House sitting in North Bali has been interesting to say the least. It's hard figuring out how to live unobtrusively in someone else's house while still being comfortable enough to live there for 7 weeks.

When I got to the house (at 3am), I set up camp in what seemed like the guest room; a smaller room with a single bed and attached bath. Let me preface this by saying it's 80 degrees and humid even at 3am.

The bed had a thick comforter on it and a filthy bottom sheet. Since it was the middle of the night, I just slept (or tried to sleep) on the dirty bed. It was a hot uncomfortable sleep for sure.

First order of business the next morning was to find a sheet to cover up with. Well guess what, there are zero sheets in this house! There's no way that woman sleeps with a blanket on in this heat. I did find a curtain that may have been made out of a sheet - I used that until I found a thin airplane blanket.

The reason I use a cover at all in this heat? It's so I don't get eaten alive (as badly) by the mosquitoes. :( There are no screens on the windows or doors and the insects are on me constantly. I'm steadily swatting at little tickles and itches.

As the nights went on, I tried every combination of sleeping. I tried sleeping with the windows open and fan on, windows shut, sleeping in the front room, and finally because it's the coolest room in the house, sleeping on the hard wicker sofa that only has a 1" foam pad and is not long enough for me to lay straight on. I have lit mosquito coils, sprayed insect repellent on my blanket, tried to sleep with the noisy jet-engine super-fan pointed right on me (yeah that didn't last long).

Nothing has helped other than sleeping in the living room being the best bet of the lot temperature-wise. But still every single night I was up multiple times simply drenched in sweat. I'm not talking just sweaty and hot, I'm talking every inch of my body soaked and dripping in sweat.

It's either the heat or the mosquitoes buzzing in my ear that wake me up throughout the night. I keep the windows closed to keep the bugs down but then it's even hotter and so stuffy I can't breathe. I have had a month of being on the verge of tears and completely miserable every single bite-ridden, sweaty, sleepless night.I have considered moving the single bed outside up to the top patio and buying a mosquito net but god knows what might come crawling around during the night. That gigantic hand-sized spider in the front bedroom two nights in a row really did a number on me.

I'm honestly not even sure I should mention the enormous disgusting thing that was down the back of my shirt. I still get the shivers just thinking about it.

Then the loud screeching animal of some sort that started in the front of the house so I shut that window, then all of sudden the sound was coming from the back yard - quick, shut that door! Then it sounded like it was in the bedroom behind the shut door! It was like I was in a horror movie spinning around in the dark with my flashlight. I'm surprised I didn't trip and fall. LOLI finally had the chance to ask the neighbors how they deal with the insects and the heat. They have a mosquito net, keep all the windows and doors open, and even get cool at some point during the night!! Don't tease me with such things! Argh.

Why on earth doesn't my host have nets? I had been wondering why she didn't but figured I was doing something wrong with my window/cover/location combinations. The neighbors also told me that Dengue Fever is a huge problem here. :(

So it turns out that right where I set my backpack in her sewing room is a big piece of tulle/netting leftover from when she made a sort of screen (only sort of) for the front windows. I had about half a second of feeling badly getting into her stuff, then I totally killed it and it's the best thing ever. A few nights figuring out how to build it just right, I now have a netted haven on the small sofa. :)

My setup (and I find it kind of funny that this pathetic situation has me so pleased!) is that I have a broom, a mop, and a dustpan propping up the net so there's enough room for me to be in there without touching the sides then I tuck the net in under the cushion. The laptop sits outside on the coffee table but the mouse is inside with me so I can watch Netflix before bed. I also have my phone and flashlight inside.

I can't say that I'm sleeping through the night yet, but I can now keep the window open and those fucking mozzies can't get to me!UPDATE: I have since looked up the gigantic disgusting bug and I believe it's some sort of Australian Mole Cricket. The term cricket is way to domestic for this thing though. Look up a photo of it and imagine it down the back of your shirt late at night.

I also think the loud screeching thing may have been a monkey.

I slept without tears for the rest of my stay and had way more ambition when I finally started getting some sleep.