Brazil Chicken Snacks and Downsizing

As all of you Purdue folks may know, summer classes ended last week. Even though my group had issues with one particular member, we still managed to rock our presentation and only miss three points on the final presentation of our game which we designed in GUI in order to teach 8th graders a specific state standard. With that class under my belt, it was time to travel to KC, MO in order to see the family.

My sister drove from Bloomington to West Lafayette in order to pick me up for the 9 hour drive to see the family. Within an hour the two of us were screaming at each other in the car just like old times. You just have to smile at sisterly love right? I felt badly for my sister's boyfriend. The poor guy had to listen to our arguing for awhile, and our arguing is never pretty. Once my sister pushed me off her bed and knocked out my tooth. Of course back in the old days when we were young, lived in Green County, and shared a room the classic fighting tactics of pinching, biting, and hair pulling would ensue. Since then we have simply graduated to threats of dropping off the other one on the side of road and leaving them to fend for themselves. Some Veronicas and Augustana later, the two of us slowly began conversing civilly. I mean it was a 9 hour drive; the two of us were bound to make up at some point.

We arrived at the new house around 2am. Mom and the snakes were awake to briefly greet us. My dad wouldn't be home until the next morning; he had been in Brazil all week for his job (I know...what a lucky duck!). Once we all chatted for a baby bit, we all retired to our rooms to get some shut eye --except for me. I had to feed my addiction before I drifted to sleep meaning I stayed up for probably three solid hours watching Desperate Housewives (Update: I have officially finished all of the season!!! Go me! WhootWhoot! I can't WAIT for September 26th! Get ready everyone =)...I know, I know I have a problem...you don't have to tell me...but it's just sooo good!).

It was great to wake up at noon and not worry about being late for engineering. It was so good to see my dad! The last time we had seen each other we parted on not so great terms. Yelling and money was involved to obviously there is no way that could have ended pretty. Hugging him put all that water under the bridge. Spread across the chicken table was an array of candy from Brazil. In all honesty, most of it wasn't that great. Out of the large bag, I only like two different types--one had coconut and the other had a chocolate truffle center. I'm all about trying candy new foods and candies, but so far I've found myself partial to American candy though I suppose eating it my whole life makes me completely biased. Next to the candy lay a clear bag. The contents appeared similar to onion rings or funions except they were thicker and a light white/cream color. A powdery flavor substance of the same color coated the outside. The bag displayed the head of a freakishly happy looking chicken and a Portuguese game printed in red which I can neither spell nor pronounce correctly. Curious about these foreign snacks, I promptly picked one up, smelled it, and took a bite. I was utterly repulsed. It was sort of the experience I have when I dare to eat a pork grind except this snack was chicken flavored. Surprised by mine, my sister's, and my mother's similar reaction, my father went on to praise these Brazilian chicken snacks, stating how much he liked him. After a few retorts from my sister and I saying how disgusting they were, the subject was dropped.

Fast forward a few days. My sister and her boyfriend have gone home at this point, and my mother and I began the arduous task of sorting through my belongings. The time consuming task of deciding what clothes stay, what clothes go to college, and what clothes get thrown out or donated is not one which I ever under any circumstances look forward to. I'm what one refers to as a 'pack rat.' No matter what the item, I just can never seem to part with it! You want proof? Under my bed I have a roughly ten boxes all filled with notes and letters to from my friends and I. How old are these notes? Well, some date back to the fourth grade, but most of them are from my middle school days. Crazy, I know. I just hate parting with things! I love looking back at old pictures or fliers because so many great (and occasionally not so great, but the great out weigh the not so great)memories come flooding back. The smallest bead fallen off a bracelet can sometimes contain the most powerful of memories. That day, however, my mother and I went in there with determined attitudes to cut down my wardrobe and my amount of junk. Besides, I leave to return to Purdue in a week and two days, so it was time I started rounding my stuff together!

Surprisingly, through the whole process I was rather bold and got rid of many items which I probably wouldn't have if the day had been different. I said goodbye to t-shirts and sweatshirts from old clubs and activities which I had participated back in high school. Papers and cards (and by cards I mean from all random occasions, such as birthday cards for example) were tossed into the recycling without more than a third or fourth thought because let's face it--I'm indecisive to the point where it can be a problem, so everything was going to at least get a second look before it left my life forever. Dresses were set aside for repair and shoes were set aside for cleaning. I stumbled upon a TON of CDs which I had almost forgotten that I had! Let me just tell you for a second how much I absolutely LOVE Avril Lavigne. I've never been disappointed by one of her albums though I do favor her second one; I believe Under My Skin contains her best work. I took all of the outcasted CDs upstairs with the goal to go through them and see which ones were worth keeping and which were scratched to the point of uselessness. As I sat at the kitchen table examining the backs of all the CDs, my mother brought in a large box from UPS and sat it on the table. Immediately we began to open the package; turns out, the package was a house warming gift from my aunt (my father's sister). Surrounding the basket of cheeses, crackers, and sausage, were hundreds and hundreds of packing peanuts.

"You know what these packing peanuts remind me of?" rhetorically asked my mother, "those weird chicken flavored things your dad brought home from Brazil."

"Oh my gosh. They totally do! They even sort of have the same feel and consistency," I responded as my gears were turning and concocting a plan, "You know what would be hysterical? We should totally put a couple of the packing peanuts in the actual bag! Haha it would be hilarious if he actually ate one or bit into one!"

My mother's response? She laughed and immediately ran to the cabinet to grab the bag of chicken snacks. We strategically place several packing peanuts throughout the bag of chicken snacks and closed the bag. "I bet by the time he eats any again, the peanuts will smell just like the chicken things since they will have been sitting in that bag," observed mother.

Unfortunately, my father has yet to feel an inkling for a chicken snack, so our great prank has yet to officially occur. I checked on the chicken snacks today to shake the bag around in hopes that the extra powder lying at the bottom would stick to the peanuts. In all honesty, I had trouble telling the difference between the peanut and the actual chicken snacks meaning our plan is seemingly full proof at this point. You might be thinking since I'm preblogging about the prank before it has fully taken place that I have officially ruined everything. Not to worry though! My dad isn't aware that I have a blog, and he's not all entirely sure what a blog is. Shoot even if he did know he would certainly not have time to read it, so no worries = ) I'll let you know as soon as my dad informs me of how packing peanuts taste.

All my Love,
Koya = )