Daily Report: A Big Bang

I forgot to set the alarm last night when we got home from the bars, so Epril and I slept in until noontime today. (I think we were tired from running around at the beach more than anything.)

I spent the afternoon working, and Go cooked lo mein for dinner.

So: I'm upstairs in my bedroom window and I see Go and Epril in the street below getting ready to hop on Go's scooter. "Where are you going?" I asked. Go replied, "I'm going to teach Epril how to drive the motorsai!"

I couldn't think of a worse idea. Go = no English, Epril = no Thai. Go's idea of teaching Epril how to ride a scooter is (1) point to all the different controls, (2) turn the key, (3) tell Epril, "Go, Epril, go!!!"

"I'll be right down and teach her myself, Go. Don't go anywhere." I said.

While on my way down, I heard the scooter engine rev, I heard Epril yell, I hear Go yell, and then I heard this big loud bang.

Go had turned on the engine, Epril had twisted the throttle, and she had ran headlong into our neighbor's big steel-plated front gate. The volume of the bang was rather amazing actually. No, of course Epril didn't know about the brakes: Go hadn't really gotten to explaining that part yet.

Fortunately, Epril was only going barely faster than walking speed, and although the motorcycle was scratched up a little bit, Epril was more or less okay... although obviously a little bit more wary about getting back on a scooter with the keys in it.

So I picked up the scooter, picked up Epril, and told Go that she was never to attempt teaching somebody to drive a scooter again. I then got Epril back on the scooter, and simply had her sit on the scooter, and walk around with it while she gently twisted the accelerator. It quickly became apparent from her difficulty with even this little bit that her learning how to handle the roads of Thailand on a 2-wheeled vehicle was going to be a long process.

"Can you even ride a bicycle?" I asked Epril. "No, never ridden before." Replied Epril.

Well, now we know where we have to begin at... and it certainly isn't with a scooter.

Anyway, I spent the evening in front of the television with Epril, who now has a sore hip.