Semester 10 Chapter XI: Back Home

My trip to Europe was a big fucking surprise. I was really concerned about couple of things prior to heading to the airport (where I got driven by my host's wife). My carry-on was about three times the allowed size so I wasn’t really sure how that would go. Plus I had no clue what the fuck to expect from all the covid checks and controls. Both of these things turned out to be insanely easy. Nobody even blinked an eye with the bag and the covid… Let me put it like this. If I had tested positive that day and still decided to board the plane, nobody would attempt neither to check me nor to stop me. I had a stack of different documents and forms on me out of which I needed literally zero. Not in Spain, not in Austria, not in the Czech Republic. If I’d travel only with my plane ticket and ID, I would have make it here regardless. Which is cool, I guess, but it raises all kinda questions about what the hell is going on and how efficient all these crazy (and extremely confusing) measures are if they stay on paper only. Oh well… I met this cool girl from the Czech Republic at the airport and we ended up talking for quite some time in Vienna which was a super nice way to kill time before my bus went. I made it to Brno at 6am on Monday, got picked up by my dad and had my first Czech coffee in months shortly after.

 

The whole week was beautiful. I had plenty of time to catch up with my sis, her partner and the nephew, plus I finally saw their new apartment. I walked the streets of my hometown with one of my best friends and with my dad’s dog too. I had a chance to celebrate my dad’s birthday on Tuesday. On top of that, I did some teaching to keep the ball rolling. Oh, and I went to check my braces too – all is going well there.

 

On Thursday, I caught a train to Prague to hang out with another of my closest peers. It was two days of talking, chilling, listening to music and getting fucking twisted. All of these things felt long overdue. On Saturday, I came back to Brno, dropped my shit at home and met up with my sis and them at the train station for a trip to another of my bro’s spot close to Brno. Another amazing day, another evening hangout, another sleepover. Feels I’ve been sleeping at a different place nearly every night last week.

 

When it comes to the Croatia thing, I’m going in about a week which gives me some extra days over here. I appreciate that as it gives me more time to spend with all my favorite people. So yeah, all has been good over here. I kinda miss the Tenerife weather but I’m gonna get a lot of that in no time. And I found out that there is a solid chance I’m gonna see quite a lot of my Shanghai squad this summer too. Shit is all positive. Hope y’all doing great as well… Sending some love from sunny Brno. One!

 

Highlights:

• Fam.
• Bros.
• Czech Republic.

Semester 10 Chapter X: Tenerife Czech-out

The time has come. What was supposed to be 4 weeks has turned into 7 months. What was supposed to be a fun adventure has turned into a (possible) career. What was supposed to be a stepping stone right before jumping back into my life in Shanghai has opened doors I wasn’t even aware of. But all things come to an end and this is the end of yet another beautiful chapter of my life. It’s Sunday afternoon, it’s a lovely day, I can hear people splashing water around the pool outside, summer vibes all over the place.

 

Last week was quite calm. The same old. Me not being very social, working a lot plus all the physical exercise I’m a fiend for. And dealing with my departure. Figuring out what kind of covid test and how long in advance are you supposed to get is a fucking puzzle. Plus all the forms you have to prepare and submit… And I fly to Austria which isn’t even my destination country; that makes the whole nightmare even more fun. Anyway, all feels set, I successfully passed covid test couple of hours ago… You know feeling positive about being negative… And I have couple of last moments at my spot before I take my bags and head to the bus station…

 

I’m gonna keep it short this time around. All I really wanna say is thank y’all. Shout out to my divemaster crew. What an amazing squad. Shout out to my fellow sea cowboy. You know what time it is; I’ll see you in Croatia. Shout to to my German bro I did my IDC with. Feels like ages ago but we pulled through together. Never gonna forget that. Shout out to all the divers that inspired me and pushed me to follow whatever path I’m on now. Shout out to all the people I connected with over here for real. You know who the fuck you are. It’s all love. Major shout out to my hosts… I mean damn… Words cannot really express how appreciative I am of this whole situation. I’ll be back at some point! Shout out to my family back in Brno. I’m always M.I.A. but the love is still there and it’s going strong. And my bros and my sisters all over the world. We live in strange times and having all of you (even though in most cases through PC screen only) in my life makes shit worthwhile. I’m grateful for both positive and negative (you know who the fuck you are too, hehe) experiences I’ve been through on this island. The love you give is the love you take so I must be doing something right. One!

 

Highlights:

• Tenerife.
• Tenerife.
• Tenerife.

Semester 10 Chapter IX: Long-Distance Life

Checking back from Tenerife. Weather is still good, sun is shining, OG Parker and DDG are playing in the background and I’m about to drop second to the last blog in Tenerife. I’ve been slowing down a bit, doing me, focusing on work and enjoying streets of Costa Adeje, Las Americas and Los Christianos these past couple of days. Oh, and I’m also trying to cut down on coffee a little bit… Just to test it out. Been a caffeine addict ever since I can remember and I wanna see if I can operate without it. So far it’s not going terrible; made it to 1-2 cups per day and I intend to make it 1. Just to get energy more organically. 

So yeah, last week was mostly teaching. I’m real busy when it comes to that. Apart from regular classes, I did a final exam for one of my groups. Never done that before and it’s kinda fun being in that position. You are the guy evaluating and you see all the people who are normally pretty calm under all the pressure, cause this one hour is a question of getting or not getting a certificate. We’ve all been there. In schools, in our lines of work, in languages… It’s just interesting being the one trying to set a relaxed tone to the whole thing so people wouldn't freak out. There are similarities between that and diving.

Speaking of diving… Last week I did only one dive and it was in Abades. Wednesday, I went with Medano guys once more and our group consisted of me, one of the co-owners (who also led the dive) and this divemaster girl from Spain. The guy was on his shit once more. Since the experience level among us was solid, he decided to push the dive a bit and took us way beyond the second reef to a drop that took us to about 35 meters. Up until that point, the deepest I had gone in Abades was about 15 meters and I had no idea that you can even go that deep there. There was bit of a current on the way there so it was an exercise too. Anyways, at the deepest point we saw a dinosaur-sized ray (I’m talking like 2+ meters) and on the way back we saw an octopus and whole bunch of barracudas. It was almost an hour and those 15-liter tanks definitely helped. The second dive was also good. We did the trumpet fish cave, swam around the anchor nearby, saw a turtle and plethora of smaller rays. Note to self tho… Don’t fucking drink coffee between the dives. I’ve been aware of this but man… Really not worth it. Having to piss in the middle of an hour-long dive is a bitch. And I’m totally not doing that into my semi-dry. I almost exploded…

 

Outside of that it’s been my regular workouts and walks. I also talked to plenty of my people through the computer screen. That’s one thing I’m really looking forward to in the Czech Republic. To spend some time with people in person again. I’m grateful for the fact I still get to spend hours talking to my close ones, but the screen will always be a screen. Been dreaming in my sleep bit more too; that doesn’t usually happen. Well, got one more week to go over here and then I’m out. I hope everybody’s doing well. I also wanna say R.I.P. to those who passed cause of covid. I have friends who lost family members and you hear stories about those who didn’t make it almost on the daily. Shit ain’t sweet. Let’s just keep our heads up and try to turn this nightmarish lessons into some positive changes. One!

 

Highlights:

• The Abades dives.
• Running. I’m on that basically every day.
• My hosts’ cooking. Still totally amazing.

Semester 10 Chapter VIII: Format It

Yo, it’s Sunday morning and you know what the fuck this is. So just sit back, relax, grab a cup of coffee and immerse into my world for a minute or two. This blog almost didn’t happen as my computer decided to fuck with me last Monday. You know the blue death, right? When your Windows decide to jump into that beautiful “oops” blue screen like “fuck you, this shit is over.” So that started happening. I tried everything within the scope of my limited IT skills and eventually ended up formatting my PC. The good thing is, my PC runs real fast now and I got so much space on my hard drive. The fact I lost like 5 years of data I didn’t bother to back up kinda sucks but it is what it is. If I had more time to deal with that shit, I would probably try different things but since the laptop is my exclusive source of income at this point, there wasn’t much to think about. Well, it is working which means I am working too, and it also means this blog is running is it’s supposed to. 

Wednesday, me and the friend I dived with these past couple of weeks took our Panda once more and drove to El Puertito to do a hike to La Caleta. The walk was short, the views were nice, we wrapped it up at this beach bar with some mojitos, took a cab back to Puertito, drove to Los Christianos and did our final drink. She was leaving that evening so that was that. She is the first person I have ever certified and she is also the first person I did an SSI certification with. And also one of those people I’ve met here I’m pretty sure I’m gonna stay in touch with.

Thursday morning, I returned the Panda and then spent the rest of the day working. I’m still really busy with my classes which is good. I’m really looking for May tho. Even tough I enjoy teaching a lot, I really wanna spend bit less time in front of the screen and bit more time under water. It’s all coming.

Friday, I packed my gear and headed straight to the bus station to catch a connection to San Isidro where I got picked up and driven to Medano. We went to Abades that day and stopped by in our regular café before the dives. Those fuckers have soy milk so it was cappuccino for me. Shout out to those fuckers! The first dive was basically me tagging along with another instructor and bunch of newbies. I ended up doing most of the heavy-lifting, working teens who hadn’t dived before. It all went well and it only reminded me of how much I want to do this as a job. I got this. The second dive was a treat tho. It was like 3 instructors, 1 divemaster and 1 advanced diver plus we had 15-liters tanks. We went way beyond the second reef, fighting current a little bit on the way there, and then drifted for the most part on the way back. It was almost 70 minutes, we saw a big ass ray, turtle and an octopus.

 

I devoted my weekend to chilling and working out. I’m still on that quite heavy. Resistance bands, push-ups, running and swimming. Feeling good in this motherfucker. Apart from that I started watching Mr. Robot again. It’s been on my to-do list… To re-watch the whole thing. And man… I quickly remembered why I fell in love with the series years back. That shit is different. And that’s that. Two more weeks in Tenerife, I’m chilling, life is good. I hope y’all well too. One!

 

Highlights:

• New Lil Tjay.
• That second Abades dive.
• Mr. Robot. Go watch that shit!