dhoni's drums and dancing

On Tuesday it was was toilet paper and alcohol collection day! Availability to buy and collect alcohol only occurred between 11.30am-12.30pm and 2-4pm on Tuesdays which is also the times you can go and collect toilet paper! I was really torn about buying a couple of bottles of wine or a case of beer... but the inner man inside of me prevailed and I got the beer! That evening we were having a party for a colleagues birthday and considering the Tuesday before everyone forgot to buy booze, this time we all got plentiful amounts! At around 10pm I walked down the path to the common room where the party was. You could hear the music pumping from every corner of the island! They had set up an incredible sound system which was pumping some brilliant party beats. I had fallen asleep for an hour beforehand so I was still rubbing my eyes when I got there, though it was not long before the music truly woke me up. Upstairs it was dark and the only lights were all the disco lights which covered the roof and every wall. It was a legit set up and seemed a little over the top for the dozen people that were there... well, so i thought. Everyone was a little shy and quiet and it was remnant of an awkward year 7 disco. To break the ice one of the guys started with a drinking game - a very popular category of games on the island! I have learnt some brilliant games which I just cannot wait to bring home. Jodie, Neddy, G and pals: things are going to be even more hilarious than usual, you just wait!! Get the pool table prepped because when I am home we are going to have to test all of these out!

Anyway, so we played a couple of games which loosened things up a little bit. Many of the longer standing residents got the dance floor pumping and it was not long before I was dragged on up and then next minute - dancing on tables! We had a conga line going there for a while, a bit of interpretive dance and some heavy dirty beats which got us getting low. We danced without a break for 2 hours and out clothes were drenched in sweat. I only had 4 beers and only a couple of others were drinking. The rest were all locals and as alcohol is illegal they don’t even touch the stuff so they were just high on life and were killing it in the dance floor more than the rest of us combined! It was soooo much fun and i really enjoyed just letting it all go and dance like nobody was watching. It was incredible how much you completely forget where you are and it feels like you are in the middle of some crazy nightclub or dance festival - and thats exactly what the local residents said - they do this every now and again, so that you can just drift away and party like you are in some big city club, not stranded on some remote island in the middle of the Indian ocean! To top it all off at midnight when we had to call it to an end, the birthday boy had prepped a shisha for us! For three weeks I had been saying how much I wanted to go to one of the guest restaurants here where you can order a shisha, and little did I know, one was available in the middle of my neighbourhood. We all sat down and chilled out after our dance party and had a couple of puffs before all disbanding for the night. What a great time!

Whn I first considered my new hange of carrer, the thought of doing my first night dive really worried me. Before leaving home, I knew that it was something that I would have to do and I was scared. I managed to dodge the bullet in Thailand, and arrived in the Maldives with zero night dives. I told myself to not knock it before I tried it, and tried to be open to the experience when it may come. Shortly after arriving here, I was scheduled to be on a boat night dive. That evening I missed the boat by some 20 seconds. I think the universe was conspiring with me as subconsciously i was not prepared, though consciously I thought I was. I managed to talk myself around by telling myself that I have been on day dives with less than 1m visibility, and on a night dive, I will have at least 5m visibility. Therefore “not seeing” was no longer an issue. After doing three dives on the house reef I was loving night diving and was looking forward to my first one on the boat in the big open sea. On Tuesday evening at 7pm, i was quite tired as I had been working since 7.30am that morning but I was still excited all the same. We were at a dive site named Mileidoo and I had been there during the day and did not find it particularly interesting. But boy, was I surprised when we went down!

We saw a massive Hawksbill turtle, 2 octopus, a stingray above us, a squid, a Napoleon fish, a cuttlefish hunting fish (it is so cool when you watch an animal hunting, it’s a rare and fascinating experience) a squid, nudibranch, lion fish and much, much more. The coral was spectacular - it is so magnificent by night, day really does not do it any justice. Soft and hard corals of bright pink, yellow, orange, blue and green... some that were yellow and orange and looked like mini sunflowers. This dive completely reinforced my love for night diving and that I actually prefer it to day diving. Unfortunately there was a person in our group who did not make the experience very professional nor enjoyable in the end so it was a very bittersweet dive and we really just had to focus on how good the dive itself was, and try and forget about the other bs that went with it.

I guess it was another reality check that no matter where you go, you are always going to have people that are not your type of people. You just have to learn how to deal with this yourself, because you cannot necessarily change who they are or how they do things. You need to be able to just do what you do independent of them. You and are a bigger person by deflecting their attitudes rather than absorbing them and multiplying their negativity.

On wednesday we practiced our 20 dive skills in preparation for the upcoming IDC. I was really surprised and happy with how well I had improved. Though I am still tough on myself, apparently it is much more than I should be, and I am doing quite well. I had very little if any feedback for improvement which was reassuring. I think I finally got my weighting right which is the most important part (the amount of lead weight that I add to be buoyant underwater - it is 2 kilos more than I need if I am diving normally, and I need to share it between a belt on my body and in my BCD pockets. So pleased I finally got it right, it was becoming a real sore spot). I look forward to doing these skills more with Andy, as each instructor has a different way of teaching and preference to the way a skill is done - but if I can take a little bit on board from each, but execute it as Andy would like it, i am sure I can blitz the Instructor exam and skills.

On thursday morning I was buddied up with one of the local divemasters who was a certified scubapro service man. We serviced a regulator first stage and a low pressure hose. At first I was quite disinterested as I really wanted to be on the boat diving, but soon as we started - I was hooked. I really enjoyed pulling all the pieces apart and cleaning them before putting them back together. At first I was really doubtful that we would be able to achieve much because by the look of the parts, it seemed there was little hope. But with a bit of love and elbow grease, it as looking brand new. I got such a great sense of satisfaction out of it to know that I did that! I wouldn’t be able to do it blindfolded, but with a little help I could definitely do it again. Doing an equipment servicing course is something that I would most definitely love to do and would be very highly beneficial in my career.

In the afternoon things went a bit crazy. I was distressed and very frustrated and just wanted for the day to finish and for me to have some chill out time. For those three days, the dive life was definitely full of of many highs and some small blows, but it was really only because I let other people's attitudes and actions affect me too much. I really needed to just draw away for a short time and centre myself.

In the evening I had a knock on my door and Ken suggested that we have a couple of beers and go to the beach to have some chill time. My prayers were answered by my favorite UK friend. I fluffed around for a while, changed all my linen and towels, did a clean and tidy and even rearranged a couple of small furniture items I had in the room. It was cleansing and I was already starting to feel much lighter. I then went down and met the boys at the beach, Ken had an Iphone app called ‘Nightsky’ which is probably the most convenient and coolest app ever in the history of the universe! Well, to me anyway! So we pointed it to the sky and found some constellations - Gemini, Leo and a couple of others which we thought were pretty cool. We also got familiar with the names of the bright planets and stars and then made up some hilarious constellations ourselves. Ken has got such a dry sense of humor and I love it. He felt that that astronomers are too modest with the constellations they make and they should be made covering a larger area of sky. Therefore, he made a couple of extravagant constellations and I made one covering the farthest reach of stars you could see and named it ‘The beach ball’. It was a barrel of laughs and one of my most favorite things to do... to stargaze. It made me think of some of the most wonderful evenings Dom and I had back home in Burleigh (yep, I’m claiming it - Burleigh as home) in the couple of months we had frolicking around on holidays before I came here. Stargazing and making up funny pictures in the clouds. This made me even happier.

On friday I again had my photo taken with a few others for a magazine. I am loosing count of the companies that have taken my photo since being here. I just hope that somehow they make their way back to me so I can share them with you when they are published. Friday was another crazy afternoon. I was running solo for a short time in the dive shop and I got caught out with 6 customers and the phone ringing and I freaked a little. I had to bluff my way through with confidence, then thankfully after a few minutes of juggling everyone a couple of staff came in gradually and were able to assist me. In the evening again I got super busy registering many customers which was great and they were all such lovely people and I didn’t get home until after 7pm. That night also the three interns from the Kuda Huraa resort came over, it was proof that things were about to get serious!

Friday night, there was a local fundraising dinner happening at a local island for the school. A few of the Maldivian boat and dive staff I work with asked me to come. I wasn’t sure if I would because the boat was not leaving until 9pm. I then had Marce’s (Mum's) voice running through my head ‘Oh I’d be bloody doing everything I could while I was there’ and I thought, She’s right! What was I thinking. I have to grasp every opportunity that comes my way. H2 called up and put my name on the boat and I would meet my pals there at 8.45pm. I had time to come home and relax from the crazy day, I then had time to take my valuables to security where I had to have them registered. Apparently if I don’t register my personal items, then they get held for a few days before they are released for me. I guess it is for my own safety and asset protection. I have already had my most favorite ever four seasons water bottle which was my arrival gift “go missing” and that has upset me enough! I enquired about getting a new one but unfortunately I will have to purchase one which (is expensive) is not very fair considering the circumstances of its “disappearance”. Shortly before 9pm we all signed ourselves on to the Dhoni (boat) which looks like a giant double-decker gondola. I climbed up onto the top deck where everyone was cheering and dancing and so excited to be ‘set free’ from the island! It was really funny. It was a smooth and calm ride to the local island and the stars overhead were perfect. The temperature was very warm but comfortable.

We arrived at the island and we boat hopped from ours, across another to the land. It was cool to see an authentic local Maldivian island! We walked to what i think was a school, where they had set up stacks of tables and chairs with pretty frangipani and banana leaf centre pieces.

Undercover, there was stretches of tables stacked full of all local foods. I had no idea what anything was other than the chapati (which I am addicted to FYI). It was just a guess at what I was putting on my plate and then we went to the bbq grill where there was whole baked fish of every variety to choose from (of course it was full of spices and I just had to deal!). I took a delicious coconut juice which had some sweetener added and pieces of the most delicious and soft coconut flesh I have laid a mouth on!

We sat down and ate our meals which were a real treat while enjoying the locals singing, playing drums and dancing their little hearts out. The Maldivian way of dancing is a full body movement, arms and legs going while moving up down and around. It is a really joyful and free dance to watch and looks like so much fun. I kind of got involved with their awesome dancing the other night at the party. Before long it seemed like we were right back on the boat coming home. It was such a cool experience and I am soo happy that I went, and glad that the fear of doing something new and unknown did not stop me.

Saturday we had our first instructor course. It was for Emergency First Response which is a course on teaching primary and secondary medical care. It was a good refresher for all of us and I was very comfortable with the skills as I had done the course only a few weeks ago in Thailand. We took it in turns in being ‘the victim’ ‘the guide’ and ‘the instructor’. I was remarkably right at home when being the in the teaching role. It made me feel very pleased with my career choice and I look forward to being in a full teaching capacity. There was a lovely family including three children I had met in the past few days, I registered for diving and spent some time speaking with them and they enquired about me and I told them I was here on an instructor internship - the mother and all three kids rejoiced and said what I wonderful teacher I would be and said many nice things about me just after meeting which was very encouraging to know they believed in my just upon first impressions. They were such gorgeous children and a beautiful family which was so nice to spend time with as it is something I guess I didn't realised how much I missed this dynamic from back home. It was also another wonderful coincidence that when the mother found out I was from Australia, she told me how her youngest daughter was obsessed with being a mermaid and there was a mermaid company in Australia which she follows and we continued to discuss the Mahina merfin! Again, I continue to attract mermaids into my life! Perfect! I am on the right path! I also came across my first Aussie’s this week which was a breath of fresh air. usually when I go overseas if I hear the Aussie accent I want to turn my head and escape, but it was so welcoming and the Father really put it on for me too “G’DAY KASSIE HOWZ IT GOIN MATE” Ohhh it was really cool to have a chat in ‘strayln with such lovely aussies. I love people.

Saturday's course was tiring and it finished with a big fat exam. It was open book, which was still a lot of hard work to find the answers if I was not a 100%. Plus it was a tricky one because it was full of those questions which state at the end (tick all that apply). Therefore if you miss one answer, or get one wrong, you did not get part marks and you fail the question... But luckily enough I passed!!! I am now official an EFR Instructor! I got 88% which was 7 questions wrong which were because of the tricky "tick all" questions.

This morning (Sunday) I had a whole day off however I voluneteered to work on the boat and guide two guests as we had soo many they needed a hand.. and turns out I would have asked to be on regardless of my volunteer! So it was a 7.30am start and we went for a two tank dive (two dives). The first dive we saw a giant stingray and on the second dive we saw a turtle and an octopus. It was great diving, and my guests were really great and we talked the whole time between dives. I found out later that they were raving about me to the centre manager when they returned which was singing to my ears. When we came up from the second dive, it was pouring rain and a big swell. The boat came and picked us up and it was quite difficuly to get up the ladder on to the boat. We were crashing through the waves back to the resort and I was giggling the whole time. The boat crew were saturated and everyone was all over the place. Towels were thrown over valuable equipment and crashing water was flowing through the cabin of the boat, it was intense but lots of fun. A welcome change to the 33 degree days and perect sunshine and still water, you can't have it all the time!

After lunch I ran into Ibbe who is the 'Orchid Godfather'. I had been hangning to spend some time with him ever since I got told of his magical orchid reviving hands. Being an Orchid lover myself, I was hoping he would give me a tour of the Orchid greenhouse, and that's what I got! At 2.30pm I met him and we walked to the greenhouse which houses hundreds if not a couple thousand orchids. We walked up and down the isles laced with orchids and he explained to me the variety of orchid, explained to me special varieties that are found in Australia and had a general chat. The orchids are used as displays in the front office, rooms and throughout the resort. They stay out in the resort for a couple of weeks, he then brings then back for some TLC and exchanges them for fresh ones and he keeps then alive for some 8+ years! This guy is amazing and his passion for orchids is second to none. If you want to look at the most amazing creations in nature - google: lion orchid, monkey orchid, dove orchid, hanging naked man orchid, dancing woman orchid, donkey orchid.. and from there you could probably find a few more. The resemblances are incredible! Truly amazing! Spending an hour talking Orchids with Ibbe and strolling through the greenhouse was just beautiful. Considering it had just finished raining, there were beads of water on all the flowers which just added to the beauty.

In the early evening I went and met Andy at the dive centre, he bought chocolate, like seeing him wasn't a treat enough! Instantly I knew he would be reviving us with his enthusiasm and making learning a lot of fun. It was great to see how much rapport he had with the staff at the resort he has known over the years. A little later in the evening we went down to the staff beach where we had a bbq. It was lots of yummy food and many laughs. I love that everyone here is not reserved at all when it comes to food. Everyone I have come across loves there food, some more than me (I know, how is that even possible!) and no one is shy when it comes to picking off each others plates or sharing cutlery, I like that.

 The Maldivian's have such a great sense of humor and I spent so much of the evening laughing. As it got later, many people disbanded, and then the Shisha came back out, then a guitar. I sat on the big beach swing with a couple of others, where they played guitar, we all sang to the backdrop of crashing waves on the shore. It was magic, I didnt know if i wanted to look at the happy people around me, the sea infront of me or the gorgeous stars above... but when I did look up I saw a shooting star and I was so at peace. It was like a fantasy. At midnight I thought it would be a great idea if we all went for a swim, so we jumped in with our clothes and had a swim, the sea was full of plankton and when you moved your arms, the little guys lit up all around you. We spent our whole time trying to catch them and called ourselves the 'Plankton hunters'. It was all fun and games until security hussled us out of the water. Apparently you cannot swim after the sun goes down which was both new, and unfortunate news to me. At least I got to experience it once.

I came home with half the beach with me at 1am and slept very well. Up for a 9am breakfast date with Andy and the candidates ready to begin out new journey together!

Do not let the fear of the unknown, or unfamiliarity stop you from trying something new. Life starts at the end of your comfort zone.

Safe travels through life and the unknown.

Love Kassie