Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Too much of a good thing

My internet access from home is wonky. I tried to download an update and have had problems ever since. Everytime I run the repair utility it tells me it can't do the repair because I'm not connected to the internet. AAAAHHHGGGG!!!


Anyway I went on my third trip of the month to Ko Samet on Sunday. It started auspiciously enough. The last time I'd been to the book store I found HP - The Half Blood Prince and had almost finished it. I stopped in to the book store again, and they had HP - Dealthly Hallows in paperback (which I don't think they had previously). Awesome!

It was not until I got onto the island and started unpacking my things that I realized that I'd forgotten to bring my beach-bag. My beach bag always sits by my front door and contains my sun hat, sunscreen, sunglasses and a stack of postcards. =( My tan had gotten somewhat out of control...people were commenting on it regularly... and I'd been meaning to be better about using sunscreen. So I went to 7/11 to pick some up and was shocked at the prices - 300 baht for a small bottle! I put my faith in my existing tan to protect me and skipped it entirely.

I spent the day swimming and reading on the beach crying on and off from the moment Harry started his own coastal excusion with Dumbledor to the end of the book. And then, I couldn't help it, I skipped to the end of book 7 - picking up from when Harry re-enters the forest & opens the Snitch. OMG! Yeah. It was awesome, reading a good book on the beach is one of my ultimate joys. The sun, the sand, the warm water & gentle waves.... all of it was perfect. It wasn't until I'd finished the end of book 7 that I decided to call it a day, satisfied that I'd gotten my fill of the beach.

Back in my room I knew I was in trouble. My face was not just dark it was dark red... bad red. Burgundy red. There was not much to do for it though. I went out again the next morning and tried to stay in the shade. Ultimately I went home early because I realized I was beyond stupid for not getting the sunscreen when I had the chance. I was burned and it HURT!

On Monday of course everone who looked at me was shocked and commented, literally adding insult to injury. I wasn't able to get to Tescos that day, and the pharmacy near my school didn't have aloe. It wasn't until Tuesday that I made it to Tesco and picked some up. My skin felt better as soon as I used it... and by Wednesday I was feeling and looking a bit better.

But today... ugh... today is bad. For one the sunburn on my lips cause a couple of cold sores to pop up. And now my skin is peeling in lots of little flakes and some larger peels if I scratch my forehead. Disgusting. The aloe keeps things mellow for a while, but as soon as it dries I start flaking again. My skin underneath the sunburn is pale & pinkish - a pretty strong contrast to the burgundy of my sunburn. Not beautiful.

And the Thai girls from the office, proper sun-shy asian girls that they are, can't quite understand what's happening. They look vaguely horrified. It is horrible. And I have class in an hour - I really dont' know how I'm supposed to show my face. Ugh. =(

I've learned my lesson! I promise I have! I'm never going to the beach without sunscreen again!


TAG: Code Fish Sauce

4 comments:

Cate said...

Ugh I am so sorry about that sunburn. That is no fun at all. Isn't Deathly Hallows amazing? I think I might be ready to re-read the entire series!

Anonymous said...

ugh, that sucks about the sunburn, but I'm glad you had an enjoyable day at the beach with HP :)

gl. said...

i'm happy to hear this is the worst thing that has happened to you since you've been in thailand. :) but speaking as a fair-skinned girl, sunburn is no fun at all. i hope it gets better soon!

Rebel said...

Cate & babbling - thanks... reading HP does make one forget about the real world a bit!

gl - I'm not sure this sunburn comes close to the 'worst thing' that's happened in Thailand, the week long stomach bug was far more unpleasant.