The heat is on!

The widget on my Mac dashboard says it’s 37 degrees outside, but it feels more like a sweltering 55 degrees. The dusty breeze is only slightly cooling, therefore I opted to stay inside for the rest of the afternoon and write my next blog in a nicely 28 degrees air-conditioned environment.

Today was an easy day, although I went to work thinking it was to be hard work. When one of the El Gouna dive centres called me yesterday, they asked me if I could do a course with four German kids. Of course, being a free lancer, I said yes. But when I got there this morning, the schedule had changed and all I had to do was an introduction dive in the pool with a Swiss French lady. So at 1.00 pm I was out of the pool and done with the job. Of course they paid me for the whole day, so I consider this afternoon “paid leave” and am enjoying it thoroughly.

This was my last day as a free lancer...

Yes, indeed. My TGI colleagues missed me so much, they asked me to come back... :-) Now that the season has picked up, they could use more fixed staff at the dive centre and apparently, they needed to balance the male:female ratio too. Since Sabine went back to Switzerland, there’s only the guys left and who am I to refuse to work in a practically all male environment.. :-)

No, seriously, I’m happy to have a fixed contract again. Free lancing is fantastic, but only in high season. July was excellent, with only four days without work in the whole month and I expect August would have been just as good. I was getting on average two phone calls a day from various dive centres around El Gouna and Hurghada, for all sorts of courses in all sorts of languages. My name was circulating around and it was a lot of fun to work with different dive centres and meet many new colleagues in the area. I learned a lot and felt my work was appreciated.

But going for a fixed contract has its benefits too. When the stream of guests slows down after the summer, I will still have an income and won’t have to worry about finding work. I won’t have to carry my equipment box around from dive centre to dive centre. And I won’t have to drive to Hurghada, fearing for my own life, in case I don’t find work in El Gouna. And besides, I am the loyal type of person and TGI is in my blood. So although I loved my one and only month of free lancing, as of tomorrow I’m back to my home base at the Sheraton Hotel.

In the meantime I’ve certified almost twenty divers and done parts of the course of many more (you’re only the certifying instructor if you do the last open water dive with the student and since the PADI system allows easy switching between instructor’s, you don’t always get to finish the course yourself and thus certify the student). Of course, as a diving professional, it’s all about how many certifications you complete. Twenty makes me just about a novice in the world of instructor’s, so I have yet much to learn. But every course so far has been different, some gave me more headache than others, but in the end, I always came out of the water with a smile.

At home, things are quiet. No espresso in the morning when I wake up, no warm Italian greeting when I come back from work, no home made pasta in the evenings and no... well, I’ll keep the rest of what I miss to myself... ;-)

Instead, I’ve started living a freakishly healthy life style. Darja & I do yoga two or three times a week. It’s wonderful, we do it outside next to the lagoon, start at dusk, finish in the dark and after a hard day’s labour, it’s the best therapy to rejuvenate. I hardly drink alcohol anymore (although that may be a temporary lapse of sanity), I peel a mango for breakfast every morning (yes, I eat breakfast!!!) or munch on cherries, grapes, oranges, whatever the vegetable shop has to offer. In the evenings, when I’m not eating at my adoptive parents' house (Darja & Ivan, who else), I make a salad because I can’t be bothered to cook anything else. The weight I gained on my decadent trip around the world last winter is all gone again, I’m tanned, fit and I feel great.

Sometimes I go to the movies, have drinks or dinner at the Clubhouse or I bum on the couch with friends, watching CSI, Dr House, re-runs of Sex & the City. Last week, Darja, Ivan and I went to Hurghada for dinner at a Thai restaurant, the week before we had sushi for Stefano’s birthday and so I spend the evenings lazing around and enjoying my practically stress-free life. On my days off, I clean the house (see my previous blog), water the garden, go to Hurghada to run some errands or hang around at the Clubhouse. The summer vacations have started, so invariably friends from Cairo or repeater guests are doing the same and the Clubhouse continues to live up to its central meeting point reputation.

But of course I miss Stefano terribly and I thank God that we live in the internet & mobile phone era. We communicate on a daily basis and so far, the news from Italy is positive. Stefano went to Italy to find out whether he needs an operation for his recurring back problems (herniated discs) but it was confirmed by several doctors that there is no need for surgery. Daily exercises, lots of massages, swimming and keeping fit should be enough to diminish the pain, keep the discs in place and be able to continue diving. Still, he will remain in Italy for another couple of months to take care of his parents, who are undergoing some operations themselves. Trust an Italian to be there for mamma e papa. Which in turn, gives me a very good reason to go on a holiday soon... Trust me to grab any travel opportunity with both hands!!!

My plan is to take a two week vacation in September and go to Milano and Holland. Exact dates are yet to be fixed, but it looks like Stefano and I will be wandering around in Amsterdam sometime soon. Boyfriend gets to meet mother-in-law and all that... :-) Anyway, I can’t wait to see everybody in Holland (Friday night, big drinks at Barca, Heinekenplein?) and visit Milano (pasta, parma, Lambrusco, gelato, here I come!).

Below you will find links to some pictures of what I’ve been up to the last few months.

Ivan’s birthday, IE celebration, Sebi & Chris visiting:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=121347&id=523210814&l=58ac75cda2

Camping & diving in El Quseir:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=123939&id=523210814&l=e8179022a2

Stefano’s birthday:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=129077&id=523210814&l=e51d6e212f

Also a link to the video Darja made of our amazing underwater adventures in Mozambique in February 2009:
http://www.vimeo.com/5677418

Hope to see you on Facebook, Skype or elsewhere in the real world soon, in the meantime, keep sending me pictures of your weddings, holidays, babies, pregnant bellies, birthdays, random drinking binges, summer parties, new girlfriend or boyfriend (or both) and whatever else will keep me in touch with the real world!

Lots of love,

xYx