Last night, I had just arrived at my dorm from church when I felt the urge to drink one of the 5 remaining sachets of MILO Nutri-Up in my food drawer. I poured its contents into my nifty little mug, and put in a spoon for stirring like I would always do, and sniffed the scent of chocolate powder wafting into my nose like only a college student can. I headed for the only water dispenser in the dormitory besides the one inside the canteen (which was inaccessible since the canteen was closed at the time, because it only operates until 8:30 pm everyday, and this happened at around 10:07 in the evening).
When I got near, I nudged the distilled water container currently loaded into the dispenser, and alas, there was no water. I even tried pressing the tap for hot water, hoping that there was some decent amount of water hiding in the innermost cavities of the dispenser, but to no avail. I looked at my premature drink once again, and it almost looked like it was begging for water.
The next thing I did was to go to the nearby dorm. I was laughing at myself along the way, because this already happened to me yesterday earlier in the morning before going to church. I was hoping that the water dispenser in the neighboring dorm would bail me out once again. I entered the premises feeling like a complete stranger, and dodged glances while walking towards their water dispenser. I took a long, hard look at it. Shoot. They didn't have water either. The guard behind me said humorously, "Wala din kaming tubig eh" ("We don't have any drinking water too").
I went back to my dorm room empty-handed, feeling like a kid who wants to cry because his mommy didn't buy him the toy he saw at the toy store window. I just sucked it up, and proceeded to try to painstakingly dissolve my chocolate drink in room temperature water. The whole time I was doing it, it really got into my nerves, because as a chemistry major I should know better than to use water as a solvent even if the resulting solubility of the chocolate drink in it is going to be low. The result? A decent chocolate drink with chocolate powder granules on top. I thought maybe this was the poor man's version of the MILO Dinosaur recipe shake. I drank it anyway, with a blank face, patiently avoiding the thought that I was guzzling down a drink that was neither hot nor cold. In other words, it was not appealing to the senses.
I was about to sit down in front of my table and continue the post-lab report that was due tomorrow, when I heard my name being called by the dorm officer who was on duty for the night. He stood at the door, wearing jeans and a maroon polo shirt. "Bibili ka ng tubig?" ("Are you going to buy water?"), he asked me. "Opo" ("Yes"), I replied. He approached me to tell that there were also two other guys in the dorm who wanted to buy water, and asked if I could buy them water as well. I agreed. After they handed some money to me and told me their orders, I strapped on my bike helmet, and got on my bike. So basically, I became an emergency delivery guy almost instantly without service charge.
I raced through the long and empty road towards the UPLB Student Union Building, where there was a 7-11 convenience store at the left side of it. I took the time to feel the wind in my hair, and be grateful to God for giving me the opportunity to help out my fellow dorm mates. I zigzagged and jumped up the road humps as I went past by the VetMed dorm, and attempted a no-hands drive while I was sprinting downhill. It was fun being able to ride my bike into the night with the permission of the dorm officer himself, and I even started singing "Where Have You Been My Disco" along the way, just to savor the moment while it lasted.
Upon arriving at the 7-11 store, I parked my bike along the nearby handrails and locked it there before going in. I was murmuring as I went about the store, trying to remember what I was supposed to buy again. "Three bottles of one-liter Wilkins distilled water, one bottle of 1.5 liter Summit natural drinking water..." , I whispered to myself. "Oh right! And one dumpling," I exclaimed after remembering the bola-bola siopao I was supposed to buy for my dorm mate. I also picked out two microwaved clubhouse sandwiches for myself. After picking up everything in one haul, I put everything on the counter, and fished out nearly 250 pesos from my wallet, then gave it to the store clerk and said thank you.
I hopped on my bike once again, endured the uphill trip back to the dorm (not to mention that I have like 5 liters of weight strapped to my back since I put all of the groceries I bought in my backpack), and breathed a sigh of relief once I got back. After getting off my bike, I was sweating, my knees were trembling, but nonetheless I was still smiling.
I approached the two guys who asked me to buy water and food for them earlier, and I was overwhelmed by the relief and gratitude that they expressed towards me as I gave them what they ordered. The guy who ordered one bottle of water and a dumpling thanked me one last time and returned to his room. The other guy who ordered two bottles of water gave me 20 pesos in exchange for what I did for him out of indebtedness. He thanked me as well, and went upstairs to his room.
I went back to my room, sat in front of my table, and glanced at my phone. It was 11:03 pm. I was still absorbing everything that had just happened. I took out the two clubhouse sandwiches from my bag and as expected, they looked nothing like the pictures in front of their packages. Oh well. "Another unfulfilled desire," I told myself. After eating both sandwiches, I still felt hungry. But I couldn't care less; because what started out as a night where I didn't get what I wanted, turned into an opportunity to give to others what they needed, without expecting anything in return. It was all thanks to God. Last night was a wonderful reminder from Him that sometimes, the most memorable experiences that we can ever have, are the ones we didn't ask for in the first place.
Thanks for reading!
Take care,
Virtual Self
