I woke up at 6:00 this morning. I have been wearing my long casual socks instead of my short sports these days and I was dancing and singing “Cooler than Me” as I was wearing one those pairs.
My nasal allergy greeted me this morning
and I thought that this would be the worst thing that I would have to deal with
for today. I gave an orientation to a remote coastal community and all
throughout that orientation I was sneezing, sniffing and wiping my runny nose.
Just as I was about to relax on the chair after speaking, something pricked my
armpit. I clutched my shirt (the part covering my armpit) – hoping to catch the
insect that pierced me. I checked if I crushed it. There was none. “Where is it?” I thought to myself when
suddenly there was another pricking on my lower back. S***! A bee guilty of
stinging me twice hurriedly flew away as I pulled up my shirt to see what it
was. That left me two red dots.
Now, I was heading towards a neighboring
village together with a hired motorbike driver. It was a rocky road so I held
on tightly to the bike. Despite that state the driver was running the bike fast
making me feel like a maraca with my brains and internal organs shaking like
pebbles inside it. I was breathing heavily and fast as I expected my appendix
to explode anytime – I realized that it had not been more than fifteen minutes
since we took our lunch. What a relief it was when we reached the next stop
ever so thankful that my organs were intact. “Hooh!” I exhaled wiping the sweat on my forehead.
Same speech, blah blah blah and we were
finally off to the downtown where my bed was calling me to lay.
Rocks and rocks we were enduring again
while my mind was flying playing around some business ideas that I think would
be fit for the community that I just visited. Then, oops! In one fell swoop I found the bike still in
between my legs like a pillow when I sleep only that instead of seating on its
seat now my position was lying on the ground. My mind was blank. My eyes laid upon
the trees and then on to the hanging hind tire which was still spinning. Right
there I got my thoughts back and I hurriedly pulled myself away from the bike
lying over my right leg (catching a glimpse of the driver who was doing the
same thing). I felt pain on my right leg and was paranoid and stupid for
thinking that it broke when I was still able to stand. “It’s okay”, I said. Then at that instant the other one started to
feel a burning sensation. I pulled up my left jean and saw my sock looking like
a fish net. “What the?! I don’t remember
buying fish net stockings!”. Then, “No,
it melted”, I realized. The melted parts stuck on to my skin and I spent a
while trying to remove them. “Hapdos sab!”,
as I was watching my skin slowly turning into red, some part of it into gray -
another muffler burn. Without my socks my skin would have had direct contact
with the muffler and would have had worse burn. Thanks to my long socks.
Lesson here: Drivers, check your
vehicles. The bike driver confessed that the tires were not fit for rocky roads
– it was filled with so much air and is best for driving on concrete roads.
(O.o)
