Last night, I got very little sleep, as usual. There’s simply too much on my mind.

Latha woke me up at 9 when she came into our room to make Sumitha tea since Sumitha doesn’t have gas for her stove.  Latha, of course, apologized a million times for waking me and decided she’d make me some tea as well to make up for it. Oh Latha…

In any case, I was SO exhausted from a lack of sleep and could barely think straight as I got ready for the day.

At 10, I went to help the cooks. There weren’t too many vegetables today so I only had to work for a half hour. Then, I went back to my room and took a fitful one-hour nap.

I awoke even more tired than before then headed to Munjula’s dorm for devotions. After we sang songs and had a devotion, Munjula asked for prayer requests. I immediately brought up how hard it’s been for me to sleep at night. I haven’t had a really good night’s sleep here at KGH for a month and even at Goa, I only had one night where I slept deeply through the whole night. Part of me has simply decided to give up on sleeping at all at night and just deal with the tiredness during the day.

Munjula immediately went into a nice, long prayer right after I brought up the subject of my sleeplessness.

It was about 12:30 when devotions ended and although I was incredibly tired, I headed to the bungalow to grab Rachel and head into town for shopping. She wasn’t at her room though so I just spent the half hour before lunch on the computer.

After lunch, I tried to take another nap. Despite my exhaustion, my mind was racing with too many thoughts of things I needed to get done so I simply couldn’t fall asleep. So I gave up on the nap idea and got to work.

I sewed up a lot of ripped clothes. Hand sewing was very relaxing and helped me put my mind at ease. Once I’d finished, I went back to the bungalow and worked on sorting and uploading pictures from Goa.

Before I knew it, it was 4:30 and I needed to get ready to head into town with Divya for a coconut. So, I went back to my room, got all set and then read until Divya was ready.

The first thing Divya brought up on our walk was questions about when I was leaving. After that conversation, she went very quiet. I asked her if she was okay and she told me that everyone thought she was sad today but she assured me that she wasn’t actually sad. Hum…

We also talked about nose bleeds . Apparently, Indians deal with a nose bleed by putting coconut oil on their head then sleeping with their heads tilted up. Fascinating.

Anyways, when we got to the line of coconut guys, I immediately spotted the guy I skipped out on yesterday. As soon as I came up to him, he spoke to Divya in rapid Kannada. Divya told me that he was saying how he was waiting for me yesterday but I went to another guy instead and that he was quite upset about that. Divya responded to him by saying how the fact that I came to him today made up for it .

As we were having our coconuts, the guy I went to yesterday came up and talked in some more Kannada. Again, Divya translated. Apparently, he said something about how he thought I wouldn’t be getting a coconut for another week. Divya told him that I was going back to my country next week and then he asked where I was from.

After we’d finished our coconuts and began the walk back home, Divya commented on how all the coconut guys are my friends now, haha.

We got back just in time for study time .

After study time, I headed down to the bungalow for the usual (and, yet, not-so-usual since the New Zealand family wasn’t hosting it) volunteer meal. Jayne had cooked a chicken pot pie (or something like that anyway…) and it was absolutely delicious! As we ate, we watched a movie.

Then, we paused the movie and had yummy ice cream and strawberries for dessert .

And now its 11 and I am actually feeling quite tired. I should probably try and get some sleep soon while I am tired .

I woke up at 6:15 and stayed awake long enough to see that Lissi had already woken up the girls. Then, at 9:30, I woke up again and got ready for the day.

At 10, I went to help the cooks. Due to the insane amount of vegetables needed to be cut, I was there for two hours. I left the kitchen with my hands dyed purple from the beetroot.

I got back to my room and started on washing clothes and continued washing after lunch.

I finally finished around 1:40 then took a much-needed chill-with-a-book time . I read for about an hour then folded up the clothes in my suitcase more properly and threw some stuff in my bag. I discovered that I have A LOT more room than I thought, YAY! Once I’d finished with “packing”, I invited Lissi to come with me on a trip into town. We went to the bank then I bought a few things I wanted to take home with me.

We got back to the home around 4 and had to walk through the school premises to get to our room. We were, of course, bombarded by children. “Hello!” and “What’s your name?” where being shouted from every direction.

Once we made it back to our room, I read some more. I was soon interrupted by Rachel and Pippy. Pippy, of course, scrambled onto my bed and got drool all over. Silly dog.

After drinking some tea with Rachel, I headed out for a coconut walk with Rebecca. It was really great. We talked about so much like how I got married in Goa but my husband’s auto fell into a lake and he drowned. But I decided I’d still wear the toe rings anyway . Rebecca didn’t believe me. I don’t know why though!

When we got to the coconut guys, the one closest to me was getting ready to give me a coconut but then a coconut guy further down the line beckoned me to him so I bought a coconut from him instead. The first guy was quite upset about this, haha. I’ll have to remember to get a coconut from him tomorrow…

When I got back, I was SO tired and needed to just relax for a little while. At about 6:30, I went to study time.

Reena was giving me such a hard time! UGH! By the end, I had her sit down and wait for all the girls to leave before she could leave. But my plan was thwarted when the power went out and, since everything was pitch black, I’m not sure when Reena left, haha. Oh well…

The power cut continued through dinner so we had a nice candle/flashlight lit meal. It was quite interesting, really . Just as dinner was ending, the power came back on.

One week from today, I got to Bangalore. This was my last Thursday here. Wow.

Our stop finally came at around 7 and I very reluctantly got off the bus. We were immediately surrounded by auto drivers, who all wanted to take us to the station. They said 150 rupees and we fought tooth and nail until we finally got it for 120. Once we’d finally shoved all our luggage into the small auto, the driver went back on his word and said 150. Rachel, however, was in such a tired mood that she got really angry with the auto driver saying, “you saw our luggage before! Did you expect us to leave it on the side of the road?!” The driver had no comeback for that so he gave in.

We successfully got to the station and had a quick breakfast of dosa before going on the search for a bus to Kollegal. We soon found one and took our seats for the 3-hour ride. After an hour or so, Lissi and I moved to our own seats by the window. There was this guy across the aisle from me who apparently found me very interesting because he kept staring at me. Seriously though, almost every time I’d look over at him, he’d be looking at me. It was SO creepy!

We got to Kollegal at around 1 and grabbed an auto. We had to go through the school gate since the home’s was locked and as soon as we got through the gate, the auto was swarmed by home girls. It was such a great homecoming! They were all screaming “hello akka!” and giving us high fives. Some of them even continued running next to the auto until it left the school’s premises.

We got to the bungalow, carried our luggage inside and said hello to Yolanda (who was very happy to see us) and Jon Prakash. As Rachel got her stuff from my suitcase, Yolanda kindly made us all tea and we sat down to just chill and drink tea.

After a little while, I was itching to unpack and take a shower so I excused myself, grabbed my suitcase and headed toward my dorm.

I, of course, found my door locked so I went to Jayne’s room to get the key. She greeted me back, gave me the key and also gave me wonderful news. PRITHE HAD PUPPIES! YAY! Don’t tell Jon. But YAY! Prithe had three puppies! We don’t know what’s going to happen to them but for now, she’s got her little babies.

Anyways, I went into my room (after finding a sign on my door saying, “welcome back, my dorm mother[s]. We are the 11 disciples and lost 2 but now we found the 2 disciples. We love you from Dorm 5”) and went to boil some water for a shower. The pot was dirty, so I went to wash it. As soon as the water hit the pot, a tail-less gecko hopped out and got itself caught in the sink. I think it was Ron the gecko.

In any case, I got the water on the stove and watched as Ron finally got out of the sink and scrambled up the wall. However, the lack of tail made it so he couldn’t get very far. So, he got stuck on the wall and every time he tried to move up more, he would almost fall. So I tried to get him in an empty pot. But he didn’t like that so he practically flew into the pot of water I had put on the stove. Hot water. He didn’t like that either. So, he hopped again and landed in the burner. I shrieked of fright and turned off the burner. I picked up the black thing (I’ve no idea what it’s called) that was over the burner and found him hiding underneath. He immediately scrambled out of sight. I think he may still be on the counter seeing as he can’t climb. Poor Ron…

Anyways, as I waited for the water, I swept up our mess of a floor and unpacked a bit. Then I took a shower and continued unpacking afterward.  I was exhausted and really wanted to sleep but everything was such a disorganized mess, I just had to continue.

I was sorting through my clothes when my dorm girls came home from school.  They were all SUPER excited to see us. Ramya told me that everyone thought we were coming home yesterday and all the girls were waiting for us but when we didn’t come, they were all really disappointed. And when they found out during school that we were home, they wanted to immediately leave school to see us, but the teachers wouldn’t let them. She also said (and all of dorm five agreed) that they had a terrible week because Lissi and I weren’t there. I felt so needed and so loved, it was simply incredible.

Then, Rebecca came up to me and stared at me long and hard. After a while, she goes, “there’s something different about you.” And I asked her what it was (I figured she probably noticed I was more tan and wanted to tell me I was now ugly because of it). After a bit longer she said, “You’re fatter” HAHA! So funny! It’s all good though because Lissi later told me that the girls thought she looked thinner. Apparently as Lissi gets thinner I get fatter .

Anyways, while I was in Goa, I bought some clothes that I later discovered didn’t fit me, so I gave them to the girls. It was seriously like Christmas all over again. They were SO excited! I then became really happy that the clothes didn’t fit just because then the girls would get something out of us being gone for so long.

Then I continued to go through my clothes and found some that I didn’t want any more so I gave them to the girls as well. I also took out a few for the use of future volunteers. I tucked the clothes I won’t be wearing until I get back to America in my new suitcase and put the others neatly back into my wardrobe. My suitcase is about halfway full and it’s not even all my clothes (let alone all the other stuff I wanna take home). I think I have a slight problem. Oh dear, I really need to ask Sujatha if it’s possible to send packages from Kollegal, haha.

When Lissi saw me packing stuff, she became really sad and told me about how she’s really going to miss venting to me. I made us some strawberry tea and we just sat and talked for a little bit. Soon the girls also noticed my semi-packed suitcase and expressed how incredibly depressed they were to know that I’ll be leaving. I felt terrible for them and I also felt terrible for myself. I don’t want to leave…

In any case, 6:00 came before I knew it and I headed to study time. I was actually really successful in keeping the girls quiet, although I did get a lot of help from Shruti. At the end though, they were all finished and I just let them do what they wanted. Reena wanted to draw a picture of me so I sat in front her and made different funny faces to make her and Sarah laugh.

She finally finished and showed me the picture. It. Was. Hilarious! She made sure to make me fat and give me lots of pimples. And she made my necklace hang from my face rather than from my neck. I’m not sure how that works…

7:30 soon came and we all headed to dinner. EGG DAY! I was SO hungry too! YAY!! After dinner, Jaya told me I need to help her. She said she wanted me to wake her up at 2 in the morning so she could study. 2. In. the. Morning. Fantastic! After getting this news, I went to the dorm and talked to the girls for a bit. We made a plan that, on Sunday, I’d take all nine of the girls out to a get a coconut for our final coconut walk. We all got quite emotional thinking about. Last coconut walk ever. So sad. Like really really sad. I can’t believe I only have a week left in Kollegal…

Then, we dropped our luggage off in the lobby and headed for the pool so we could kill time. We ate a yummy Indian breakfast at the pool’s restaurant then had a nice, cold swim. After that, we, of course, laid in the sun for a little while. It was SO hot!

At around 2, we decided we’d better get a move on since we were going to meet two guys (Rachel met them at the beach and they said that we NEEDED to try some true Goan food) at 3:30 for a quick lunch. So, while Lissi and Rachel changed and had showers, I went into town and got cake. I really wanted cake .

Once I got back to the guest house lobby, I got changed and ate my piece of cake. YAY! Then, we said goodbye to the guest house staff and lugged our stuff out to the bus stop.

The bus soon came and got my huge piece of luggage in the driver’s compartment at the front of the bus.

A half hour later, we made it to Mapusa and then got on another half hour bus to Panjim. By the time we finally made it, my bag was pretty banged up (dang cheap Indian stuff. I hope it can survive long enough to make it to America) and it was like 4. So, we were late for our meeting .

In any case, we found the guys pretty easily and they bargained down a taxi for us so we could head to a restaurant. We got there and took a table. One of the guys ordered everything for us as we didn’t know what any of the food was. It was nice to not have to decide for myself .

Then we just talked. The guys were so cool! They are film directors and have traveled around the world to shoot movie scenes. At one point, they were talking about when they had to go to America. One of them told me about how he needed to wait at the airport for six hours straight because the security people didn’t trust him what with his dark skin, beard and mustache. Oh dear! He also told me that he met an American man who wanted an Indian girlfriend because (and he made sure to tell me “no offense”) all the American girls only want money. It was SO funny! Then Rachel piped up and told me that the American she met in China were super annoying because they were all “America is SO great!” She assured me, though, that I am nothing like the Americans she’s met so far. I found it all incredibly interesting .

We talked way past when the food was delivered and eventually one of the guys said we should eat before the food gets cold. It was rice, some fish and sauce and some shrimp stuff. At first one of the guys, Nikil, took out a fork as he thought we’d prefer it but then his friend made the comment that food like this is better when eaten with the hands. We all agreed and pushed aside the silver ware and ate with our hands. Ah, how I have missed it! And, the food! It was DELICIOUS! It was actually so good that it was worth me having the killer stomach pain I experienced after eating it, haha.

A few foreigners came in the restaurant and gave us strange looks when they saw how we were eating. That was the highlight of my day, haha.

Before we knew it, it was 5:50 and we really needed to go. When the bill came, the guys insisted on paying all 1300 rupees of it. We, of course, fought with them but finally gave in when they said we could pay for the meal when the five us meet again in Mysore. Then, we headed out of the restaurant. One of the guys got us a taxi and went with us to the bus stand as he and his partner needed one to Bangalore as well.

At 6:30, we boarded. Oh. My. Gosh. The sleeper bus was like nothing I’ve ever experienced before (well it was kind of like the train, but so much AWESOMER). First off, we all had really comfy beds rather than seats and we could just stretch out our legs and stare out the huge windows beside us. Also, our beds were on a second level above the normal seats and we had to climb a short ladder to get up.  On top of all that, there was an outlet right on the wall. Of course, that didn’t matter much as my laptop and chargers were all in my big bag, which was tucked in a compartment in the back of the bus. Anyways, when I got on my bed and settled in, I seriously didn’t want to leave. I mean I already LOVE long car/bus/train/plane rides but THIS, THIS was like heaven to me .

By about 12, my eyes were starting to sting and I reluctantly left the view outside and drifted off to sleep.

We tanned/swam/walked along the beach/talked to random people for hours. By 5, I was sick of the beach and went to back to the apartment by myself. Once I’d taken a shower, I was feeling loads better and just had some alone-time until Lissi and Rachel came.

I then waited for a good two hours for them to get ready to go out to dinner.

We eventually headed out and decided to go back to our favorite restaurant out of all the ones we’d tried. The food was, as before, absolutely delicious .

We were waiting for the bill, when Lissi went to some people sitting at the table by ours and spoke to them in German. And then the talking started…

At one point, I was right next to Lissi and two of the people, who were in an extensive conversation in German and I was across from Rachel, who had turned around and was talking to the other person in English. Since I couldn’t very well contribute to either conversation, I just sat there, feeling awkward.

And the talking continued…

And continued…

At one point, Lissi and Rachel decided we could go, so we all stood up…and they talked to the Austrian people some more.

THEN they were actually just about out the door when they thought we’d better go back and say goodbye, so they did. Then just started up another conversation with them.

AND THEN! We got out the door! And Lissi and Rachel talked to the people some more…

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m all up for meeting and talking to new people and stuff and, quite frankly, these people were really interesting (They kept saying how they always walk around holding sticks just in case any stray dogs were around and how the dogs weren’t afraid of knives, just sticks. One of the people told us how incredibly excited he was about trying to start a bonfire on the beach, which was pretty funny) but by this time, I was practically falling asleep where I stood. I was EXHAUSTED. Plus, I wanted cake but by the time we finally headed out, the bakery was closed .

In any case, we left around 12:30/1. When we got back to the apartment, Lissi realized we really needed water, so I left with her to get some. After our little mission, I packed a little bit and now it is almost 2 in the morning and I think I’m going to stop typing and got to sleeeeeppp…

Once we got back to our room, Rachel told us that she needed a day of alone-time so she told us to go ahead to Old Goa without her. So, Lissi and I went out by ourselves. It felt so weird without Rachel there!

In any case, we got a bus to Mapusa, then a bus to Panjim then finally got a bus to Old Goa. I had hoped that by this time, I’d be more awake but I was still just as exhausted as I was when I woke up. Since Lissi was feeling the same way, we only spent a half hour or so at Old Goa. We went into a Catholic church, which was packed with people taking pictures. It was really cool-looking and interesting. There were signs everywhere saying that the tourists needed to be quiet as there were people there for mass. So strange!

After a short walk around the premise opposite of the church, we got a bus to the Panjim market. It was incredible! The market was all inside and reminded me of a mini mall. On the bottom floor, there were tons of fruit and vegetable sellers. Then, on the second floor (which bordered around the bottom floor), there were shops selling items. I found the entire trip worth it just to see this market!

Once we were ready to go, we got a bus back to the Panjim station, then one to Mapusa and then one to Anjuna. We got to the apartment and just crashed with complete exhaustion.

After relaxing for a while, we got ready to go out to dinner then headed for a beach restaurant. Surprisingly, we didn’t get offered any weed all the way to the beach .

The food was, as usual, yummy and cheap . And, on our way back, Rachel and I each got a piece of cake at a bakery. The piece I got was simply delicious!

In exactly two weeks, I will be in America. Holy cow…

At first, Mapusa seemed like it was just like Mysore but then we got to the market. People were selling Western clothes left and right. It was really interesting. Lissi and I had decided to wear our Indian clothes today and everyone kept commenting on them, saying that they were very nice and asking where we got them. This was SO different from going to Mysore! No one really thought anything was unusual when we’d wear our Indian clothes there.

In any case, we had a delicious lunch of good ol’ masala dosa then went to do some shopping. Rachel and Lissi, as usual, HAD to buy some Kashmire scarves.  The three of us sat on stools around a woman’s stock of scarves and, after A LOT of deliberating Lissi FINALLY picked out four scarves that she liked.

Then came the bargaining, which took almost as long as the choosing. The seller started the price at an insane 11,000. At this, Lissi kept trying to put two scarves back as she soon saw that she would not be able to afford them. The woman, however, would NOT have it. Every time Lissi set the scarves down, she’d put them back onto Lissi’s lap. It actually got quite entertaining after a while.

A good twenty minutes passed before Lissi finally got the price down to 1,700 and bought the scarves. During all this, a pregnant woman waited for us to finish so she could try and sell us some jewelry. Rachel and I got some nose rings from her.

After that, we tried to find a bank so Rachel could exchange money but to no avail . So, we grabbed a very quick snack of bread and chai then caught a bus back to Anjuna.

Once we got back, Rachel and Lissi changed into their bathing suits and we all headed down to the pool to relax.

At around 6:30, we went to the apartment and got ready for the Saturday Night Market. Rachel insisted on putting some makeup on my face .

Once we were finally all ready, we got a taxi to the market (the market started at 8pm and ended at 3am). HOLY COW!! The market was INCREDIBLE! As soon as we walked under the market’s archway, we were swept into a huge crowd of foreigners and Indians (mostly foreigners ). There was a parking space for motorcycles to our right and the lines of motorcycles seemed to never end. Above the parking space there were hundreds of lit-up decorative stars hung from the trees.

Then we got to the actual market. It was quite similar to the flea market except for a few very important things…

First, it was at night. Second, there was a live band playing music that boomed throughout the whole market. Third, there was a dance party going on at the same time. Fourth, some sellers were foreigners (which I was actually quite upset about because of how much more expensive their things were due to not being able to bargain and also, I just didn’t like the idea of foreigners taking over jobs that the Indians could have). Fifth, the people there were SO…how do I describe this…eccentrically dressed . Some were wearing hippie clothes and others had a full-on Goth style (leather, dreadlocks, short skirts, chains, the whole thing). It was just so interesting to see everyone. And there I had been in my traditional Indian clothes .

In any case, we walked around for a bit, stopping briefly at some shops. I finally finished all my gift-shopping, YAY! At one point, however, Lissi and Rachel stopped at a shop run by two French ladies. The dresses/long shirts/pirate outfits (:P) that were being sold caught Lissi and Rachel’s eye at once. Yet again, I was left in complete confusion as to why things like these are so interesting for Lissi and Rachel.

In any case, after a good half hour or so of watching the two of them try on dress after dress, Lissi bought one and Rachel set up an appointment with one of the ladies so she could get the one she wanted.

We left the shop and found ourselves extremely tired and well past ready to go home. After grabbing a taxi (Rachel told the man we paid 250 for the taxi to get to the market even though we paid 270. Oh Rachel…), we headed back. However, our empty stomachs couldn’t be ignored so we had the man stop at the little restaurant that Lissi and I had found yesterday.

Rachel and I both got fried noodles while Lissi got chospy. You see, Lissi has this thing with ALWAYS being the one to accidentally order spicy food and she ALWAYS ends up needing our help in order to eat it because of how much she can’t handle spicy. So, when she got her food, I said to her, “I’m going to laugh really hard if it’s spicy again.” It was. I laughed. And then I felt a bit jealous over the fact that she always gets the spicy food and I don’t . But that’s okay, because Lissi gladly shared with me .

After our dinner, we headed back and got ready for bed. I am now very excited to be able to SLEEP. I’m exhausted…

We got up around 10 and had another breakfast of bread and hummus. Our plan for today was to go spend the first part of the day at the beach then the second half in Mapusa, where everything is supposed to be much cheaper. I, however, really didn’t feel up to going to the beach seeing as I was SO burnt so I told Rachel and Lissi they could go ahead and I’d just do things in the apartment for a bit. After all, they assured me they’d be back around 3. So they set off and I stayed.

I organized my clothes, read a book, watched TV and went on my laptop. 3:00 soon rolled around and they still hadn’t come back. But I was okay and just continued on.

By 4, I was getting a bit anxious but was still fine. At 5, I was on the verge of being upset. 5:30 came and I was just downright angry. Like really angry. I only have four days left in goa and sixteen left in India and I wanted to use each day to the fullest.

So, I left the apartment and headed to the beach to look for them. I ran into them as they were heading back. They said that they had no idea what time it was and that they were really sorry. I did my best to bury my anger. After all, they both genuinely felt bad and I didn’t want to dwell on it and make them feel even worse.

In any case, by the time we got back to the apartment it was 6:20 and there was simply no time to go to Mapusa. I was in such a terrible mood especially since I expected to do nothing for the remainder of the day.

But then Lissi suggested we go get pedicures. I wasn’t too crazy about it since I wasn’t feelin too great but decided I may as well try and turn my mood around. So, we decided on going after Lissi took a shower.

She wasn’t finished until 7:40. An hour and ten minutes to take a shower and blow dry her hair… Wow… It’s times like these when I am really happy I’m not the type of the girl who needs that much time.

In any case, Rachel was too tired to go out again so Lissi and I headed out and soon found a beauty place by the beach. The man there was asking for 300 rupees per pedicure and Lissi tried to bargain but the man insisted that the price was good. So, we decided to do it. The man called his partner, also a guy, and they set to work.

I must say, it was really weird at first to have a guy doing my toenails and scrubbing and massaging my feet but, after a while, it wasn’t so bad.

We talked a lot with them. The guy doing Lissi’s feet is named John and is the owner of the shop. He is 28, is from Tamilnadu, has a birthday on May 1^st and has a wife and one-year-old son. The guy doing mine is named Roj. He is 25, is also from Tamilnadu and has a birthday on the wondrous date of November 11^th . The best part? They are both Christians.

John told us that whenever a foreign woman comes in, she talks so friendly with him (I’m guessing he meant “flirty”) but then she asks if he’s married and after he tells her he is, she’s not as nice. Haha! So, after he told us that he was married, he turned to Roj and said to him (in Tamil), “why did I just tell them I’m married?” which meant he was probably afraid we wouldn’t talk to him anymore.

Once they got to painting the nails, they said that it was “woman’s work” and that they weren’t very good at it, haha. They actually weren’t that bad at all.

We sat there for a good hour and half and by the end, 300 rupees felt like nothing. Lissi even told me later that she felt really bad for trying to bargain. I think that after finding out their whole life’s story and knowing that everything depends on how much money they bring home from work, paying them such a small amount seems like it’s not good enough.

In any case, we went home with very soft feet . And I was feeling about ten million trillion times better. It was simply fantastic! I’m happy to say that my first ever pedicure was done in India .

We got back to the apartment, expecting to grab Rachel and head out again for dinner. Rachel, however, was half-asleep so she requested fried rice and Lissi and I went back into town.

We checked a few restaurants on our street for fried rice but couldn’t find any that had it. Then we came to a European restaurant and was, yet again, unsuccessful. The waiter there found out that we were looking for fried rice and, after a quick glance around to make sure no one could overhear, he said to us, “I feel like I’m betraying this restaurant when I say this but…there’s a really good fried rice place down the road.” He gave us a big grin then saw us off. Lissi and I were laughing about it all the way to the fried rice place. It was SO funny!

The restaurant he directed us to was SO cute! It was just an open bamboo hut. Lissi and I ordered noodles and one fried rice to go. The prices were so cheap as well, it was great!

After a nice big bowl of yummy noodles, we said goodbye and delivered Rachel the rice. I think we’ll be going back there again later .

Wow, even though I didn’t do much today, the day still zoomed by!

At around 11:30, we headed out for Vagathor Beach. We caught a bus ride for 7 rupees each and then walked a little ways before coming to the beach.

Vagathor was insanely different from Anjuna. First off, there were no shacks selling stuff, so the beach looked really blank. Secondly, there were a lot more Indians there and I even saw a Muslim lady wearing a burk walking along with her husband (who she was holding hands with, which was SO strange to see…) Third, the waves there were so big!

After some laying on the beach and getting attacked by waves, we soon realized that being at this beach was very annoying. The Indians were obsessed with taking pictures of foreigners and Lissi, Rachel and I started to feel really self-conscious. At one point, some Indian guy came by, sat next to us and wouldn’t leave. Rachel kept trying to shoo him away by saying he was invading our personal space, but he just didn’t budge. So annoying!

After the three millionth time of catching some Indian taking secret pictures of us, we decided we should move to a spot where there were more tourists.

Finally, some privacy! We went around some rocks to find a little beach full of foreigners. It was so much better!

By like 4:30, I was burnt to a crisp and ready to leave. So, we gathered up our things and headed out. On our way to the bus stop, we stopped at a restaurant with Wifi and had some lunch.

After our meal, we got on a bus and made it back to our apartment. Then, we, of course, took showers and changed and stuff. That was when I realized that I am burnt in every place of my body that wasn’t covered by my bathing suit. YAY! I have succeeded in my goal to get hopelessly sunburnt . Now, I’ve no idea how I’m gonna sleep tonight…

Anyways, once we were all ready, we headed out for a nice long walk in the cool night air. We passed by a woman at her house and she asked us if we recognized her. Apparently she was one of the shopkeepers and she knew us from when we’d walk by her shop, which was really cool considering how many tourists she must see in a day.

It was really interesting to see where she lived, which was really just a small hut. She told us that her day consists of waking up, cooking and eating breakfast, working at the shop, cooking and eating lunch, working at the shop, cooking and eating dinner, going to sleep. I couldn’t help but to feel sorry for her .

In any case, we somehow made it to the beach and found a nice restaurant for dinner, despite the fact that we had decided to try and keep from eating out every night. Oh well…

This was my favorite restaurant yet! I got a Chinese dish that had to be one of the most amazing meals I’ve ever eaten. And it was only 80 rupees/$1.50. It was SO delicious!

Once we’d finished our meal, we headed home stopping only briefly for some ice cream.

Another day in Goa has ended and as the end of our holiday comes nearer and nearer, I can’t help but to think about the fact that my time in India is also coming to a close. And that thought makes me utterly depressed .

We got the market which is basically just an insane amount of all different kinds of shops tightly packed next to each other. It was SO cool!

We had to bargain left and right! Dang, the sellers really liked ripping off foreigners! We had to play the “we live in India” and “Rachel’s dad is Indian” card SO often!

At one point, we completely lost Lissi and Rachel and I decided to get bags and just check outside the shop every once in a while for her. We looked through the bags for so long! I finally chose one I wanted but the lady demanded 750 for it. Insane price! As we were bargaining, we saw Lissi across the walkway outside the shop. After we’d beckoned her over, she showed us a bag she bought that I really liked that she got for 200. We’d only gotten the lady down to about 400 so I decided to try and drop the matter and go buy one that Lissi bought. However, as I was leaving, she said I was terrible for wasting her time and that she’d take 250 for the bag I had chosen. I soon realized that she was right and I was being really rude by leaving after being in her shop for SO long. So I got the bag. Oh well…

Later, we came across another lady who was absolutely determined to sell us some jewelry. She first caught Rachel and mine attention when she said she had nose rings. Woot!

After Rachel played the “half-Indian” card, she gave us the nose rings for super cheap then threw in two free ones. And, for Lissi, she gave her THREE sets of REAL SILVER toe rings (6 rings in all) for the insane price of 500. Back in Kollegal, we can only get those type for 300 per set! So, Rachel and I got some tea from her as well because she was actually giving us a good deal.

We had a quick lunch and all agreed that it was past time to go. I was so hot and sweaty that all I wanted to do was go back to the guest house and hit the pool. Despite my slightly miserable state, I was feeling pretty good about what I bought.

Then, Rachel saw a shop selling luggage. That’s when my day really turned sour. I agreed that it would be a good idea just to buy a piece of luggage so I don’t have to worry about it later. The seller first asked for 2,500. So Rachel started the bargaining. She said 1500 and when the seller wouldn’t budge below 1700, we started to walk away (I was doubting getting luggage there by that time). Then some random English dude came and told the seller 1500. We finally got it for 1550.

So, I rolled away the luggage feeling kind of apprehensive about it. A German guy stopped me and asked how much I spent on it. I told him the price and he had a “that’s an okay price” expression on his face. Then, he told me that I could get them much cheaper in a city called Mapusa in Goa. I, stupidly, asked the price I could have gotten it for. He said 800. GRRR!! My mood immediately turned completely sour. I was SO upset! I could have saved 700 rupees/$14!

I grumpily rolled my unfortunately not-broken luggage to the taxi. I began to completely doubt that I’d have enough money to last me until I leave India.

I got back to the guest house and felt a bit better when realizing the logic. First: I had already expected to pay between 1,000 and 2,000 for the luggage. Second: I would never have discovered Mapusa if it weren’t for buying the luggage. Therefore, I would have just bought it for the same amount in Bangalore anyway. Third: Despite the insane drop of money in my wallet, aside from the luggage, I really only spent 1500 and that was mostly on gifts.

Having made myself feel better, I changed into my bathing suit and went with Rachel to the pool. Unfortunately, it had gotten cold and windy so we really couldn’t go swimming. We just chilled on the tanning beds and read books.

After some time, we went back to our room, changed, grabbed Lissi and headed into town to buy breakfast for tomorrow at a market and some dinner.

The market was SO incredibly expensive! Of course, it was all imported from the West so that was why everything was costly. I found a small box of poptarts for 450. That’s 9 bucks! Insane!!

We ended up just getting hummus, bread and water then went to look at a chut place we had passed on the way to the market.

FINALLY! TRUE INDIAN FOOD! And, even better, it was Indian-priced . We figured that this was probably the place where Indians came to eat and foreigners simply overlooked. Not us though! We ordered enough food to fill our stomachs (and it was all simply DELICIOUS) all for 90 rupees. Yup, a yummy dinner for three people for a little less than $2 . It made me feel even better about the money I spent at the flea market.

Once we got home, we watched a movie on my laptop then got ready for bed.

And that was day three of Goa. This week is flying by!