We're Not Alone!

As Jenna and I were eating dinner, a truck pulled up with a bevvy of young blonde women in back. They piled out, obviously having just come from the swimming pool in town. We were surrounded by them, each taking her turn to shake our hands and introduce herself. I have no idea what any of them are called, since it was such a blur of sudden humans. I did gather that two were from England while the rest are from Holland.

Dinner was appetizing! There was rice, a red curry dish that was too spicy for me, a scrambled eggs and vegetable dish of some kind, and tempura vegetables that were delicious! For dessert, pineapple that tasted ... I don't know... sweeter than normal.

After dinner, we went back to our room to read for a while under the fans. When I was a proper pile of sweat, I decided to try sitting out at the canteen again to see if there's more of a breeze there. Turns out, yes. Thank goodness. The sun setting helps, too. It's getting quite dark now, and I wonder how much my computer screen will start attracting the critters I see flitting about in the dark around me.

As I type, I'm uploading photos to flickr. Slowly. Very, very slowly. I hope to have something to show you soon, though.

Jasmine, the friendliest of the bevvy, was here a moment ago. She was standing at the doorway of the canteen having a cigarette and chatting amicably to me about the mosquitoes ("Even after six weeks here, I can't get used to them! You don't see them at all and the bites swell up so big and itch so much!"), the kids at the orphanage ("The hardest part will be for me to say good=bye to them. I just want to scoop them up and take them all home with me!"), and the wildlife ("You have seen the geckos, yes? There are snakes here, too. There is a big one, very big one that lives underground here. She comes out when it rains. You'll see.").

It may not be more comforting to have other humans around.