Saturday, November 3, 2007

what brown can do to you

Omnipresent. Ubiquitous. Always arrives; always on time. It gets under your skin; believe me it gets under your skin. Under you nails, in your hair, embedded in your clothes. It gets in and under everything. UPS should be so lucky to get this sort of blanket coverage. Brown enjoys complete and total domination. It has the monopoly over, well, everything. You don't appreciate the full capability of its power until you have stayed here for a while. The reddish-brown dirt that you initially see on the roads, in people's yards, as a part of the bricks that constitute the walls of homes becomes an anavoidable plague from which you cannot hide nor escape. You may attempt to eliminate it or even eradicate it from your system, but you simply can't. It's incurable once you have acquired it. Once you accept this reality, the more pleasant your experience is going to be. Some people don't accept it as well as others. That is natural. Some don't accept it at all. It is what is is, and that's all.
It's like meeting a long lost acquaintance. You share some pleasantries, then you just can't seem to get away from that person or intimate politely that his/her time has expired. You resign yourself to the fact that the person may never, or at least for a longer while than you would like, leave. In this scenario; however, eventually you will end your visit regardless of how inconvenient the length may end up being. Not with brown. The plain reality is that brown is never going to leave.
What makes brown so mysterious and humourous all at once it that it possesses the power of the element of surprise. Just when you think that you couldn't possibly find it somewhere; surprise, it's there. You'd expect to find it on shoes, sandals, and on your feet, in between your toes, and under your nails. What you don't expect, after a morning of placement or a brief walk, say back to homebase from the tarmac when you get into the shower, is to find brown mixed with rinse water flowing from your face, neck, ears, arms, and just about every other body part. Brown is like a special agent who infiltrates anywhere without being detected. As if that wasn't enough, just when you've scrubbed every conceivable part of your anatomy thoroughly, and you've been refreshed with a cool shower, you step out into the cool air of your room to towel off. What you don't realize is that you are actually a human version of those instant scratch and win lottery tickets, except in this case by the time you're done wiping down all of your surfaces your towel looks as if it belongs to a nine year old boy who's spent a little to much time running and playing in a dusty open field all day. You're beautiful white initially clean towel looks as if it's been splattered with a brown paint. It astonishes me that I could still achieve this level of dirtiness. You don't even particularly feel it except on our feet because you're usually too grimy from the heat of the day, so when you see it flowing into the shower drain you're still surprised. When you see it on your towel, you just have to laugh and smile it off. Brown.
There are also the cherished moments of doing your laundry by hand; either in a large plastic basin or the ceramic tiled wash tub. You soak your clothes in soap and water. The duration of the soaking does not matter. The number of rinses matters not to Brown. Much to your horror the water is a deep rich brownish-grey tone which you didn't think was possible to achieve as an adult. Brown is quite literally woven not only into the very fabric of your clothes, but into your being as well. Brown is here to stay. Enjoy his company because as soon as you put on your fresh clean clothes, brown...

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've liked brown for a long time now...reading what you've written reminds me of my mindset while tree planting many moons ago...good times. Merry Christmas brother...I hope Santa brings you what you need. It should be the same as what you want.

Anonymous said...

:) Brown is a new one for me... If you end up in rural Tanzania, be prepared for Red. I still find the occasional pair of shoes or a bag that's permanently stained red. Brings back great memories!

By the way, hope you're have a wonderful time over there!

Anonymous said...

HEY Mr. K its Mathew, i hope your having a great time in Africa. Im in Gr 7 now im so happy and i hope ur having a super time teaching all thos kids and seeing all thos great sites. ceya later Mr. K we all miss ya! ^_^

Anonymous said...

Hi Mr.K. I hope your having a good time over there! I saw your pictures. I liked the one of the tunnel, it was very groovy! Christmas is coming up soon,I hope Santa is good to you! I'm in grade 7 now and it's going GREAT! I hope your having a good time teaching your new students. We all miss you Mr. K! Oh! And
Merry Christmas to you AND your students!
Well I have to go to my next class soon! Cya!

Anonymous said...

hey Mr.K i hope you are having a good time where you are. this is Amber and Jessica. is there snow there haha jk (aka Just kidding)
as you would say we are still joined at the hip lol :) when are you coming back? :) merry christmas and a happy new year come back soon. we all miss you!
jessica and amber bye bye bye byebye byebye ttyl

Anonymous said...

hey there! its Amber Cailey & Jessica, AGAIN! Cailey & Amber are still getting hyper quite a bit! (NO CHANGE THERE)& Jessica is still the one that knocks the sense back into us! We all miss you! How are your students doing? Are they as good as us?(tehe) No seriously...are they!? Ahha! Riley says hi! Brittany says Hi! It;s 9:55 AM Here. TOO EARLY!!! We're tired. We have math & science next.(Oh Joy...NOT!)Or as Mr.Holm would say...GROOVY! Ahha! Anyways we have to go to math now(SAVE US!) Cya!
No seriously...save Cailey, NOT JESSICA & AMBER!!! ciao

Anonymous said...

Hi, Mr.K ; How are things in Africa? What grade are you teaching? Merry Christmas, & a happy new year! :D

Anonymous said...

Hi Mr.K hows africa treating you?It looks like it would be so much fun out in the wild.What is the hotel called that you are staying at?

Anonymous said...

Hi Mr.K hows africa treating you?It looks like it would be so much fun out in the wild.What is the hotel called that you are staying at?

Anonymous said...

WE ALL MISS YOU MISTER K.:)(:
HOPE YOU ARE COMEING BACK SOON!