Lucky woman

I believe with all my heart that I am the luckiest woman on earth.

I love my job. Even as it’s getting colder. I can’t get enough of finding little funny fish that are rare in the Red Sea (such as the Frog Fish we found again today during the afternoon dive). It’s still tremendously gratifying to certify students who on the first dive decidedly sucked at diving but come out of their fourth and last dive of the Open Water course with good buoyancy, confidence and a big smile on their face. Or diving with 11 year old kids who are so eager that they can’t wait to turn 12 so they can become Advanced Open Water Divers. It’s so nice to spend hours at sea with colleagues who have become friends and friends who have become colleagues, sitting on the side of the boat, basking in the sun of the early winter months. And it gets even better when you realise that I actually get paid to spend time and dive with friends, either from here or visiting from Holland or elsewhere!

Friends. I love my friends. And especially the ones that like to travel... The last week of October, Rob & Marianne came to visit. As always the case with my visitors, half of their luggage was food & other goodies for us poor deprived people living in the desert. Out came the Dutch newspapers, the stroopwafels, the pate’s, the French cheeses, the bacon, the white wine... What a feast! We went to all my favourite restaurants in El Gouna, we went diving together, we went to the open air cinema, we had G&T’s and other cocktails, yes, it was yet again, a fabulous time. Remembering the time when they came to visit in Singapore and when I went to see them when they were living in Vietnam, we now toasted on our reunion in Egypt, with a glass of bubbles - as our tradition requires. And that was a well deserved glass of bubbles, after a yoga session together in the garden. Yes, I even get my visiting friends to do yoga with me.

Yoga. I love yoga. Darja and I have now accumulated a whole circle of girlfriends who join us for our yoga sessions, lately as often as three to four times a week. We take the laptop and speakers outside, play a DVD or downloaded yoga classes and have an ultimately intensive yet relaxing work out under the moon and the stars. Weather not permitting a session outside (yes, it actually gets cold and windy in Egypt in the evening), we move to the gym of the International School of El Gouna, where instead of the stars above our head, we have an entire mirrored wall in front of us making us see that we are not half as good as we think we are. But it’s fun, it make us feel great and we are all positively hooked. And usually, after an hour of yoga, Stefano has finished cooking dinner and all I need to do is crash on the couch and devour one of my man’s mouthwatering meals.

My man. I love my man. He came home two weeks ago. After the yoga session with Rob, Marianne, Darja and other friends, we were getting ready to attack all the cheeses and pate’s that had come with the luggage from Holland. I was taking a quick shower before dinner when suddenly the bathroom door opened and before my mind could finish processing the thought “Who the hell is entering the bathroom while I’m taking a shower”, I was in his arms. He surprised me by coming home five days earlier than expected. So the delicacies brought from Holland were complemented with more deliciousness from Italy and we had a fabulous evening with great friends. And since then it only got better. Refusing to dive when it gets colder, Stefano is now “house husband”. Every morning, while I roll over one more time in bed, Stefano gets up and starts preparing breakfast and we have a really healthy start of the day. Then he brings me to work and spends the rest of the day doing all sorts of chores, including grocery shopping, preparing dinner, watering the garden, washing the car and sending our CV’s around the world in search of that perfect job in the perfect dive centre for the winter season. When I’m done at work, I call him and he comes to pick me up. I’m then spoiled with an invariably fantastic dinner (today it was fried potatoes, artichoke hearts and lamb, last week we had stuffed zucchini and pepperoni, the other day we had fried fish he had caught himself that same day in one of the El Gouna lagoons). To top it all off, he folds and puts away the clean laundry, gives me foot massages when we are watching TV on the couch and he tells me he is happy doing all this. If this is a dream, DO NOT wake me up!

So all is well in here the desert. All we wish for now, is to find a job in a warm country for the winter. Our resumes have been travelling all over the world, from the Caribbean, to the Maldives, via South East Asia, to Polynesia and Australia. There are many jobs offered, but even more people looking for them. One of our main requirements being that we want to work together for a reasonable salary and one of our main weaknesses being that we do not/cannot/refuse to speak German, it is quite a journey in search of that perfect job. We had offers that we turned down, we accepted an offer from a dive centre in Thailand that was retracted just as we were about to book our tickets (long story) and we now have a couple of potential leads...

Let’s just wait and see.

I have my job, my friends, my yoga and last but not least, I have my man and therefore, I am the luckiest woman on earth.

Please keep me posted on all of your lucky lives too, I always enjoy receiving pictures and emails and although I’m not always quick at replying, I do appreciate them!

Keep breathing!

xYx