Don't pay it back - Pay it forward.

I Hate Hospitals.

Its full of sick & crazy people who stare at you in desperation. There are needles, blood & whatever that weird goo was everywhere. I try to avoid hospitals at all costs. You would think someone as clumsy as me would be in hospital all the time. Nope. Somehow all my injuries remain superficial. And actually you would also assume that someone as clumsy as me on a snowboard is a recipe for disastor. Its funny then that Heather breaks her wrist and all I walk away with is bruised ribs. Although when I did do that double black (and almost died in fright about how steep it was) I fell really badly over a few snow drifts causing my ankles to jar. That could have been two broken ankles easy.

Enough about snowboarding I'm getting all whimsical about the snow again.

Back to the Hospital.

I went last night to visit my friend who had had a pretty nasty bike accident in Bali. He was supposed to be flying back to Canada.. today. He doesn't really know anyone in Darwin but me and one other guy who is stuck in Singapore right now. So he is kind of alone in a hospital miles away from his family & friends. It sucks because obviously I don't have a lot of time to visit him but I know if I was stuck in a hospital in another country for weeks on end I would relish any company I was given. But how do you find people to visit you when you don't know anyone? I mean who is really going to give up their time to visit someone in hospital? Be aware that while I get along really well with him we have only known each other about a month although in that month I think we connected as friends pretty strong.

So I'm hoping to get back there on Thursday bringing Philipp and his guitar and Alice with her.. french? to keep the morale up. His knee & ankle are broken so he can't move at all he is really confined to the bed.

The idea of a better world really rings true in this scenario it reminds me of Thomas my swiss couch surfer. He gave up an entire day to help a 90yr old woman who had rolled her trailer just outside of Darwin. He helped clean the trailer which was full of rotting food and drove her around all day running errands. I would have loved to help her but as I working I was unable. He didn't ask for anything in return he just helped out of the goodness of who he was. And I know he was frustrated by the end of it but he never let this lady know whoose spirits were already crushed a little from the accident.

People like that are few and far between but the spirit of couchsurfing is making it easier to find them. I like to think that by me keeping my friend's morale up while he is stuck in hospital somewhere in the future he will boost the morale of someone else in need. And this, makes me happy.