... Fast friends?

There's nothing better than realizing that two hours into meeting someone you've discussed religion, the afterlife, family deaths, and Brazilian waxing and immediately decided to share a room. This is travel. Anna and I met JeRae on the bus and boat ride from Ubud to the Gili Islands and immediately connected on multiple levels. This openness of travel and ability to meet and befriend people so quickly is something I will never take for granted again and hope to carry into my future life. We should all be open and eager to expand our web of friends.. And not for networking's sake or some potential future gain, but for the mere joy of getting to know someone new and hopefully learning something about them, you, and maybe even life along the way.

So the Gili Islands are amazing so far (after about 4 hours here). The ferry ride was beautiful, sunny and fun - about 10 minutes from reaching Gili T we got caught in some intense waves and hopped off the boat completely drenched and dying laughing. We found a place to stay with JeRae and met up with a friend of hers who is a dive instructor here and immediately grabbed beers and went to a local soccer game whose competing teams consisted of the yellow team (the people who run the horses on the island) and the green team (the scuba people). We approached the fields and in the process of being introduced to a big group, Anna tripped on a rope and took a hard fall and (once again) cut up her knee. I'm a bad friend and died laughing at the timing of the fall... She took it like a champ though. 

Off to get some beer and pizzas with the divers. Loving the feel of this little island so far! Lots of horse drawn carriages, Muslims, and drinking. Should make for an interesting week or so...