It’s been pretty mental here on the island.  We’ve been non stop with Open Water Courses  …going from one Open Water course to the next.  I’ve even taught Chinese, obviously not on my own as my Chinese isn’t that good yet LOL.

I (Jen) was suppose to finish on the 13th around mid day, after dives 3 & 4 but as one of the other instructors called in sick (very conveniently) I had to take their group  …so instead of an early finish, I was back in the water   ..joy!!!   

Not knowing the students is always hard   …you don’t know their strengths, weaknesses.  It was a shaky start as one Israeli girl refused to talk to me for the first hour or so and a Canadian chap was feeling sick after a late night out (I had NO sympathy)   ..so I was not in the best of moods.  Fortunately they were pretty good in the water, big equalization problems with the Canadian guy, due to congestion and being hungover  ..but all n all a pretty easy group, especially when Si surprised me the next morning and helped out on dives 3 & 4.  How lovely was that?!

Time is passing far too quickly for my liking.   With regards to work, I’m still off with a bad ear.  It doesn’t hurt but it’s still blocked and and my hearing is a bit disjointed (if that’s the right word)  I know that if I go diving, it’s probably going to get worse, so more antibiotics for me.

Simon has been off too but saying that, he’s got a massive amount of UK work to do in a very short time frame, so he’s been working his socks off,  It’s been really frustrating as the internet connection at home has been really slow, which has resulted in him going out to get a good, speedy connection.  I on the other hand have finally got around to clean my bike  …and properly too.  I cycled into Maehaad to the cycle shop where I meet my cycling gang and whilst scrubbing my bike clean, the guys in the shop fixed my brakes, realigned gears and tampered with a few other bit all for free.  I think I was there for a good 2 1/2 hrs.  How nice was that!!

The next day, funnily enough, our friend Linda wanted to hire a bike and go exploring, so I took her to my friends shop (he was very pleased) hired a bike for 24hrs and then took her on a guided tour.  Here are some of the places we stopped at.

A lovely afternoon spent exploring.   I just wish sometimes that it wasn’t so hilly!    For someone that doesn’t cycle every day, I must say that I was impressed with Linda’s stamina  ..I’m now trying to convince her to buy a bike 😀

After baking choc chip muffins yesterday I also prepared a veggie stew for dinner which turned out to be the tastiest yet!   Our friends who recently left the island, kindly gave us a blender, so I thickened the stew up by blending some of the potatoes & veggies (Rosie, you would have been proud of me).  Simon, after his long and tough day, enjoyed it, so that’s all that mattered.  

Anyway, this morning I woke up in a productive mood, so changed the bed sheets, swept the floor and opened all the windows to air the bedroom and then ventured upstairs.  

Glancing around the kitchen, there were a few odds and sods to wash up but before anything, I thought I’d make good use of our new toy, the blender!  So poured the remainder of the stew into the jug and blended.   30 secs later, I’d the perfect soup of which half went in the freezer, ready for a rainy day. The rest I think I might have for lunch tomorrow 😀

After washing everything up, I gave the kitchen a blitz and then got the shock of my life.  Si had come back for lunch and a change of clothes.   I thought it was a lot earlier than it was, Id been so engrossed.

After Si had left, I jumped on my bike and went to the clinic to get my ear checked. They Dr said it’s badly inflamed but not sign of an infection and not to dive for at least 2/3 days and suggested I took some antibiotics just in case it does get infected.  So I thought Id make out that I have some at home and get some at the pharmacy, where it should be a lot cheaper.  So I popped next door to the pharmacy to got some Penicillin at a cost of 120bht which I thought was reasonable but then I went shopping elsewhere and saw the same stuff for 35bht  …I cant believe the difference in price. I think I’ll try my luck and take them back tomorrow.

Now I’m back home, typing away, happy to have been out on the bike, managed to get a water delivery and now I’m going to make myself a nice cuppa and have one of Si’s chop chip muffins 😀