a bike

26 days of teaching. 26 more long days of teaching. 26 days. 26 26 26 26.

d

a

y

s.

then greece. and turkey. and friendship. and summer. and more free time. and longer runs.


today i was scooting home from a far away destination (some might call out-of-site...but who ever cared about semantics and technicalities anyway?) when i ran into the director and assistant director of my school in the midst of an i-need-a-doner-right-NOW-dash in a nearby town (oof-how's THAT for a crazy long-winded, run-on sentence?!).

why i was in a hurry remains a mystery. the doner was intended not only to fill my stomach, but also to fill yet another ridiculous time gap separating me and my bus ride home. if nothing else, i've been graced with a site that is um...well, not the most popular destination of the country. i have a direct bus from my town to maybe three other major towns, but that's about it on the transportation front. all this to say, i do A LOT of waiting/reading/eating/beer drinking (sort of kidding) in these time layovers. i actually am growing to like them, these countless hours of existing in transient spaces among people i'll never know and largely, cannot understand.

ANYHOW. i ran into these two women who promptly offered me a ride home (thank HEAVENS). i accepted even though i'd already purchased my bus ticket- what's a mere 4 bucks anyway? i ran off to grab my doner and then raced back to the pick up spot for the school's official chauffeur (read: plumber/electrician/security guard) to pick us up.

and I'll be darned if it wasn't just a pleasant little ride! i got to chat about my life outside of school. i regaled the fellow passengers with (what i thought were) funny stories about running in rain storms, suffering from obscene motion sickness on cross-country bus trips, poking fun at the number of potholes in the highway systems here...etc. etc. i danced around the delicate topic of the school's recent bus trip to france, which exploded into a heinous teacher's squabble and which i miraculously couldn't get my act in gear to go on.

and before i knew it, my director was offering me her personal bike to try out for an upcoming bike trip i'd mentioned. well, and not only that, but the bike was mine whenever an inclination to ride struck me. mister official chauffeur even dropped us off at the school on this day- our day off - so i could go in and test out the bike, which bizarrely, was stationed in the hallway.

i hopped right on the sleek little machine after a quick adjustment of the seat's height. i rode up and down the hallway, not feeling one bit of guilt that the cleaning ladies had labored intensively over rags nailed to wood sticks (commonly known as mops) to clean the floors. it was exhilarating. she watched on, smiling awkwardly like a proud parent the whole time as i whizzed back and forth in delight.

(insert photo of the sleekest, baddest, most awesomest bike here)

when she'd decided the hallway wasn't expansive enough for me to get an authentic feel for the little beast, she helped me drag it down the stairs of the entrance to the school to ride in circles around the neighborhood.

i must have looked like a kid on her new christmas bike because then she told me i could ride it all the way home for her. turns out, her high heeled-getup and that fancy little ride were not compatible and so i got a full 15 minutes of bike riding out of the way on a detoured, zig-zagging path to her apartment.

who would have known? i mean, really. i have no regular contact with this woman. in fact, i nearly had myself convinced she was particularly antisocial and detached from human interaction. my limited experience with her in awkward conversations about missing school and listening to her ramble off information in our oh-so-productive teacher's meetings hadn't given me the impression she liked riding bikes. or that she'd own the sleekest one in town. nor did it suggest she'd love for ME to use it as much as i could possibly want to.

fantastic! the world is indeed looking up today, folks, and i think i'll take her up on her bike offer tomorrow. and the next day. and the next. and that soon enough, the townspeople won't have much interest in gawking at me as i swirl by them on her fancy bike, pleased as pie that i have some wheels under me and lots of road ahead to explore.

i think this is a good way to wind down a tough tough year and look forward to all that could be next year.

and i was thinking, too, since the new group of volunteers arrive tomorrow, about what advice i would forward them at this stage in the game. i think if anyone actually was concerned about my opinion on the matter, i'd tell them this:

a year ago, i still had major plans for solving the world's problems through my humble and gracious work in this country. now, a year later, i've regressed to the point where an afternoon biking around town on my director's bike makes me feel like i'm not a complete and utter failure at life. no, no, i know you didn't join the peace corps to accept generous offers from your director to loan you her bike, but at some point, you begin to accept that these are the only battles you are winning.

and in the end, riding her bike around town today actually meant something.

it's simply too bad for all of you that i cannot articulate just what that something is.


dear universe,

thanks for today.

love,
me.