Thursday, September 10, 2009

My First Experience Getting Hit By A Motorcycle - A Lesson Well Learned

I think I'm accumulating more and more immersive, in-depth experiences in this country faster than I thought. Over the past three months, I've been ticketed and lost my newly acquired driver's license, experienced epic (and I mean EPIC) traffic jams, re-learned driving in hellish traffic and getting honked by various types of cars and motorcycles more times than all of my 12 years of living in LOS ANGELES combined (LA drivers aren't exactly friendly, they ain't), learned how to jaywalk like a pro (frogger-style), became very adept at chasing city buses and jumping aboard at the last minute......... and today I proudly learned another essential skill mandatory for survival in Jakarta: Look both ways before you cross the street.

In the afternoon, as usual I had my coffee craving, so I went outside my office to the small "warung" (street food stall) across the street. Yes, in the US, I go to Starbucks to order my coffee, but in here, I can either send someone to fetch me the coffee or I can go myself, order it, then have it delivered to my office. Ahh....such is the life.

There was a medium-sized boxed truck parked right in front of the coffee warung. Although logically this would be a strange sight considering that the small alleyway street is only about 5 meters wide and two-way traffic normally passes by here, I've gotten used to such sights and thought of nothing further.

In a hindsight, I should've known that that was my blind spot coming out from the warung. After ordering the coffee and making small talks with the shopkeeper, I carelessly stepped out of the warung and, thinking nothing further, appeared from behind the boxed truck to cross the street back to my office.

It happened so fast. I only had a chance to swing my arm out when out of nowhere, a zooming motorcycle swiped my entire right arm at high speed. Shocked, I left my arm flailing in the air, my wrist bone throbbing from the impact, and then I turned my head around and saw everything in slow motion: The zooming motorcycle swerving and losing its balance, the driver obviously just as shocked from the thought of hitting someone full-on, and then - wobble, wobble, wobble, and - CRASH! The driver and its passenger crashed to the ground with a resounding thud, skidded a small distance, then hit an oncoming motorcycle from the opposite side, which also wobbled and fell.

I watched the entire chain reaction with my left arm still hanging in the air, mouth agape. I didn't know whether I should be mad or laughing. The entire scene would've been so comical if it weren't so f***d up. The sound of the crash was pretty horrifying, and very unfortunately for the dude riding on the back seat, he wore a short pants. I think he was fine, though, as I didn't notice any burn marks on the leg that he skidded over. He was nice enough to turn around very quickly and asked if I was okay. I didn't reply right away, still in shock, and he looked pretty concerned.

For a moment, all three of us just stared at each other, not knowing what to say. I was at fault for appearing suddenly from behind the truck. The driver of the "ojek" (ojek is motorcycle for hire, a common transportation form in Jakarta. You pay the driver to drive you somewhere and pay him an agreed-upon fare) was obviously at fault for driving up against the one-way street. And at high speed. The passenger was looking at both of us like, seriously, this is some f***d up s**t. I'm wearing a short, yo. Could've lost a leg there.

But after small mumbles and grumbles (none of us dared to point fingers because ALL of us were at fault one way or the other), everyone just went along their way. I returned safely to my office, and as I waited for my coffee to arrive, I sat very quietly and thought to myself, "I have an interesting life." I thank the Lord for His perpetual protection on my emptyheaded ass, and for this rich life that I have. Rich not in terms of financially, but rich in terms of the life experiences I've gathered over the years; the library of stories that I'll be able to tell my kids and grandkids and amuse them for hours on end. Life IS beautiful - if you only know how to look.

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