Excerpt for my Journal
(January 12th, 2009)
Geegee’s brother came and took me swimming in a nearby pond early [on Sunday] morning. Some things I should just say no to, but then again, “Go big or go home.” So I changed out of my church clothes that I had already gotten into and put on my lightweight “swimming” pants with a tee-shirt. Geegee’s brother flipped me a towel and we were out the door.
When we got to the swimming hole, he wrapped his towel around his waist, took off his kali, and jumped in. I was to do the same. Now a towel here in India, or at least my towel, was not that thick. Let’s just say I couldn’t get in the water quickly enough and that the water was not green enough. Why I decided that it was a good idea to use the towel, I will never know. Sometimes you just want to fit in with everyone else.
However when you swim in a towel, believe it or not, it falls off. There are no buttons or snaps or ties, only a tuck that quickly comes undone. And when it gets wet, it gets even more see-through. Let’s just say I learned many things that day. Like how to submerge to the bottom of a pond and fix a towel where people can not see you adjusting your stuff. I also learned that the resting backstroke is not quite appropriate in some situations. But above all I learned humility.
Getting out of the water was a real trick. Because I was new/white to the town, my swimming was something to watch. So with a lot of guy’s my age, Geegee’s brother, and Geegee’s brother’s daughter present, I had to get dressed. Why I left my clothes on the top most step, I will never know. At the time it seemed a good idea, but it certainly made for an awkward climb up trying to look natural and still cover all my bits and pieces.
Then when I got my clothes, Geegee’s brother was telling me how to get redressed without getting my other clothes wet. Basically with a towel around your waist you pull up your dry clothes underneath. No problem. However, I didn’t know if it was appropriate to have just boxer-briefs on. So I left them around my knees while trying to get my pant legs on, and keep them out of the puddles. All of this very much to the embarrassment of Geegee’s brother. Eventually everything was fine and I was safely back into my western wear. Good old humility.
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