Burden for Brazil

No, I’m not referring to the movie; I’m referring to my apartment. 

Thursday night, I was awakened by the wind when it knocked a chair over on my veranda; next, I heard the downpour begin outside my window, both typical circumstances of rainy season.  I turned onto my side, curled up and went back to sleep.

At five, I woke up, ready for my morning run, but the rain was still falling heavily.  Now I don’t mind if I get caught in a rainstorm while I’m out for my run (in fact, I enjoy running in the rain), but the idea of going out into the rain to run is unacceptable.  It was chilly after the rainy night (…those in the Iowa laugh…); so after getting a glass of water, I put another blanket on my bed and slept again.

An hour and a half later, I woke up to my alarm and the sound of rain.  Once more, I went out to the kitchen, this time to wake up with a glass of juice.  As I stepped onto the rug that lies in front of my refrigerator, I immediately felt wetness around and under my foot as it sank into saturated material.  I looked down and was shocked to find my living room floor covered with water. 

I ran to the veranda door, assuming the water was coming in from outside, but it appeared to be just the opposite.  Confused, I (swam) crossed the living room and opened my apartment door to discover two inches – at least! – of water covering the entire length of the hallway.  The water had obviously invaded every apartment on the floor.

At this point, you may be thinking, “What’s the big deal, Kari?  With all that rain, isn’t flooding typical as well?  It is rainy season, you know.”  You’re right.  In certain, low-lying areas, flooding is typical, but not when you live in a second-story apartment!  Now, lest you think the water was THAT high, let me explain.

 At the end of the hall, there is a large veranda.  Unfortunately, the drains were not keeping up with the influx of rain; thus the veranda became the complex’s new swimming pool.  In one area, the telling water marks indicate more than a foot of standing water.  All that water had to go somewhere, so it slipped under the door and literally made a river down the corridor where it divided into its tributaries (a.k.a. apartments).

The lower level had water, too, but in this case, the water trickled in from the verandas as expected, thereby flooding the downstairs hallway.  In addition, as the water on the upper level sat in the hallway, it began to seep through the floor, creating an indoor sprinkler system below.

Like a sailor on a sinking ship, I began to bail water.  I felt like Noah in the ark, trying to keep all the animal stalls dry.  It wasn’t until I was in the midst of cleanup that I thought to take a picture, but at that point, I just wanted to get the water out.  A few hours and extra hands later, the mission was accomplished; however, it is taking a looooooong time to dry everything out (rugs, bedsheets, etc.).  The rain continued to fall until mid-afternoon, followed by a cloudy and wet evening.  The sun did appear for a short time today which helped.  As for tomorrow…

Life is never dull in Brazil – that’s for sure! - but despite the inconvenience of the water, I found much for which to be thankful.  First, the water didn’t flood my bedroom.  Thus I had at least one dry spot to which I could flee.  Secondly, on Thursday night, I uncharacteristically took my laptop into the bedroom with me.  Usually I leave the beside my living room chair; but had that been the case, it would have been as soaked as my area rug.  I’m also glad it was Friday.  We have chapel first hour on Fridays, which gave me an extra hour to clean before leaving for school and allowed me to focus on my apartment again at the close of the day.  Another plus is Friday afternoon, the workers enlarged the veranda drainsto enable more water to pass through.  This doesn’t actually solve the root problem, but it will most certainly help for the time being.  There are others pluses, but you get the point.

I was not the only one displaced by the rain.  After such an abundance of rain, the flying ants appeared again.  On Friday afternoon when I went downstairs to throw my trash away, I found a small group of them trying to make a new home in the door. 

I was not amused.  After my long day, I resented their presence; so I marched upstairs to my apartment and grabbed a can of Raid.  It was a merciless massacre.  None were spared.

After all said and done, I suddenly thought you all might appreciate seeing what I mean by “ant invasion,” so I went back upstairs, this time to return with my camera.  As you watch the clip below, keep in mind this is not a great number of ants.  On one occasion, I opened a storage cabinet door at school to find a stash of ant eggs the size of a small dog; ants were everywhere. 

With that image in mind, it’s time for me to close.  Sweet dreams.