Urinal cakes, The kitchen nazi, Carbo loading, and a brush with exhibitionism

So I´m sitting here in the internet cafe....it´s Sunday afternoon.....and the sun is shining in Boquete. Yesterday it rained most of the day, so it´s nice to see the sun again. My short time with the host family has brought about number of funny anecdotes and misunderstandings, so I thought I would mention a few of them.

Urinal Cakes.....When I first arrived at the house the other day, I immediately noticed a very strange smell. It kind of smelled like a cross between moth balls and the Texaco bathroom. No big deal.....just a little wierd. Well, when I went into the bathroom, I was absolutely overcome with this smell of what I thought was moth balls! After a few days of this, I finally started to notice to source of this aroma. That is, after a couple of days, I started to see these things hanging around the house.....under a desk....next to the sofa......in the kitchen....everywhere! What WERE these things? Urinal cakes! Seriously! They literally are urinal cakes that are suspended on wires for easy application! Pastillas desodorantes.......deoderant pills, as the package says. And then I started to notice them everywhere. They were at other peoples houses, and they are at the school, and they are, well, everywhere! But what are these people thinking? Do they have some type of anti-microbial germ fighting powers? Do they enjoy the smell? Do they find it desirable to have a house wreaking of öde de port-a-potty¨? I may never know.

The Kitchen Nazi.......A couple of days ago, Aldair (the 12 year old) started acting wierd. Before that, he was pretty nice to me, we would hang out a bit, chat, he would play games on my phone.....whatever. All of the sudden, things were different. He seemed angry about something. He would barely talk to me. He seemed to avoid me. I don´t know, I couldn´t figure out what was going on.
Anyway, yesterday, I returned home with a yogurt I had just purchased from the store. After getting permission from the dad to eat a banana from the fruit bowl, I enjoyed a little snack. As I was washing the bowl, I was severely reprimanded by this kid for eating food without permission. WHAT? Well, after I figured out what he was upset about, I assured him that I HAD indeed bought the yogurt and DID in fact have permission for the 2.5 cent banana. He mellowed out a bit.
After this little event, I remembered that he had been acting wierd ever since I had gotten a little ice cream (literally ONE spoonful) from the freezer the other night. I also remembered that he had acted a little wierd at the time, but I had not thought much about it. Well, apparently, this is a touchy subject for him. But maybe it´s not just a touchy subject for HIM. I´m starting to think that although they seem happy to provide the two meals per day as stated in our contractual agreement, outside of that, the kitchen is OFF LIMITS to me. There is no such thing as a between-meal snack around there!

Carbo loading.....Speaking of food, I want to mention that the food is actually really good at the house. Juanita is a great cook, and I generally enjoy the meals. That being said, I will also say that it´s a good thing I´m not on the Atkins Diet. I say this because it´s not uncommon for my dinner to consist of rice with a side of potatoes with a side of pasta with a side of plantanes. Now that´s a lot of carbs, even for me!

Jason the Exhibitionist......So the other day, after a nice run, I decided to take a shower. Upon turning on the water and ¨getting ready¨ to jump in, I realized that I had forgotten my shampoo in the adjascent bedroom (my bedroom). Knowing that the mom and the kid were at the store, and that the dad was in his room with the door closed, I didn´t think it would be a problem to simply donn a towel and retrieve the shampoo. Unfortunately for me, as I was making my way back to the bathroom with shampoo in hand, I met the dad in the hallway. I said a quick hello, and went in to continue my shower.
Later that night, while we were all eating dinner in the dining room, the dad made it very clear to me that it was NOT acceptable to walk around the house without clothes! Oops.
Of course, being a guy who doesn´t even like to take his shirt off at the beach, I had to laugh. Maybe I had become like the European girl in high school who thought it completely appropriate to sunbathe topless at my church youth camp.


Aahhhh....you have to love the culteral differences.