Today was R-day. Report cards went out. The best students in the class were so worried! I did yearbook and went home as usual. I finally decided to seek out my musty clothes from Thailand and braved the laundry room. All three washers were free! But, alas, I was low on detergent. I borrowed some from Naiomi and headed to the store at about 5:00.

As I was walking down the school steps, I saw a child from the back and thought, 'Gee, that sure looks like Munkhbold.' He turns around and says, "Hi, Miss M!" I asked him what he was still doing there and he said he hadn't been picked up yet. I knew that previously he'd been forgotten by his driver (most people have drivers here) and had been left until 5:30. He'd been so upset he cried! I took him into the school (which he thought was locked) and had him call his driver. I left him to head to the store and he called out to me, "Miss M! Do you need any money?" I said no, I'm fine. Then he said, "You're a really nice person." When I returned, he was still there. I suggested he ask his mother for a cell phone in case his driver forgets him again. I sat down to wait with him and he refused. As I was walking away he shouted "Miss M! You're the best teacher I've ever had!" I just laughed. But, my heart was full.

Okay, more Thailand.

Day 3 - Snorkeling

Our guide today was Tom, this incredibly good looking German man. As I quickly discovered, most of the people on the boat were German. There were probably about 20 or 25 of us. We all set off in this huge boat and breakfast was served. I had no idea any meal other than lunch was included, so I had enjoyed my free "shrimp" omelet on the ocean earlier. I scrounged up a seat right on the bow, next to this older German couple. The male of this couple was extremely fat, good thing the water is so buoyant here! (Yes, I'm mean! I wasn't about to ask him to take my photo, let alone rub any lotion on my back.)

Before we hit the hot snorkeling spots we stopped off at Koh Mak, a small resort island. I wasn't really sure why we were there, but later talks with Tom revealed he was planning on opening a backpackers oasis there. I nearly got attacked by a dog, which is strange in Thailand because all the dogs are beggars, basically, and know that if they're nice to humans they'll get fed. I also had approached this nice looking woman to take my photo. After doing so, she kind of hung around, so we chatted. Nothing too interesting, but she assumed I was American initially. She then said, "Well, being Canadian is basically the same thing." I said that saying something like that to a Canadian is like telling a person from New Zealand that they're basically from Australia. She quickly back peddled and said, "Now that I talk to you more, I can hear that you're not American at all." This actually sends me off on a bit of another tangent though. I met another Canadian couple on my last night, I quickly realized my conversation skills have deteriorated. I have a tendency now to speak rather brokenly when dealing with others because I'm used to people having little to no English. I walked away, feeling a bit of a dummy, but resolved to try to not let my vocabulary diminish.

We finally set back off on the boat. I fully realized the value of sea legs, and discovered again what a spaz I am! I was walking around as if I were drunk, and it was strange. We made it to our first destination and the crew began to throw bread into the water to attract the fish for us. As I went into the water I was completely surrounded by these smallish, black and white fish. I just floated and let them swim around me. It was incredible, until I heard from above, "Cat! Cat!" I looked up to discover I was about to bonk my head into the motor boat trailed behind the main boat. Sheepishly, I changed direction. The spell was broken.

There were so many amazing fish to see! The coral reefs were so big and so diverse, it made me wish for a waterproof camera. One of the crew gave me this shell and I was confused. I said, "There's something in it." They took it from me and pried the Shiva's eye out, sanded it down and gave it to me. It is beautiful. The crew who snorkeled with us decided I was their project. That is one of the benefits of traveling alone. People seem to worry about you more. They motioned to me underwater and took me to see amazing things. They handed me star fish and sea cucumbers. I was laden with Shiva's eyes and other things toward the end of the day. More for show and tell! I did manage to get a severe back burn. Two 45 minute stints in the water with only my back exposed did it. I put sun screen on like mad, but it still happened. That Mongolian winter!

Funny thing happened this morning. When I woke up my eyes were fine. In fact, my health had been great since I got there. My cough went away and I was sleeping very well. However, while I was eating breakfast I touched the cat (this cat also found it's way into my room once and climbed out over the balcony and went who knows where). I must have touched my eye, because as I finished breakfast, my eye started to itch. I rubbed it (probably with the same finger I had used to touch the cat in the first place), that made it worse. By the time the truck came to pick me up, my whole left eye was incredibly swollen. As the time drew near for me to be picked up, I worried it would swell completely shut. It didn't, and about 6 hours later it was almost back to normal. So strange though! I had the remnant swelling for a couple of days after. Thank heavens for my ginormous, purple sunglasses. I don't think anyone noticed.

I have decided to make my own religion. I will never ask anyone to join. I call it 'Spiritual Energism' and I am a spiritual energist. It makes sense to me!