Nestled In

Our week off went by really quickly and I’m now seeing how 5 months could go by in the blink of an eye. I really don’t want to miss out on exploring this island and seeing all that I can! The difficult part is having electricity and this damn laptop with 24/7 internet access. I’m not used to having it around anymore, and I have it all the time now!! It’s definitely a distraction. Granted, sometimes I’m just pooped after work, and coming home and zoning out after lunch and a shower can be nice, but I’d rather do more with my time.

Brent and I had a nice relaxing break. Even if we didn’t get to explore as much as I would have liked, we at least got started and gave ourselves some down time to boot! Thanksgiving was up in the air, until a fellow Biologist we met through the last crew invited us to her friend’s house for dinner. There must have been 20 people there total, all expats from the States (plus 2 Canadians). All were very close friends, a family away from family : ) They were so welcoming and we ended up having a fantastic night of great food, conversation and karaoke.

All of these people are active with different clubs/teams out here on the island! It was great hearing about what everyone does! There is a running club (actually, a drinking club with a running problem) called the Hash House Harriers – they get together once a week, 1-2 people lay out a 3-6 mile running trail across the island (through streets, jungles and abandoned buildings), getting a ten-minute head start, laying false trails and challenges for you, the runners, to figure out. You end up on a beach or in the jungle or in an abandoned building with a fire and 3 coolers of beer. Then you socialize for the rest of the night! Sounds awesome, right? They have Hash House Harriers clubs all over the states – check out your city and give it a shot ;) There are also paddling clubs out here, ultimate frisbee, soccer teams/tournaments and yoga classes. I want to get into the outrigger paddling, yoga and possibly ultimate Frisbee, but it sounds a little more intense than maybe I can handle. I’m pretty skilled with a Frisbee, but I’ve only played ultimate a few times and that was years ago!

Brent and I gave the Hash a shot. We decided to go on a re-Hash one morning (a trail that was laid out the previous week that some ppl had not been able to do, but wanted to see after hearing how amazing it was!). This was more of a hike than a run though, as it went through the jungle -- you had to climb on lots of sharp ragged limestone and climb vines! It was incredible! The rock formations, the jungle, the glimpses of cliffs and beach we had through forest openings…even my bloody elbow had a fun time : ) We also did the real Hash later that night, starting in the abandoned mall, which was eerie but really cool to walk through…most of the windows have been broken, plants are starting to take over the building, and random trinkets and garbage litter the floors. For instance, a huge floppy disk that probably only carries 100 megabytes worth of information, a couple of bottles of pepper spray, broken computers, phone cords, and receipts with people’s personal information and account numbers…you know, the usual. We ended the run at Pau Pau Beach, with a fire and beers : ) It was great seeing some of the people from Thanksgiving again, and getting to know a few more folks on the island.  We rounded out the night with some noodles and dancing at Godfather’s (one of the bars out here). ‘Twas a lot of fun!

We’ve been going to the farmer’s market every Tuesday night for our fruits and veggies. Pretty much all the produce is $1 per lb. They sell these bags of great mixed veggies that are put together specifically for soups! I bought one with okra, eggplant, taro root, daikon radish, some leafy green vegetable I don’t know, green peppers, green beans, and tomatoes. I have never cooked with okra, taro root or daikon radish before and looked up okra stew recipes once I cut it open and saw how slimy it was…haha. I thought to myself…oh, this is like aloe vera….how on earth do I cook it?! I ended up turning it all into a curry soup with lentils. It was scrumptious! I’ve really missed cooking new things! I also made a huge stir fry of bok choy and mixed frozen veggies with a sesame oil/soy sauce, sauce…with sesame seeds and pine nuts on top! It was delicious. I made brown rice and herbed pine nut couscous too : ) and crack for desert (the graham cracker, toffee, chocolate concoction that I’ve told some of you about). Also tasty : ) I probably made enough food to feed a family of 6!

We checked out the Thursday night street market finally as well this week, which was really crowded because it was the kick-off of the Holiday season – they decorated the strip with eco-friendly recyclable decorated trees that students made at the International School. It was pretty cute! The kids were on stage explaining what their decorations were and what they were made out of. One boy who thought he was the king of green ornaments, made a Lady Gaga decoration made from plastic spoons, an old cd and a plastic red cup. Loved it. Loved his attitude about it. “Yeah. It’s a Gaga decoration. I know it’s cool. I don’t have to say anything else about it. You love it, I know you do. You think I’m awesome,” followed by a cool ::what’s up head nod:: to some 9 yr old girl in the audience. Haha, what a "dude." There were lots of food stands, clothing stands, and jewelry stands...some produce stands. Everything smelled amazing and I will definitely be going back to try some Chinese food and Korean bbq (with all the food I just cooked, there was no way I was going to buy more!).

Brent and I have gone to the beach quite a few times and have done some snorkeling (although I have no snorkel gear yet – just borrowed Brents goggles) but we’ve been seeing more fish species each time! I plan to start a list...once I figure out what they are.

The Hyatt’s beach and happy hour has been experienced and is going to be very tempting while I’m out here…delicious Mai Tai’s and Pina Coladas! Not to mention gorgeous sunsets! It’s so beautiful here! I’m getting so spoiled with the warm ocean, beaches, sunsets, and tropical weather…I’m going to go home and think 75 degrees is cold and that Santa Monica beach is ugly. Nahhh, that could never happen! Right?

I’m going to try to write more posts that are shorter. I know I've said this in the past, and I'm failing beautifully, which only makes me more determined to do this differently. You might not get a description of everything I’m doing, but maybe you'll get a detailed description of a single experience instead of a concise description of lots of different things...we'll see.

More pics to come! Toodles for now!

Xoxo

Erin