Shoo! spidey shoo!!

Spring is peeking through my window. Along with it, not only come the flowers, the sunshine and the fresh breeze of wind, but also the insects!!!

Yes, Insects!!! In the form of mosquitoes, spiders, bees, and ants.

Before I came to Holland, I had thought of its weather being similar to San Diego; where the sun would shine mildly, the temperature would be warm but wouldn't make you sweat, and the wind would breeze softly... somewhat similar to the imaginations of most Asians about the European / Sub tropical weather...

Little did I know about these uninvited little creatures. It was almost the same as living in Jakarta... where I would see ants marching on the walls, mosquitoes swarming around my ears making that annoying sounds nnnnggggggggggggg... and spiders! My gosh the spiders here...! (and I'm telling you, we didn't even have spiders in our house in Jakarta)

When I was studying in the jungle-like Breukelen, these creatures seemed to find peace living in my room (and please do not mistaken me as one of those filthy pigs who can't keep their rooms clean... I'm very clean! Sometimes even Monica clean, that it freaked the hell out of my best friend Kap).

So, one day... a spider was hanging on my ceiling. Hanging like a lamp on top of my chair where I would sit behind my desk, working on my papers or studying. This spider, was not like the usual spiders I could find in Jakarta (the tiny and furry ones..., the kinds that you can shoo with one blow of breath). This spider, was named a 'mutant mosquito' by my good friend Yoks; since it looked like a mosquito, with thin legs and thin body... but waaay bigger than a mosquito (about 10 times bigger). I wasn't even sure that I could call her a spider... but since she was hanging on my ceiling, I presumed she had the ability to create a web to hang on to.

So there she was, hanging on my ceiling... on top of my head... And all those times, I didn't bother to shoo her away, since I knew she would go away by herself. And apparently, the Dutch also have the same superstitious believe, that killing a spider would bring bad luck... (or it could also be, one of the bull-s stories that Kap seemed to enjoy telling me).

Until one day... my best friend Kap and I were working together in my room to finish our assignment. He was sitting on my chair behind the desk… and I was sitting opposite him. We were discussing things that we would write on the assignment. Mrs. Spidey had been hanging there for at least two weeks, and there had been no signs that she would move anywhere anytime soon.

As I was listening to Kap explaining about market anomalies, I suddenly saw the ever-peaceful Mrs. Spidey slowly made a down move! Oh! The horror! I was in shock that I couldn’t yell to warn Kap that Mrs. Spidey is coming down towards him… I was just sitting there with my mouth opened and face shocked, and Kap was looking at me like… “What?”

And I pointed up… above his head… to Mrs. Spidey.

Looking at where my finger pointed… Kap jumped out of his chair, ran towards the door, screaming… aaaaarrrrggghhh!!!!

I couldn’t help but to crack up. That was too funny!

With a broomstick, I slowly picked up Mrs. Spidey from her web and brought her outside to mingle with the wilderness… while Kap, still in shock, was walking back and forth in front of my room, also laughing his pants off and saying, "Two weeks! She has been there for two weeks and never once she made a move! And what do you know... just as I decided to sit there... she suddenly decided to move!!!"

Then came my other friend B, who was intrigued by our commotion. I told him what happened while pointing to Mrs. Spidey who was then walking towards the wilderness.

And suddenly… squueeeeeerrrcccchhh… B’s shoes landed on Mrs. Spidey – squeezing the life out of her... I was screaming to stop B. But too late...

“B! You can’t kill a spider! That’s bad luck!” Jeez!