Frustration of a Flat Tire

Hannah Buhr

Eager to miss school, the Dalat varsity soccer and volleyball teams took a bus ride to Kuala Lumpur to face off against the varsity and junior varsity teams from the International School of Kuala Lumpur, but not without disaster.

This trip, an annual occurrence, is usually treated as an escape from school to have an amazing learning experience on the court or pitch. Students don’t expect there to be bus trouble or major hiccups in the careful plans; each year, the coaches work hard to ensure that this tournament is a great learning experience for the athletes. Despite the thorough planning of the coaches this year, the bus ride to Kuala Lumpur didn’t exactly go as planned due to something far beyond their control.

On Friday, August 26, the two buses left the Dalat parking lot and all the students settled for the long ride. Soon after, the bus holding the soccer guys and volleyball girls got off the bridge and stopped, but not for a bathroom stop. Instead, the bus driver got off the bus and began fixing it. Everyone on the bus was quite confused, not sure why they were stopping. Some people took advantage of the situation and got off the bus to get snacks that were stowed in their bags beneath the bus. Bena Mauger (12) even said that “some people thought they were lost.” This unexplainable stop was greeted with confusion and a slight irritation.

The soccer girls and volleyball guys in the other bus spent some time not knowing their other classmates’ fate. The students, however, quickly realized that something was wrong when the giant, sluggish lorries were overtaking their bus. They wondered if their bus was about to break down, but the student-athletes on the bus eventually discovered the truth when they asked their coach when lunch was.

It was soon revealed by the bus drivers on both buses that the bus carrying the volleyball girls and soccer guys had gotten a flat tire. The bus driver had stopped at a predetermined spot to fix the tire, and the other bus driver was supposed to drive slowly down the highway to allow the other bus to catch up.

On both buses, at first, the feeling was of general annoyance, as it was clear that this was going to delay lunch. The students, however, became more and more angry as they got more and more hungry, desperately pilfering their bags for any snacks that they had packed.

The miles passed excruciatingly slowly in both buses. Finally, at about one o'clock, the soccer girls and volleyball boys saw that they were finally pulling into the rest stop. Later, the other bus pulled into the rest stop, and the students who were earlier forced to stop eagerly piled off the bus to get sustenance to fill their growling stomachs. And as the students saw each other after a long eventful morning on the bus, they smiled, filled with hope for their games and, most of all, grateful that they had made it.