Taxis, Planes, Buses, Boats and a quick trip to Mcdy's

After much haggling by friends and family I decided to take time today to write a blog update. I only have one student this afternoon and he is doing his reading time, so it seemed like a good opportunity to blog.  Bloggidy, bloggidy, blog.  

Week before last I went on a mini vacation to visit some friends just south of here.  Well first I had to attend some meetings in the capital of my area and then I went to gloriously vacate.  So I dropped the dog off my teammate's on Wednesday night, packed my bags and by Thursday morning I was in a taxi and on my way to the airport.  Now there are a couple of things you need to understand about leaving this city and going to the capital or elsewhere.  #1 we have no fastfood here or really western food other than a KFC and I haven't eaten there yet.  It's not like KFC at home, so why bother.  So when busting out of this small town you know one thing for sure, western food is in your future.   Can anyone say a salad and Pizza Hut.  #2 The transportation you will take will always be in question.  From the firebooms they shoot off at the airport moments before you take off to the language issues, you name it, you are going to have an adventure.  (I still haven't figured out if they shoot those cannon things off at the airport to scare away the birds or if it's a spiritualistic thing to scare of demons, etc???)  

Anyway, after two days in the capital and some glorious food, visiting with friends (board game night...whooohooo) and shopping I headed on another airplane south of there to visit friends.  We'll call them Jack & Jill.  I arrived in their capital and then traveled to the bus station, purchased a ticket and traveled three hours south to their 

city and the beach!!!  Now you may be asking how in this world did she do that??  What about language?? Weren't you scared???  Yes I had lots of popcorn going on, grace, a little language, a dictionary and a deep breath of air.  But once you successfully accomplish such tasks, a since of pure joy and I'd be lying if I didn't say a little pride, wells in your heart.  I DID IT!!!  

When I arrived in the vacation city, we'll call it Mango City, I was thrilled to see my Jack & Jill awaiting my arrival at the bus station.  From this point on I was giving the name Layla and referred to by my friends as their meimei (which means little sister, which is true in one sense).  We did all this for protection reasons and so not to make myself or them associated with each other.  Although we took great humor when Jack would introduce me to the locals.  Locals would ask, "which one is your wife and which one is your sister".....Jill is Asian, Jack & I are not.  You figure that one out...lol

Vacation was a blast and a much needed break even after only 5 months.  Culture shock had begun to set in with some s

ickness so it was a joy to be able to go and enjoy the ocean b

reeze and to just relax in a friend's home.  After a day or so there, we decided to take a 1 hour boat ride and go visit a close by island, that I'll call spider island...this will be explained later. We all packed an over night bag a few snacks PTL (always pack snacks, I don't care what anyone says pack food!!!) and headed to port.  We arrived on beautiful Spider Island, yes that's an oxymoron, with low expectations because you never know what you will find.  We loaded up in a van that was waiting for us to begin our adventure and the keen observer that I am, ha, ha, ha, immediately noticed a medium sized spider inside the van.  I remained calm but was quick to point out the thing needed to die...now!  And he did thanks to our driver.  The roads leading up into the island were red clay dirt surrounded on either side by acres upon acres on banana trees.  If you ever want to feel like you are the TV show Lost, this is the place. It was kind of refreshing though.  Finally, we arrived at our accommodations for the night, a Asian style guest house, that is basically someones large home that they have turned into a lodging place.  Think Asian style Bed n Breakfast.  The weather was very hot so we went up to our room for a minute to check out the AC, a treat for this side of the world.  After a few minutes we decided next on the to do list was lunch. 

Now here is were our adventure gets fun!!  Downstairs the guesthouse people told us that you go out to the

 beach or in town, purchase your seafood or veggies and bring them back to be cooked.  Okay not a bad idea but we were all thinking let's just go eat at a restaurant.  Problem is, Spider Island doesn't have any normal Asian restaurants or restaurants at all.  They are all go grab your seafood and we will cook it or they wanted to charge the foreigners an arm and a leg.  So we literally walked around for about an hour or two before finding one lady who owned a restaurant that we could afford and that served quote unquote normal food.  We learned from that meal on that we would probably have to scavange for food.  This is why the snacks are soooo important and where the feeling of being on Lost comes in.  After lunch and the next day we had a great time, we explored the island, tanned on the beach, bought and ate our own sea food, toured an old club from the 18oo's and took lots of pictures.  

Now as for the name Spider Island.  Well if I learned anything about banana trees, it is that they have banana spiders.  Some can be extremely poisonous, some are not.  And this island was filled with them and I'm not talking small ones either.  Huge spiders that resided in the power lines and trees in families of 3 or 5 and you could see them there all the time.  Of course the locals said they wouldn't bother or bite you which we found out later from the Internet was semi-true.  But still who likes spiders to begin with and especially ones that big that travel in groups.  AHHHH  YUCKKKK!!!!!  Needless to say my friend and I do not recommend taking women and small children to Spider Island.  And if you know me at all, you'll understand why I was so freaked out by all these spiders.  By the way if you spread one of these babies out, it's diameter is about 10 - 12 inches in width.  

So there is my vacation

 in a nut shell.  Jack, Jill and I returned from Spider Island and had several more days to relax and enjoy the sunshine, and company.  Oh I almost forgot... On Friday I took a 3 hour bus back to the capital, then flew back to my capital and got in about 11:00 PM.  The next morning I had another flight scheduled to leave at 8 something so I'd have to be up and out of the hotel by 7 AM.  I realized as a got off the plane in the capital, there was one thing I had not partaken of while on my vacation....MCDONALDS!!!  Now normally in the states, I'm not a huge Mcdonald's fan for lunch and dinner, but when you haven't eaten it in a while and know that you won't be able to eat for a long while, it calls your name.  So I got in a taxi at the airport and with my little language, asked him if they had a Mcdy's and if he could take me there.  He said he would and then when we got there I asked him if he would mind waiting in the taxi so I wouldn't have to find another taxi, which he did.  Five minutes later I returned to my waiting taxi with a Big Mac and fries in hand and "lovin it." Now that's an accomplishment....you know how hard it is to speak "can you wait on me" in this language?!!!!  

Beautiful Feet