Buying a bed african style

It seems the month of August is to be one of my most expensive months till date. In this month my phone has been broken, my bike has been stolen (sigh, yes you read it right) and my laptop of five years has finally let its light dim, blink and die never to shine again. It certainly is as dramatic as it sounds! To add salt to the wound, I had to get prepared to buy my brother a bed. This has been something that I have been postponing to do. However, since he's going to be living with me I have to be prepared.

Michael decided to go with me and help me out. It was a saturday and I was getting a litle anxious to buy a bed as I had been waiting for the last moment as usual. I guess there simply will be some things that I will never learn. We went to this store called Leen Bakker. It was funny we went here because I have been trying to find a place where I can find affordable beds that still had some quality. Mike told me quite early on that Leen Bakker was the store to go to but I refused to listen. In the end we went there anyway. This was on a day that I had had to go work for three hours (it was saturday mind you) and the night before I had not slept well. Mike and I had agreed to meet up in the centre of Haaarlem.

From the centre of Haarlem, Mike and I decided to walk to Leen Bakker. Upon arrival, our eye immediately fell upon te best deal there was. It was a bed with another bed that was stored under it: perfect for trying to maintain some space. We went to the lady in charge and told her we wanted the bed. Of course it was not meant to be so easy. The bed was not in storage..... YABA (SHIT)! Why would something like this always be bestowed upon me? I was ready to walk away and be prepared to have dissapointed my brother.

It was then that God felt pity on me once more, for the lady stopped me in my tracks and said a magical sentence, namely: I could call for you to our partner store in Amsterdam Zuid Oost and ask them if they have it on storage for they are open on sunday. And as soon as my heart soared, it dropped again too. Why? Well I asked her if they delivered the next day and the answer was no.... It was to be on Thursday. Oh man! I needed to have the bed at my house by sunday or monday latest! What to do? Mike told me not to worry, go to the store tomorrow and see what would enfold. So that's what we did....

Sunday came and before I could get ready to go to the store, I had to clean the house and get ready for the photoshoot for the commercial. My timing was a bit off, because the guy that was to take pictures of me came a little early. Nonetheless, we took pictures of seven outfits and got done. After that Mike and I immediately rushed to Amsterdam Zuid Oost with the plan of finding some food first.

We did quickly check on the internet on how to reach the store. Upon arrival of the dsignated policestop however, we found we were not as close as we thought. We asked two fellow africans for the way first. Remarkably, we noticed two things that both had in common. One was that neither spoke dutch, and that they didn't know about the store. These points have nothing to do with the main story, but it kind of threw us off because we proudly advocate Africa and somehow we felt these two fellows let us down. The latter however, relifted my spirits because of his sign of faith. Unlike my clothing, his dressing immediately let me know where he was rushing too; he was rushing to church! As he left, he gave me one bit of advise. In the distance behind me, he pointed at one girl and said with a grin on his face: ask her!

Why did he grin? Well, that is obvious! She was not a bad looking lady (what the guy didn't know though of course is that my lady is a lot prettier)and that definitely made it easy for me to approach and ask her for the way. Her answer is what shocked me. It was like God had appeared in this man's body and pointed the way himself, for this lady was looking for the same store as us. The funny thing though ,was that she didn't know how to get there herself.

A busdriver came in his bus and we approached him. Much to our glee, he knew where it was and agreed to take us there and said he'd do it for free since there was no official busstop where we were going. He dropped us off illegaly, by the side of a busy road and the very strict police of Holland saw it and let it happen. I guess it was meant to be!

We finally found the place, but there were a lot more other stores right next to it also selling beds. So we went and looked at each one of them. The searching and the thought of not having eaten made us hungry and so we stopped and went for a meal. Eventually, we decided to stick to our original plan and look for our bed that we had chosen at Leen Bakker because that was the bed that was sold on action. Once more it felt like we were following the direction at which God pointed in with his finger.

All this way, it was funny that people either directed us to the store as if we owned a car. It became rather apparent that people that don't own a car, usually don't drive down to these stores. Perhaps a reason why the fellow africans we met didn't really know wher the store was? In any case, it was also a sign that perhaps it's time to start thinking of investing in a car.

For the time being, we were without a car and by now we needed to carry two packeages all the way back to a trainstation of which we don't know is direct location.... We decided to grit our teeth, grab the packages and start walking in the general direction. Along the way, just like how we were lead to the store, people guided us back to the station.

We started carrying off the bed with one guy (Michael) in front carrying the bed with his hands behind his back, and another (me) following and holding the bed in front. We went along quite well with a few stops in between. It was gruelling! However, what made it rather fun was the looks we were getting from people that were driving by in their car. They could not believe what they were seeing! Then to make things more interesting, Mike and I decided to carry the bed differently. We decided to go african style, like the true advocates that we are and carried the bed on our heads. To our surprise; this was the best way to carry the bed! With way less stops, this was how we managed to get to the station!

Once more, our timing was a bit off for it had started to rain. As soon as we got on the platform, it started to pour. Inside the waiting lot (like one you would find at a busstop) we had to hide behind the bed because the wind was pushing the rain that close! The train came, and along with it came the mission of getting the bed inside of the train! People couldn'tstop looking amusedly at us and passing on silly comments like good night! and rest well! They were simply very shocked to find that we were carrying not one, but in actual fact two beds with public transportation and made it look rather easy.

Our last stretch was rather hilarious. We had to rush the bed to the bus and get on it. The driver immediately let us into the last door... I guess he felt our pain. Upon reaching our stop to get off. I lifted the bed and let Michael carry the other package as I started running for our house with my last remaining powers. Upon reaching the door I had to gather my reserve strenghts, lift the bed once more and heave it up the stairs into our livingroom.

As I put the bed down, a couple of thoughts flashed through my head. It was amazing thad once more I left things to the last minute, even more astonishing that a source bigger than mike and myself lead us to find the store and back, and it was most bewildering that we did it due to our belief it would work out.... The icing on the cake was that we did it with sheer african strength and thought! Then Mike broke my line of thought as he said: ok we seriously need a car man!

Ok peeps, think about all what I have written. For now I have to leave you, for today I have finally bought the screwdrivers to put the beds I bought together! Take care and I hope to hear from you soon!