I have interesting days daily again. :-) I guess that is why I left Japan too. Every day used to be interesting there, but I felt I got used to it and it just didn’t feel surprising anymore.
Current condition – tired. But, I want to write this before I go to bed although I can’t post it till tomorrow morning when I get to Internet again.
SUNRISE, SUNSET
I got up at 5:40 after a restless night watching the clock. Matthea, Claudine and I had agreed to be out the door by 5:50 to catch the 6:02 sunrise on the beach. We made it and the colors and clouds before it rose were wonderful. When it finally came up, it was a bit cloudy, but then it reminded us of a volcano in the distance. Then, we continued our walk to a new area. It used to surprise me to see the women in their long black robe/head dresses , but I am getting used to it now…somewhat. I did take a picture of one today because it just seems so odd to see a woman doing her power walk wearing all that and tennis shoes underneath. It must be hot! But not all women wear that here. There are a wide range of head coverings, colors or just other types of cloths like Indian styles. But, the 3 of us were the head turners since we wore none of that but wore our short pants and tanks or t-shirts. The burqas (but I haven’t seen face veils here)don’t turn heads here, t-shirts on women do!? (Actually probably not that either…just we are white, there is a group of us, and we are new in town…Who knows for sure!)
And my day ended with another great sunset from my boat ride home. For like 20 minutes I just watched as it changed, and I kept pulling out the camera every 2-3 minutes since it seemed to get more and more incredible!
SNORKELING
I finally made it out to my 2 resorts where I have been working and did my day of snorkeling! I am so lucky since all the guests pay loads of money for that honor! So here is how it played out: I went to the small island first and my student was working the Marine Center so he told me which signs in the water to follow to go out and where to come back in off the reef. It was high tide, so the currents were strong and I had a bit of a workout getting back to the beach although I was swimming back in the lagoon. I only went about 35% around the small island since I didn’t have time to do it all. The fish were amazing!!!There were so many sizes, colors and types! You have never seen so many types! I wore my bright pink shirt over my swimsuit and I swear it was attracting some smaller colorful fish that were pink, yellow and blue! Several times they swam right up to me! I wonder if they thought I was their pink leader of some kind since we kind of matched! The coral was not what I have seen in some films on TV (not so colorful) but there were so many shapes and types there too. Someone tried to explain to me about a natural ocean bleaching in 1996 that almost killed coral, so it is only half as spectacular as it was but it is slowly coming back and they are making efforts to support it at that resort by having monthly reef cleaning days where they go and remove things that kills the coral such as certain kinds of starfish. Some of the coral was like these mushroom shapes that must have been 5 feet wide. Oh, at this one point, there were these wide yellow (top) and purple (bottom) kind of fish that were chasing the tails of the other one so the colors looked very cool as they twirled in circles chasing each other’s tails!
Then I got a tour of a model villa from the director of training. The shower in the villa is outdoors! Maybe there was a roof overhead, but it was open air. The room itself was rather small but it had a door to the beach where you had a private swing and lounge chairs and entrance to the beach. So it felt private. But they were $700-$800 per night! I didn’t see the model at the second resort, but those go for $1000 per night he said! I forgot to ask but I wonder if meals are included for that price… And he took me to the spa and it was nice! They keep it natural, so again, it was all open air with bamboo walls for privacy. Each area was up on a wood deck with a Jacuzzi tub on one side, a shower on another – indoor and outdoor ones – and 2 massage beds. Their goal is low tech, high style. I wish…
Then we went to the bigger island and my other student was doing the presentation on feeding the sting rays! So interesting and amazing! It was very educational and amazing to see them jump on him like dogs trying to snatch the fish parts from his hands! They have trained them for years to come right up to the beach since they don’t usually do that. After, he took us snorkeling to the turtle sanctuary where they are protecting young green sea turtles til they are big enough to survive well in the wild. Again, educational and fun. After most everyone left, he offered to take me out on the reef for a snorkel. SO glad I took him up on that!! First, we ran into a big sea turtle that has this hook mouth that can be dangerous and he played with it so someone could get good photos underwater. Then he took me out to the edge where the ocean dropped off from the reef and it was so deep and amazing! (I hadn’t gone out far alone at the 1st island) AND he dove down deep to look under the shelves for lobsters that usually come out for their night snorkeling. He didn’t see any but he did see a shark! I saw it once he pointed it out and I was like “move on!” though I think he wanted to get it to swim around some. Later there were 2 more in the shallow reef area, but I couldn’t see them. For me, there was just too much to look at – coral and fish that I couldn’t pick the sharks out! (Or I chose not to see them since they scare me?) We went back in and I showered in the public shower outside (but like in the jungle feel) and met the director for a tropical smoothie. He is from India and super organized and on top of his job. As I had mentioned before, I think the lifestyle is sad for married people. He got married in December, but hasn’t seen his wife this year! He will go back for the month of May only.
Another person I talked to some was a Maldivian woman I have seen around some. She is a petite athletic woman who, as I suspected, is a dive instructor. Zona will be leaving on vacation in a few days though. (So much for building a new friendship with her right now.) She’ll be gone for 40 days as her and a group of 9 friends climb Mt. Everest! She has been in snow before but has only been climbing coconut trees for training since there is nothing to climb here! I am not sure if she was joking but possibly not since there aren’t any hills to climb – only stairs in a few buildings if you go to Male! So, I hope I can hear about her story when she comes back.
DANCE
I was riding the company boat to the resorts and this guy in a tie (rare to see ties) asked if he could sit and visit. He is a Sri Lankan insurance salesman who teaches ballroom on the side! He said it can be dangerous and hard to do here since 1) there isn’t any space to do ballroom so Latin is easier to do on people’s rooftops and 2) the radicals here discourage people who dance and certain types of music. So, he tries to do classes privately only for expats. I hope to have the chance to try a class with him, but it is $100 for 1.5 hours…so, I can’t afford that. But, I think we will meet for lunch sometime so if we become friends, maybe I can get a free lesson somehow. He is 31, studied dance for 18 years, and perhaps a bit of a big talker?
JAPANESE
I met another Japanese who is resort person in the Marine Center today. I used all my Japanese on her and I think she enjoyed it. She is from Osaka and looked to be about my age perhaps.
PICNIC
The last I heard, it is on again for today, Friday. After Thursday’s long outing, I am not interested really, but will since it may be the only time it happens. I have no idea what food to take…maybe I will buy bananas and oranges…blaw I know, but it is healthy and doable for me.
FOOD
Matthea cooked a South African dinner for us the other night! It was so good! There were meatballs, a kind of casserole rice and squash. The dessert was milk tart pie. I WISH she was staying and would take care of all of us! ;-) We love her.
VOLCANO
Speaking of Jean’s family, Claudine (also wonderful!) is to fly back to England Sunday… I wonder how that will work out with cancelled flights. Hmmm, will she be staying here longer?
SUN
I have tried to keep the sun off of me, but I haven’t worn sun block on my feet the last few days so I have dirty looking feet where I have tanned around my sandals. I almost always carry my umbrella now. It is just too hot for me without it.
CLASSES
I start my Sunday / Tuesday class at Bandos Sunday…I hope that goes well. I teach 2 levels back to back. Luckily Jean goes to the same resort on my boats, so he will teach me how to find this more elusive company boat. Sadly, it sometimes goes to Jetty 3 and sometimes Jetty 7 and that is a quick run actually and the boats don’t hang around long for people…so, I have to learn how to pick their common boat out by ID #s!
SLEEP
Sleep…that is what I need now!
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