It’s a 11:00 at night. I turned off my bedroom light and settled into bed and rest my head on my pillow. Breathing out one restful sigh and close my eyes… COCKADOODLE DOO!!!
OK… First off, a rooster was the last thing I thought I would have to worry about in the jungle. Forget cockroaches and tarantulas, that’s old news. And secondly, I’m no farmer, nor did I grow up on a farm so this may just be my lack of knowledge and what I learned in preschool but… shouldn’t roosters only crow when the sun rises and during the day?! Something was mentally wrong with bird. His internal clock was completely off. The house walls are thin and most definetley not sound proof and his boistrous noise was causing my lack of sleep which is NEVER a good thing for anyone. Not even coffee can fix that.
11:00 PM- Cockadoodle doo
12:15 AM- Cockadoodle doo
1:30 AM- Cockadoodle doo
4:50 AM- Cockadoodle doo
5:30 AM- Cockadoodle doo (this was about the time other roosters around the neighborhood would join in on the annoying chorus).
6:00 AM- Cockadoodle doo
and then finally…
7:45 AM- Cockadoodle freakin doo.
I had his timing down to a T. And never have I ever daydreamed of killing an animal so many times. Let alone a rooster. I thought of various ways I would murder this awful bird. I thought to myself, “I have a machete under my bed, I’ll just go over there and chop its head off and make it look like an accident.” But I also have a major gag reflex so if I chopped its head off I might throw up. So I thought of other ideas like throwing something over the wall to poison it. Throw a boulder on its head. Or just full on drop kick it to the moon. Yeah… I felt like a psychopath.
Though I wanted this animal dead, I couldn’t kill it myself because it was our friend Marco’s rooster. So out of good conscience.. I didn’t. But! That didn’t stop me from praying every night, asking God to kill one of His little (annoying) creatures. There was even a message sent out to people back in the states to ask that they would pray the rooster would die! It was a point of desperation people. I needed sleep.
This went on for a couple of months and word got around to Marco that I despised his rooster because it crowed in the middle of the night and I wasn’t sleeping well. To which he replied “Oh yeah. It likes to go close to the other side of the wall, near where your room is.”
Blasted bird…
Then one morning I got up out of bed, made my way to the kitchen to pour myself some coffee (that was always made because the family I lived with were angels), and I sat down at the table. As I was gathering myself and fully waking up I then realized… “Wait a second. I didn’t hear the rooster!” I thought that just maybe it was because I was so tired that I actually was in a deep sleep! But then the next morning I again noticed that I did not hear the rooster crow.
Oh my gosh. Could it be?! The rooster is dead?!
Three nights went by and I did not hear the rooster announce its presence. Marco dropped by with a sly smirk on his face asking how I’ve been sleeping the past couple of nights. Ding dong the wicked rooster’s dead!
Praise the Lord! Not only does this show that God answers prayers, or how I might actually be a psychopath murderer, BUT it shows the level of care from my friend to kill one of his animals so I could sleep.
Just another day in the life of Jess in the jungle.
It’s hilarious to me to compare this scenario to the United States. If this situation were to happen arguments with the affiliated people would arise, animal control would have been called, a neighborhood committee would have gotten together to discuss what should be done, a vote would take place, a letter to the president would be sent, and war would break out! (Ok that last part is an exaggeration.)
But it just amuses me the difference in culture, community, and care for an expat. It’s simple acts of kindness like this that take me aback. He didn’t have to kill his rooster for me. But he did.
We asked him later, “Marco what did you do with the rooster?”
He patted his belly, “I ate it!”
Thank you, Marco. You’re a true hero.
Sincerly,
The Rooster Hater
Series of Expansion 
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