Saturday August 6, 2005 6:00 pm

Welcome Typhoon Matsa!!

Woke up this moring at 8:00 and met Mark and Rudrakshi at 8:30 for some breakfast. It was good to sleep in a bit as the long hours this week have caught up with me.

We took a long breakfast and sat drinking coffee for a while. Then we went across the street to the Home Mart to get some umbrellas for the day. We had plans to meet with Bill another of our group at 10:00 in the lobby to do some shopping.

We found out we could get some umbrellas from the front desk and borrowed those instead of buying some. They were a bit larger than the ones at Home Mart so I was glad I didn't waste any money there (even though they were only about $4).

We walked down the the shops I had found last weekend. It was several blocks and was raining a bit and got windy at times but wasn't too bad. Usually it was easier to just close the unbrella and get a little wet rather than try to battle the wind.

I picked up a few little things today but mostly watched Rudrakshi buy things. It was funny to see her negotiate with the shop owners - both of them entering the price they wanted on a calculator and Bill behind Rudrakshi coaching her on the process. Quite entertaining.

We were out about 1 and then decided to get lunch at the hotel together. Just as we arrived back the rain really started coming down! I got a few shots from the lobby but they hardly do justice to the weather.

When we got back from our walk one of the hotel staff came up to me in the lobby to say I had a package! Yeah for me! The group I am with thought it funny that I have been here long enough for the staff to recognize me by name and room number. I just thought it nice that I didn't have to wait until I got upstairs to find out I had to come all the way back down to the lobby!

The package was from my sister Shelley - full of fun candy/nuts/jam and other treats from Oregon! A magazine and some little boxes of cereal - Thanks Shelley - that part is already gone!! Loved the corn pops!

This afternoon I took a nice nap :) It was good to be warm and dry after our long walk and good to just relax. I am not sure about tonight. We didn't talk in our group about if we would get together or not so I am just going to hang out in my room and watch it rain for a while. Hopefully some good movies will be on and I can just take it easy.


Tina