If the title of this post puts you off, I suggest you read no further. But if you are interested then I would like to share with you a few observations and experiences. This was brought on tonight as I was particularly successful in a nightly ritual of mine. It consists of chasing mosquitoes out of my room and killing a satisfactory number of them before settling down for the night. A few always come back any way and I find a new bite about every other morning. (Although once they all ganged up on me for I counted close to 20 bites the next day). I suppose there is the concept of repellent, but the smell would probably keep me awake. However, I believe it is worth trying and I might do just that tonight. But yes, back to my original reason for glee, I was brushing my teeth and saw one of the awful things buzzing around and resolved to get it then and there. I leaped above my bed into the air and managed to squash it in a giant slap, and then came crashing down onto my bed. I would have yelled joyfully right then and there but my mouth was full of tooth paste. Oh the thrills of life that I have been missing in my germ free, pristine Virginia (not truly)!
Then there is the matter of how the floor gets so dirty. My room is in a corner of the house, off by itself, and trafficked only by myself. Yet even so it practically needs to be swept every night! I don't know where all the dirt and things come from. It seems impossible to keep anything clean in this country, where mold, germs and dirt seem to have a mind of their own and spread rapidly in all directions!
And finally, there is the way in which I sleep, or rather make my bed. I learned this trick from my neighbor friends growing up, and actually it is quite common in the ordinary homes of Venezuela. The top sheet is never tucked in at the bottom of the bed, but rather folded up and placed on the pillow, or at the foot of the bed every morning, like one would do with a blanket. Growing up we always made our beds in the typical American, Western fashion, but I have realized the most probable reason for it. It is simply too hot to have one's entire body covered at once! It is best to use the sheet like a little throw, just covering the top part of you, but letting your legs stick out and stay cool. By morning you are quite tangled up in the sheet, I'm afraid, but it is a very entertaining way to sleep. You never know what the sheet will look like when you wake up. If it got a good deal cooler than usual, you will probably be wrapped head to toe like a mummy. Or if you had an especially hot and fretful night it may very well be all balled up on the side of you and not covering you at all! `Personally, I enjoy having my feet stick out, I am much freer to toss and turn peacefully without being constrained! This could also explain why I seem more prone to mosquitoes bites on my legs than other parts of my body...
That is all for now, and I'm off to sleep for tomorrow is coming rather fast. We are getting up early to go to Guanta, where I can hopefully take a blood test for free, and then go shopping in Puerto La Cruz for some jeans for my sister before coming home. It will be a long day, and I doubt we'll be home before 4 p.m. Goodnight friends :)
p.s. May I just add that I love the way Richard Nelson Bolles uses commas, just sort of throwing them in every which way - which I'm quite prone to do! And I must also quickly add that his Parachute book is simply amazing.
No comments:
Post a Comment