A beautiful lake in Addis
(I looked on Google maps, and there is no such lake..)
In this dream, Papaya is working for a NGO in Ethiopia and has moved to Addis. She's renting a house with 3 other NGO workers who all seem young and funky, of the hippie idealistic type. We are all sitting around in the living room chatting and smoking, the dark space filled with the earthy smell of smoke. Her housemates suggest that we go to a lake near Addis, which they rave wonders about. They are amazed that neither of us have visited, and say that it is the most amazing sight in all of Ethiopia.
The next day we set out to bike to the lake. Perhaps true to the fact that I can't ride a bike in real life, I get stuck about halfway to the lake and my legs won't move anymore. We are on the side of a relatively empty highway, so we ditch my bike and I hitch a ride on the back of Papaya's bike.
When we arrive at the lake it is an utterly majestic sight. The water is a royal blue, so clear that one can see the bottom and all the little fish swimming in the lake. It stretches as far as the eye can see, resembling an inland sea. There is hardly any vegetation around the lake, and the water is so still the surface shimmers like a diamond. We dip our toes in and the water is cold - I realise that the weather is quite cold at this moment in time. We sit down on the rocks by the lakeshore and have a picnic. I am struck by how there are no other people at the lake, locals or tourists.
When we decide to go back to Addis, Papaya suggests that we take the "back way" which she says will be faster. First we ride through desert-like landscape, dry and arid, dotted with little shrubs. Then we get to a farming area where we plough through the narrow paths that farmers have made in between fields. Finally we encounter a really muddy stretch where the dust road has been flooded time and again. In this part, trucks suddenly appear out of nowhere and splatter us with mud as we ride past.
We get back to Addis and it's 4:30pm. Dirty and weary, we drag ourselves into Papaya's house and collapse on the couch. Neither of us can get up except to fetch some Diet Coke. As we sip it (so refreshing after a long tiring ride!), Papaya suddenly says, you know this is why there is so much cancer in the world.
What do you mean? I ask, puzzled by her random comment.
Diet coke is the reason for all the cancer in the world. She says, looking rather solemn. I'm so glad you've come to help me spread the message all around Ethiopia, we will start tomorrow.
Awww.. I think in my head. I thought I was here for a holiday!
Then I woke up.
A plane crash
In this dream I am living in an apartment on the 9th floor with my dad and grandma. Outside there are many other apartment buildings, and the landscape is unidentifiable. We are sitting in the living room which faces out of a very large glass window.
I am looking through the window when I suddenly notice that there is a plane approaching the area very rapidly. It is flying so low down that I can read Air France on its side. Lurching wildly, it appears to be dropping altitude quickly then cruising for a few seconds, then dropping again. I am gripped by a nauseous sense of fear in the pit of my stomach, and I stand up to get a closer look.
As I approach the window I see the plane come closer and closer to our building. Then it disappears from view and I realise it has just skimmed the top of our building. I turn around to see if I can see it from a different window, then I hear a huge explosion which is loud beyond description.
The world turns white. All noise disappears momentarily.
Then there is a high pitched buzzing sound in my ears, which I instinctively know is a leftover effect from the massive noise of the crash. The air seems to be vibrating and it's almost as if I can touch the soundwaves. I am crouched on the ground along with my family, and I have a little laugh at myself as if to say - how does crouching on the ground help if a plane crashes into our building?
The buzz subsides slowly and I help my grandma to her feet. Nothing is damaged in our apartment and we all sit down in our chairs again. I notice that there's an obs machine in the living room and I decide to do my own observations. When I put the Sats probe on, my heart rate reads 150 and there's no oxygen saturation. I put the blood pressure cuff on and I can't get it to read the first 3 times, even though it inflates so much my arm starts to go numb.
I must be really stressed from this. I think to myself. But that's funny, I don't feel stressed.
The BP finally reads 190/ and the diastolic remains empty. I stand up and look out the window again. There is a huge crater where the building opposite ours was, and I strain to see if there are any parts of the plane I can see.
Then I wake up
(I looked on Google maps, and there is no such lake..)
In this dream, Papaya is working for a NGO in Ethiopia and has moved to Addis. She's renting a house with 3 other NGO workers who all seem young and funky, of the hippie idealistic type. We are all sitting around in the living room chatting and smoking, the dark space filled with the earthy smell of smoke. Her housemates suggest that we go to a lake near Addis, which they rave wonders about. They are amazed that neither of us have visited, and say that it is the most amazing sight in all of Ethiopia.
The next day we set out to bike to the lake. Perhaps true to the fact that I can't ride a bike in real life, I get stuck about halfway to the lake and my legs won't move anymore. We are on the side of a relatively empty highway, so we ditch my bike and I hitch a ride on the back of Papaya's bike.
When we arrive at the lake it is an utterly majestic sight. The water is a royal blue, so clear that one can see the bottom and all the little fish swimming in the lake. It stretches as far as the eye can see, resembling an inland sea. There is hardly any vegetation around the lake, and the water is so still the surface shimmers like a diamond. We dip our toes in and the water is cold - I realise that the weather is quite cold at this moment in time. We sit down on the rocks by the lakeshore and have a picnic. I am struck by how there are no other people at the lake, locals or tourists.
When we decide to go back to Addis, Papaya suggests that we take the "back way" which she says will be faster. First we ride through desert-like landscape, dry and arid, dotted with little shrubs. Then we get to a farming area where we plough through the narrow paths that farmers have made in between fields. Finally we encounter a really muddy stretch where the dust road has been flooded time and again. In this part, trucks suddenly appear out of nowhere and splatter us with mud as we ride past.
We get back to Addis and it's 4:30pm. Dirty and weary, we drag ourselves into Papaya's house and collapse on the couch. Neither of us can get up except to fetch some Diet Coke. As we sip it (so refreshing after a long tiring ride!), Papaya suddenly says, you know this is why there is so much cancer in the world.
What do you mean? I ask, puzzled by her random comment.
Diet coke is the reason for all the cancer in the world. She says, looking rather solemn. I'm so glad you've come to help me spread the message all around Ethiopia, we will start tomorrow.
Awww.. I think in my head. I thought I was here for a holiday!
Then I woke up.
A plane crash
In this dream I am living in an apartment on the 9th floor with my dad and grandma. Outside there are many other apartment buildings, and the landscape is unidentifiable. We are sitting in the living room which faces out of a very large glass window.
I am looking through the window when I suddenly notice that there is a plane approaching the area very rapidly. It is flying so low down that I can read Air France on its side. Lurching wildly, it appears to be dropping altitude quickly then cruising for a few seconds, then dropping again. I am gripped by a nauseous sense of fear in the pit of my stomach, and I stand up to get a closer look.
As I approach the window I see the plane come closer and closer to our building. Then it disappears from view and I realise it has just skimmed the top of our building. I turn around to see if I can see it from a different window, then I hear a huge explosion which is loud beyond description.
The world turns white. All noise disappears momentarily.
Then there is a high pitched buzzing sound in my ears, which I instinctively know is a leftover effect from the massive noise of the crash. The air seems to be vibrating and it's almost as if I can touch the soundwaves. I am crouched on the ground along with my family, and I have a little laugh at myself as if to say - how does crouching on the ground help if a plane crashes into our building?
The buzz subsides slowly and I help my grandma to her feet. Nothing is damaged in our apartment and we all sit down in our chairs again. I notice that there's an obs machine in the living room and I decide to do my own observations. When I put the Sats probe on, my heart rate reads 150 and there's no oxygen saturation. I put the blood pressure cuff on and I can't get it to read the first 3 times, even though it inflates so much my arm starts to go numb.
I must be really stressed from this. I think to myself. But that's funny, I don't feel stressed.
The BP finally reads 190/ and the diastolic remains empty. I stand up and look out the window again. There is a huge crater where the building opposite ours was, and I strain to see if there are any parts of the plane I can see.
Then I wake up
No comments:
Post a Comment