Mr. Tomato

The weekend of the 17th – 19th, Erin & I went to Pelabuhan Ratu. It’s a beach resort a few hours south of us. we’ve been there a couple of times before, usually for long weekends. Even though we had no holidays, Erin & I were invited down by Katie & Kale. Katie’s parents were here for a couple of weeks (they just left last Friday) and the Hansons decided to take them down there so they could see the resort and enjoy a few days on the beach. Since they had extra rooms in the bungalow, they invited others to join them. We decided to go.

One nice thing about spending a few days on the beach is we can actually get some sun. Even though we live in a tropical place, we really don’t get much of a chance to just lie out. I wear long sleeves and pants pretty much every day to school and by the time we get home, it’s often rainy or cloudy, so weekends like this are the best time for us to get some sun.

On Saturday, I decided to sit out on the lawn of our bungalow for a while. I had a new book with me, Erik Larson’s The Devil in the White City, which for all you history nerds out there, is a great book. It’s about a serial killer in Chicago during the 1893 World’s Fair.

So I took my book and went to read in the sun for a while. I think I had been reading for about two hours when Erin and some others said they were going for a swim. I decided it would be a good time to go in and put on some sunscreen (I hadn’t done that yet) and then go hop in the pool. I wasn’t red or anything yet, so I figured I was safe.

Later that evening, I noticed my arms and legs were getting a little tender and had turned pink. I could feel tightness in the skin on my face. Hmm, maybe I did get a little burned. I put some aloe on it and went to bed. I wasn’t too worried; I always go tan after a while.

The next day, my arms and legs had very definite stripes on them from where I had been sitting in the sun. The topsides were bright red, and rather tender, while the undersides were as white as ever. Not to mention, since I was wearing a shirt, I had very definite rings around my arms and neck where the sun instantly stopped. It was pretty awesome.

So during the day I frequently applied some aloe lotion that was supposed to take away the redness. I think it helped some, but I’m not really sure. By Monday I was still as red as ever.

At school, this brought great delight to my students. My homeroom kids, the first to see me each day, asked with glee what had happened to my face. I explained to them that I spent a bit too much time out in the sun and had a sunburn. I was bule goreng. (Literally fried whitey.) By the end of the day, one of the girls in my homeroom, Shari, had taken to calling me Mr. Tomato. By Wednesday, I was getting visits from kids I don’t even teach this year who, “just had to come see your face.” I’m pretty sure my wife perpetuated some of this. I guess she was just glad it wasn’t her for once. Normally she’s the one who fries while I just get a tan.

I’m pretty tan now, although my skin is quite dry on my arms & legs. I guess I’ve learned my lesson.