Courses, courses, and more courses! Gaining work experience as a dive instructor has been in full swing this week. It has been quiet on the guest side, and therefore staff are lining up out the door to get their courses completed.
Tuesday I was facilitating an Emergency First Response Course (EFR) for 6 staff! I had little sleep the night before as I was worrying if I would be able to pull it together. I had two assistants and I laid out the course similar to how the last one had I assisted was, though just changed around some of the roles. It felt good to be standing in front of a class and providing new knowledge and teaching skills, and it all being quite fresh as I had only being involved in the same course a couple of weeks earlier. The day run smoothly and everyone performed well with little to no mistakes, which I felt was a compliment to how I had been teaching. I quite like this course, and each time I teach it, I retain more information about primary and secondary care and body systems. I am sure I have learnt more valuable information and skills in the past 3 months than I did in my 12 years of schooling! But thats a different topic.
With the abundance of dive courses this week, I have been both acting as the lead instructor on some, and assisting a colleague instructor on others. I seem to have the navigation adventure dive down pack after doing multiple in one week, plus a few other adventure dives in the advance diver course. Its wonderful to be able to not only impart the PADI teachings, but to incorporate hints or tips from my own experience, and so far I hear it has really helped. Even sharing stories from my own experiences in the past couple of months, has really helped people conquer their fears and try something new. I love this. We have also had 10+ young chaps in doing their open water course which has been interesting. It has been very challenging, managing and co-ordinating the schedules, as many people are at different stages of the course. Also, with english is a second language, a lot of the dive theory has taken longer than normal. It is wonderful to see though, as they start to grow and improve and are able to answer your quiz questions correctly - you are so proud!
I had one theory class with one student this week, and seemed to really struggle to comprehend a couple of dive theory topics. So like a teacher, I whipped out the white board marker and started to draw diagrams and pictures, explaining the key concepts - just as my instructor did to me in my Divemaster course only a couple on months ago. It was incredible how quickly the tables had turned. In doing so, it is the greatest reward when someone who didn’t understand, then understands. It means I am doing my job well, and that’s just tops. I think I officially hit teacher status on Thursday when I was going through an exam and I asked what answer you got from question number A. Yep, number A, it happened.
Come Saturday, I was lucky enough to be put on the Hanifaru Manta station clean up. In other words, there is a bay where Manta’s and whale shark come to feed off plankton between June - September. The Four Seasons a long with four other resorts met at Hanifaru which is the only time you are allowed there, to do a clean up. Afterwards when the manta’s and whale sharks come by, they have a lovely environment to bask in! Many cleaned the atoll all day, and we did two dives in the afternoon to collect garbage and to clean corals. It was a good thing that in from both dives, I collected no more than one beer can. A couple of colleagues collected a fair few fishing nets and lines which are the most harmful, so I guess that it was a good thing that there was little to collect. It was a fun day, with a picnic lunch and a group of experienced staff divers. Even better, the sun was out again and we had the lovely sun deck to enjoy for the journey.
At the end of our second dive, on our way back to our resort, the boat staff saw a Manta in the water. In no time at all, me and the three staff from the manta trust all jumped in the water and looked for it. After swimming some distance from the boat, this giant magnificent creature swam by us. It was just wonderful to finish the day with a close encounter. I took a video however I accidentally deleted it upon coming to the surface. Oh well, at least I have the memory. I hope there are at least a few more of these close encounters before I leave.
Its been a tiring week and it doesn't look like my day off will be coming any day soon which blows, I could really do with some R&R. On the bright side, the guest numbers have picked up and I have a new course which started today and the couple are really great in the water which makes things so much more enjoyable and easier - especially in comparison to the 9 chinese first time divers we had this morning. Thats some experience right there. Emoji face.
This week has also been a big week of love and loss, and reminders of some wonderful people who have passed. Many people are leaving the resort this month which is sad, especially for the ones I like. As much as I love it here and I could very much come accustomed to the way of life, I know I could probably find something much more suited for me. Here, you are like family however, you work together, you live together and you socialize together. Everyone knows who you are, what you do - All. The. Time. Its a little weird. You talk work most of the time and it never seems to end. I was thinking last night that it sort of felt like I was living in a world of lemmings, or sims. It didn’t quite seem like real life. You can easily forget what its like “on the outside” and everything seems much more intensified.
As the rest of my time here diminishes, many people are telling me to ‘make the most of it’. This makes me reflect on the past couple of months, and you know what - I have absolutely made the most of every day here since I arrived. It is so fulfilling to have that, no regrets, no ‘i wish i had’ or ‘i should have done’ on anything. When something came up, I jumped at the chance to do it. I spent evenings out making new friends and hanging out at the beach, not sitting in my room watching movies on my laptop. I stayed in the cafe long after I had finished my meal to continue conversations, I would get interrupted on my way to exchanging my uniform to change course and do something else, and I have loved every moment. The friends I have made here have become family, in fact I see and spend more time with them than my own.
Where to next is still the million dollar question. Until then, i’m just going to release and go with the flow of the universe and trust in what will be will be. There is no use me worrying and being stressed about the next couple of months ahead. We can only do what we can do. Worrying will only hinder our ability to move forward.
Relax, and trust that everything will work out exactly as it should.
Wishing you an abundance of opportunities,
Love Kass xx
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