Divemaster!

Yes, yes, yes, I did it! Io sono PADI Divemaster which means I’m now allowed to guide certified divers under water and you bet your ass I’ll be doing lots of that for a long time! Cazzo, who would not want to get paid to dive every day...

The Divemaster’s course was a lot of fun and ended last Saturday with several swimming tests (400 m swimming, 800 m snorkeling and 100 m towing a “tired” diver at the surface) and I passed them all, proving I’m actually fit enough for the job. I was “initiated” as a Divemaster at a BBQ party that was organised by Darja and her neighbour Angelica coincidentally on the same day I “graduated”. The initiation meant that Gijs and some other diving colleagues made sure I was able to handle my snorkel, or better said, was able to handle alcoholic fluids coming down my snorkel. What they didn’t realise is that I used to be member of a student union in Amsterdam, so downing half a liter of beer through a tube was really no challenge for me... And today, I got my TGI t-shirt, my own set of adaptors and o-rings (I'll explain to the non-divers if you're interested) and was officially working on the boat, guiding my own group of divers...

Working + diving = fun. That’s the new equation of my life and I love it.

But I do other things besides diving as well of course.

Sunday, I went fishing with Ivan & Stefano at the El Gouna fish farm. It was scorching hot, 50 degrees at least and no shade to be found, but I'm still religiously putting on factor 30 sunscreen everyday. We caught 4 kg of mullet, which we put on the BBQ for dinner that very evening. How about that... catching your own fish, cleaning them with your bare hands on the lagoon beach in front of your door and eating them with a lemon/garlic dressing on the veranda... fresher than fresh, better than fabulous, finger licking good... After dinner a few more drinks by the lagoon and when the rest of the company had gone to bed, Stefano and I settled down on the sun beds on the beach, gazed at the stars and the crescent moon in the sky and talked about life for hours on end... It dawned on me that it will be bloody difficult to give up this lifestyle. I am so not stressed, everything is so easy going, everybody is so relaxed. So relaxed that we fell asleep on the beach and woke up at 3 am because the lemon/garlic dressing got the better of us and we really needed to drink some water. So 45 seconds later I was home and in bed (I told you the lagoon was in front of my door!) and when the alarm clock went off at 7.15 am, I woke up fresh and alive. I think “relaxed” was invented here.

What other adventures can I tell you about? Well, driving in Egypt is definitely an adventure. Since Stefano badly sprained his ankle two weeks ago, I took his car hostage (I drove him around and did his shopping in return). So I’ve been decadently driving around El Gouna since - how lazy can you be, everything is at most a 15 mins walk from my house. One day, we went to Hurghada because I needed to get my visa renewed, Stefano a new passport and we had to do some shopping in the "city". Since I’m a real woman when it comes down to orientation while driving, he was my co-pilot as we drove up and down at least six times between two neighbourhoods to take care of all our business. At the end of the day, he couldn’t believe I still didn’t know which exit to take off the round-abouts so he refused to give me any more directions. We got home in the end. I may still not know my way in Hurghada, but I got good driving practice. I now honk every 10 seconds, don’t use my indicator anymore, drive in the middle of the road and take-over even when there are cars coming from the other side - they can move off the road if necessary. Yes, I’m well adapted...

Another activity worth mentioning is the cinema in El Gouna. It’s an open air amphitheatre, you only have to pay for your drinks and each week they show a different movie. So Sunday, Tuesday or Thursday night, it’s movie night. With a group of people we lounge on the pillows, drink beers and watch a movie with the stars above and a breeze blowing through the theatre. Even if the movie sucks, it’s still great. Is that life or is that life?

And in the meantime, I’m learning a little Arabic e un po Italiano. I think the latter will go better than the first, but I won’t give up of course. Today I sat down with Ibrahim, one of the boys working on the boat and I started writing down words in Arabic. Useful words of course, like wind, sea, sky, north, south, east, west, left, right, boat, water... Well, it’s a start! And in Italian, I’m learning how to swear (minchia, they swear a lot these Italians...) and many words related to food (what else can you expect to learn from Italians). And there is not a day that goes by without me speaking at least three different languages, since not only the tourists come from all over the world, but also the “locals” here are from all over the place. I hang out with French, Egyptians, Dutch, Italians, Germans, Swiss... The variety of nationalities gives El Gouna and my life great flavour.

The static office work, the endless meetings, the frustrating projects, the impossible deadlines versus happy tourists, sun, sailing the sea everyday, beautiful fish, no agenda, fantastic home made Italian food...

Hmmm.... Let me consider... Eeem.... No, I’m nowhere near ready to go back to my old life yet, mi piace tantissimo qui....

Pictures of my first months in El Gouna:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=52042&l=a786e&id=523210814

Baci a tutti!

xYx