Well, we did it! We are officially Advanced Open Water Divers. The class was not super challenging but we got a lot of good information out of it and (of course) a chance to do some awesome diving. The fish life here is so diverse that we see new types of fish everytime we are in the water and the soft coral is just breathtaking.
Next we will start the more challenging, mental and physical, rescue diver course. I think this will help me a lot more than Scotty as it will extend my knowledge of what to do in emergencies, not really my forte, and hopefully make me feel better about being small and still able to help.
The town here is small but interesting, dirty but charming, and the bathroom situation is all a girl could hope for (hole in the ground anyone?). I am overcoming my paranoid feelings about the swarming termites that inhabit our bungalow (well, at least learning to cope with them a bit better), and find myself fascinated by the Tyrannasaurus Geckos that live in our room (their better than the giant spiders that live in the bathroom shack.
The food is simple but delicious. Rice with pretty much every meal and vegetable curry and vegetable soup being our main staples. The locals stare, could be the bald head I can’t seem to stop touching, or the ankles that are showing, I’m not sure which. But everyone has been really nice and the transplant workers and other travellers are a wealth of knowledge on different places to “not miss” here in SE Asia as many of them have been on holiday for months and some for years.
I am happy to be here and will be glad when classes are over so we can just relax and not have to study all the time. Who thought I would have homework again so soon.
ARE YOU OK!!!!!!!!!