Ah, it has been a while, hasn't it? Well, it sure seems that way seeing that so much has happened since we last spoke. I guess I should begin by saying we went on our first dive today! That was certainly the highlight of the trip so far, let me tell you. After a little difficulty with weights and then several skills reviewing, we headed to the reef. My buddy and I were pointing out every cool thing we saw to each other - the queen angelfish was definitely my favorite. The corals were mostly orange, with several tube sponges popping up here and there. The fish were the most fascinating - with colors of bright blue, yellow, orange, pink, white, black, and many more - and they were darting about, chasing one another, nibbling on algae, and just chilling under the corals. I thought I was going to do my independent research project on the effect of ocean acidification on corals, but I think I want to switch to fish because they are just so darn interesting! We also saw a little sea snake on our way back up - now that was creepy!
Oh, before we even did the dive, they wanted to make sure we could swim and tread water and such so they made us tread water without our hands for 2 mins (easy), swim under water for like 25 yards (couldn't even do it...) and then swim for 400 yards in under 12 minutes (a task I thought was impossible but turned out to be almost fun?). Luckily we had lunch immediately after that fiasco so we could all refuel before diving!
I should also mention that everyone arrived safely to our humble abode after several missed flights due to snow and the like. The three last students arrived late Sunday night while we were at a barbeque pot-luck dinner birthday party for the guy who makes our food, Gibi. He's the nicest man I've ever met. His friends and family were there as well as the staff from CIEE. I don't think I've ever eaten so much food in one sitting in my life. It rained a lot (it tends to do that from time to time since it's still the rainy season), so we ended up eating at tables under the awning of our Resident Director's house.
Speaking of our Resident Director, I must inform you that the staff are so nice, smart, and chill, like I want their jobs. They make me feel so comfortable and safe here; I just know I'm going to have a great semester. Yesterday we had an orientation of sorts where we did ice-breakers and got to know a little more about the program and one of the things they said about being in class was, "Shoes are optional." Basically, I feel at home here.
Alas, another part of being here is the school work. Obviously. And seeing as we've started SCUBA bootcamp this week we have a lot of reading and dive logging to do. I've been kind of living in a dream world and need to get back to my habit of scheduling everything I do, but it's hard because the island is so relaxed. Like, if something needs to be rearranged or rescheduled people don't mind, they just work around it, no big deal. It's a new mindset for me to get used to, for sure, but I like it.
Before I sign off, I should just mention that the title of my last entry, "Bon Bini," means, "Welcome," in Papiamento, the language spoken by the locals. It is a combination of Dutch (which is surprisingly easy to understand because words are written much like they sound), Spanish, and Portuguese. And, today's title references the name my dive buddy and I gave ourselves because our wetsuits are the brightest and most fashionable (and obviously the coolest).
If you've read this entire thing, you deserve a medal because I literally wrote a novel right now.
Until next time, bon nochi!
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