Semester 9 Chapter IV: Going Down

Let me start with: I love this shit. I love my life, I have enjoyed every single day over here and the diving has been fucking awesome. The more I do it, the more I feel this might be something to do as a job. It usually goes like this... Every morning I wake up, go to a pick-up point where I hop into a car (well, sometimes I wait for like 20 minutes, which is pretty surprising given the fact the dive school owners are British and the guy has military background) and go to the school. Now, since I’m the only intern who actually stays in the area, I’m also the only one of our group who helps out with loading the van. I mean, there’s still these two guys who’ve just finished their DM but the others are relieved of the duty. I don’t really mind – those tanks are heavy and since I don’t really have enough time to work out these days, it’s a good way to stretch the muscles. Then we hop in the van and go to Abades where the other awaits us. We slide into wet suits and go dive. And you know how it goes: every dive is a bit better than the previous one. I kinda like the fact we do most of the dives over there. Since you’re getting pretty familiar with the spot, you don’t really get distracted much and really focus on yourself, your buoyancy, breathing and all the important stuff. After that, we load all the shit back into the van, head back, clean it, rinse it (again, I’m the only guy of our group participating) and that’s that. I just walk back home. It takes like 20 minutes, it's around the beach, it's lovely. So that was Monday and Tuesday.

 

On Wednesday tho, we took it to Tabaiba which is a town even more up north, almost by Santa Cruz de Tenerife. And this site was something else. First of all, it was pretty cool to do a different spot for a change but man... So there’s no sand, there’s rocks. That means way clearer water. Also, there was no strong wind so the time between the dives was much nicer. And most importantly, it was our first deep dive over here. I got paired up with my Italian buddy (as usual) and we broke 30 meters. And check this out... There’s a massive ship wreck at the bottom. That motherfucker got there in 2006 and man, it’s the shit. This marked my first ship wreck dive and hovering around this huge thing covered with years of plants and sea life was breathtaking. Just maintaining your depth with all the fish... Words cannot really do any of this justice. It also went super smooth. I feel the gear they have in our center is pretty solid compared to what I used in Indonesia; regulators are not leaking, wet suits fit better, boots and fins are comfy (thank god they found a pair of 48s). The only slight problem had been masks. It wasn’t too bad but I just couldn’t seem to find one that would fit me really nice. I’ll get to that in a minute tho. With this dive, the last person in the gang finished his Advanced Open Water, which put all of us on the same level.

 

That led to Thursday, when we all could start with our Rescue Course. It was also the first day (apart from Sunday) with no diving. We spent the morning and the afternoon in the center watching videos and practicing first aid procedures. Wasn’t too bad. Contrary to popular belief, learning something is actually super fun. After we finished a compulsory test which was more of a group effort, us interns went to the same beach bar we went last Saturday for some beers. I like the gang. On one hand, it sucks that I’m kinda isolated from everybody by living here, on the other I’m 100% sure that no internet in house would make my work nearly impossible. Plus I really like my space and we spend quite a lot of time together regardless. Oh and before we went for those beers, I made an investment into my dive gear (actually everyone did). Got myself a really neat mask (yay!) and also a thermo vest to get some extra warmth while doing underwater skills (double yay!). Look at me go! 

 

Unfortunately, due to some emergency our dives for Friday got cancelled (they elegantly labeled it as a “study day”). It was a bit of a letdown, cause I can’t wait to test the mask (again, it is a solid one, no bullshit) but it’s all good. I can easily wait one more day. It gave me space to finish the last pieces of work that was still there to be completed, it also gave me a chance to catch up with some of my peers and shit like that. 

 

Furthermore, I’ve been doing quite a lot of teaching and transcriptions. Seems I’ve finally caught up with everything which seemed almost impossible last week. My days are still absolutely full but I don’t know... The balance between the sea breeze, the diving and the teaching.... There’s something about it. When I have some time off, I work out or go for a swim. I don’t really run or take long walks around yet as face masks are technically mandatory (although most people wear them anywhere but on their mouth and nose) and from what I’ve heard, police can be real dicks about it. So doing the workout at house or in the pool seems way comfier.

 

I’ve been also chilling with my host couple. Sometimes we share a meal, sometimes we share a drink. There’s this other Romanian guy living in another of their spare rooms. He’s gotta be in his 50s and he looks like a character from Money Heist. When we talk, he speaks Spanish, I speak English, it’s highly entertaining and the last time we covered God (where we agreed) and veganism (where we did not). I mean, it is colorful over here, that’s for sure.

 

And the guy. I mean, my host seems to be like the local go-to guy. He has like three phones that ring every other minute. He helps his friends to get people to their spare rooms, he helps people find jobs, he got people to deliver stuff for him, he has visits here like all the time. It really feels like he’s a local figure. Plus he cooks like a boss (and generally addresses me as "boss" too).

 

So yeah, with all the covid shit going on, I feel I found a sweet spot. I’ll see how my training goes but I’m already playing with the idea of pushing it through ICD training too. To be 100% legit. But that’s really just food for thought at this point. One step at the time, you know? I hope y’all well, stay safe, stay strong, talk to you soon. One!

 

Highlights:

• That ship wreck dive. Christ!
• My new home.
• My students. I see y’all!

Semester 9 Chapter III: Karma Is A Bitch, Just Make Sure The Bitch is Beautiful

  

Okay, so it’s going down. I’m writing this chapter from a room in Adeje, Canary Islands. It’s around 2am, I got new Moneybag Yo in my headphones, fresh sea breeze is coming in through my window, life is good. But before we get to all of that, let me sum up my last days in the Czech Republic.

 

Tuesday, me, my sis and her fiancée went to the Scala cinema in the city center to check out this new Tenet movie. Nolan delivered again, although I’m not sure I fully follow whatever that thing is. It might be because it’s too complicated, it might need more views to truly get it, but I kinda think it’s purposely overthought so it fucks with people’s heads. One way or another, mission accomplished. Felt good to be back in a movie theater tho. My dad and his gf were taking care of the nephew that evening and they did a great job too.

Wednesday was kind of a goodbye day for me. I took the dog, picked up the girls and the little one at a Chinese restaurant around the corner and we went to my dad’s pub. Later on, we got joined by his gf and one of my bros, did couple of beers and spent some quality time together.

 

I was also moved with how much people appreciate me as a teacher. I have mentioned it here before but I still don’t take it for granted and it does mean a lot. People were really sad that our classes are coming to an end and many of them asked about possibility of some future ones. In lots of cases, they even insisted on continuing online. So even though I won’t have as much work as before (which would be humanly impossible time-wise), I have still managed to keep sufficient amount of it and just teach remotely. This whole adventure is going to be one hell of an experiment in that sense as well.

Oh, and I also went for a check up with my braces. Everything went well and they gave me a stash for like 4 months. In case I decide to stay longer or if Covid prevents me from coming back. They can send more by post if needed. I mean, still doesn’t fully justify how expensive that shit was, but it is exactly why I went for this option.

Anyways, Covid. So the situation in the Czech Republic was getting progressively worse day by day prior to my departure. About 5 days before, we broke 1000 new daily cases. By the time I was leaving, we were over 2000 (and shorty after we jumped over 3000). Just for reference – this past spring, we were around 400 and the whole country went on lockdown and everyone was losing their shit. I say this to illustrate that I wasn’t really fully confident that this thing would materialize in the first place. I have also never received this amount of information and requests regarding any of my travels before. On top of regular safety messages (mandatory face masks etc.) I also had to register with Spanish Ministry of Health, providing all kinds of details, eventually receiving a QR code without which I wouldn’t be allowed to enter the country. I’m just trying to say that by the time I was leaving Brno, there were so many different balls in the air, I wasn’t sure if all the pieces would fall into place.

 

Well, they did. However, it was a really interesting experience. This was a journey of couple of firsts. First of all, the train to Vienna was almost empty. In my car, there were like 4 people. Same went for Vienna airport. Like 80% of gates were not even operating and it was definitely the least people I have ever seen over there. And same went for my flight. You see, when you fly low-cost carriers, you usually fly stacked-up planes. Likelihood of having a free seat next to you is close to non-existing and your leg space is practically nowhere to be found. Well, not this time. I think the plane was filled by about 15% of its capacity. For the first time ever on such flight, I got actually asked to relocate to an emergency seat so I could operate the exit in case the plane goes down or some shit. Which meant more leg space. I also had both seats next me empty, which meant a comfy sleep for couple of hours. You can tell shit changes.

 

When I arrived, I waited about 20 minutes for this British dude who runs the center I’m gonna be working with for the next month. He drove me about 30 minutes to Los Christianos, we signed all the contracts, I paid the rest of the money and then he dropped me off at the address of my accommodation. Now, let’s stop here for a minute. As I said before, initially I got offered accommodation by the center. You know, some shit for interns. Pretty okay but no internet and, as I found out this week, like 25 minutes’ car ride from anything interesting. Close to one of the diving sites but fucking forever away from any kind of life. I ended up staying in a great spot – 15 minutes’ walk to the dive school which isn’t even that important, as the owner and his partner drive there every morning passing my compound so they just pick me up and give me a lift. Fucking yay!

 

But that’s not the best part. Obviously, I had no idea who I was about to stay with. Is he 30? Is he 50? Does he have a partner? That was yet to be discovered. Well, I got welcomed by this elderly Indian couple (I’m guessing in their 60s) with awesome English. And from the jump, they started treating me like their son. They cooked me a dinner, gave me a beer and I spent the first evening chatting with them. My room is relatively small but it’s big enough for me and all my shit, internet is fast, I’m super happy with the set up. Also, the compound has a big ass pool (at least 25 meters) outside which I’ve already taken advantage of. There’s both veggie guy and a supermarket just around the corner. After talking to some guys who actually stay in the provided accommodation, I feel I got extremely lucky.

Another amazing thing was, I started diving right the next day. So Friday, 7:30, I was posted up by a roundabout about 2 minutes away and moments later, I was in the dive school, checking out the new environment, trying to be helpful and shit. Around 9am, me the owner, 2 other dive master candidates (both way deeper into their training) and a wife of one of them were sitting in a van heading to Abades. That’s a small purpose-built village with a church that used to serve as a treatment facility for leprosy patients in 1940s. Outside of that, nothing looks particularly interesting over there. It is the place where the other two interns I have met stay tho. They’re Italian and German guys and both seem cool. Anyways, I got coupled up with one of the more experienced dive master candidates and we got to it. It’s funny how fast people forget shit. I had problems setting the gear up after half a year of no practice. Well, after we got it done, we jumped into our wet suits and entered the sea from the beach. That was also a first; all of my previous dives were from a boat. 

 

Diving is different over here. First of all, the water is about 6 degrees colder than in Indonesia and there’s usually quite heavy wind by the shore. So even though temperatures stay around 30 degrees, you do feel cold. I’m not the biggest fan of that but it’s bearable. And it felt good to be under water again. It’s less colorful, but there’s trumpet fish, there’s turtles, there’s all kinds of sea life. Visibility is okay and there’s lot of sand so it’s really not an issue to kneel down to practice some skills if needed. One of the owners says that it’s a perfect place for training and I see her point. We don’t usually go deeper than 12 meters but it’s all fun. We do 2 dives a day with a short break in between. The first day, I didn’t have time to prepare any lunch so I just ate a bar of chocolate my lovely dad gave me for the road. I did some basic skills with my buddy but for the most part I was just enjoying myself. Honestly, I had no idea that I would start this soon. These dives are basically just to get my number up to be eligible for the dive master course. I will start with my rescue halfway through next week; until then it’s fun dives really. Oh, and the braces are completely okay. I just remove the rubber bands from my mouth. Actually, biting on the regulator with the plastic around my teeth is probably a bit comfier than with bare teeth. All is good.

After we got back to the center, I got into some emails, helped out a bit with needed to be done and got dropped by my accommodation. Before I got there, I received a text from my host informing me that he cooked vegan Indian lunch for me. Now, I love cooking and totally didn’t ask him to do any of that but that particular day, I was super happy about it. After I got back, I had like 15 minutes before like 5 hours of teaching. So having nice warm home-made food felt like fucking heaven. Teaching went awesome but man, in the evening I was done. Chilled out with my host a bit more and then parked my ass to bed.

Saturday morning, I went to the center again. Similar drill, same spot. This time, we had a paying customer tho and on the first dive, they paired me up with her. She didn’t talk much but I found out she was a nurse from Madrid and it was my first time being a more experienced buddy to someone. Besides one point when I drifted a bit further away and got notified by the dive master candidate, everything went well. Now, I’m still not too confident but seeing someone with little to no experience, you kinda realize that you know your shit a little bit. You move better, you seem a bit more relaxed. It just goes.

 

 

After the second dive, we headed back, cleaned all the gear, put everything in order and went for a beer. The whole squad: owners and interns; crowd of 6 people. We went to this beach bar with an amazing view and did couple of beers. It’s crazy that when you do that, you feel like you’re on a tropical island. It’s hot, people are sunbathing half-naked, you sweat like crazy. Completely different from when you’re in between the dives hoping to warm up at least for a sec. Also, Canary Islands obviously suffer from the Covid situation too. I’ve heard that the spot is usually packed. Nowadays, it’s super chilled, lotta joints are closed, it is all very calm. I mean, it’s bad, I get it, but there’s also something cool about it. And shit is cheap over here. I paid like 5 EUR for the two beers I had. Not bad for Europe.

On the way home, I stopped by at the supermarket and got me some razors and tofu. When I got home, I found another amazing meal waiting for me. I’m gonna do my best to refill the fridge here and there but so far it seems I’m not gonna cook a lot. I love Indian food and it kinda looks like a beautiful symbiosis. The guy has a bad leg so he doesn’t go out much. He says that having someone to share meals with and talk to is a win for him too. He doesn’t do that to provide service but cause he enjoys it. He almost got offended when I showed up with some food trying to cook something myself. I mean, thank you, universe!

 

I spent the rest of the Saturday doing transcriptions (I got so much work stacked up, it gives me vertigo) and talking to my people. When I felt I have enough of the computer work, I went to do 1km in the pool and then got back to it. It was perfect.

So here we are. I feel life is being poured back into my system. I do exciting shit, the energy is great, there’s more goals to achieve, more people to meet, new memories to make. I’m positive, happy and highly favored. Sending love to all of y’all! One.

Highlights:

• Finished P-Valley. Just watch that shit.
• CANARY ISLAND.
• Diving again.

Semester 9 Chapter II: Ain’t Nobody Know Shit About Shit

That kinda sums it up. See, I’m no doctor, I’m no medical expert, I have no idea how exactly this covid shit works. I don’t know how fast it mutates, I don’t know what’s the magnitude of the actual threat, I don’t know what measures are necessary and what are redundant. There’s one thing I’m kinda wrapping my head around these days tho. This shit ain’t going nowhere. It’s gonna be around. Tomorrow, next week, next month, next year. So the question here is, what happens next. From where I’m standing it seems we are facing two options. Either keep following the trajectory we’re on currently, which is to keep everything semi-shut, keep all the travel restrictions in place and get ready for worse. Cause the thing is, shit is getting worse as we speak and there’s no signs of slowing down. Or, at some point in the future, we gonna decide to roll the dice and let everything go. Which is like an impossible decision to make. Nobody’s gonna take responsibility for that. So here we go. Nobody has answers, nobody can predict anything. Czech Republic is reporting numbers about four times higher compared to the peak season in the spring (which locked me in this country to begin with). Face masks indoors and on public transport are back on. Wizzair just sent me a link for a form I have to fill out before even attempting to board a plane next week. See, technically my Canary Islands adventure is still a go – I have even arranged a nice little accommodation last week – but that can change literally any hour. We are on red lists of like 7 EU countries already and with this ongoing trend, we’re gonna end up on way more. But fuck all that. I mean yeah, shit gets sad. I miss my people like crazy. Had a chance to talk to some of them last week and it’s just fucked up. We should be together listening to music, going out to parks, dancing, watching movies and be physically around each other. But you know what? Even with all that, we are still the more fortunate ones. I mean sure, I make less money than I did last year but I’m good. I’m more than good. The peace of my mind has not been too derailed, I got everything I need and even though it’s often from afar, I feel loved and blessed. But that’s not the fucking case for so many. I’ve been reading and hearing about people, communities and countries who just can’t take this for much longer. You got people from less fortunate surroundings, you got people with less opportunities, you got people with weaker social ties. And there’s so many of them. Which brings me back to where I started. What do we do with this situation? I don’t have the answer but we seriously need to move to next level of discussing this. And let me just throw this universal basic income concept out there once again. Won’t solve everything but has a potential to solve quite a lot. And let me send one more R.I.P. to David Graeber. Love!

 

Also, Travis Scott, if you don’t get your ass out of here... Like how the fuck is one of the best artists coming up from this generation spending time doing deals with McDonald’s in the midst of all of this. And I get it, I’m white, I’m privileged, I don’t know what it truly means to see a black man being this successful in corporate America. Aight, cool. But let me be fully ignorant here and say “fuck that too”. We got people like Killer Mike, we got people like Trae or even Lil Baby who do amazing shit musically or socially to address the madness we are dealing with. And then you got this motherfucker doing lucrative ass deals with a company (and let me just bluntly assume that people running McDonald’s are cynical middle aged white men, to whom you, Travis, give your stamp of approval and swag) which is directly responsible for giving both people and animals diseases, who is like a poster child of obesity and malnutrition, who is a major part of the totally irresponsible and unsustainable way we deal with diet, living beings and nature in general. And I’m not here for it. Travis Scott did not need to get richer, he isn’t solving anything with this and the example it gives is a horrible one. Hip-hop is the most influential music genre ever since music has been conceived and Travis is its royalty. And he should fucking think twice before doing some stupid shit like that. And let me just go on to say fuck Starbucks, fuck Burger King and fuck KFC (and the rest of y’all too, I’m totally running out of middle fingers here). And I don’t care how many cool rappers you get for endorsement deals, I don’t give a shit about your almond milk lattés and I also truly and most sincerely don’t give a flying fuck about your vegan burgers. You fucking dicks. Just fuck off and die.

Ufff, that felt good. Well, let’s get back to business. What have I been up to. So yeah, my dive school contacted me to make sure I wanna take advantage of accommodation they provide. Now, I’m a humble guy, I really don’t need much. When it comes to accommodation (especially if it’s short-term), all I need is a bed, an equipped kitchen and fast internet. I was quite surprised when they said there’s no internet at the property and there’s no way of arranging it. The idea of doing my online classes and other work I need internet for from cafés or directly from the dive center wasn’t making me happy but I agreed. The day after, they messaged me apologizing that there’s been misunderstanding and that they had accidentally booked their last room already. Fair enough. I did some more Googles, sent out some inquiries and in like 15 minutes, I had a Spanish guy named Manu calling my phone offering me a room in an apartment with kitchen and high-speed internet about 20 minutes’ walk from the center for about 100 EUR less. Based on a good word; to be paid on arrival. I mean, that did go well.

 

Over the week, I had a chance to go to my dad’s trivia night once more and to spend an evening at my sis’. Outside of that I worked like a motherfucker. I am still in demand in teaching and in some other gigs I do from home. I have been also working on scheduling my shit in a way that would be as compatible with being in Tenerife as humanly possible. Shit kinda falls into place but as there’s no telling if I’ll actually go on Thursday, I try not to lean all my happiness against it. Gonna let you know how everything in the next blog.

So yeah, I still work out, I still run, I cook like all the time, I talk to my loved ones, I do my best to get by. There’s some shit I gotta change about my life, there’s some shit I wanna go back to. There are people I can’t wait to hug and kiss. So again, no matter where you at and no matter how low your lows might seem, trust me you are not alone. So many people deal with different versions of this and we can all relate. This is no time for bad energy and negative shit (and McDonald’s deals, Mr. Astroworld). This is time for love and support. So once more, I’m sending some of that your way. One!

 

Highlights:

• P-Valley. Seems like a fucking awesome TV series.
• New Conway the Machine, new Youngboy. New T.I. & Thug and Fredo Bang & Kevin Gates. Some fire shit right there.
• Positive feedback from my students. I’ve been getting quite a lot of that lately. Kudos!

Semester 9 Chapter I: Plans & Changes

What’s gucci everybody, here we go again. This is the 9^th semester of me doing this motherfucker so let’s take a moment and toast to that. We are still on, we are still good and despite all the bullshit happening in the world, we are still positive over here. So where we at. Covid is still kicking hard. Czech Republic is reporting record numbers these days and we got different countries falling back in to the no-no category. I’m supposed to leave for Canary Islands next week and even though, as we speak, that should still be go, there’s no telling if that’s gonna be the case then. I just hope, it’s gonna happen. When it comes to my Shanghainese life, that’s still obviously on hold. Both my studies extension and my scholarship extension got approved, however, no one can say when the borders gonna reopen for students. So I hope that during this semester I’ll be back there at some point, but who the fuck knows. All and all, this whole year has been a fucking ride.

This past week was a pretty chilled one. I mean, I’ve been busy. It’s September, so I got quite a lot of work offers which is good. The other day, I got an e-mail from this girl I had been preparing for state exams. She failed couple months back, however, after some weeks with me, she passed and credited me heavy with it. And man, shit like that never gets old. I got a first class at AZ Tower – horribly looking tallest building in the Czech Republic. The class was good tho. On top of that, I got some new transcription gigs. Again, been quite busy but since I plan to put most of my work on hold shortly, it’s a good thing. 

Monday, I stopped by at my dad’s pub once again for some trivia shit. The regular. Friday, my sister stopped by to give me a haircut (she’s basically a pro at this point) and to share some drinks with me. Since she didn’t feel like driving her scooter after, I just walked her home and delivered that thing to her place next morning. Which marked my first scooter ride in Brno. It was fun, it was fast, I refilled the tank while at it. All good. Then I hopped on my bike and went to my friend’s new spot out of Brno. I love that route. We spent most of the weekend putting down tiles for his garden house. Fresh air, physical work, good food... You know the vibes. Sunday, I rode back, did some work at home, went to feed the girls’ cats (as they’re in Prague) and faded out.

I also had a chance to speak to some of people in Shanghai and Bali last week. I sound like a broken record but I can’t fucking wait to see all of them again. Oh, and my dive computer arrived. So universe, please don’t fuck this up for me. I need this trip. It’s Monday morning, I got new Jaden in my headphones and I’m about to go do some teaching shortly. Sending some positive energy to all of you! Oh yeah, and R.I.P. David Graeber - you were such an inspiration to me and so many others. I'll see you on the other side. One!

Highlights:

• New Big Sean. Some heavyweight shit.
• The scooter. Made me look forward to Canary Islands even more.
• Weekend. Loved it.