Meet the neighbors!

Ok, so I am torn about putting this out there, because I am embarrassed to admit I have seen the show, but does anyone out there watch the show Girls? and if so, is it suppose to be satirical? Or realistic? Are there really people out there who are like, "yeah, I really connect with these characters" –is this an honest depiction of millennials? or is everybody watching acknowledging the fact that these people are all super self-involved and delusional? Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the show, and think it’s hilarious, but I had a realization that this might be actually realistic to some people, and I could be watching the show all wrong. (I am too embarrassed to make this a facebook status, but a google search didn't help me find an answer so I am taking it to the people).

Ok, that was a short tirade now for an update.  First, things with diving have been fun but hard.  It’s a lot of work, but I am learning a ton about diving, and I am improving as a diver regularly.  I am also seeing tons of underwater life, so I’ll probably make a video of all the sea life after the trip.  As far as not updating more frequently, this has been because today is my first day off since the last time I updated.  They keep me busy.  If all goes as planned, I should be done with dive master training by Sunday, and then I just have to dive as much as I can to get my dive numbers up before March 10^th.  If I don’t get to 100 by the 10^th, then I have to wait until April before I can start my next stage of classes. The next stage is trainging to become an instructor.  Today has been my day off, so I have mostly been running errands, like getting fitted for a wetsuit, doing laundry, etc.  I did drive my scooter to a very western mall, and watched Robocop for 3 bucks. 

So now meet the neighbors… 

On the left is Kassie, she’s an Aussie who just started the same program I am doing, so she’s a little bit behind me.  She just recently quit her job and decided to make a life change and become a dive instructor.  She’s doing her dive master training here, and then will do her instructor training in the Maldives for a few months. In the middle is Dima, he’s from Kazakhstan and he’s not a diver, he just finished university and so is spending a couple of months in Thailand before he heads back.  He’s hilarious, his English is so-so, but he’s determined which results in some awesome miscommunications. And on the right is Barak, an Iranian, that recently finished his instructor course and is now working for Dive Asia full time.  He’s hilarious too, he’s always looking for ways to strum up some business for himself, like starting his own website that sells dive gear. You can also see Teeny has made an appearance and is enjoying the company.  They are a fun bunch that like hanging out on the porch in evening. 

Apart from that, I don’t really have time for a social life or even too much exploration of the island. When I get done with a day on the boat it’s usually 7:30ish and then I have some studying to do for the next day, and I am usually pretty beat.  I am in my new apartment now, which is just 2 doors down from my old one, but there’s no pump outside of it, which means I can sleep with out earplugs, plus the new shower is much better. 

Well that’s all for now.

Thanks for the prayer, and keep it real.

First week in Phuket

Well the past week and a half have been pretty exciting. We had a pretty relaxing week in Phuket with long time friends, and we stayed at a hotel that was a little fancier than we have been traditionally use to.  Our room would literally open right up to the pool, so we would step out onto our veranda and have a couple of chairs and steps into the pool. It was pretty amazing.  That week Christine and I did 3 dives off of Phuket and we saw some awesome stuff.  Check out the short video for a couple of things. We saw a baby great barracuda, which was pretty amazing.  Unfortunately we didn’t get any footage of it but we do have a hilarious video of Christine thinking she turned off the video when she actually was turning off.  (she did some take some amazing footage of an octopus though)

Scuba in Phuket Jan 30

So last Friday the group headed back to Korea and I stayed behind. Saturday I did my emergency first responder course, so now I am officially EFR certified.  I think by the end of everything I will actually be certified to teach an EFR course.  Then Sunday I began my training for rescue diver.  In the morning we were in the pool working on drills, and then we drove to Kata beach to do a dive.  Some of you might remember that Kata beach was the place that Christine and I got engaged back in  2009.  I saw some pretty awesome stuff that dive like a sea horse, lobster, pipe fish, and a giant purple jellyfish, that looked like some weird floating orb in the water.  It was amazing that it was just off of the shore.  I did some practice rescue stuff, and then the next day we went out to the islands and I did some more tests, so by Monday I was officially a PADI rescue diver. 

Yesterday I began my divemaster training with a half day of classroom stuff, just going over my responsibilities, and what all I’ll be doing by the end of the training.  I am essentially an intern for the next month or so.  I think one of the nice things about this current stage of my life is that I am not putting a lot of pressure on myself.  It’s not like this scuba thing was a life long dream or anything, so if I decide that it’s no longer fun, or if I just miss Christine too much, I can just go back home. No worries.  Right now things are going well though, so time will tell.  (although if I do go home, I’m really hoping to skip winter).

My instructor is the only guy that works here that’s first language is English, and he’s from India.  He’s also about to have a baby, like literally any day, maybe even today. My next-door neighbor is a guy from Iran, and he’s a lot of fun.  He just finished his instructor training and is planning on staying here in Phuket for a while.  I think I will probably do blog posts on some of the people I have met later. I currently live in a small apartment with a kitchen and bedroom and bathroom, no air conditioning but then again you get what you pay for.  My place is currently about $650 for 3 months, and if I get the AC upgrade it’s $2250 for 3 months, so it looks like I am going with out AC.  Next week I am changing apartments, just moving a few doors down to one that’s a little nicer and has a bigger fridge.  When that happens I’ll do a video of the dive center and my new apartment.  That’s the one nice thing about the place, I am literally right at the dive center.

Well that’s about all for now. Check back sometime next week for an update. I think Sundays will be my day off if I can swing it.

Thanks for the prayers, keep it real.