Poker Faces

Good news - the council have been to Cozy Nook and it doesn't look as if it's going to be bulldozed! On the other hand, they've turned the electricity off... Still, I'd rather have no light than no hut!

Yesterday and today it's been really coming down with rain - monsoon has struck. We don't mind - we've had a lot of sunshine of late. Instead we sit in the restaurant with Dilip, Kitty and an assortation of people drinking chai, eating toast and playing cards. I'm really going to miss these people when we leave.

Dom, Julie and Aggie organised a poker night especially for us the other day as we were sick of being poker chicks. Went online to do some research and learn the cards - beach poker rules are different - so had to check. I think the version they play is called 5 card draw, with a minimum bet of 10Rs. It was a long game, starting at around 10pm and finishing at 4am and we won the final hand! We're not brilliant, but we do have quite good poker faces. We were issued with a "poker hunk" called Sandeep (who is the chef at Cozy Nook) - he was great, really helpful. Our only problem is that Indian people tend to be very expressive - and it's really easy to clock whether some of them have good cards or not. At one point I thought Lydia was going to sit on Sandeep to stop him cheering/pulling faces!! We started with 300Rs in chips, and promptly lost most of that, so put in another 100Rs. Things started to get better from then (mostly due to Sandeep!), and we finished the game having doubled our money. Not bad.

Met a fantastic couple at Cozy Nook. Their names are Anthea and James and they both hail from London. Anthea is a hairdresser who wants to be a dancer, and James is a DJ. We really clicked with them - they were so laid back and approachable. They're travelling for one year around the world, staying for only a few weeks in India before heading on to Singapore, Thailand, New Zealand, America and some other places. What an incredible experience that will be! On their last night we invited them to have dinner with us and Dilip, took them to a restaurant to grab some takeaway and set up a table on the beach. Great food, great company - nothing better on earth. We're really going to miss them and wish we could follow them on their travels! They will have the best time and we look forward to seeing them when they come home.

Tomorrow is our last night in Palolem - I think we're having another poker night - not sure. Might bet our plane tickets home! :o)

Last night Lydia and I went out for dinner with Dilip and Sandeep on the beach. It's amazing the amount of progress we've made in terms of communicating with people. We still do need to use a pen and paper quite frequently - but the majority of our conversation is done through international signs. Dilip and Sandeep are great at this. Lydia and I have talked about how so many people here are great at gestural communication, and came to the conclusion that India has over 200 languages/dialects - so that's probably why. If there is a visual form of communication they can all speak with each other in some form.

That's the one thing I'm really going to miss when I leave. Here when you tell people you're deaf it's rarely a problem, they whip out a pen and paper or start gesturing. Back at home when you tell them they fly into a mass panic and press the emergency button to summon the police or whatever. I exaggerate, but you get the gist!

Still - it is time to come home. Wish we could fly direct from Goa instead of having to go to via Mumbai and Delhi. Moan, moan, moan, moan....

Caroline xx