It rained,again. We made plans to go shopping at the big mall I hadn’t been to yet then see a movie and eat dinner. Well once everyone was finally ready we had to go to walmart first. I think my dad was grumpy from waiting for us to get ready. He was talking trash to all the other cars on the road and he wasn’t driving. I’m in the back seat just trying to be quiet and look at all the buildings. There is a car pulled half out into our lane and my dad says, in a thicker English accent than usual, “What the fuck you doin man?” Just picture a 67 year old man, you’ve hardly heard swear, saying with an accent all chopped up and improper like. It was hard not to laugh out loud. Walmart bought a supermarket chain called “Big” and didn’t change the name. I saw equate brand stuff though, so it must be true. We made it to the mall. We saw quantum of solace. Which is so action packed. I think maybe there was 10 min of dialogue in the whole movie, maybe 5 min. It was pretty cool. Not as good as that Angelina jolie assassin movie, but good action as far as a bond movie goes. We ate dinner before the movie in the mall food court. The little food places are like restraunts they had you menus and cook the food fresh. We had chicken, but it was thigh meat that was grilled in oil on a flat top with the skin on…I was different. I gagged a couple times. We had rice with black beans, French fries, and a cold salad of steamed broccoli, carrots and lettuce. My dad bought a couple of cheese burgers that were topped with some diced onion and bbq sauce. They were the places special cause they don’t have bbq sauce here. The burgers weren’t as good as burger king, it reminded me of a rodeo burger, but like half the flavor and the patty of meat was light colored like it was turkey…The black beans were hella good and so were the fries. MMM French fries. After the movie we had to rush home to feed the baby birds. Later that night my dad made grilled cheese sandwiches and I offered to make my own(many of you may know I like my grilled cheeses well done but not burned) he said no and feeling like I probably should tell my dad how to make a sandwich I left him to it. It put it on a plate and handed it to me. I opened it up the cheese slices were mostly still intact and not even warm. He grins and says “that’s what you call partially melted.” He always makes jokes like that. My dad is hilarious, but it’s my kind of humor. It weird realizing you are exactly like your parents.
So far this trip has taught me not to be afraid of international travel. A whole bunch of other shit along those same lines, culture and junk like that. The best thing, so far, is learning about my family. I didn’t spend much time with my dad, ever. Sounds totally cheesey, but my dad loves me. It’s surprisingly comforting. Partially melted. That is hilarious.
Oh now, lets talk about roaches. Hmm, where should I start? The ones in the street or the one that flew into my face? Let’s allow for some build up. So in Argentina I saw a roach walking in the gutter. In brazil I saw a roach running down the side walk and I saw one running out from under our garbage bin. Now, these aren’t like American roaches and they aren’t like those really nasty African ones from fear factor either. They are just like American ones, same color and shape, but they are big. Like bigger, beefier, and taller with their creepy legs all scuttling about. Nasty. So, I haven’t researched this, but some can fly. I don’t know if it’s the same bug or what, but it looks exactly the same and either I packed it here from argentina or the nasty thing came in my window or through the hole in the wall from the air conditioner. I’ll set the scene now. It’s my first or second night in brazil. I get into bed. I put on my headphones and my little eye mask thing and lay down to drift off to sleep. Some time later, I’m still away and I’m looking through the little hole that is the space between my nose and cheek. There is a lot of light coming into the room from the window. The jesus light is shining and the curtain on my window is practically transparent. From my left side I see a flash of brown and feel something hit my head. I immediately jump up and thrash around hitting off whatever it is. I rip off the mask look through the blankets and on the floor. I didn’t find anything so I assume I am just imaging the whole thing. I figure it was partially a fleeting dream and I send myself back to sleep. Get up the next day and don’t think about it at all. Hang out in my room sleep that night. The next day after that I get up and need something out of my backpack. I reach in just like I did the day before pull out one thing, nope that’s not it…Reach in again and look down and see a flash of brown with antennas wiggling. FUCK! I throw the bag on the floor and sit on the bed standing guard over it. My dad is in one shower and Sonia is in the other. I am alone. It was like 15-20 min til my dad came out. I called my dad into my room and told him there was a nasty bug in my bag and would he please get it. He starts asking me all kinds of questions and then I remember seeing my dad freaking out about bugs when I was a kid. He was scared too. And I mean it’s not like I’m at home and this is a regular spider. I can’t do this foreign monster in, I need rescueing. My dad looks in the bag and tries to give up. “It’s in there dad, I promise. It’s close to the top. It’s brown”. “AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” There is a scream, not from me. It came from my dad and I went running. I holler, “ did you get it?”, from the living room. Of course he didn’t get it the next 3-4 minutes was my dad and I taking turns screaming like children running from this GIANT freak bug with its gross antennas and you could hear it running on the tile floor, it was huge like 2 ½-3 inches long with it gross long legs. Then real help arrived. My tiny, probably not even 5 foot stepmom, comes in asking what all the yelling is about. We point out the bug and she got some tissue. I was amazed there was no way I would even image just grabbing it! She would have, but it ran under the bed and she got a can of bug spray and the roach was not long for this world after that. My dad was the clean up crew once it was dead. He used lots of toilet paper to cover it, then used a broom to sweap it into a dust pan and walk it to the garbage can. He squawked and screamed the whole time. He was better than me. I stood in the corner hoping he wasn’t gonna tease me by chasing me with it. He didn’t. Now that’s love, right there. Now my only bug worries are the mosquito-well the local bug that leaves bites the same as a mosquito but its something else. Apparently they are coming into the room at night, biting the shit out of me and then taking off. Smarter than American mosquitoes. No screens on the windows here and no AC. So itchy bites for me. It’s still raining, but it like it better than the sun. Ever since I burned on that cloudy day with sunscreen on, I’ve been scared. I bought a straw hat with a big brim and when it’s sunny I wear long sleeves and sun screen on my face. My dad has skin cancer. When I got here had all these sores on his face, arms and legs. Some doctor friend of his burned off the cancer spots with acid. I remember seeing my dad bathing in the sun at least a million different times. Last summer I took to it myself. I won’t be doing that anymore. Evil sun. I have way too many past sunburns. Bad, bad sunburns.
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