We got up early so I could make Annie her coffee (60 or so steps up to the kitchen), then walked her in the dark to her 6am yoga class. Since my gym doesn’t open this early (I found out last week) I came back to our apartment to make myself some oatmeal and check the email for half an hour before walking the 30-minutes to the gym. It was nice being able to use the kitchen alone – without dancing around 3-6 others who are cooking their meals. When I sat with my oatmeal and laptop I heard I wasn’t alone in the room. I opened a bunch of drawers until BINGO…. a mouse came running out of the drawer where someone was storing their potatoes. It was almost like a cartoon as the little guy slid on the marble floors making a mad dash to get away from me. He turned the corner just before me and he was gone. Where? I’ve no idea.
I’ve heard other young yoga students talk about the bugs and rats they’ve come in contact with here… they always have an emotion of disgust (is that an emotion?) when they describe these experiences. This brought back a memory of the only time we found a mouse in our house. I quickly grabbed the vacuum cleaner putting a thin cloth in the hose (so the mouse wouldn’t get sucked up all the way and get hurt) and had Ozzie keep his eye on the mouth. I aimed the hose, had Ozzie turn on the power and we caught him….. quickly we brought him outside and let him go. My brother later told me, “he’s going to come right back into the house if you let him out just outside.” But we never saw him again.
This brings back another memory – when we stayed at an Ashram in Bali (Ozzie was about 3 years old and my mother was with us). There was a sign outside our bedrooms saying that the philosophy here was not tho hurt any creatures, so if we wouldn’t bring any food into our rooms, they wouldn’t have to deal with the rats that might be attracted to our food. My mother saw this notice and quickly hoped she could find a nearby hotel.