Albanian Reunion!

I woke up early and exhausted from staying up texting the night before my flight. Damn you technology, wandering mind, excellent conversations, and bottle of whiskey! My airport tradition is donuts and coffee, however I managed to completely forget to purchase one until I was past security and unable to go back and grab one. I sat and watched How I Met Your Mother on my computer until the flight boarded, and then attempted to snooze a bit on the flight. They first thing I did upon landing was purchase a donut and coffee. Robert was waiting on the other side of baggage claim with a large hug and big smile. It was excellent to just be in a cab talking to him for an hour or so, catching up on life. After arriving at the apartment we headed out on the bike in search of decently priced liquor. We were largely successful, and I really enjoyed the limited traffic and cruising on the back of the bike.

Post successful journey I was hungry, so we walked across the street to the mall and had a Quickly bubble tea with mint extract and chicken salad at a restaurant. The restaurant had board games on the table, so we got to play snakes and ladders while we waited. I also got to ride the biggest escalator in Southeast Asia. It took forever and Robert and I ended up walking down it, instead of waiting. When we arrived back home, Scott came soon after and we, of course started drinking our bottle of whiskey! Robert and Scott also managed to make a super delicious dinner of chicken curry while we drank, and when we were part way through the whiskey we got to skype with Cortney! All 4 of us back together again! Technology rocks! The cards came out and we played presidents and assholes while we finished the whiskey and started the gin. Scott had to work the next morning, so at around 10 he headed to bed and Robert and I decided to head out to purchase cigarettes at a Warung(small local food/coffee/cigarette shop) and go for a swim.

Ermagherd! Indernesier!!!!

We sat down at the Warung to have a coffee with some of the locals and one of them gave us a present! After finishing our coffee we took the presents back to the apartment and jumped into the pool to do the typical Tiara/Robert late night soul-mate chat. It was wonderful and I confessed my deepest secret to him, and when I did he told me that my face showed it, and all my worries and doubts faded.

The bad decisions continued when we realized we were out of cigarettes, and we decided to head back out on the bike in the rain to get more. We stopped on the grass barrier in the middle of the road to lay on the grass and smoke in our soaking wet clothes. At this point we checked the time and opted to head to bed since it was 2:00 am.

I woke up the next morning feeling not super awesome, but good considering the night before. After a few cups of coffee we managed to get our shit together and headed to a very hung-over breakfast at McDonalds, and then back over to the liquor store to stock up on booze for the next two weeks.

Eventually we managed to get back to the house and continued to lay around and do nothing for the whole day. I had no energy to pack or accomplish anything of sorts, but we did sit down to discuss our trip for the next few days and I got some Scott and Robert cuddle time, followed by an airport skype chat with my new favorite person.

right where we belong!

Titi (the secretary at Scott’s school) came over and ordered pizza for us and we partook of almost all the pizza, but made sure to save just enough for breakfast. The rest of the evening consisted largely of doing nothing, which was just what we needed.

It feels strange to be in the company of old friends in a new place. I missed them so much, and sometimes I feel like nothing has changed and other times I feel like everything has changed. There are great little indications of Albania around the apartment, and Scott and Robert have, of course, managed to hang a giant map of Indonesia up, and get pets! I feel so insanely happy and lucky to be here! Tomorrow I set out to hike up an active volcano!!!!