Paradise?

Hello everyone,

It's roughly a month since I last wrote, so true to my word - here I am again : )

When I was in Singapore, I walked past a shop that did angel and tarot card readings. As it'd been a while, I thought I'd pop in and see what the next 6 months had in store for me. I only ever go to places that I have a good feeling about, however this one didn't start so good, as one of the first things she said was that I wasn't very spiritual. I nearly ended the reading right there, but we had a conversation about it and I decided to continue. Plus I'd also already chosen the cards and wanted to know what they said!

The next bit wasn't much better as she asked if I'd just made a big job change/career move - which was obviously yes! Then she said that I should reconsider as it wasn't going to work out. I was like, what??! I mean, the angels helped me get this job in the first place! After all if you think about how I got this job, it was pretty easy. I literally only asked 3 people about finding work. The first said go to Bali, the second recommended Reefseekers and the 3rd was Kath, from Reefseekers, who offered me the job within 2 days of arriving. The other instructor has left now, so I'm the only one. It's not as if they have lots of jobs here going all year round.

Anyway, I was a bit perturbed about what was going to happen on my return to Gili Air. My card reader was obsessed with me picking an archangel card as opposed to just angel cards. A fact I didn't really understand. Maybe it's a big thing for most of her clients. Anyway, in this pursuit for an archangel, I ended up picking a total of 9 cards instead of just 5 or 7. As the cards became clearer for her, she apologised profusely for saying I wasn't spiritual, and also said that there would be problems with the job to start off with and then everything would be ok. There were some other things which I won't go into.

On the whole, I left the reading feeling it was reasonably accurate, although I was scpetical about potential problems with my job. For her part, she's been reading auras since she was little and whilst she clearly had ability, think she needs some more experience. After the reading we talked about my aura which was quite exciting, although basically it was in a mess after a week of stress in Singapore. She said I have the blue of a teacher bit, which was kinda cool. Although she didn't seem to think that being a dive instructor counted as really teaching.... Umm?

So where is this all going? Is it bliss in Paradise? Well, basically no. There have been a couple of times where I've been so miserable, that I just really wanted to leave. The fact that this isn't going to last forever (courtesy of card reading) + that I LOVE the diving is the only thing keeping me going.I shall explain.

When I got back to Gili Air, Kath (boss) had received some bad news. Her Dad had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and she had taken it pretty badly. Earnest, her husband, came over from their other shop in Flores and I didn't really see Kath anymore, she was too upset to work. After a few days, Earnest and Kath went back to Flores leaving me and Caspar in charge. That wasn't too bad, cause we'd help each other out and he knew how most "business" side things to the shop were done.

One plus side was I moved into Kaths rooms which are attached to the dive centre. She has about 10 cats and a dog and didn't want to live them alone. ALso, most of the valuables/keys to equipment etc. are there, so don't want to leave the rooms empty screaming out "steal me" to any would-be robbers. She had a TV and satelitte, so I've been catching up on films, and best of all - FOOTBALL!! I've watched several champions leagues and Premiership games. Awsome return by Rooney! Bad luck Tottenham ; ) Pity about Middlesborough. And what are we doing in the middle of the table with a load of draws??! I couldn't believe it when I saw the table. With Rio back, I think we'll get things together. It was been a true joy to watch Man U again. I have missed football sooooo much!

However, everything has it's price and the animals are driving me insane. Half the cats have got sick, so the vet is constantly coming over. They spend a lot of time shut up inside and most of that trying to get out. Constant cat choruses, scratching at doors and being a pain. The dog, Spotty is even worst. He wasn't ever well treated when he was younger, so doesn't like being touched. He's also deaf. he sleeps all day and barks though the night. This is what is doing my nut. I only get a couple of hours sleep at a time, and when he starts barking it sends my heart-rate through the roof and stresses me out. Totally exhausted, I've started spending the odd night in my bungalow to try and catch up on sleep.

Then Kath's father passed away unexpectedly and from something else. Her and Earnest returned from Flores and flew to England. They're still there. The family is not doing too well, and I don't know when they're coming back.Last week, Caspar left, so I'm now on my own. I don't know how so many things work, people want to be paid and talk to me in Indonesian. I don't know how to give refunds on credit cards or where the rental computers are. My computers battery ran low so I had to find somewhere to send it away and then get it back. It all sounds like little things, but everything is complicated in Indonesia. And none of it would bother me so much except that I'm so tired that doing anything is difficult and I'm making silly mistakes because of it. There are 4 Indonesian guys who work at Reefseekers and for the most part, they're being pretty good. There are 2 girls who help look after the cats/clean and they're cool too. But they still look to me for direction. I'd quite like to manage a dive centre some time, but not like this!!

Luckily Elaine came back a couple of days ago. She's a Scot who has been living here for 12 years and helps run Coconuts, one of the nicer bungalows on the island. She's been divemastering here and knows the score better than I do! Plus, she speaks fluent Indonesian and English..

Everything will be fine. I just can't wait for Kath to come back so I can move to my own animal-less bungalow where sleep is uninterrupted and I can start putting together a social life, instead of just getting through the days. Sleep is the biggest problem, that I'm not an animal person (don't like mistreatment, but don't need pets following me around EVERYWHERE either), and that I don't have any time off. I don't want any of you to worry about me too much. The diving here is awesome and I'm sure I will be very happy on the island. People start to know who I am now and I have some preferred places to eat. I've met some of the other divers who work on the island and a couple of them are quite cool.

Some awesome diving moments for you. Turtles seem to like me, I can get within a few inches of them easily and it is really quite awesome to watch them feeing or swimming up to the surface to breath, or swimming back down again. Unfortunately turtle riding is out - tempting as it is, I know they hate it!

I spent about 5 minutes watching a sea-snake swimming around, again he was less than a metre away from me at one point. It was so awe-inspiring, I nearly held my breath! (A HUGE diving don't). He was looking in the coral rubble for dinner. Beautiful movement through the water.

Watching 2 cuttlefish mating on a night dive. Watching another cuttlefish finding dinner.

An Eagle ray powering his way through the big blue.

I've also got a lot better at finding smaller, obscure things. We get lots of flatworms and nudibranchs (like sea slugs), but they're beutiful and come in many different colours and shapes, although usually quite small (5cm or so). We get frogfish, that look just like a sponge and leaffish that look like leaves, but both come in all sorts of colours - even pink and purple! I'd go on but don't want to bore you too much.

I thought I'd tell you a bit more about Gili Air. It's not very big. You can circumnavigate the island in about 90minutes walking. The paths are all sand or dirt. There are no cars or motorcycles. Transport is by bike, foot or by horse and cart. The locals have TV's, but there aren't any for the tourists to watch. Everything is on the island comes by boat from Lombok which is a considerablly bigger island. There is no post on the island and few phones apart from mobiles which are everywhere. The island is flat with trees in the middle. There is no natural water supply. For showers etc. they use desalinated sea water. Goodness knows where the rubbish goes??! I assume there is a big hole somewhere. The edge is all beach and is skirted by a fringing reef, that is excellant for snorkelling. A local village is located in the middle, there is maybe a few hundred indonesians living on the island. Most pretty much keep to themselves.

On the subject of mobiles, I've not been able to send text messages for the last couple of weeks. No idea why, no-one else knew either. Today I had to come into Mataram to pay for and pick up my dive computer, so I asked at a phone shop. Turns out credit only lasts for a month. Remaining credit is kept in storage for when you recharge (if it is within another month) otherwise it is lost completely. Why this didn't occur to any of the people I asked who have mobile phones, I don't know! This is typical of the not very logical thinking that occurs in Indonesia.

That's about all that is happening in my life at the moment. Hopefully, my next mail will be a bit more interesting.

I hope you are all well and happy.
Lots of love
kathryn xxx