greed...

woke to one heck of a killer migraine once again on that statehood day of 25th june. totally forgot about it though my housemommy had reminded me that it would be a local public holiday that day. what was forgotten, was also how the locals take holidays very seriously.

struggled to get out of the apartment that day to go to the supermarket to get a few things and thought to drop by the pharmacy to get some painkillers for the head, stupidly thinking that supermarkets and shops would still be in operation as per normal. bad assumption. landed up walking around looking for an open tobacco store and went to the street behind my apartment since there were more such shops there. big mistake.

although there were several people hanging out in the cafes and eateries on that street, it was not exactly the best of streets to be, at least, not for that day, because got mugged, sort of, on that damn street, not once, but twice, in a day, and consecutively in mere minutes, from one to the next. first was by a group of teenage guys, and then by some old dirty looking beggar like man a little later. can anyone get anymore jinxed than that seriously?!?

the one time when you say you do not understand the local language and only speak english, hoping then to just quickly walk off and pretend to not have heard nor seen them, they open their mouths to make their request in perfectly good english. mind you, the large majority of locals normally struggle with communication since my linguistics ain't top notch and they do not normally grasp, let alone bother with the universal language.

in any case, being stopped by the first group was probably the more intimidating in comparison to the latter since it was a whole bunch of testosterone raging teenagers since was more worried that they would run off with my wallet in the midst of my fishing out the amount they wanted and leaving me dead broke since there was rent and expenses to be paid, of which had just withdrawn the money to do just that; or probably hauling me someplace to smack me up left right centre for not giving them the money, or in the worst case scenario, the unimaginable taboo. a local girl on her cell just walked on by as if nothing was happening. brilliant.

quickly walked off after handing the money over as did not fancy being pulled into some street corner. relief was, however, sadly shortlived. well, was a tad luckier with the second despite being stopped in my footsteps once again. fortunately managed to walk away from it without handing a cent and without the person trying to be funny this time around. seriously speaking, think my lifespan shortened by a decade in those few minutes that was spent walking that street, and frankly, it ain't at all surprising that was the target of attention for the day since was the oddball out there with a different skin tone.

all in all, ended up getting nothing, and yet was still monetarily poorer, with a worse migraine to boot from the end of that crappy walk; and all in broad daylight. in spite of it all, was just glad to be back in my haven in one piece. after all, it really could have been a great deal worse.

amazing what greed can do. it has the ability to expand a person's capability. if anything, it only reminds me all the more not to underestimate the power of greed. people who normally make it a point to not know english, or do not bother to speak a word of english, can miraculously string up full sentences, perfect in grammar and vocabulary, to make their point.

the news that night was pretty wild in view that it was the national statehood day. people were celebrating with fireworks, torching up bins and all. did manage to catch a little of the fireworks going on myself from the balcony. it had been abit of an unforgettable wild day after all.