!  But we didn't sleep soundly, every little itch was a rat biting us, every tiny sound was an army of rats ready to attack!!!
Last night we didn't even try to sleep with the lights off but left them on all night, and guess what, no rodent problems!  Of course, I also had my headphones in and was blasting music all night, so I may not have heard them!  But I finally saw one and it was HUGE!!!  Of course, my sleep deprived, already horrified mind may have exaggerated it slightly, but I'm pretty sure it was an actual ROUS...I have never had a fear or animals- spiders never really bothered me, I like snakes and other reptiles-- but now, I have developed a rat-phobia...thanks Cambodia.

 

 R.O.U.S. (not actually mine, but pretty close!)