Hello's & Goodbyes

I think it’s been more than a month since I last wrote a blog. Minchia (as the Italians say), does time fly when you’re having fun! At least once a day, a guest asks me how long I’ve been working in El Gouna. It seems like yesterday that I was saying “Oh, just a month” and now I find myself counting and answering “Almost 4 months now!” 4 months... that’s almost half year... actually, it’s exactly 6 months ago that I officially started my sabbatical and was at Changi Airport with 50 kg of luggage saying my goodbyes to Timmo.

And the past few days, there have been quite some goodbyes too, although preceded by very happy hello’s. Ten friends came over from Holland to get a taste of my new life and enjoy an ultra relaxing holiday. It was a blast. Incredible that there was such a large group of friends that managed to plan a holiday and come to El Gouna, this hole in the desert, all together. 6 of them came diving with me and it was so much fun to be under water with them! The non-divers came on the boat on a couple of occasions too, so even though I was working, with all these friends, it felt like I was on holiday too. Well, like a holiday within a sabbatical. Hihi... I told you, what a life!

The last night before the majority left, I arranged for a night party on the Bongos boat. It was fantastic! Everybody thoroughly enjoyed the starry starry night, 10 brave people (including moi) did a night dive and the boat crew, as usual, cooked up a fabulous dinner. Afterwards we had a karaoke party at Ahmed’s, drank Absynth (brrrrr...) and woke up with trashed voices the day after. We also had a herring party on the first day of their arrival, as my order for 20 fresh herrings arrived with them, making many Dutch (and Italian!) Gounies extremely happy. We participated in the weekly Beach Volley Ball tournament organised by the Clubhouse, discussed the near collapse of the banking system, the wise choice I made to take my sabbatical during this period, upcoming family extensions, I mixed and matched my Gouna friends with my NL friends and found out that in some cases, they matched rather well ;-). Basically, it was a wonderful week.

But the absolute highlight of the week, was THE proposal. Boy, was it romantic! He came up to me and asked if I could help him to arrange an underwater proposal. I thought it would be cool to do it during a dive with all the diving friends present, including a couple of other divers who had become quite integrated in the Dutch dominated group. So there we all sat, in a circle on the bottom at 10 meters deep. Nervously he showed her the slate that I had carried with me during the dive, on which he had written prior to jumping in the water “Lieve xxx, wil je met me trouwen?” And it was yes, of course!!! I gave him an O ring which he slid onto her finger and the engagement was sealed... We all clapped under water, shook hands, took pictures, laughed until the seawater came into our masks and regulators, it was so much fun! And now off course entire El Gouna is now expecting a wedding in the Clubhouse sometime next year... Oh, and if you want to know who the happy couple is, check out the pictures I will soon post on Facebook! :-)

By Sunday, I had said 10 goodbyes and everybody was gone. And suddenly the house was quiet again.

And as of tonight, the house is really quiet. This evening, the charming, funny, crazy, warm-blooded Italian I spent so much time with, left for Thailand. Although we knew from the beginning that it was going to end with his departure, I kinda got used to the cup of coffee presented to me in the mornings, the evenings fishing in the lagoon, watching the whole DVD set of ‘Coupling’ together, the rides he would give me to work when I was late getting up, yet again, and the long talks about the most random topics in the evenings and the nights (which is probably why I was late so often in the mornings). Malesh, as the Egyptians say. Today, I live for the present. And tomorrow, I’ll see what the future brings.

One thing is sure, the near future is bringing the winter. The water and the wind are getting colder and as of tomorrow, I will bring a woolen hat and a pair of jogging trousers on the boat, to protect myself from the wind and cold after the dive. The water is still 26 degrees and when there is no wind, it’s very pleasant on the sun deck of the boat. But getting a cold or blocked sinuses is a problem you absolutely want to avoid when working as a diver, so as silly as it may look, I’ll be wearing my skiing hat from now on to cover my wet hair. I promise you, I’ll post a picture of me with my woolen hat on in Egypt, if there is ever one taken. :-)

And the near future is also bringing another friend, from Singapore this time. And mom, who will be visiting me in December. So several happy hello’s to look forward to and in the meantime, I will be standing on the bow of the boat, looking over the Red Sea, feeling completely and utterly myself.

Ciao belli!

xYx