Woke up abruptly! Man I was tired. Woke up at around 8:00AM feeling THIRSTY. Chugged some water and was definitely not in my finest moment. Did a Y&M and then made my way to breakfast. After eating and hydrating, I felt great once again!

(Un)fortunately, there isn’t much to write about today. The same routine! Though I’ll be getting a massage tonight rather than in the morning.

I met a lovely couple from Norway and we chatted by the pool for a WHILE. Jan (hope I’m spelling his name correctly) is also a teacher of English, Norwegian, and math (it was cool as he referred to math as a language, which it is). We had a lively conversation comparing schooling systems and his affinity for American sports. Turns out he and his boys follow the NFL and have viewing parties every Sunday in Norway.

At the pool I reached out to a lot of family in India letting them know of the dates I’ll be in various cities and trying to make sure that we’ll be able to get together. Wrapped up at the pool and made my way to the beach. Got some sun and then made my way for some sautéed veggies!

Jake and I spoke about the dish last night. ! I forgot to mention that when we were chatting the night before I was like “yea you know all those sautéed veggie orders” he was like “that’s you!” and “I was like is he vegan? If so, cool, it doesn’t matter”. We shared a good laugh about it.

Anyway he said he would spice it up and include some okra. It was spicy in a great way, and the okra was a really nice touch.

After eating, I’m just sitting here and updating this blog for all of y’all!

Ok, SO, sorry that I’ve been so MIA. I jumped back into the pool for a quick cool off, and heard some people from Spain. Was going to try and talk to them but then decided against it. Made my way to the beach and had a nice session. The sun as strong, so I made sure to get in the water and cool off a bit. Got back to the room and did my afternoon Y&M. It wasn’t too hot either, or maybe I was just getting used to it?

Came back in the room and started getting organized. I pretty much emptied the contents of my bag so I could rearrange the packing, putting my North Face and blazer at the bottom because no way I was going to need them in India. I had originally scheduled my massage with Lorena at 9PM, moved it to 8PM, but still wanted to move it earlier. I was feeling pretty tired. Luckily, she was available at 7PM.

Got everything packed up more or less sans a couple of loose ends/things I still needed like my toothbristles, and took this before making my way over to the massage hut.

Wow. As if they massages couldn’t get any better, they did! Lorena continued to maintain a base ‘structure’ while doing a couple of new things. When we wrapped up nearly 90 minutes later, I just felt the relax-ed tiredness on my eyes. I was thinking there was no way I would be able to make it to dinner.

It was getting kind of late by the time I showered and got back to the restaurant for dinner. I saw Eivind (sorry for murdering the spelling of your name in the earlier post brother) and his lady having dinner after they had gone to the underground river caves. We chatted quickly about our days and then I sat down.

The chicken dish I wanted was going to be unavailable, so I decided on the seafood platter. Paired it with, as you already know, the NZ SB and the platter was FILLING. I wanted dessert too as a little send off but the kitchen was closed. Eivind and his partner then joined me at my table, we got another round of drinks (bar was still open) and chatted away about normative culture and customs in the US versus Norway, really enjoyable conversation.

We both weren’t going to go out as we were pretty tired from the day, so we made our way back to our respective domiciles when I realized that we hadn’t taken a picture! I sent Eivind a message and he told me he was on his way back as “if there’s no photo it didn’t happen”.

So we took the above picture, and I mentioned he is super tall right? Well if I didn’t, he is. We said our goodbyes and well wishes and I made my way back to the room for nite nite. All in all quite the magnificent day!