It was my last day in Ilmenau, more than 10.000 km away from my hometown Jakarta, Indonesia. I have been there for nine days to participate in International Student Week in Ilmenau, held by Technische Universität ilmenau. Thanks to this festival, I was able to travel to a picturesque side of Germany which is famous by its lake and nature.
Speaking of the lake, I had such a memorable encounter there that day. I hitchhiked on a bike with my Indonesian friend. Actually it was borrowed from his host. What a jinx, the tires went flat! So I decided to find a pump at the info point while he was waiting for me on the lake side.
I had not arrived yet at the info point, when I met this guy on a bike. Well, even though there were many students who used bike in the university, this one came toward me. So I stopped him by asking where I could find bike pump because I was not so sure whether info point had it.
Instead of answering my question, he explained me about two kinds of tires, the French ones and the German ones. And before he got too specific, I repeated my question. And finally I got the answer and the pump at the same time. In fact, he had it in his bag, all this time. But he did not promise me whether he could help me, because it depended on what kind of bike tire I had.
So we walked to the lake side together while he was leading his bike. I asked him whether I disturbed him in the middle of something. Well, he told me that he was actually in hurry but he could not let a cute girl like me into trouble. At first, you had no impress if this master of tires could flirt at this situation, and then I introduce myself. He said that he had seen me before when I was playing a game with one of his friend yesterday. And then he mentioned his name, but barely had I known how to spell it. Whether it was kind a romance encounter? Well it might be …
Finally we arrived on the lake side when my friend had waited for me. The Tire Guy took out something from his bag which seemed to be a flute. I was wrong; it was a bike pump travel air tire with which he started to pump our flat tire. And apparently it worked.
My friend and I were so glad and thanked him. And then my friend noticed the mark of his bag which was so popular among the travelers. He wanted it so much even though it was very expensive because we had to import it in Indonesia. In the other hand, I noticed something under the bicycle rack, something looked like a flute. Then I asked him whether it was the same bike pump travel. He just nodded and we were in silence for a second.
Afterwards, we could not stop laughing. The bike pump was there all along. My friend and I did not know that was a pump. Well, to be honest it might that Indonesians seemed so high tech with cellular stuff. But this kind of equipment, oh dear, we had no idea. We felt so embarrassed about this foolishness. Back to the present, my friend and I consider that it was a moment on the lake side in Ilmenau. Every time we see the bike, we laugh like crazy. Personally, I was sure if that guy thought that I was such a ridiculous girl. Actually I cannot find him on social network and it is better that we are not connected anyway. But I am connected to his friend whom I played game with. I told him about this encounter by message and mentioned the name of the tire guy.
It had taken a while until I noticed my other silliness. He said that he needed some time to realize that I had spelt a wrong name of his friend. So he asked each of his friends which had similar names. And finally he found The Tire Guy and asked him whether he kept me in mind. The Tire Guy said that it was such an unforgettable encounter with a cute silly girl. I agree with him that I am totally fool about the tire and his name also.
A Haerani
