{"id":3676,"date":"2017-06-26T04:37:07","date_gmt":"2017-06-26T01:37:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dknolte.com\/?p=3676"},"modified":"2017-06-26T11:49:39","modified_gmt":"2017-06-26T08:49:39","slug":"bleach-chequeno-and-the-samba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dknolte.com\/?p=3676","title":{"rendered":"Bleach, Chequeno and the Samba"},"content":{"rendered":"

I<\/strong> have discovered bleach.<\/p>\n

I saw an ad on Brazilian TV where you can buy this liquid stuff and dip your off-white shirts in, and they will come out pure white.\u00a0 Since I have a mess of white shirts that have lost their innocence, I decided to get some.\u00a0 I haven’t tried them on my shirts yet, but one weekend I was trying to convince myself to clean the apartment and decided to pour a little of the liquid in my bathroom sink, to see if it would remove the weird stuff growing in it.\u00a0 It was 50 shades of brown.\u00a0 Not pretty at all, but was pleasantly surprised to see the stuff disappear.\u00a0 So I took a paper towel and moved it around until it was all gone, then rinsed the sink out.\u00a0 Clean as a whistle.\u00a0 Then I took the liquid to the kitchen sinks which suffered the same malady, except it was black\/gray, and lo and behold, it made the disease vanish. This made me realize the products bought overseas are unlike the American stuff.\u00a0 No FDA that keeps good things from working for us.<\/p>\n

Likewise, my sinks had a problem draining.\u00a0 I believe it is because I tend to treat them like there is a garbage disposal in them.\u00a0 There is not, so unsurprisingly, the drains do not work well.<\/p>\n

So, I went to the grocery store down the street and around the corner and bought what I pretty sure was drain cleaner.\u00a0 I poured some of the weird flat crystals down the drain and had to use the end of a wooden spoon to force them down and left for work.\u00a0 When I returned, lo and behold, the drains drained properly!<\/p>\n

So I also used it on the bathroom drain.\u00a0 It worked.\u00a0 For those of you who used drain cleaner in the States, you will know they seldom work.\u00a0 So, I assume the drain cleaner had bleach in it.<\/p>\n

There is a spot on my balcony that is open year-round.\u00a0 So as a result, with the high humidity here, mold and\/or mildew started growing on the floor at that spot. \u00a0 It got to the point that when I walked in that area, my shoes became sticky.\u00a0 So, I threw some bleach down on it and took a new mop I had, and swished it around.\u00a0 The mildew disappeared, but so did the color on the mop.\u00a0 It was originally yellow, but now it is white.\u00a0 Pretty cool, huh?<\/p>\n

I work with many good people.\u00a0 The head electrician here is a little guy who cannot stand still.\u00a0 I get to work with him occasionally, and each time I fall in love with the little guy more and more.\u00a0 His name is Francisco, but his co-workers call him Chequeno, which is supposed to mean, Little Guy.\u00a0 He is diminutive, but with a lot of energy.\u00a0 When he talks to me, he cannot stand still.\u00a0 He is either adjusting his pants or twitching his shoulders.\u00a0 When we meet, we always address each other as “My Friend” and we shake hands.\u00a0 His pinky sticks off in a strange direction, so I have to be careful not to hurt him.<\/p>\n

Wherever he sees me working on something, he will stop by to help.\u00a0 He speaks fairly good English and loves to talk.\u00a0 Like my friend Hiwot from Ethiopia, she loves to talk and like Hiwot, I only catch every third word or so, but can usually figure out what he is saying.<\/p>\n

I told him my mother is 900 years old and he believed it, and allowed me to take his picture for her.\u00a0 Unfortunately, I am still trying to get it off my phone.<\/p>\n

The State Department loves parties, so every time you turn around there is a party going on.\u00a0 Every year, the embassies and consulates have parties to welcome the new people and say good-bye to those leaving.\u00a0 So, this year, it was at the CG’s house.\u00a0 The CG is the Consulate General and takes the place of the Ambassador who does his thing at the embassies.<\/p>\n

As with most of these things, it incorporates the local traditions which in this case was samba dancing.\u00a0 This is a high energy dance that makes my joints hurt watching.\u00a0 About a half-dozen men came out of the woodwork with loud drums, followed by two semi-attractive women in small dancing outfits, jiggling with the drums.<\/p>\n

Now this was interesting to watch, until the women jiggled into the crowd and started pulling people in to dance with them.\u00a0 The only time I danced sober, it was with my daughter when she was a little one with her feet dangling away.\u00a0 I had no intention of joining this fiasco, so I had to come up with a quick plan to keep from running out the door in a panic.<\/p>\n

I happen to see a young lady standing nearby holding a baby about 6 months old, so I went over to her and told her I would be glad to hold her little one so she could dance with the now crazy pack of jigglers, and she happily obliged.\u00a0 It was perfect. I could watch the craziness while getting to hold a baby.\u00a0 His little head was against my chest and my hand was covering his ear because of the loud drums, and no one came to drag me into the dancing inferno.\u00a0 Afterwards when I had to return the little guy to his mother, she was surprised he had fallen asleep against my chest.<\/p>\n

Life is good.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So, kick butt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have discovered bleach. I saw an ad on Brazilian TV where you can buy this liquid stuff and dip …<\/p>\n

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