Day 114: Monsoon Madness

So it rains a lot here. Like a lot. People always say "it's like a monsoon!" But unless they are in Asia in the summer months, I promise it is not like a monsoon.

I just got interrupted in my post by the little service boy who comes in regularly at 7:30 to ask if I need my bed turned down, then he peeks over my shoulder to see if we have the water heater turned on. We do. He always asks if he can turn it off. I always say no, and then have to spend a couple of minutes letting him know that I am, in fact, going to be in the shower imminently. It is awkward.

As is everything here. We had to meet last night with the man Kenneth who set up our sponsored stay here. He sent us repeated emails about links that we did not understand and that we kept referring away to people who do understand them; but he just kept sending them.

Last night he greeted us: "Hi! Our website has a higher Google ranking than yours!"

We blinked.

Then he asked if we wanted to see the sights of the fairly uninhabited area around our resort. We agreed. Actually, Claire deferred to me, and I didn't know what to say so I muttered to myself which apparently sounded like a "yes."

So we got in his car. "Do you want to hear my music!" In return for forcing me to decide if we were going, I made sure Claire was in the front. She smiled. He turned on a cover of Cher's "Believe in Life After Love" at a volume that literally LITERALLY made my heart skip--I felt simultaneously entertained by the music choice and nervous about my health. I'm sure Cher has had this effect on people many times.

We then drove around. He would point to a dark point: "Beach!" We would nod.

He took us to hotels: "Hotel!" We smiled.

He took us to Domino's...there we got animated, ordering pizza and cheesy garlic sticks. And when I say animated, I mean I was entertained until he started detailing how my hair looks exactly like his grandmother's. He did not think this was funny, so when we laughed he would just keep talking about how "no really. when I met you, I thought you were much older! like my grandmother!"

As if that weren't enough, he then read my palm: "So many different marriages!! Wow!!!" Clearly, I became Kenneth's biggest fan.

Then he drove us home because I had a deadline to make. But he curiously stopped a hundred meters from the resort, put on the emergency brake, and began skipping songs. Turns out he wanted to show us how he could rev the engine with the emergency brake on, thus causing the car to bounce up and down to the beat.

We bounced. We made appreciative noises...

And so we earned our trip home.