Semester 15 Chapter IX: All That Jazz

Okay, let me start this one by RIP Matthew Perry. I’m old enough to had actually watched Friends when they aired late 90s and early 2000s. I’m not a die hard fan (I haven’t gotten back to it in ages) but I do consider the show a classic. It aged both great and not so well at the same time. When my sis has it on while I’m around, I still laugh at some of the jokes but yeah… You can attack it for the lack of diversity, unrealistic lifestyle of the protagonists and the list goes on. Having said that, seeing how terribly How I Met Your Mother aged, Friends actually did a pretty amazing job. And back in the day, Chandler was by far most relatable to me. So yeah, rest in peace and thank you for all these episodes. Gone but not forgotten.

 

Back to Tenerife. Life has been good here. It’s still mostly me time but I got out with friends twice last week (once I drove to Silencio for it) and on Saturday, I attended this jazz concert which took place right here in Medano. I’m not entirely sure what’s that all about, but apparently there’s some sort of festival with different events in different towns and this was Medano’s turn. I don’t listen to jazz very often but I do love live jazz. And this show was great. It was a band of 7 and they were jamming their asses off. The square was full of people of different age. You got kids jumping around, some youngsters turning that shit into a rave, and whole bunch of middle-aged people and older. It’s awesome what good music can do to your psyché. And today, I went to Abades to join for another two dives. Visibility was great, there were some turtles, all good. Got one more weekend ahead of me and I’ll try to get wet at least once more.

 

Work has been going well and so has my routines. Sometimes I drive to Abrigos for a swim (to change the scenery), I read a lot, I move a lot… The usual. I hope everything is good y’all too. Sending some love to everybody out there. One!

 

Highlights:

• Turtles.
• Jazz.
• Drives.

Semester 15 Chapter VIII: 32 Meters Deep

Yo, what’s crackin? Here we go again. Sunday afternoon, fresh off the ocean, feeling good. See, every time I get into my sea mode, I always start to question whether this life isn’t for me after all. All the freedom, all the crystal blue salty water, all the roads between these small towns and villages… And I know the answer too. The fuck no. I clearly remember how bored I was in this place about a year ago with my social life hanging between non-existing and dating apps (where, obviously, you don’t really meet too many people of your tribe because those live in cities). So I don’t really get this confused. Not sure if I’m not the right type of person or if I’m not in the right type of life stage yet. There are people who love this shit. There are people who are happy just being here, breathing the fresh air with their feet in the sand. They don’t need all the city madness, chaos, clubs, culture, weirdos… Life can be fucking easy here. It’s just that me being from a medium sized town (or a very small city; depending on how you look at it) and spending some of my best years in Shanghai, life in a place like this can get fucking suffocating. And don’t get me wrong, now I’m living my best life. I’m here for couple of weeks, I’m enjoying some time by myself for a change… Shit, I even met some new people I’m excited to see again after I’m outta here… And who knows, maybe one day I’ll just pack my shit once more and move my ass to some ocean village for good…

 

Last week tho. Let me preface this by saying I’m almost never sick (knock on wood). I don’t really take any medication or painkillers ever (still not fucking sure how I feel about making an exception and getting vaccinated for COVID but let’s leave this for later), I eat healthy, I exercise, my organism is generally good to me. So last Tuesday I do my workout, I get home, I eat my lunch… And I get this weird feeling in my stomach. Which happens, right… Sometimes you eat too much, sometimes you don’t have the best day. I still go for a swim and then for a coffee to this cafeteria around the corner. With a book. That whole adventure got concluded with me hugging the toilet seat, thoroughly emptying content of my stomach. Repeatedly. I still managed to work later that day but I did a lovely round 2 of that shit in the evening. Pretty sure this was the first time something like that happening to me ever. Luckily, it was better the next day and after 2 days of eating white bread, plain rice and dark chocolate, and drinking black tea, I was back to normal. What a ride tho.

 

So I was ready for the weekend. And I spent it all diving. Two boat dives by Palm Mar Wall every day. 32 meters deep, eels, rays, angel sharks. So happy I’m back in water. Good hangouts, good talks, all perfect. Gonna try to get wet couple more times before I go.

 

Outside of that, I keep all my shit in place. Work, workout, runs… One day I climbed Montaňa Roja just by Medano. I believe this was my third time up there. Still fucking beautiful. I also had a chance to do a pretty cool hangout at the beach on Thursday. Good vibes. So yeah, all is going well. Been 3 weeks since I arrived and I got a bit less than to go. And I’m sure it’s gonna be fun. Hope y’all enjoying your October too. Shout out to all my readers. One!

 

Highlights:

• Diving.
• Stomach issues.
• Lose spirits.

Semester 15 Chapter VII: Undisputed

Hello world, here we go again. Greetings from sunny Tenerife. Today I got back to water. I joined a fun dive organized by this Czech dive center in Cristianos I used to dive with a while back, and boy, did it feel awesome. We went to Montaňa Amarilla, it was just the divemaster, two kids and me. Perfect conditions, good visibility, eels, octopus, all that fish… This was probably after the longest break since I started with this shit but I don’t think I can get rusty at this point. Shit feels like walking. Super enjoyable.

 

I spent last week getting my mind right over here. Knew I had to re-calibrate some shit to actually enjoy this whole retreat. So I did. Pushed myself out there a little, got into some pretty fucking amazing situations, enjoyed some great energy and generally switched into a mode I feel comfortable in. Feeling positive about this Tenerife shit again, enjoying the sun and the waves… Plus I’m keeping all my workouts in check too. Plus all the healthy vegan shit, you know what it is…

 

Work is going well too. I’m busy but most of it enjoyable. Got some new students, we’re getting familiar with each other, I’m figuring some new people out… That’s the fun part of this shit. I’ve driven around couple of times. I sometimes do a stop in Abrigos. The central bay is very well protected which makes it a perfect place for actual swimming. Plus I’ve been reading a lot. The whole stay here feels like a spa now.

 

I’m also done with organizing my November trip. London-Zurich-Amsterdam. Tickets booked, everything set, we’re good to go. Happy bout that. It’s Sunday early evening, I got new Offset in the headphones (shit slaps), I feel good and there’s some miles to run ahead of me before dinner. I hope y’all doing well too. Shout out to all my readers and all the people fighting the good fight. And all my love to everyone affected by the Israel/Palestine confict. Don't have enough energy to get to it now but whatever's happening over there is a clusterfuck caused by years of oppression and pain. Yes, Hamas are terrorist and they deserve no mercy, no doubt. But Israel is an absolutely fucked regime too (with like the most modern army and decades of Palestinian suffrering on its hands) and I believe it's a grave mistake to ignore that. One!

Highlights:

• Long nights.
• Diving.
• Ocean.

Semester 15 Chapter VI: Closures

See, closures are interesting. As you go, you get yourself into different situations. You meet different people, you face different obstacles. Some of them work out, some of them don’t. That’s just how shit goes. But now matter what the situation is, the older you get, the more you want to understand it. You kinda wanna understand what makes beautiful shit beautiful, mediocre shit mediocre and uncomfortable shit uncomfortable. And as I get older, I’m theoretically open to all possible outcomes of all possible situations. I mean, we are all human. We have our weird emotions, our skeletons, we project our shit onto others, we try to find some common ground… Sometimes with some results, sometimes without… So the thing that really annoys me when shit don’t work out isn’t necessarily shit not working out but inability to get the fucking closure. Nearly everything is understandable when explained. We rarely aim at fucking other people up, we rarely want to end up in some stupid shit. But then again, we’re just human so shit like that is ultimately inevitable. Which is fine but the real maturity really comes with self-reflection and accountability. At least from where I’m standing. And on the other hand, I guess it also comes with accepting the fact sometimes there’s no closure. Sometimes you just gotta make peace with whatever shit you’re dealing with and let it go. I've had to do this couple of times of times in my life and recently, I had to do it once more but hey… That’s life. And at the end of the day, it’s still about the optics. You live you learn.

 

So after this little philosophy window, let me take it back to this shit. The rest of my year is shaping up to be a bit different than initially expected. I still made way to Tenerife as my car and my diving gear was still waiting for me here but I’m not staying for too long. Gonna go back the second week of November to do some traveling around Europe and to finally spend holidays in the Czech Republic. Got some plans in head after that too but I’m taking it one step at a time.

 

I arrived to Tenerife last Sunday and took a bus to Medano when I found shelter at my friend’s apartment meters from the beach. My room is reasonably big, I got enough working space, it’s exactly what I need. And it’s less than a minute from the beach which is just lovely.

 

I got some new classes so I’ve been working a lot. I also managed to deal with some of my shit. Get the car back up and running, pick up some of my stuff, did a trip to Santa Cruz, stop by at the Czech dive shop in Cristianos and spent a day with my former flatmate from Guargacho. That was today and we went to Playa San Juan. Cool day. At one point, the new car battery moved which led to a fucking short circuit and thank god I got the guy with me. He knows much more about cars so we came up with a temporary solution (involving a flip-flop I found by the road) and I’ll try to go to the mechanic’s tomorrow and try to get them to repair it. They really fucked that shit up.

 

So yeah, this whole is totally different than what I expected it to be couple of weeks back and sometimes I question my decision to stay for 5 weeks. Felt a bit better back home. But then again, I’m already 1 week in, I’m working on myself and it’s all moving. Hope y’all good and safe too. One!

 

Highlights:

• Ocean.
• Tropical weather.
• This festival in the main square in Medano yesterday. Got some drinks and danced for hours with whole bunch of locals to some raggaeton. It’s fun how everybody knows all these songs and everybody can actually dance over here.