Best day ever for rickshaw pullers

Yesterday was a great day. I felt lighter than I have for the past month. I was able to fully concentrate on what I was doing and not on all the stuff back home or my difficulties with students.

We did a prayer walk by rickshaw. We wanted everyone to go their own ways and tour Cox's Bazar but the rickshaw pullers seemed to think we needed to stay together. Katrina and I had a young spry puller but we were stuck going one mile an hour behind Matt and Francis's old geezer. When our little guy tried to pass, he got yelled at.

The drivers took us to a Budhist temple. There are several here for refugees from Myanmar. We thought we were just getting a tour but then they tried to make us give them donations every five minutes. In one room, there were all these idols and photos of monks. The room was creepy and not well-lit. Then this super-onery looking monk came out of the shadows looking like he hated us. Spooky!

Then on our way back to the hotel, Katrina convinced our guy to break away from the pack. I was nervous since he got yelled at the last time. He took us down a nice tree-lined street and then met back up with the others. Matt and Francis's driver got really pissed at ours and came after him and pretended to punch him. It was intense. Then someone got the idea for us to pull the rickshaws. Katrina pulled mine while I road with the little driver man. Kera, Jorgen, and Drea raced back to the hotel. Jorgen won but Katrina made a valiant effort. We hope to get ten rickshaws one day so we can all race. This is a good place to do it because there is more open space and less people.

In the afternoon, we went out to the beach and played soccer with the locals. It was so much fun. We always want to do stuff with the kids on the streets but there isn't enough room in the big cities. This was ideal. Afterwards, Matt, Eric, Francis and I went into the ocean. Some people were afraid to go in but the water looks just like the water in Galveston to me so I was unafraid. The waves were fairly big but not scary like in Maui. I had to wear my complete outfit including my orna, which is like a scarf. Pretty hilarious! I had never swam in so many clothes before.

It was great to be in the ocean because that is always a place I feel close to the Big Guy. There is just something about the seemingly nerver-ending expanse of water that makes me think of eternity. It is always cathartic for me. I need to take advantage of this close proximity to the ocean as much as I can.