Isn't it amazing how what is ordinary depends on where you are?
For example, ordinary in my life now involves - shoes, cars, tomatoes, strawberries and ordinary weather.
A few years ago, ordinary in my life involved - flip flops, motorbikes, lesson plans, mangoes and HOT weather + roaches, lizards and more.
To this day when I catch a glimpse of anything long and skinny that might or might not be moving my first thought is still "Gecko". But really Geckos should cause no alarm. The small ones are a little annoying because they can tend to get in the way. They simply don't move fast enough. I also didn't really enjoy cleaning up after geckos but for the most part they were just a part of the household decor. Occasionally I'd invite one to move himself out of the cupboard, or need to clean a smashed one out of the refrigerator door but nothing too stressful.
In my first year in Laos I lived in a house that was well blessed with the super sized, high speed spiders. That first year I would not be surprised if my neighbors thought I had fits of insanity as I would take to chasing spiders which caused much crashing and banging. At some point I learned...these spiders are basically harmless, unless of course you hurt yourself trying to kill one. After that upon sighting a spider I might have tried to scare him out of sight but chasing a high speed spider was just too much trouble to be bothered with.
Ants also became a part of everyday life. If you dropped a crumb anywhere ants would arrive. It might be the little fast black ants, it might be the tiny, tiny, tiny ants, it might be the bigger ordinary ants and it might be all of the above. The one thing you could depend on was that ants would arrive. Again, you could tell who the new comers to the country were by the alarm factor they experienced with the ants. After being in Laos for awhile, without thinking I refilled my unwashed Pepsi cup with more Pepsi only to realize I now had ants swimming in Pepsi. Trust me, Pepsi is way to precious to be wasted because of a few ants.
Roaches - they really weren't a problem as they usually disappeared when the lights came on. Sure, I'd enter the house and hear and see them rushing for the dark corners but give them a few seconds and they would be gone. Really not a problem until...
One day I dashed out of school, hopped on my motorbike and took off for home. As I was driving along with the Vientiane traffic I felt a slight brushing of something against my hair but just sorta figured that the lining of my helmet was loose. I keep driving, the lining of my helmet seemed to keep moving. Then the realization hits me, something is walking on my head.
SOMETHING IS WALKING ON MY HEAD!
This is a problem! A very real problem.
I'm driving, in traffic, and my helmet is fastened down to my head and SOMETHING IS WALKING ON MY HEAD! I am grasping, clawing and doing my best to get that helmet off of my head, get myself out of traffic and my bike off of the road. I managed to get the helmet off and the bike off the road at pretty much the same time as a very large roach found his freedom and took flight.
For many days after this event I would always stick my hand in my helmet before putting it on my head.
To this day I do not like roaches. No I really DO NOT like roaches. I don't care how ordinary and every day they are, I really don't like roaches.
For example, ordinary in my life now involves - shoes, cars, tomatoes, strawberries and ordinary weather.
A few years ago, ordinary in my life involved - flip flops, motorbikes, lesson plans, mangoes and HOT weather + roaches, lizards and more.
Roaches - they really weren't a problem as they usually disappeared when the lights came on. Sure, I'd enter the house and hear and see them rushing for the dark corners but give them a few seconds and they would be gone. Really not a problem until...
One day I dashed out of school, hopped on my motorbike and took off for home. As I was driving along with the Vientiane traffic I felt a slight brushing of something against my hair but just sorta figured that the lining of my helmet was loose. I keep driving, the lining of my helmet seemed to keep moving. Then the realization hits me, something is walking on my head.
SOMETHING IS WALKING ON MY HEAD!
This is a problem! A very real problem.
I'm driving, in traffic, and my helmet is fastened down to my head and SOMETHING IS WALKING ON MY HEAD! I am grasping, clawing and doing my best to get that helmet off of my head, get myself out of traffic and my bike off of the road. I managed to get the helmet off and the bike off the road at pretty much the same time as a very large roach found his freedom and took flight.
For many days after this event I would always stick my hand in my helmet before putting it on my head.
To this day I do not like roaches. No I really DO NOT like roaches. I don't care how ordinary and every day they are, I really don't like roaches.
