October 28, 2011
Today I did something stupid. And I'm pretty sure everyone will be talking about it tomorrow. And the next day. And probably for the next year that I'm here. My pride is hurt. I'm embarrassed. I want to pretend like the whole thing never happened. And most of all, I feel like a stupid idiot. Lesson learned: If your gut it telling you “You know, this might not be a good idea...” then is probably isnt a good idea. But I might as well write it here, because, well, I think these are the kinds of things that you laugh about years from now. I told the story to some friends after it happened, and they found it funny. Maybe you reading this will find humor in my stupidity as well.
Lets start from the beginning...
The boys that live in my quintal (in the other house in my yard) are awsome. They bring me all of my water, run to the market if I need them to, and they take out my trash. I dont know what they do with it, but all I have to do is put out the bag, and later it disappears, never to be heard of again. I'm not sure if they bury it, burn it, or put it down a never ending hole in the ground. Who knows? Who cares?
Well, today, I kinda cared. They werent at home, and the dog was in the yard, so I didnt want to put the trash outside. I have some friends coming to visit this weekend, so I wanted the house to be nice and clean. Plus, I'm always making the boys do things, and although they dont mind, and its a cultural norm to make people younger than you do stuff, I felt bad for bossing them around so much. So what did I do? I decided to burn my trash.
I know its bad for the environment, but most people burn their trash around here. I had never done it before, but its just “setting the trash on fire”...cant be too hard, right?
Wrong. These are the kinds of things you should think through. And this is definitely a situation where you should have a Plan B, or escape plan in case things go wrong. Guess who didnt?
I walked to the field out behind my yard. That was mistake number 1. Well actually, that was the main mistake...and thats where it all went wrong. Because the field is full of dried leaves and things...you know, FLAMMABLE things. But I wasnt thinking about that. I was thinking of all of the times that I've seen people burning trash, and if they could do it successfully, I could do it. So I lit a match. But it went out – because today was a pretty windy day.
Wind tends to help increase the strength of the fire. I know these things. But was I thinking about that in relation to this fire I was about to start?? Nope.
I lit another match, and dropped it on the trash. It caught, but it wasnt catching fast enough. So I lit another. Then I realized that the leaves were catching a bit. So I threw some leaves on top of the part that wasnt burning. Next thing I knew....things got a bit out of hand. Then, they got REALLY out of hand...
With my landlord's dog staring at me, as if she were thinking “you know you started that fire, right? Thats not good...” I ran to my neighbors house. With an empty bucket in my hand. I was so worked up, and afraid of burning my house down, that my Portuguese was terrible. First she thought I was asking for carvao (coal) to light a fire to cook with. Then she thought I was asking for water. Finally, I just grabbed her arm and said “Come with me!”
We got to my yard, and she saw the smoke coming from behind the reed fence. She yelled for her son. Then her daughter. Then her husband. They all came...and the first thing each of them asked was “Who started this fire?”. I swallowed my pride, and said “I did. I wanted to burn a bit of trash”. They all gave me a look of...I dunno....pity? Disappointment? Shame? Anger? Confusion? Who knows....but they quickly worked at putting the fire out....before it reached my other neighbors' reed fence. Then my neighbor yelled to me “You know, if this were earlier in the day, you would have burned down the whole neghborhood!!” referring to the extreme heat mid-day and the oppressive sun. She's right, I would have. But I didnt. Thank Goodness.
The fire got pretty large, and spread quicker than I could have ever imagined. Thankfully, they were able to get things under control. As they were leaving, they told me to sit and make sure that no little fires popped back up from under the ash of what was once the field behind my yard. I sat with a bucket of water, with some little girl who appeared out of no where, and we went around the smoldering ash sprinkling water on the parts that still had a bit of fire going. When we were done, the little girl asked if she could go get me more water. I said sure. While she was gone, I stayed out back, making sure that no fires came back. I was super paranoid (even now, about 2hrs later, Im still paranoid that the fire will come back....) She finally came back after about 30 minutes with my water....then she asked me for bread. I gave it to her, because she deserved it. She did something for me, and the least I could do is give her some bread. From now on....I'm not stopping anyone who wants to help me. If the boys want to take out my trash...so be it. Its better than burning down my entire town...
********PS - I have very regular internet access now. I mean, typing on a computer isn't nearly as satisfying as typing on my blackberry, but I'm getting used to it. So I promised to update more often. My life here is pretty amazing, and I think I'm just taking it all in...and forgetting to share. I promise....more updates and observations and stories coming soon. but hopefully no more fires. Those are bad...
