Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Day 128: Ahoy, students!

Day three, and our second morning on our houseboat, and Beth and I already have a morning routine! We got up at around 7am again and hung out in the "family room" watching the quiet activities on the water and the shore. The guys bring by some chai.... Oh man.... Real chai! It's so good! (Alex, sorry, Teh Tarik has got nothing on this!) and we sit and chat.

 

 
The girls rolled out of bed at 9 (as.... usual?), got their chai and we had breakfast. We carefully navigated around the hard boiled eggs that had made their way into a pretty good onion curry, and managed to get enough to pour all over our string hoppers (a kind of nest of rice noodles that we had often in Sri Lanka) stuffed with coconut. Beth was eating, but keeping an eye on what she was eating to protect her digestive system. She was in a much better state which was a relief.
 
After breakfast, Robin disembarked for a quick trip to the shore-based "convenience store" for some emergency supplies - twenty cent bags of Lays chips!
 
 
Abby was knee deep in her latest book, and it was getting so bad that we almost had to run an intervention to pry her Kindle out of her hands!
 
 
The views from the boat today were the best of the trip. We hit some narrow channels and saw a lot of different activity that was just fascinating. At one point there was a colourfully dressed group doing some maintenance on the retaining wall in front of a huge rice farm.
 
 
Yay.... It was a homework day! While Abby got right to it, Robin spent a good few minutes going through a variety of emotions, colourful dialogue and numerous physical positions throughout the boat while trying to put together a disjointed, poorly thought out attempt at getting out of any work. I tried to remind her that her classmates who had started a week and a half ago had already done 40 hours of school work and some homework.... To no avail.
 
 
Yada, yada, yada..... She eventually got a couple of math units done. Yes, I yadayada'ed all those hours of procrastination and slow-going work!
 
 
In the afternoon, we decided to teach the kids how to play Eucre. They'd been getting kind of sick of playing President (the shame) and it's another good four person game. As you can see, Abby was still trying to sneak in a few paragraphs of reading every time there was a break in the game.
 
 
Before dinner, we docked and the kids and I did a little walking on the pathway along the bank. The paths connect the narrow strip of houses and shops that form the little villages. We took some outside shots of the front of our boat, the Amma.....
 
 
...the side....
 
 
...and the back. All for inquiring minds, so there you go!
 
 
On the walk, Robin slipped and took a header in the mud. After collecting herself, she strode over to one of the little Ghats (stairs) that lead into the waterway that locals use to do their clothes and body washing. Just like a local, she steps in and starts washing up. Abby chuckled, though admiringly "she's just like a local, everywhere she goes".
 
 
Tomorrow morning we return to the jetty where we started our trip. It has been a very relaxing, scenic experience that we won't forget. We are all looking forward to a little more comfort and some more control on what food we'd like to order, but I have to say this little side trip came at a perfect time in the trip. We needed that deep breath before we start this next phase of our trip: it feels a little like the beginning of the end of our trip, but I'm not looking too far forward.... I'm still focused on enjoying this trip of a lifetime, day..... by day.

 

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