posh isn't it

Today was a little bit of amazing. It started off a little rough for a day off and then quickly turned into a marvelous day. It began with an 8 AM electricity outage which meant we were left with no power for our fan. Since it was an even hotter day than usual this was not at all conducive to sleeping in yet Jeff still tried. Later we found out from some of the other interns that they were warned by their resort about the planned outage, we obviously did not get the memo. Soon we heard voices outside our room, the voices belonged to the cleaning crew which we had not ever seen since we are usually diving or attending discussions. This was a very pleasant sound as our room was getting quite musty and smelly. We had missed our Wednesday cleaning since there is not a spare key for our room for the staff to enter (just part of the island life I guess). Jeff nicely asked them if they would have time to clean our room today, Friday, Jeff's long eye lashes and puppy dog look would obviously be a better convincer to the females. Jeff's attempt was successful and they agreed to clean the room today. While they were cleaning we went and sat in the common area and sweated a little (it was really hot for this early in the morning) then we worked on our blog, if you have not noticed we are getting further and further behind. While we were sitting typing our blog, Greg one of the instructor interns popped in and saw us on the Ipad, to which he commented "Ooohhh that's posh". We are learning all kinds of new lingo from our fellow interns some of the more common ones are dodgy, cheeky, bloke, wanker and much more. It was not long and the cleaning was done. Wow, I really missed what clean sheets on a bed feels like, fresh and soft. If switching the sheets and cleaning our tile floor was all they did it would have been enough but it did not end there. All of our clothes were folded and our belongs were arranged in a more orderly manner making our very simple room seem much more inviting. It was now approaching on 12 PM which we had a lunch mapping meeting to make at 12:30 with the other interns. A quick shower and a scurry through the dirt paths to actually make it there early was our plan since I was starving due to missing breakfast. We dropped off a load of laundry on the way as well to continue the fresh and clean feeling. Everyday we continue to learn new tips from our fellow interns on how to function on this island. I had attempted to wash some of my very smelly, musty clothes in the shower and then hang them up to dry. This relieved the clothes of the body odor scent but possibly even worsened the pungent smell of damp, humid stink. It was definitely time to drop some clothes off at one of the small shops to pay 100-150 pesos per kilogram of laundry (which in comparison to the cost of other things almost seems like highway robbery). If only Karen would have allowed us to use the laundry we may have been able to put this experience off for a little while. Reaching the restaurant early has some clear advantages. One, prime seating away from the hedge full of mosquitos, and two quicker meal service. Most of the places tend to get behind quickly especially when big groups arrive which our intern hang out crew is about 10 (only 1 other girl named Molly is in the intern group until Betsie returns with her boyfriend on Sunday). Each restaurant on the island tends to have it's niche, at Ging Ging's it is best to stick with fish curry again (french fries and pizza here are not very good, curry excellent). While we waited for our meal there was still a little project work on our map to wrap up. We had to add the depths, current, and key to complete the work. Rick also added funny names to the passages and rocks that were playoffs of each of our names. Jeff and I nicely pleaded for Rick to print us a map copy without the fun names in an attempt to not get in trouble from the instructors on our first day back from one glorious day off. After some name calling and trying to convince us we were being too cautious, he finally gave in. Adam's foot was still bothering him so I accompained him to the local pharmacy in seek of antibiotics. I was totally like a child that just got word we were going down the street to the candy shop. I was very excited to see what this pharmacy consisted of since I was well aware that there is not a doctor on the island to prescribe medications. To my surprise the pharmacy was located in one of the local shops that Jeff and I had already purchased some items at. There was a medium tote box full of little drawer that yeilded different medications in unit dose packs. The names labeled on the drawers were mostly cryptic to me with only a few that were identifiable. It helped to look at the dose pack itself that revealed names that were more familiar to me. Sadly there was only amoxicillin and penicillin. There were also many over the counter medications and only a few prescription medications available for sale. Jeff then discovered a new bin of medications for us to explore. Happy for more options I trotted over only to find out that this was chicken medications that were surprisingly located right next to the candy. That could be a bad mixup. After our tour of the pharmacy we went to Legends (the hotel with the pool). We grabbed a round of drinks and headed to the volleyball court, there were 8 interns and we had a couple hotel employees join us for a game. I would say it was sand volleyball but it was an incovenient mixture of sharp coral and super hot sand. If you were unlucky enough to be rotated into the extra hot corner of the court it was a dance to keep your feet from burning. We all had a lot of fun and when everybody had enough volleyball we headed down to the beach for a refreshing swim in the ocean. Calvin had brought his stand-up paddle board with him and I got a chance to try it out. Getting your balance in the beginning was a little tricky but once you get the footing right it was a lot of fun. I may have to get one when we get back to Hawaii. When we were done swimming we found a nice spot in the shade and watched as a few of the interns played another game of volleyball. Then it was time to head back to the room and rinse off all the sand and salt from the day. We had decided to meet at Angelina's for dinner which we had not been to this restaurant yet. When we arrived we were very impressed as it was basically a fine dining italian restaurant. Jeff ordered a calzone and I ordered the gnoochi. As we were waiting for our food we noticed that the restaurant had a few resident cats, one of which had no problem jumping up and occupying an empty chair at the table behind us. When our food arrived it was excellent, even though it was the most expensive meal we have had since we got here the price was not bad at about 400 pesos per person. After dinner we stolled down the beach to the main late night intern hang out, even though we have been here several times they had a new surprise for us. How better to compliment a fine dining experience but with a movie on the beach. This was an excellent way to end the night by watching "Friends with Benefits" on a big screen in comfy wooven love seats on the beach. Surprisingly Malapascua is starting to feel like home.