Real Dive Instructor

I'm including random pictures just to liven things up a bit. I don't like when I update this blog sans visuals – it gets way too boring.

When I'm not using my computer, experiencing familiarity (of life back home) is quite difficult. The spaghetti sauce is not very good, the pizzas aren't made properly or with normal pepperoni, supermarkets are unheard of, the only form of private transportation is the motorbike, I haven't seen a microwave in nearly a month, I have to flush with a bucket, there are no fields, taking a boat for an hour is the only way to see a mall or fast-food chain, if you order soup from a cafe and ask for it to go then you will get it in a plastic bag, and the the milk has waaaaay too much sugar in it. As a result, it's the little things that give me comfort. It's seeing an American movie on my tv, wearing my Denison hat, finding that quarter in the bottom of my backpack, and discovering there's a place that sells a tiny selection of American candy bars. Life back home is becoming more distant as familiar things are so uncommon.

More often than not, I find myself to be the only American in a given group of people - the only person from all of North and South America for that matter. It's therefore exciting when I can recognize something from the states. It took much longer for this to happen in South Africa since I was surrounded by Americans all the time, but I feel as if my American pride grows when I leave. So often I feel like the American representative being the only one around.

I finally got my Nitrox certification. Once I dive 16 more times on Nitrox and certify 25 students for any level of scuba diving, I'll be able to give Nitrox certifications. Unfortunately, that might take a while. However I'm already on my way.

I finished my very first open water certification on the 31st! My student Sonja is an 18-year-old from Alaska and lucky for me, she was very comfortable underwater and her buoyancy control was great. She loved playing around with the fish and really seemed to have had a great time learning how to dive. Thanks to Sonja I'm off to a great start! It's also nice that I'll be getting about a hundred dollars for certifying her. An entire month of rent!

Renaud is a rescue diver from France learning a bit of technical diving while he's here. He's a really great guy and his birthday was a few days ago. To celebrate, we had a great Mexican group dinner. Excellent food for an excellent guy.

On a dive earlier that day, I accidentally and unknowingly knocked Maria's regulator and mask off causing her to panic. In trying to get a hold of my regulator, she climbed over my back and tried to rip my mask off (keep in mind I had no idea she was missing reg or mask). After about 10 seconds of wrestling, Mark saw what was going on and gave her a regulator and I finally got a chance to clear my mask to see Mark and Maria together moving toward the surface. Renaud and I grabbed her mask and surfaced together. Happy birthday, Renaud.

I've been going through some serious job searches and it's killing me. My afternoons (whenever I'm not diving) are completely taken up by sitting in front of the computer going through dive shop after dive shop, and writing email after email. I start from scratch on each one because I mention how the particular operation looks particularly appealing. So far I've sent out at least 12 emails and my only response has been negative, which is better than no response at all. I've been searching not only for jobs in and around Bali (including Lombok and Komodo Island as well), but also searching for an offer after I leave Indonesia. I will consider any offer from Andaman Islands, Tanzania, Zanzibar, Pemba, Comoros, Maldives, Reunion, Mauritius, Madagascar, and Seychelles (preference in reverse order).

With so many options, I would like to have some sort of concrete communication before buying a plane ticket. I'm afraid that if I don't have any connections before going, I won't be able to find a job. My worries are popping up now because there appears to be a less dense population of dive centers in these locations than are in Philippines and Bali, so if I exhaust my options, I have to buy a ticket to another country to start over. Not only are there fewer dive centers, but they are generally wealthier areas with fancier resorts and more expensive housing so looking around for a job for the first couple weeks I'm there won't be such a bright idea anymore. Plus my French is not at a level of fluency and 5 of those countries have French as a national language.

Speaking of French, there's a really awesome guy who showed up a few days ago named Tomi. He is 22, nearly my height, has long dark scraggly hair, several vintage-style bracelets, a ring, and pan-African colored slippers (this is what the world calls flip flops – they have me doing it too). Anyway he is actually from Montreal and has come to the Philippines to do his divemaster certification before he moves on to Australia. I will probably mention him more because he is a really interesting guy with fewer plans than I have and is a great diving buddy because he has so much fun underwater.

I feel like I should mention something about school starting without me but I'm tired of writing and you're probably excited that the end of the post is in sight. It is weird that classes are starting but I'm so far removed from it right now that I can't fully comprehend it anyway. I hope you enjoyed the random pictures and until next time, don't forget to wear sunscreen.