April 27, 2008
Greetings from Penang … I was thinking, wow, its been a really long time since I write back home, but what am I going to write about? Life here is normal, just like back in the States. Then I was talking to a new family, and remembering what a shock it was to move here, and all the apparent differences, but, I thought, really they are minor, life here is just normal…I have nothing to write home about.
Then I was at home last Thursday night, Fernando was in India again, and I was on a conference call at 2am (OK, maybe not that normal, but still, you get used to it) and I noticed that there was a bug flying around, so I looked up, and actually there were hundreds, if not thousands, of bugs swarming inside my living room. And I remembered, “Oh, its that time of year again, Kanthi said I should turn off the lights and they’ll go away” So I turn off all the lights... working in the dark at 2am to avoid a swarm inside your living room... normal right???, and then all thousand bugs swarm towards me & the light of my computer screen. So, I’m adaptable, I turn the light on in the TV room to cause a distraction, and then I notice that millions of bugs are entering my house from under my front door. No problem… I quickly wet a towel; stuff it under the door, finish my conference call … just another normal night in Penang .
So the next day, I tell my friend (a more experienced expat) this story, and then she one ups me… Apparently that afternoon, she was alone in her bedroom (her husband is in Indonesia setting up an NGO) and saw a 9 inch long, 2 inch wide poisonous black centipede with bright orange legs crawling on the floor. She frantically calls her 12 year old son, who brings the bug spray, but this is no cock-a-roach and after 2 minutes of direct hits, the bug is only a little wobbly, and decides to make an escape up her curtain. At this point she is hysterical and drops the bug spray. Her fearless son, picks up the can and continues spraying… the bug is finally wet enough that he looses his grip an falls into a puddle of spray on the floor and starts convulsing… and squirms under her bed! She is now ready to move out of her house, but her brave 9 year old daughter grabs the broom and dustpan and scoops up the still convulsing poisonous bug.
Using logic that can only come from a mother, she tells the daughter not to throw the bug away in her yard because the birds will eat it and die. Instead they should walk down the street and toss the bug in the road, (Apparently dead birds down the street are not a problem for her.)
So her 3 kids proudly walk down the street with their half dead poisonous 9 inch centepede in a dustpan. And then, the 11 year old, who up to now had been silently watching, and thinking, mentions that bug spray is flammable! And since burning things in the middle of the road is quite common in Penang , they proceed to torch the bug!
Like I said, just another normal day in Penang … Nothing to write home about ;-)
Greetings from Penang … I was thinking, wow, its been a really long time since I write back home, but what am I going to write about? Life here is normal, just like back in the States. Then I was talking to a new family, and remembering what a shock it was to move here, and all the apparent differences, but, I thought, really they are minor, life here is just normal…I have nothing to write home about.
Then I was at home last Thursday night, Fernando was in India again, and I was on a conference call at 2am (OK, maybe not that normal, but still, you get used to it) and I noticed that there was a bug flying around, so I looked up, and actually there were hundreds, if not thousands, of bugs swarming inside my living room. And I remembered, “Oh, its that time of year again, Kanthi said I should turn off the lights and they’ll go away” So I turn off all the lights... working in the dark at 2am to avoid a swarm inside your living room... normal right???, and then all thousand bugs swarm towards me & the light of my computer screen. So, I’m adaptable, I turn the light on in the TV room to cause a distraction, and then I notice that millions of bugs are entering my house from under my front door. No problem… I quickly wet a towel; stuff it under the door, finish my conference call … just another normal night in Penang .
So the next day, I tell my friend (a more experienced expat) this story, and then she one ups me… Apparently that afternoon, she was alone in her bedroom (her husband is in Indonesia setting up an NGO) and saw a 9 inch long, 2 inch wide poisonous black centipede with bright orange legs crawling on the floor. She frantically calls her 12 year old son, who brings the bug spray, but this is no cock-a-roach and after 2 minutes of direct hits, the bug is only a little wobbly, and decides to make an escape up her curtain. At this point she is hysterical and drops the bug spray. Her fearless son, picks up the can and continues spraying… the bug is finally wet enough that he looses his grip an falls into a puddle of spray on the floor and starts convulsing… and squirms under her bed! She is now ready to move out of her house, but her brave 9 year old daughter grabs the broom and dustpan and scoops up the still convulsing poisonous bug.
Using logic that can only come from a mother, she tells the daughter not to throw the bug away in her yard because the birds will eat it and die. Instead they should walk down the street and toss the bug in the road, (Apparently dead birds down the street are not a problem for her.)
So her 3 kids proudly walk down the street with their half dead poisonous 9 inch centepede in a dustpan. And then, the 11 year old, who up to now had been silently watching, and thinking, mentions that bug spray is flammable! And since burning things in the middle of the road is quite common in Penang , they proceed to torch the bug!
Like I said, just another normal day in Penang … Nothing to write home about ;-)
NOTE: We saw one of these bugs on a hike... you can't tell in the picture but this thing is 9 inches long, it looks like this:
1 comment:
Geez what a story. Are you still in Penang? I found you on Linked in and followed your link to your blog. I'm in Seattle WA still, all's very well here. Drop me an email if you get a chance. Hope Fernando and the family's well. Jill Olkoski
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