have you ever been with someone who is so nice…soooo nice and proper that it is almost like the biggest weakness, instead of strength?  ever felt frustrated and feeling like a jerk while saying, ‘gosh, don’t be too nice, would you…’?

that’s exactly how i felt, well, actually, that how i foten feel.  but let’s get down to concrete example why being close to a sooo nice person is soo annoying sometimes.. 

as the fact with many other "developing" cities in Indonesia, having something that is really "happening" in Banda Aceh is a tricky business.  that is if you exclude the biweekly Hash Harriers, dinners with friends, traditional coffee shops, and loads of DVDs. so when we heard about a jazz concert in town, oh yea,…count me in… (though to be honest i am not THAT hot on jazz…)

anyway, one day before the date of concert, my nice and kind partner droped by at the venue, after calling…(yea, so westerner thing…), and picked up two free invitations for the concert.  he said that the lady in charge was actually reluctant to give them when they talked on the phone, because she was saving it for some organizations, but then she said if he could come "NOW" then he could have them.  and so he came.

with the funny ways life twists and turns the way it usually does… somehow the next morning he woke up with a temperature…

he felt not too well, but decided to go to work and see whether he should leave after lunch.  which, he did after all.  he went home for a siesta after lunch, and did not manage to come back to office.  by the time i went home at 6, i found him, still in his working outfit, lying flat on his bed, with 39.2 Celcius on that little stick he sticked into his mouth.   gosh, 39.2!! that’s a pretty clear sign no concert would ever force us out of the house.

being very Indonesian, i did not mind staying at home. concert no concert, sick is sick.  but apparently a Westerner conscience is trained rather differently, or maybe it was just him…  he insisted of calling and informing the lady that we would not be able to come to the concert.  yea, right….like we are cancelling appointment with a best friend, huh?  and so the story goes, that he actually called the lady and agreed to DELIVER THE INVITATIONS AT THE VENUE.

imagine THAT!  i was wondering what kind of idea he had on his mind, with 39 Celcius, driving to this place to deliver the invitations, and what went on her mind, when she heard that he had a high fever and yet asked him to drop the invitations.

and when they met, not even a thank you, it was an "OK." it was not even, "oh, i’m sorry you are sick, but it is very nice of you to drop them here, many other people would love to get these things…get well soon."

gosh….some people… (really, i am not angry to her, because i don’t really expect much from all this EO thing….but i was close to literally shout at him…when he went home - with me - slightly disappointed because she did not respond so nicely…. oh man…. )  

PS: the fact that the next day he woke up with 39.8 degree Celcius and went straight to the UN doctor office once it was open, and got a blood test, and got diagnosed with mild malaria really did not make the case any nicer…..emoticon