Come one and all, the Brazilian scavenger hunt will be starting at my place at 5pm tomorrow evening.
What is the Brazilian scavenger hunt? It's an attempt to find anything and everything you left out on a surface of some sort the day your maid comes. Yes people, it really is a hunt for your goods.
I say this knowing that my maid is awesome! My brother from another mother awesome! I love her! Not only is she good company and makes wonderful food, she has also made it possible for me to forget what it's like to clean poop splatter off the underside of my toilet seat.
That being said, she has the most random sense of organization, and hers is better than most maids down here. Sometime I find my digital camera in the hutch with my wine glasses. (I don't get that either.) Sometimes it's on the dining room table. Sometimes it's next to the computer. Any given day...
Finding your crap basically comes down to some math. It's 10 ounces of luck and 200 pounds of learning to understand your maid.
Now, we used to use the family maid. Yes, in Brazil there is such thing as a family maid. Everyone in the family hires her and she is a key in bringing all family gossip into each and every single member's home. Our family maid was special. For starters, she really hates her job and her kids are pains in the ass. (the kid part is from her, I've never met them). The poor woman is tired. So what did she do when she didn't know what something was, she put it with my shoes. Oh yes, in with my shoes. I found make up, a computer speaker, official American documents, candy, and many more things stored with my shoes in the closet.
That was an interesting time but it did teach me something. When I start the scavenger hunt I break down what the object looks like, how much it weighs, and the color. I then compare it to any, and I mean any, object in my apartment that is similar. That's where I usually find it. And when in doubt, I look in my clothes closet, the hutch, or our main bookshelf. I've become such a master that I can almost find everything she puts away as easily as I can find my husband's lost keys.
I do see where she's coming from though. Half the stuff I have, she's never seen and doesn't know what it is. And we have a lot of crap. Shockingly, that doesn't make us the most organized people in the world.
So I don't blame her. It's just a funny fact. Maids here can't leave stuff out. The place doesn't look clean if anything is out, so things are placed in drawers, cabinets, closets, or anywhere else it can be hidden. Thus a scavenger hunt is born!
