Want some sun cream?

"Want some sun cream?", asked my friend Rasmus Hansen as our team was preparing to head out to the wild for what would be a - once in a life time team building experience.

We were at the end of our two year management program with AP Moller Maersk and the last few days were all about extreme survival before it ended with a grand party, assuming we returned in one piece. The Danish summer had its fair share of sunshine and I appreciated my friend sparing me a pack of sun cream which I applied quite liberally over the course of the next few days.

At the end of it all after we returned to civilization, I crawled back into my hotel room bone dead tired and hit the bed. Tomorrow was going to be the final day and I wanted to be well rested and look fresh for the final party. As I woke up and glanced at the mirror for the first time in many days, I couldn't believe what I saw - my face was burnt as toast!

I looked more closely at the sun cream and realized what was going on here. I haven't come across a single person around my neck of the woods who applies sun cream to get tanned, it is always as sunscreen to protect from getting tanned. While my friends in Europe mostly have the opposite requirement. Oh dear!

Here is a picture of me from that night with my good friend Sitoh Li Ling.

Every time I screw up because of an assumption or see someone else do the same, I murmur to myself - want some sun cream?

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