Semester 13 Chapter IV: Back To The Future

Yo, what the fuck is up, how’s everybody doing? It’s that time of the week again. It’s still dark outside, I got new Jessie Reyez in the headphones and I’m fresh off my morning coffee. When it comes to music, I’d also like to give a shout out to Ari Lennox and the new Babyface and Ella Mai single. Been in my rnb bag recently vibing out. Last week, I recorded a reference for some raps I’ve written recently too. Man… Music is life. See what I try to do here is flow like a river… Also, the other day I saw a video of Lil Wayne and Nelly trying to figure how how instagram live works and that shit was hilarious… And relatable as hell. If you feel like having a quick laugh, look that shit up… 

 

Okay, back to this thing. Last Monday, I woke up in Podgorica, had a breakfast, said hi to the girls and left for the airport. Flight to London went smooth but the real fun started over there. Now, I have transferred at Stansted before and I remember that being a nightmare. And nothing has really changed. I mean they try. They have electronic passport checks and there’s loads of them. But since the airport is a hub for all the low cost carriers, it still gets extremely crowded. I had about 2 hours till my next flight which is perfect under normal circumstances but it was fucking tight over there. Had to wait for the passport check, than waited again for the security check… And of course my bag got singled out for a thorough scan so I lost some extra time on that. Ended up running through the airport, making it to the gate like 3 minutes before it closed up. Happy days.

The week in Tenerife has been quite calm. Was mostly working and resuming my life over here. Had couple of hangouts with my diver friend and spent a nice evening out with another friend down in Costa Adeje. When I was going out to meet her, I got to arguably the craziest traffic jam I’d experienced on the island. The highways was barely moving. The drive that normally takes 15 minutes tops took me about an hour. That was fun.

I stayed out of water. I got some offers but I turned all that shit down. Was really tempted but I feel like my neck could use a bit more healing time. I got a chance to visit my flatmate’s shop in Chafiras tho. It’s cool to see nice people being able to open their own businesses. It also kinda show the difference between government support here and in my home country. I mean the guy is self-employed like me and talking about how much he has being receiving throughout covid compared to whatever the fuck we were getting in the Czech Republic… Sounds like two different worlds. Shit was cool tho. 

 

The weekend has been super rainy. Which sucks because there’s not much to do but it’s also aight because it gives my neck some extra days. I hope you guys are doing well, I hope life goes well and that your spirits are high. One!

Highlights:

• Hangouts.
• All the new music.
• Getting back to healthy food, regular workouts and runs.

Semester 13 Chapter III: Montenegro Volume 3

It’s Monday morning and I’m sitting in this apartment in Podgorica. In about two hours I’m heading to the airport which concludes my current trip. And man, it was a good one. I spent the first half of last week in the Czech Republic. Took my dad to get a tattoo and then got another one myself, met with some more people, hung out with my family. It was fucking awesome. 

Wednesday evening, I hopped on a bus to Katowice where I arrived shortly after midnight. The connection wasn’t the best so I had to wait for about 6 hours for my flight. Luckily, I managed to spend some of that time sleeping. I made it to Podgorica at 8am. The girls arranged a rental car and the guy took it to the airport. So I actually drove to the girls’ mom’s apartment. I met with one of them as the other was on her way from Australia. We spent most of the day indoors as she managed to broke her leg couple of weeks back. It was great to be back and catch up. Their mom took her role as host super seriously and kept feeding me nuts, fruits and veganized local food. Mountains of food. I feel I’m still stuffed from that. Later in the afternoon, we moved to another apartment in Podgorica the girls rented for a month. We also did a trip to this lake not far from the city and then spent the rest of day drinking beer at the balcony and eventually got joined by the second sister. 

 

Friday morning and early afternoon, we all worked. Around 5. we hopped into the car and took it to this town close to Tivat to an Airbnb. The drive was quite adventurous as the fog up in the hills was thick as hell. We all survived tho. I’ve been to that area before, it’s beautiful, the views are amazing… Great pick. In the evening, we visited some of their friends and I got to experience some more of local hospitality. Some people our age, some of their parents, some beer, good vibes. 

 

Saturday and Sunday, I reunited with one of my favorite people from my Shanghai era too. Hadn’t seen that girl for nearly three years. Lotta things has changed and I kinda wished we got to spent a bit more time together but it was still great to do this. Totally brought back some memories. We went out to dinners, had some drinks and on Sunday, we did a little road trip and spend a lotta time by the sea just talking shit, drinking and listening to music. I loved the energy. We made it back to Podgorica in the evening, went for a dinner to this amazing Indian place and wrapped the day up. 

 

And that’s that. If everything goes well, I’m back in Tenerife this evening, I’m more dedicated to do this Bali thing next year and I really want to start spending some more time on figuring out what comes next. And again, I’m super happy I got to do this. One! 

 

Highlights:

• Reunions.
• Tattoos.
• Road trips.

Semester 13 Chapter II: Back Home

Yo! Back home. It feels absolutely great. These visits always remind me of whole lotta things. It’s great to have my people in life the way I do, it’s great reuniting with them, it’s amazing getting together to create some new moments and also take some walks down the memory lane. First things first tho. 

 

By the beginning of last week, I was still in Tenerife. Not much going on really. I pushed quite a lot of work for Monday because Tuesday was my flying day. In the evening, I met up with a friend in Costa Adeje and we had a really nice hangout for couple of hours. Next morning I got up, did some pull ups, packed my shit and went for a bus to the airport. To get an okay deal on my flights, I had to go for non-direct flights so I went through Geneva to Budapest and from there I took a bus to Brno. Spent the first night at my sis’.

 

Wednesday, I went to see a doctor, worked some more and then had some family time. I really love how Brno feels when you get back to it after a while. I’m still not ready to live here but it gives me really good vibes. The city is full of people, there are so many cool spots... Plus the weather is still kinda summerish. We went to a café first and then we ended up at my sis’ again for some dinner. Lotta catching up. And I really enjoy spending some time with the nephew. The guy is awesome. 

Thursday morning, I went to my practitioner again for a blood screen and then I proceeded to a bus station to go Prague. I got picked up by a friend and we went to her tattoo shop to finalize a piece we started like half a year go. It went great, it was fun, positive vibes only. After then, I met up with one my closest bros and we took it back to Brno. We did couple of drinks in the city, we got super twisted and we wrapped up the night at the rooftop of my dad’s building. Some legendary spots, some legendary memories, some legendary music. Fucking epic. 

 

The rest of the week, we were doing bike trips around the city, meeting up with different people and going to all our favorite spots. The only thing that really fucks me up every time I come here is my diet. I’m so clean when I’m on my own, but here it’s like bread, beer, sweets, more bread, more beer… It’s part of the game tho. Sunday evening, we had another family session and we did kinda late bday celebration for my sis’ fiancee and me. Good good and drinks, vegan cake, some gifts… What more to ask fore. 

 

This morning, I took my dad for a tattoo. Another late bday gift. His second one. Feeling great about that. Got another three days ahead of me over me and my schedule seems pretty packed as usual. That’s what I love about this shit. Who know what I’m gonna decide on these following months but if it all comes crashing down, I might spend next summer in the Czech Republic just to do some clubbing, travel around and actually spend a bit more time with people I care about. It has been nice. Hope you guys are doing well too. One!

Highlights:

• Tattoos.
• Family.
• Lucy In The Sky With Diamons.

Semester 13 Chapter I: Awards

So listen… Couple of minutes ago, I have received an e-mail from PADI awarding me a Certificate of Excellence. Apparently they collect feedback on courses and I kinda rock on that. Which is real nice and all and I do wanna express my appreciation to everybody who has had kind words for me. If you enjoyed your shit, there’s a pretty good chance I enjoyed it too and it’s honestly something that keeps me going in the whole thing. And as for PADI… Yeah, that pdf certificate is cool but I’d really appreciate a discount on your fucking annual membership, some free gear or you know… Kinda anything. It’s all good tho. It’s diving and it is what it is. 

In other news, we had a big ass anti-government demonstration in the Czech Republic. They talk about 70k people out in the streets. Granted, we have a fucking disgusting government. Bunch of right-wing free market happy asocial idiots with no understanding of basic human rights (such as affordable housing or general sense of equality among people no matter sexual orientation, ethnicity… you name it), our prime minister is a fucking joke and the whole situation is flat out depressing. What’s even more fun tho, is that those fuckers demonstrating… Are that times 10. So we got ass backwards fucktartds in power being demonstrated against by straight up fascists. And one could say that it’s kinda obvious… I mean everything they say. You keep people hungry and frustrated for long enough… You keep them feeling like they have no saying over shit… At some point, all it takes is an opportunists with the right populist rhetoric… And it’s that. It’s Trump, it’s Brexit, it’s our world being destroyed by the very same people who are in the real power pulling the strings. And one could also assume that we would learn anything from this going over and over again but nah. So yeah, let’s just watch it all fall apart. Cause we don’t want humanity, we don’t want socialism, we don’t want equality. We want to produce more shit, buy more shit, fuck up this planet beyond recognition, keep racism in place… And prevent gays from getting married. Cause apparently that’s what’s important. Over and out.

Okay, so what has happened here. Monday I went out with my friend from the UK for the last time before she left the island. I still wasn’t 100% but my health has been steadily improving this past week. I was taking it quite easy tho. As for diving, I did a DSD and Wednesday and an Advanced course Friday and Saturday. Saturday, we did a boat dive. Hadn’t done that in a while and I totally enjoyed that. I also did some teaching, got some more students, passed an interview for this language school… So I might get some more work sometime soon. All good.

It’s Sunday, I got the new Ravyn Lenae playing out the speaker and no particular plans for the day. Thinking about going out for a run. Leaving to the Czech Republic in two days and I’m pretty excited about that. Didn’t take any pics last week but I’m gonna throw in some for the next one. I’m also starting a new semester with this chapter. 13 semesters ago, I moved to Shanghai. Shit sounds surreal at this point. Shout out to everybody that’s been with me ever since, shout out to all my people. It’s all love. One!

Highlights:

• Boat dives.
• Online hangouts.
• That vegan ice cream in Cristianos. On point.