serene moments

So this is mostly a random post about nothing (on this blog? shocking, I know), but while reliving strange and wonderful soundtracked moments from my walks to work here in Haifa, it reminded me of the Single Coolest Thing that I have ever witnessed. Ever.
It happened when I was in Uganda last year. I was standing outside of the Ugandan parliment buildings, shooting some b-roll of the street and of the police checking cars as they drove in through the main gate.
I had been there for about 20 minutes and was just getting ready to pack up when a Boda-Boda* pulled up next to me. (brief aside about Boda-Bodas: A Boda-Boda is a motorcycle taxi in Uganda. They're normally ridiculously underpowered scooters piloted by fearless (and/or reckless) young men who all seem to be engaged in an on-going quest to find the absolute quickest route through the traffic-choked city...or die trying. And they would like nothing more than to take you with them. And because it's Uganda, they all wear shorts, t-shirts and flip-flops, though more and more of them are wearing helmets as the police begin to enforce the helmet laws (or at least use it as an excuse to shake-down a few Boda pilots for a few thousand shillings).
Right, so anyway, this Boda pulls up beside me, and the driver is wearing a pristine white helmet with a gold-tinted full face visor (something like this, but the visor was gold, like this.) So when I turned to look, I could only see myself reflected in his visor. He just sat and looked at me for a moment, his face hidden, before slowly reaching up and tilting the reflective sheild back to reveal the coolest damn face I've ever seen (no really, you have no idea. And I couldn't possibly come up with the words to describe other than to say that I immediately fell in love). He continued to watch me, hardly reacting to my now shameless, open-mouthed gawking (I'm telling you, coolest. face. ever.) before saying simply: "cool, isn't it?" and raising his eyebrows slightly, awaiting my response. When he realized I was too star-struck to offer one, he gave me a little nod and a smile, dropped his visor with a flick of his hand, and took off again.
The whole thing lasted less than a minute, and I know that I've done a fairly dismal job of discribing it, but it was, without a doubt, the coolest thing ever.