odds & ends of ko tao

this is what i go to bed to.



its quite nice... sitting in a lounge chair on the beach with wine in hand, listening to the light sound of water rushing. there are no waves, but jack johnson was on in the bar tonight. le sigh.

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i really do feel bad for all of you, sitting at home covered in the depths of the snow. it must really suck. and im sorry to hear about it. however, we do have a little bit in common.

conversation with julia, exhibit a:

juliagulia x2: things are crazy...
juliagulia x2: it's snowing
juliagulia x2: again
juliagulia x2: we're supposed to get another foot
DitaHockey: thats insane.
juliagulia x2: no really i'm not sure i remember what grass looks like.
DitaHockey: funny thing is, with all of this beach and ocean,
DitaHockey: neither do i.

see?

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well, i haven't posted in a long time, so, again, i have a few things to write about. i spent my days without alex and weeks alone, wandering the island, laying in the sand, and getting ferociously attacked by mosquitos, black flys, sand flys, and everything else under the sun that has wings and an itchy bite.

i topped off with 72 on my legs.

but if that's the price i pay for this:




(besides my draining bank account), i dont mind.

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i was so excited the day alex was done with her course. finally, human connection again. i wouldn't have to go to the opposite end of the island to sunbathe or wait around til 7 pm just to hang out. it was a hot day, so we decided to let our belongings on the beach for a bit, take a walk, and shop.

what better thing to do than spend money? good god.

on our way back to the beach, we stopped at a fruit stand for some shakes. they were delicious. freshly made, we watched her cut up the mango, banana, pineapple, and orange for our drinks. we sipped them slowly, savoring every drop. we get back to the beach, but the sand is hot on our feet again. alex puts down her drink to my right, takes off her dress and hops into the water. i begin to follow, taking off the new tshirt dress i bought as a result of few clothes left, and throw it on the ground next to my towel, which is to the left of hers. as we do so, i notice a few dogs making their way down the beach in our direction. alex is already waist-deep, so i hesitate and say "i'm gonna wait here a minute and watch over your drink so they don't get it." just as i turn back around to look at the drink, i notice a dog right off of my left foot. a rotweiler with a collar, she sniffs my shirt. just as i'm about to lean over to pet her and tell her how cute she is, she squats.

on my shirt.

i've owned three female dogs in my life. i know what squatting is.

in complete disbelief of what is happening, my mouth hangs open and my eyes blink. i didn't even get the chance to yell at her or move her before she stood back up and trotted away as if nothing had happened.

i looked up at the two swedish boys behind us. all i got from them was "ehw." too stunned to be mad, i laughed. i just watched that dog piss on my shirt. and there was nothing i could do about it.

i picked it up by the corner, threw it in the ocean, and let it stir for the next hour and a half.

karma, in the form of a bitch, came back again.


..

the night of alex's certification, the english-speaking open water group, the french open water group, and the advanced (week's) group all gathered around to watch the open water video.



each class gets a videographer to tape their work on the last day for whatever they want. we sat at chabba's, our bar of choice that's beachside, right across the path from our bungalow. it's affiliated with island dive club, idc, where we got certified, so we're there all the time.

as usual, the trainers bought all of the divers a shot. somehow i got one too even though i wasn't enrolled in a course at the time, and wasn't really planning on it.

honorary member, i guess.

already with a large beer in hand, i take the shot. we both look at each other, smell the small glass in our hand, and ask what exactly we should be prepared for. "no, i not tell, just take!" the manager tells us. we pose for a picture, and, wincing, squeeze the lime into the shot. on three we all took it together, trainers and divers.



that was just the start of the night.

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they invited us to dinner, and we accepted. they got us a taxi and took us to a restaurant with a long table for about 14-15 people. we sat down, and luckily, alex and i sat at the end that didn't speak english. by luckily, i don't really mean luckily.

we had no idea what was for dinner, but we sat down in front of small open charcoal grills. before we even started dinner, the general manager of the resort came around with johnny walker and poured it into our glasses. the next thing we know, huge baskets of greens, carrots, and glass noodles are set down in front of us by fours. then a round pizza-sized plate of raw meat is put beside that. we're given chopsticks, and, in french, we're given the cue to dig in.




"bon appetit."

it was delicious. after spilling my drink on alex twice (party-foul), two plates of meat we can't even identify, and three baskets of greens, we're stuffed. we sat around for another hour or so in deep conversation. you know, the kind of deep conversation after you've had beer, a shot, and four glasses of johnny walker. in fact, i was even miraculously able to converse with the french.

after some chatting, they were shocked to find out alex and i were american. i thought it was obvious from the accent, but i guess when we speak broken english for others to understand us, that gets hidden. they loved us.

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we'll leave out the rest of that night due to silly inibriated decisions.

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this isn't the dog that created my peeshirt.




but she's one of my favorite strays. we see her all the time, and she fishes more often than the other dogs. by fishing, i mean she runs into the ocean, waits for the fish to come by, then tries pouncing on them, or a worse fate yet, digging a hole where they probably wouldn't even think to go.

so cute.

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alex and i love our romantic dinners together, especially after we found out about her pregnancy. we're very excited.

no worries.





it's just a burger.

..







Y rae. racho. d.