I'm beginning to fall in love with my island. I love how none of the restaurants have walls. I love taking naps in the hammock outside my room after work. I love the parties on the beach, the fruits I've never seen before, the delicious food, taking off your shoes before entering buildings (though I rarely wear shoes to begin with). I even love the thirty minute thunderstorms every afternoon that completely soak you in seconds, and the heat that presses down on you 24 hours a day, and I even don't mind that my toilet doesn't flush - you pour a bucket of water after you go to flush it. The more I see of Koh Lanta the more I like it.
Time moves differently here. The days drift into one another lazily and it feels live I've been here longer than almost one week. The only things punctuating my days are work, meals, and the reapplication of bugspray. The work at the shelter isn't hard; it's a little gross at times between keeping the dog and cat areas clean but I knew what I was getting myself into. I've been mostly working the morning 7am-1pm shift since I got here but for the next few days I'm doing the afternoon 1pm-7pm shift. Also tomorrow night is my turn to sleep in the shelter to keep the dogs quiet during the night. Someone sleeps there every night because the neighbors complain a lot about noise. Today is my day off! It couldn't have come sooner. I've been out pretty late the last few nights and really needed the 13 1/2 hours of sleep I was able to get last night. It's still early though, not even 12. I've already been to the beach for a while and went swimming. It's so strange swimming in an ocean that's warm. I'm so used to freezing in the Atlantic, but the Indian is practically bath water. The rest of the afternoon is unplanned but tonight is the second night of the three day Lanta Laanta Festival on the other side of the island. I didn't go last night because I was sleeping, and like I said tomorrow I have to stay in the shelter from 7pm onwards so tonight is my only chance.
During the day when we're not working most of the volunteers are at the beach, and then almost every night we go out for dinner and then there's usually a party at some bar along the beach. I've never lived like this before. I hardly ever eat out at home but here it's so affordable and so delicious that it's worth it. And while the other volunteers are quite a bit older than me and seem to be regular partiers I rarely stay out so late so many nights in a row. On Tuesday night there was a full moon party on the beach (and the moon wasn't even full) and that was really fun. I met a lot of cool people from all over including Greg from Australia who I hung out with yesterday after work for a few hours.
A couple of days ago I rented my motorbike which I am still getting comfortable driving but I love it. It's purple. And it means I'm independent. Here you drive on the left side of the road which I still have to consciously remember but it's getting easier.
So that's me up to date I believe. Island life is good, though very different than anything I've experienced before. Good thing I have a long time to get used to it. Tomorrow marks one week down. I can't believe it; sometimes it feels like I've been here forever and sometimes it's like I just got here yesterday. Like I said, time moves differently here. And for some good news to wrap up with there have been no new cases of Dengue Fever in about a week which means the threat might be over, and there have been no more creatures in my bathroom since the gecko.
rock on sister
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