Thank you, Uncle Steve

Dear Friends and Family,
I can’t believe I only have a week and a half left! I should have booked a longer trip! This week has been extremely exhausting teaching 12-18 year olds! Yesterday, one of the other volunteers turned to me after a long day and said he had a newfound respect for teachers. Oh yeah! The high school has proven to be an extremely rewarding experience; because three of us are going there we are able to double the amount of students we are teaching. And yes, I rode a motorbike to the school and back in the pouring rain!

Ken drove us on Tuesday but Mark (another volunteer) and I opted to drive ourselves on Wednesday. All Tuesday night, I tossed and turned with absolute panic that I would fall of the cliff, run into a truck, or slip out of a rain puddle. Wednesday morning came and David hopped on the back so I could drop him off at spot before making the 40 kilometers trek. I had definitely let my nerves overcome my abilities and proceeded to drive the bike off the road with David behind me. Once I situated myself back on the bike and dropped David off, he jumped onto the truck to take him to the workshop and gave me a thumbs up. I couldn’t help but wonder if it would be the last time I ever saw him. Yes, I was being overly dramatic.

The journey to the school starts out with a straight drive through town, a windy road up and then back down a mountain, another long stretch, a city, and finally a long stretch. I knew that if I could get pass the curvy mountain, then I would probably be ok. As we started going up the mountains, my nerves wouldn’t allow my take the turns easily and I found myself extremely shaky. It seems that I just couldn’t get the hang of it. As I was trying desperately to calm down, my Uncle Steve’s voice suddenly popped in my head.

When I was around eight years old, I remember sitting in the back seat of my uncle’s suburban as he was teaching my cousin Alisha to drive up a similar curvy mountain rode. “Just look ahead at the curve, your body will naturally turn the vehicle. If you look directly in front of you, it won’t work.” So, I tried to do just that. Instead of focusing on the few meters ahead of me, I looked ahead at the length of the curve. Suddenly, I was able to make the curves while staying in the motorbike lane. I didn’t even know I had this memory until just then. I never thought the day would come, but thank you Uncle Steve for saving my life.

The rest of the journey was exhilarating but uneventful. In the middle of the fourth class, the rain began. By the end of the class, the rain was beating so hard that we couldn’t hear each other speaking inside the classroom. I looked over to Mark and wondered how we would ever get home. As an experienced rider, he had no qualms about mounting his bike and beginning the ride. Seeing as how I would rather die than lose face, I quietly mounted my bike and said a quick prayer. A few minutes later as the rain continued to pour harder, we were speeding along on the road as rain drops lashed against my cheeks and my glasses fogged up so that I could barely see in front of me. Somehow, we made it home safely.

The rain has continued all through last night and into today. This morning when I went to meet Mark at our stop, he suggested we take the bus today instead of our motorbikes. You can imagine the sigh of relief that came out of my mouth! Maybe tomorrow the rain will have stopped so I can get another adrenaline rush!!!

Love to you all!
-Jes