Randomness

Since I got many complaints about me not writing in a long time I’ll give you some extra bits and pieces to read during a hot cup of coffee/tea behind your desk while taking a break from work…

Cooking
Now that I am living in my own house with my own kitchen and that I do not have the luxury anymore of people cooking for me I actually have to cook. I mean I’ve been cooking for about 10 years now. But then there is cooking and cooking. To give you an illustration of my cooking in Holland. It can be two things either: opening the fridge, get a pack out, get a fork, smash some holes in the top, time the microwave and press start; Or read the steps on the back of the package, add exactly the amount of ingredients as described, mingle it, bake, cook or fry and finished!
Well none of that is possible here, every single package comes without a description on how to use it or what to do with it. Or it is in Portuguese which doesn’t really work for me either. Challenge! Next to that I’m still trying to be creative with the products that are available here, not very much. Rice, noodles, peas, ketchup, tomato paste, canned sardines, hotdog sausages, onions, garlic, tuna, mixed veg in a can, flour, sugar, salt and a set of spices. That’s basically it. Of course there is a possibility to buy half a cow or a whole chicken. But would you know what to do with it? Bones and intestines and stuff? I always buy my fillets at home. And even if I knew what to do, would you eat a whole chicken in one day (remember no fridge…)?
The last couple of weeks I have been quite creative, stir frying things with some spices here and there and rice. Trying to make a sauce with Maizena, something my mom always used and that I never understood the purpose of (now I do). Some sort of pasta. Remarkably often though the meals are vegetarian or with tuna, the whole chicken and cow thing, no not integrated enough yet I would assume.

Bats
What kind of roof would you like? That was a question I was asked when they were building my house. My options were thatch or zink. Well I didn’t really know since both materials aren’t too familiar to me. I could imagine that all kinds of creatures would like to nestle between the leaves so I was less positive about thatch. Zink it is.
After all maybe not a very good choice. Of all the little creatures that could live with you bats are of the most annoying kind. They make so much noise, beeping and banging against the roof, and cover the place with droppings. Sometimes they fall, get disoriented and then start flying around your room banging into everything that they can bang into.
Next to that they still have that scary vampire image. That thought is not completely misplaced. Guyana has a vampire bat, which feeds on horses, cows and people. A mosquito net doesn’t seem to stop them. Those are the last ones I want in my house.
The bats are clearly not acceptable so I started an investigation: How to get rid of bats? There are several theories. 1: You will never get rid of bats (obviously I didn’t hear this one); 2: Use pine tree oil, soak some cloths in it and stuff them into the holes were they like to sit; 3: Get razor grass (as sharp as it sounds – gloves recommended) and stuff it into the holes. Today we have first tried option 2. I will follow up on the results.

Guyanese wisdom
Wandering around my yard. Looking down, not because I’m feeling sad or anything but I am still afraid of stepping on things that I shouldn’t be stepping on. Snakes for example. My eye catches a cement plaque under a couple of leaves. Cleaning it with my feet a shock goes through my body. What if this is the Rupununi version of a grave stone? That would actually mean that some dead body is buried in my yard. Oh my god no! Sleepless nights! After cleaning it though I calmed down and caught myself smiling. The plaque provided me with a fine piece of Guyanese wisdom: We run thing, thing nu run we… Whoever put it there and for what reason remains a mystery. At least I know what my motto for 2011 will be.

Remarkable questions
A change of setting also implicates a change of thoughts that are running through ones mind. Thoughts you would never think of in a different setting. Questions that you do not know the answer to but do seem important enough to ask out loud. No, you don’t quite understand what I am talking about? Ok:
- How do cockroaches reproduce and how fast?
- Do frogs poop?
- Why is there a dead frog in my kettle?
- Is garlic related to onions?
- Do caiman eat people during the day?
- Would caiman like white meat more?
- Why are snakes attracted by used sanitary napkins?
- Why does my motorbike always stop working whenever I go through puddles?
- Could anyone please help me get my freaking motorbike out of the mud?
- How long will the light bulb keep burning now that it’s raining so much and the solar panels aren’t catching any sun?
- Why does the bleach doesn’t seem to get my clothes any whiter?
- Why did I bring any white clothes at all with all the orange dust around?
- Why are there cockroaches living in my wardrobe? Since when do they like to sit around clean clothes?
- How did those ants get through the seal of this container right into the sugar?
- What is an inverter?
Anybody answers? Please let me know!