Day 17

Day 17 1/19
Breakfast was followed by a ride to Leybato Beach where we took our test. I’m guessing the test took about an hour. After the test we took a walk along the beach to the same rock that we climbed before but this time we brought a camera with us so that we could take a picture. We later relaxed on the beach and basked in the sun followed by the usual chicken sandwich and tropical drink. Today’s drink was not as good as the usual. Usually I get my drink with everything in it. Everything consists of mangos, oranges, pineapples, grapefruit, and bananas. There is nothing but fruit in the drink and whole bananas and mangos are used in it. The second time I got the drink I helped the guy mix the drink. I crushed the mango and banana as he squeezed the grapefruit and oranges to get the juice. Once lunch was done I was extremely hot and got into the water and caught some nice waves. Today the waves were larger than they were the previous times we went. They were large waves but gentle, we didn’t get crushed as we rode the waves to shore. We had some bus complications this morning as we were told that our bus driver would be leaving us later in the day and that we would be getting a new driver. Our driver wished us health and prosperity in the future and a safe journey home. He did not speak English well so our tour guide translated what he was saying to us. We were then taken to the Bakau market where we had been once before. This time I walked down to the fruit and vegetable market while everyone else looked at the crafts. It takes about 5 minutes to walk from the craft market to the food market and on the way there we were approached by a man who offered to take us there by taxi. I told him we had a bus and we did not need a ride to the fruit market. I bought some mangoes while at the market where I had some kids pick out the best looking mangoes; I hope they gave me good ones. Justin and I started walking back to the craft market and we were followed by 5 boys they wanted me to get them a futbol so I told them I had one at home. They didn’t understand that my home is across the ocean. I asked if they could swim and a few said they could swim to go get it, but I didn’t allow that to happen. When we got back to the craft market some other children had congregated around us and we became surrounded by them. Often we can get them to dance for us as we clap for them and this time was no different than before. The children like to hang out with Americans and Tubobs. Since today is the Muslim New Year we saw some children with painted faces, running around in the field across the street. Some of the girls went across and played with the kids. I joked around with some of the kids and asked if they had girlfriends and if they did I asked a little about them. They always got shy and tried avoiding those questions by asking me questions like “What’s your favorite food?”. Although we had to wait for our bus we enjoyed the company of the kids and it made the time pass much quicker. It still hasn’t rained here yet and is sunny everyday, its like July without humidity except there is barely any green.