My Home in El Nido

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I've returned to my city of choice, El Nido! It was a bit strange to return, yet completely familiar in other ways. For such a small town, there has been a lot of change in the last 6 months. Several new beachfront hotels and new restaurants. Sadly, about 3/4 of the people I knew before are no longer here, for various reasons, so I've got to get my friend on again. Not a problem, but I do wish some of the old people were still here!

It's funny to walk around and see people stare an extra second longer at me...like they're trying to place my face. Sometimes I just approach them if I remember them and say, "Remember me? I'm Kathleen." And they go "Ahhhhhhh! Yes!" It's also strange when people I've never met say to me, "Oh you're back?!" For example, I went to Sea Dogs Dive Shop (where I'm doing training, more to follow) and the divemaster, Doy, was asking where I was staying. I started to explain that I had a boardinghouse because I'd been here before, I had a boyfriend, etc, and he just interrupts me and say, "I know." Oh. Well, ok. Guess I don't need to explain much then! Small town!

I've settled in the tiniest little boardinghouse you ever saw. Haha. It's about the size of a king size bed. Well, maybe that big. Ghay and I looked for an afternoon and I settled on this one, because though its small, its in a new building, so the wood is still good and pretty and there's a covered linoleum floor. The building itself is like a little house with 4 bedrooms, and different boarders in each. I think only 2 are occupied right now, so it's nice. There's a shared bath and kitchen. Again, no running water! AH! Luckily the deep soil well has an iron pump this time, as opposed to the bucket I had last time. Easier! The neighborhood is only Filipinos...it's funny to see people's surprise when they see me. I think they're getting used to me. The children follow me around some and play on our porch if we sit outside. One little girl asked Ghay if we were married and when he said no, just a boyfriend, she said..."Hm. Because you're supposed to be a foreigner too." Interesting way of thinking, little girl! Oops.

Here's a few pictures of the house: I don't spend too much time inside because of diving, or I go hang out somewhere else. If I'm there, its for sleeping or watching a movie in bed. Nice. A bit of trouble with the mosquitoes, so I get really excited when the geckos come inside to crawl around on the ceiling. Do you job lizard and eat those lil buggers! The view from my window is pretty nice as well - can't get tired of looking at this every day! There's a neighborhood cow and goat for entertainment value as well. A bit different than home, eh? :-)

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