The
older I get, the more I try to prepare myself for the unexpected. A proper mental attitude can be helpful, not
only for large and significant issues, but also for those of lessor
import. Actually, unexpected happenings
can often have positive, even humorous outcomes. Sometimes I think back and say to myself: That
unexpected occurrence turned out OK after all.
I certainly would have missed a memorable experience if everything had
gone as expected!
Our
recent trip to northern Brazil produced one such experience at departure time.
My wife and I had arrived early at the gate in the Miami airport to board our
midnight flight. We stood there as time
passed and airline personnel checked and rechecked the passenger list. Finally, when I peered into the darkness and
saw the plane backing away from the gate, I knew we would not be going on that
flight! We’d been bumped, along with
six others, with no choice but to wait 24 hours until the next flight to
Brasilia. We’d packed a change of
clothes in our hand luggage, and were grateful for the hotel and food vouchers. But the best part of the unexpected
inconvenience was the sizable compensation from the airline in the form of two
checks, $1,300 each. Not bad for merely
delaying our trip by one day!
Tired
but safe, we settled in at the campus guest house in north Brazil two days
later. The challenge was to establish a suitable routine for sleeping, eating,
studying and giving class each day during August. We’d been there and done this type of
teaching during many years prior to 2010, so no big deal, right? Wrong!
Somehow we’d forgotten how humid and sticky the climate really is. Our bedroom was adequate, though small, and
had no air conditioning, so we used a fan.
During the wee hours of the morning one or the other of us would wake up
under the mosquito net suspended over our bed, feeling uncomfortable and try to
adjust the fan for maximum effect until day break. Shower baths with refreshing cold water kept
us comfortable during the day. Twice I
lathered up with soap, only to have the water go off at that very moment!
Not to worry, both times someone went to turn on the campus pump right away, and
all was well again.
One
night we were just dozing off when we heard a muffled thump, as if something heavy
had fallen nearby. I assured my good
wife that it was merely the rats or bats running around or colliding above the ceiling, or
the wind that had lifted the plastic ceiling a bit, before returning it suddenly
to its former position. But that wasn’t
it. The next morning we discovered that
the wire we’d strung across the room to hang clothes on had fallen to the floor,
thus the loud thump hours before. So much for worrying about unconfirmed
evidence of active rodents in the guest house ceiling!
More about our Brazil trip later. As
you can see from the video, there are interesting things to see in
Brazil, including the umbrella ants at work.
