April 18

This is Jean, his sister Claudine and mother Matthea, his good friend Remas' wife and daughter, and of course me at Jean, Piper, and David's apartment.

BANDOS

I had my first day at Bandos and it was very different from the other resorts I work at. It seems much larger! They had news video updates in the lobby, several restaurants, a pool, lots of boats in the dock, large conference halls, and so forth. It is the second oldest resort in Male, but I don’t know how old it actually is.

They are not tight there! I am allowed a drink when I arrive, bottled water for my class time, and dinner with drinks before I leave! Dinner…was…amazing! There were tables and tables of food and I only had 20 minutes or so to scarf it all down, but it was great! The salad bar was still bad since they just don’t have the greens here…I had iceberg lettuce with corn, tomatoes, olives, and cucumbers basically…but it was salad…I had cabbage with cheese, steamed broccoli with butter, tuna salad, spaghetti , and some other things. The mixed fruit juice drink was incredible! Here is their website and you can see a picture of part of the restaurant I went to here: http://www.bandosmaldives.com/dining/English/gallery_restaurant/

I do have to watch the boat issue. It was an 8:00 boat return but they left at 7:50! And we got on at 7:48 and it was already full and someone gave their seat up for us since I was wearing white and hated to sit on the floor or metal bars. So, as Jean told me, we have to leave the restaurant at 7:40 at the latest! They don’t wait and the next boat is 10:30 or 11!

Jean will only go about 3 more times with me to Bandos, and then I am on my own to find the waiter that knows not to charge me or to find the boat to catch although there isn’t a name written on the side. But, I am really happy with the day and it makes me long to work at the other place my 5^th and 6^th days a week so I can have nice meals like that!

CLASSES

The director of training is not really on top of things I think. The students said they didn’t know when the class was to be held! So, poor communication with employees. My large class was about half Maldivian and half Bangladeshian. I think 11 out of 15 came to that. The smaller class had 4 out of 11 attending…they were all Maldivians.

The director seemed really shocked that I was not presenting with Power Point like Jean does. It would be good experience to get back into Power Point like I used to do at UCM, but I don’t think I want to take the time to create it since it will be a onetime event and I am more into learning by doing instead of lecturing – you know activities acting out the lesson point so they can feel they can use it on their jobs. It seems they may have a laptop I can use though, so I might see about using it to type things on the screen for the students; writing on the small white board is not very neat or quick. So, I would like that option perhaps. I will check into that.

HEALTH

I have not felt up to par recently. I think it is the change in diet the past 2 months. I am concerned about that actually. Land of the fried foods is not great for me. Also, I have a rash on my leg which may be related to the rusty razor I discovered today! I couldn’t believe it rusted so quickly! I will have to watch out for that from now on.

PARADISE

I am in paradise. What is paradise? It is sunny skies without clouds in sight that cause you to sweat like never before and walk really slow to keep from heat stroke; it’s drinking fruit juices while overlooking the harbor in a small, well-decorated restaurant although you are paying $4 for a 50 cent boxed drink which comes with the coveted AC for a short bit so you can recover; a place where nature is free and ants are everywhere you want to sit and found on your dinner plates as well; a place where you skim across the ocean waves on speed boats or classic wooden crafts you imagine are from the 1950’s which are terribly rough on your tush and back as it bounces you against the railings if you are lucky enough to get a seat at all that isn’t spraying you with questionably clean ocean water; it is where wind blows through your hair blinding you as your tresses whip your face and makes you a mess upon arrival; it’s a place where everyone is relaxed and not in a rush and you can’t get decent products or service in a timely manner because some woman in black Middle East attire wants to argue with the service people about the price of some item...or that is what you assume the loud voice and picking up and putting down of some product is about. Yes, this is paradise. And I will take it despite all the pitfalls because as Jean reminded me – this is better than sitting in a windowless office doing eye-straining paperwork day in and day out. I know that feeling and yes, this is much better! Looking out across the ocean at Male which appears like a city sitting floating on the water, or looking at the sunset over the water, or looking up at the brilliant stars as the boat speeds on - trusting that the boat owners will get you there in one piece – is…amazing. So, it isn’t exactly as I imagined it would be, but it is all the good of paradise imagined … with the bad of discomfort and reality, just like everything in life.