tennis hickeys

on tuesday, i went to play tennis, and since matias wasn't able to take me due to his classes. i rode my bike. i don't have a helmet (i just retyped that word like 20 times trying to figure out how to spell it), but for some reason i felt safer riding here than stateside. the reason being that drivers actually know how to drive (i hope i don't regret these words). there is a well-defined chaos to the transit system here. most foreigners get freaked out and have white knuckles on each car trip they take, but it shouldn't be that way. i stayed to the right, and pedaled really fast at intersections, haha. i made it there with no hiccups. my lesson started at 8pm, and last time i went i only stayed until 9pm... the end of class. however this time, i was invited to join the next class -- the girls' class. i wasn't about to turn down more tennis, so i stayed. at 10:15pm, i noticed matias standing at the fence. i knew immediately i was in trouble of sorts. he wasn't happy that i hadn't come home, and was genuinely worried about me, so much so that he came to make sure i was ok. he couldn't truly get mad, though, because i was where i said i was going to be, and i had no phone to communicate otherwise.

at the point i called it a night. i arrived at home (home? really? weird) and pulled into the garage. literally within seconds, i had matias' parents questioning me, and warning me about the dangers of the night, and so on. i made it through that, and went upstairs with my tail between my legs to take a shower and get cleaned up. 

i took a glance in the mirror, and noticed a red spot on my neck... i rubbed it, and it went away. in a fleeting moment, i thought maybe it had looked like a hickey... but it wasn't.... just for blatant clarification. instead it was red clay... from the tennis courts i had just spent more than two hours on. i didn't give it a second thought... until later. apparently, matias' mom had seen it and freaked out as soon as i went upstairs... her worries were quickly dispelled and put to rest, but i can't help but to feel bad for both her and beto...

needless to say it was a hard day for my host family. i even learned a few things... there is no way i am going to play less than two hours of tennis whenever i go, i need a cellphone... bad, and i need to make sure i have no clay remnants on me before returning home (again, weird...)