Island Life: Storms

I woke up with a jolt. I had no idea what had startled me... but I laid in bed, heart thumping, mind racing, eyes trying to make sense of the darkness around me. FLASH! BOOM! My room is lit up by a streak of lightning and the bed rattles with the thunderous boom that follows. Oh... no problem, it's just a storm. I tried to turn over and go back to sleep, knowing that the air was cool, a wind was blowing and the storm would pass. I even tried to ignore the hole in my room that lets water splash around and hit me in the face. As long as my computer is covered and dry, no worries. Soon, I slip back into a restful sleep.

Click. Click-tip-tap. Tap-tap-tick, click. Tick tick tick tick TICK TICK TICK TICK SHHHHWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA: Downpour. It has about a 5 second lead up, with a couple big drops hitting the tin roof, but within seconds, the full downpour is flooding my ears. No point in trying to sleep now. It's about 7 am, and it sounds like I'm sleeping under Niagra Falls. Thinking I could just ignore it, I roll over, and try to get some more sleep. I don't have to be at the shop till 8:00, and if the weather is still bad, maybe we won't even go out. CRACK! BOOM! More lightning and thunder? Guess so. But this time, much closer. Much louder. Much better than my alarm clock. I'm awake. It's 7:30, and I'm pretty sure the island is flooding. I get up, and run to the bathroom in my bathing suit, since I'm soaked before I get the bottom of the stairs, not much point in putting on clothes. Upon returning, I pack up my stuff, throw a sweatshirt on my computer, and wrap it in a plastic cover, and walk over to the shop in my board shorts, as they're the only thing I have that will dry fast.

The flooded area, which is now an electric green swamp...

I'm lucky, the bridge is still working (later it's submerged in water, and sinks when you stand on it). I get to the shop around 7:45, no one is there, it's all soaked, and so i take a chair and enjoy the rain. New rivers rush by the shop, dumping their particulate mess into the bay, swirling with the winds and waves, creating a dirty mixture of sandy water, horrible for diving near the shore... reducing visibility. The morning dive is canceled, too much wind and rain and lightning and thunder. Guess when out in the middle of the ocean, no one wants to be the one left in the boat during a lightning storm. We all go for breakfast: Roti Canai (Roe-tee cha-nai) with a delicious dipping sauce. It's like fried flatbread with a curry sauce. A movie comes on and most people fall into the "island rainy day" trance, which involves doing absolutely nothing, always being tired, and eating all day. I went back to the shop, grabbed my stuff, and went to the room to read. I had tests to take, papers to read, facts to memorize... fun fun fun.

I studied and took a test. FAIL. I restudied and retook the test. PASS. Then I studied for another test. FAIL. (I was misinformed on what to study). I got the right information, retook th test. PASS. Deciding to go off on a win, I stopped studying. At this point it was evening, mosquitoes were out and it was warming up (with that post-rain muggy feeling). Some of the Dive Masters and Instructors from out shop took out the volleyball and hit it around. I joined, and then so did a couple others, and soon we had a 4 v. 4 game going. Then some Kuala Lumpur people came, and we had a 6 v. 6 game of beach volley. We're all horrible, but it was fun. Had a German, Swiss, Aussie, French, American, Malay, and Dutch. Not too shabby for an international game.

We played until it was getting too dark, sore from hitting the ball, drenched in sweat, and tired. I went to the back of the shop to shower in the outdoor showers, since the ocean was dirty from the runoff, and was greeted by a small snake, trying to take over the shower space. I tried removing him with a broom, but he kept attacking it, so i finally just hit/swiped him away. Later, one of the locals told me it's poisonous... but who knows...

Take away dinner from the "blue" beach restaurant and then to my room for an early night, some studying and reading, and watching Scrubs. The island is still flooded, but we're hoping the rain won't come back again tonight... If it does, I might be needing my SCUBA in the hut!