Mindful Ramblings
Even Peace Corps Volunteers get stood up
Published on April 14, 2005 By Unfairman In Personal Relationships
Wanna hear a funny "ain't that just my luck" story? Okay, here goes. We went
to a party the other day at Lauren's house. She's a PCV here on South
Tarawa. It was a great party. Lots of barbeque, more than lots of beers, and
3 guitars. Jim, a Volunteer from my group who is super awesome on the
guitar, played pretty much all night and two other guys with two other
guitars were sort of his back up and would occassionally chime in with a
song of their own. I, of course, busted out my "poor-but-loud" drunk voice.
We all sat in a circle and drank and played and sang. Definitely cool.
Also, after all the guitarin', we had a mini-dance party. Now, earlier in
the night I'd been introduced to a young English woman named Jane. She was
pretty cute, extremely sweet hearted and that English accent...well, I'm
sure you know what accents can do to a person's attractiveness. Anyway,we
talked a lot, and danced a lot, and even did that
I'm-gonna-dance-with-you-but-we're-going-to-intertwine-our-fingers-like-we're-
holding-hands-but-it's-not-a-big-deal-cause-we're-just-dancing
thing. My friend Bill (his brother is the bassist for G.Love) was
giving me advice all night, and I was just tipsy enough to follow it. So, at
the end of the night, I invited her to have lunch with me. To make it seem
more casual, I was like "Okay, so how about this. I'll be at the Red House
Restaurant tomorrow at noon. If you show up, I'll buy you lunch. If not,
I'll buy me lunch." We agreed, and I headed home, towing/being towed by two
other drunken PCVs.
The next day came, and I went to the restaurant at around ten to 12 (didn't
want her to have to wait), and she wasn't there. So I was like "Okay, no
problem, Kiribati time." Kiribati time runs at least 45 minutes slower than
normal time. I waited until like 12:45 and then decided she wasn't going to
show and bought my lunch and went back to the Peace Corps dorm.
Bill came by later that afternoon (he stayed in Betio with Jim) and I told
him that his advice had failed. He told me not too feel too bad (I didn't
really feel too bad, anyway) because she was the 19-year-old daughter of the
European Union Consulate. Yep, that's right, 19. And the daughter of a
relatively Big Shot. Turns out she was there under the supervision Corey,
another PCV who lives on Tarawa, who promised her parents she would look
after her. So, basically, I was the creepy guy hitting on the young girl how
was, basically, being babysat. And I was doing pretty well. Now THAT'S a
funny story.
The thing is that it wasn't unreasonable for me to assume she was my age (I
know, I'm only 5 years older than she is, but it's a big 5 years. A lot
happens in that time). A) She didn't look or act 19 She was at a party
drinking beers C) she was a young not I-Kiribati woman. It was safe for me
to assume that she was a Volunteer with some sort of organization. There are
many NGOs, and there are many Australian and other Volunteers, on Tarawa at
least. Not so much the outer islands. Anyway, almost all the Vol.
Organizations require a degree in something, making them at least 22 years
old. Oh well, just another example of my impeccable logic failing.

Comments
on Apr 14, 2005
Haha! I have to admit that was pretty funny man! I hope you wont get in too much trouble though and that the next time there's a cute girl around that she's at least 22
on Apr 14, 2005
I'm-gonna-dance-with-you-but-we're-going-to-intertwine-our-fingers-like-we're-
holding-hands-but-it's-not-a-big-deal-cause-we're-just-dancing thing.


Dude, it's comments like this that make me wish we were both gay.

-The SuS
on Apr 14, 2005
island gurl-
Here's the problem in Kiribati as far as relationships go. Well, there are many problems, but here's one that vexes many of the few single guys around here. The I-Kiribati children are gorgeous. Your heart melts when looking at 4 year olds. Also, the young adults mature pretty rapidly. If you look (and, lets admit it, everyone looks. Yes, even girls) you have to be careful, because 14 yeard olds look like they're 20 and 20 year olds generally look like they're 40. There's something about the genes or the diet or the lifestyle or something that makes people get ugly when the hit the age of 20. It's as rare to find an ugly child as it is to find an attractive adult. Sure, they're both around, but it's pretty uncommon. So, whenever I see a girl who's attractive to me she's probably 16. That doesn't make me a pedophile, it just makes me confused. As a side note, I live on an island. Maybe I should change my name to "island gui" or something. Probably not.

Ted-
You mean you're not gay?
on Apr 14, 2005
There's something about the genes or the diet or the lifestyle or something that makes people get ugly when the hit the age of 20.

HA HA HA,

You mean you're not gay?


Well I think I'm a woman trapped in a man's body...so I guess I'm a lesbian.

I live on an island. Maybe I should change my name to "island gui" or something. Probably not.


Maybe you should change your name to Michael Jackson...you sicko!

on Apr 14, 2005
Michael Jackson...it's worth thinking about.