Lost in Translation

I am slowly going insane! It has been such a crazy few days, and I know that the next few days are going to be more of the same. I just had to make time for me to breathe and write about everything that has been going on. To give you a taste, today I was at work a 7:30am and did not get to leave until 8:45pm. I was seriously working for the entire time except for my 45 minute lunch break and two 10 minute smoke breaks. And no I have not started smoking!!!! These were only for everyone else....I believe I am the only true non-smoker. As you might have guessed though, I have started my IDC, or Instructor Development Course. This is a ten day PADI instructor course that is hardcore. I mean, they want you to know everything you need to teach a person up to Divemaster level in just ten days. I am only on day 5 and I have almost broken into tears. It really is that bad. Luckily, I am starting to see a light at the end, but then I know a giant brick wall is only a short ways away....the IE (Instructor Exam). I will tell you more about this as it gets closer.
So the interesting thing about my IDC was that we started with one Course Director, Marjolein. She is also my boss so everything was great. However she is not a certified Course Director, only a trainee, so she needed a true Course Director to come in to supervise. This is where George comes in. When I was first told about the coming of George, they pronounced his name Gay-org. This had me a little worried but.... yeah, just let me tell you about George. He is a giant of a German that is about as German as you can get. He is older, but not a frail type of older, he still looks like he could rip me in half (or have a good shot at it) and that he possibly would if given a reason. However, he is quite nice and likes to laugh. He laughs mostly at his own jokes which usually I don't understand. His attempt at English is much better than my German, but that does not mean anything. Luckily Marjolein understands him and can speak German with him. However, this means the lessons are twice as long and by the end of it, I can hardly move my neck. This is only because I am constantly looking back and forth from George to his translator. I am not saying he can't speak English, it's just that his accent is so thick it sounds like he is trying to hack up a lugee with talking.
I am getting a little frustrated with my training. I am the only American in the place and I think that everyone likes to pick on me because of it. So far I am the only one to be whacked on the head with George's cane, the only one flipped off by him, and also the only one whose English he can't understand. Yeah, he says it is all in fun, but I am beginning to wonder. I am also the one that is made to go first and they also make an example out of me. In our first confined water session, I got to pay instructor first and usually they only give the “students” one problem. Of course they wanted to play mean and gave me multiple problems and told my students to enter the water head first (big no-no) and then proceed to descend immediately. I got the first one back up and had the second one enter the water. While I was watching the second one get in my instructors told the first to go to the deep end and descend even though I told him to stay on the side of the pool in the shallows. By the time my second student was in and secured I had to go get the first and when I had him, they told the other student to descend again. I was so mad. No students would ever do this unless they were deaf. The instructors (Marjolein and George) were just sitting in the corner laughing. I finally got control after swimming the pool two or three times retrieving my students. However, after that everything was a lot simpler.
Did I also mention that I am the youngest one in the group. I think they are a little annoyed about this. However, I have been the highest scoring person in all exercises except maybe two. I am also the only one to ask questions. I ask so many that I have seen George roll his eyes. Yeah, it doesn't matter to me, that is my way of paying him back. In fact when I know I am getting to him I ask more, but use big English words I know he doesn't understand. Haha....I feel so evil. He looks so lost and puzzled I just about laugh out loud. I only have a few more days learning from George and I am counting down the days till Saturday. This is when George goes back and the IDC is over. Yeah!
I don't know if I told you that a few more people arrived. There is Lucas (another Polish guy), he is a Divemaster doing his IDC, then some guy arrived yesterday from Wales that is a Divemaster intern. I have no idea what his name is and try not to talk to him because I can hardly understand a word he says. Seriously!
Everyone is getting along at the intern house and having fun together. However, I was mortified the other day because all my clothes were in the front courtyard drying and I needed to change from my wet swimsuit to normal clothes. I had a pair of underwear but nothing else, and I was trying to hurry to meet everyone down at the pizza place. I thought EVERYONE was there and that no one would catch me running through the house in my underwear as I sprinted to grab my clothes. Of course, as soon as I was in the front hall Petra walks in. Haha...here face got quite red but I tried to act like nothing was wrong. Yeah right! I said something unintelligible and then tried to slip by to my clothes. She was laughing about it all throughout dinner and anytime I looked her way she would burst out laughing. I was just a little mortified. Anyway, not much else going on here. I will try to be more interesting and update more often.

BBQ's, hikes and diving

I was thinking that I wouldn't have much to post on since everyday is mostly the same. However as I started thinking quite a bit has gone on. Most of my reader's (mom and sister) already now about everything that I am going to write about, so I will try to keep my descriptions and everything to a minimum.
Anyway, we got a new instructor that arrived. his name is Dave and he is from England. He dove worked for Croatia Divers last year so everyone was really excited that he was coming back. The night that he came in we decided to have a BBQ at Billy's flat. I wasn't to sure what to expect but it ended up being pretty fun. We had chili (quite different from American chili) and some weird hot dog like sausages. It was good and I wasn't complaining about free food. Billy kept asking me how I liked it and that I would have to help him improve it, since Americans are supposed to KNOW about chili and BBQ. I ended up just telling them that my parents were vegetarians (or practically) so I had no experience with fixing good BBQ and chili. I wasn't about to tell him that it was not chili, but just a bowl of beans with some chunks of meat in it. It was kinda funny, because they all said how spicy and hot it was, and even the Petra (Finnish girl) started sweating. Let me tell you, there was NO spice in there. I almost asked if where the pepper was to season it a bit more. Haha. I think I will have to fix my mom's version of chili to show them how it is really done. Though they probably couldn't handle the heat (and there isn't much).
Anyway after we had a ping pong tournament, much to my embarrassment, and then they broke out the guitars. It was a quite nice, but the singing wasn't the best, since the beers had taken effect. They then proceed to get out this alcohol that Marcus had brought from Germany. His parents make it on their farm from plums and the alcohol content is around 60%. Quite potent! They had everyone take shots and surprisingly it was pretty good. Strong but with a good flavor. We finally called it a night and luckily I was able to hold myself together as I walked home.
I also finally got a day off. I got really situated at the house, like used the washer and got totally unpacked. Then I decided to go on a hike into town and around the hills to see want was around. I first started walking behind the intern house and walked for about one and a half hours. There was really nothing in that direction so I decided to walk back into town and over in the hills on the other side. Petra had told me about a walking trail that went up to the highest vantage point that had an amazing view. I thought I found the right trail and started following it. After hiking for two hours I was only halfway up the hill but roughly halfway on the other side of the hill. I finally realized that I had not taken a turn when I should have and instead I was on a trail that went to the other side of the island. Luckily, there was a trail ahead that cut back towards Vela Luka, which I ended up taking. So instead of a hike that was to last and hour and a half, it ended up being five hours. it definitely made up for all the chocolate and pastries I was eating. I made it to the top of the hill, which was really fantastic. You could see all the surrounding islands and even the mainland. Plus there was an old military fort on top which was rather neat to explore. I had to search for the hiking trail that led straight to town, and when I did I just thought it was a goat trail. There were some portions of it that looked like it dead ended. I seriously thought I was never going to end my hike. Finally I made it back and that night I rested quite easily.

After one particularly long day, I was craving seafood and asked if anyone knew of a good place to eat at. Everyone suggested this one place but said it was rather expensive. I managed to talk Petra into going with me and we ended up having a great time. We ended up ordering the seafood platter for two, a salad, french fries, and wine. Everything was so amazing. It was one of these places where they told you that their salad had been picked fresh from their garden that morning. We were going to try this traditional dish of Croatia, but they were out so they ended up bringing us a starter on the house. It was this dish made up of 8 fish fillets covered with a few vegetables, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. The fish fillets were raw, still with scales and bones. I was not to keen to try it, but when in Rome....(or Croatia)! I ended up being pleasantly surprised, the first bite was awful but with each taste it got slightly better. When the main course came up, it was a giant platter filled with mussels baked with cheese and garlic, a mound of lightly fried shrimp, four fried fish fillets, two langostinos (small lobster like creatures),and bacon wrapped shrimp.It was quite impressive and both Petra and I thought we could never finish it all. However, it was so delicious that we had no trouble at all. Everything was so amazing, and I know that I will have to go back.
Yesterday I went on two more dives. I am getting more used to the water and getting geared up for it. I was actually not too cold and I enjoyed it. We saw an octopus, several amazing anemones, and a couple beautiful nudibranchs (they are my favorite). So far I have seen these neon blue ones, white ones with neon pink and yellow spots, and bright purple ones covered in gills so it looks like dreads. They are so neat, but hard to find since they are so tiny.
I am still getting used to they way they run the dive shop. I am constantly being told that the way I am doing things is not just right and that I need to remember this and that. The owners are perfectionists to the point that nothing is good enough or just right. It is a little frustrating, but I will get used to it hopefully. It will be good for my diving though, and I know I will learn alot. The reason they are like this is that back in 2002, they were leading a dive in Sri Lanka and the boat captain fell asleep while they were down under. It was a drift dive and when they surfaced the boat was far away. The boat left them and they had to swim for shore. They were in the sea over 24 hours and at one point they were going to give up with one of them telling the other to leave them. They were eventually found, but now they are super cautious and serious when it comes to diving. They still enjoy it and have fun, but I know they are just a little more careful.
Well, I am starting my IDC course today, which is the first step in getting my instructor certification. I am really excited, but know how much work it will be. I will be in the classroom for 10 days and once we are out, we are to study and practice lots. Once I finish the course I will let everyone know.

First Days in Vela Luka

I finally made it to my destination! There were very few hiccups in my trip from Split to Vela Luka. The morning that I was leaving Split was slow and leisurely. I lucked out on that it was a Saturday and there were large village markets all throughout the city. The closet one to my hostel was the largest one and it was amazing to walk through it. There were stands of different farm made cheese, butchers hacking up carcasses, beekeepers selling their honey, vegetables and fruits from the countryside, flower vendors, but my favorite had to be the pastry stands. I of course went immediately to the one with the friendliest looking vendor, which was important because I was going to have to use American tourist language, which includes lots of pointing, mumbling, and facial gestures. Anyway, she was very nice and helped me choose a gorgeous looking cherry strudel. It was heaven and I ended up spending over thirty minutes enjoying it in a park watching all the market goers. After it was over I very nearly went back for another.

I managed to make my ferry on time and had no trouble finding it. The trip was uneventful and once in Split I went off looking for my ride. I settled down on a bench by the ferry ticket office, which was where I was supposed to meet them. After everyone else was gone I was still waiting. I was getting a little worried and then looked at my watch. Yes, I was early (by two hours), only because I am not used to the 24 hour clock and had told the people picking me up that I was taking the later ferry. I thought about walking to the dive store which I could see across the bay, but then decided not to (which was good cause it was a long walk). Anyway I just settled down and started reading my PADI books. After the next ferry came and went (the one I said I was on), there was no one there to pick me up. About 20 after the appointed time they finally got me (just about the time I was going to start looking for a hostel). Anyway there were introductions which included Martin the 28 year old Polish diver that ended up being my roommate, Petra the Finnish girl of about 30 years old, and Marcus the German. They were all very nice and we ended up all going to the intern house. I settled in and then we all went for pizza at Pizzeria Alfa. Supposedly this pizzeria has gone to the World Championships of pizza making and won several categories, so yes the pizza was amazing.
The next morning we had a short meeting about our IDC (just Martin and I) and then we started helping around the dive shop. They were just finishing a remodeling project on the shop so there was lots of cleaning and stuff to do. That day and the next we just cleaned. I was not to excited, especially working from 7:30am to 7:00pm with only a short 30 minute lunch break. I was beginning to wonder what I had gotten myself into and whether there was anyway to go home. I was not really liking my internship and Croatia was not exactly what I thought it would be. I seemed everyone was really serious and not to friendly, and that no one really did speak English like the guide books had said. Also the weather was quite chilly and windy and I definitely had packed for sunny warm Mediterranean weather. I also noticed that everyone that did go diving wore really thick wetsuits, and I hate cold water diving. I finally got to go diving on my third day and I was nervous but excited. We got all ready and started climbing into the wetsuits. First off I had my swimsuit and rash guard on, then on top of that I had a full body 1mm wetsuit, then on top of that I had on a full 7mm wetsuit including a hood. It took me a good 5 minutes to squeeze my body into all this, and then as I stood up to get to the boat. I will have to get a photo of me in all this because it would look like the Michelin tire man. I could hardly move and had to shuffle to the boat and then throw myself it. Once at the dive site we jumped overboard and landed in the ice cold water. Ok, so it was really 60 degrees but still, that is shockingly cold. I managed to suck it up and finish the dive which ended up being a really cool dive. We started on a sea grass flat and then following a wall down and then back up to the boat. I saw two octopus, several gorgeous nudibranch, and quite a bit of the typical cold water things (ugly fish, sea urchins, large starfish, and more of the same). The dive lasted about 40 minutes which was plenty long, because at about the 25 minute mark I was beginning to feel the cold creeping across my body. That day we did our second dive and then headed back to the shop. The next day was more of the same with two dives. On the first dive I wore a second hood which ended up being really stupid. I couldn't move my head to see anything and then once I got past twenty feet, the pressure crushed my head between bout 12 mm of neoprene. Yeah, that dive ended up with a massive headache, but I learned a lesson. I was beginning to get a little more comfortable with the conditions and by my fourth dive here on the island I was actually able to enjoy practically all of it. I think that I will be able to enjoy it here and I am just praying for the weather to warm up so that once I get out of the water I can bask in the warm sun.
On land things are also getting better. I eventually found out that people passing me on the street were not just muttering “bog” real unhappily to me to creep me out, but that is just a greeting here. I am picking up a few Croatian words, but nothing really helpful. The stores here are really still a bit confusing. Most everything that I want (like fruits, meats, cheese, breads, and nuts) are behind the counter and you have to ask the person behind the counter to get it for you. This really hinders me and I end up pointing and throwing out a few English words hoping that they understand what I would like. I have managed to get some apples, oranges, and a loaf of bread, but the meat and cheese still evades me. I think that I will mostly live off of nuts, chocolate, yogurt and bread while I live here. The groceries here are really small and I am surprised to say that the Honduran groceries are so much better, and much easier to find things. However, the restaurants here are really good, with lots of Italian and pizzerias. I heard about some great seafood place and a few barbecue place that are supposed to be amazing. I will have to try it out, and fortunately the restaurants here are quite cheap.
Today is my first day off so I was able to go out and explore. I ended up going on a 2 hour walk through the town and countryside and have tired myself out. I found a really good bakery close by and got a delicious chocolate croissant, and continued on a road out towards the hills. I ended up walking through some olive groves and then into the forests, which are really neat. I finally turned around and went back to the intern house. I have some laundry to do and I should start studying for the upcoming IDC. I will update soon, as long as something happens but it looks like I am starting to find a routine. Hopefully once the diving season here picks up some more interesting things will start happening.

New Adventure

I know I have neglected this for far to long. Please forgive me, but upon returning from my trip to Honduras and Guatemala, everything seemed too boring to write about. The most exciting thing that happened while back in Charleston was going up to Pittsburgh for Christmas to be with all my family. Not much else happened and most of my days were filled with the fumes and stains from coffee, along with the incessant pleas of customers wanting just half a Splenda in their latte, not the whole packet. I must admit though, my hand slipped several times and the whole packet ended up in the latte. Surprisingly, no one complained or said their latte was too sweet, and instead our tips went pleasingly upward. I must say that my time in Charleston hit rock bottom, when upon entering my Starbuck's parking lot for my first day back I ran into a car speeding through the lot. To make matters worse, Crazy Judy (a regular with a nickname that says it all) was a witness to the whole thing greeted me by saying “I heard you were coming back, but I didn't think it would be made with such a BANG (insert evil laugh).” Since that encounter, Judy's drink was made with a little less care.
All this though, definitely made me search a little harder for my next scuba adventure. Unfortunately, though all the opportunities that I found were for scuba instructors. It turns out that divemasters really aren't part of the professional diving world and if you want a job you have to be an instructor. With this in mind I started searching for the best and cheapest way to get my instructor certification. I eventually found a internship in Croatia on the island of Vela Luka. I sent in my resume and they excepted me immediately. After praying over it and trying to find something a little closer to my side of the world I agreed to enter their program. The deal was that as long as I bought all my materials and paid all my PADI fees, they would teach me for free and upon completion, I would work for them for 2 and a half months. The program started on May 10th and I would be free to go on August 6th. The first two weeks were for my instructor training. I decided on this back in the beginning of March and May seemed so far away. I really didn't think it would come fast enough. However in the last two weeks of the countdown I was wishing I had two extra weeks. Of course, being a Speer I had to wait to do everything. Those two weeks were filled with buying plane tickets, PADI books, dive gear, servicing my old gear, and trying to figure out where in the world Croatia was. The day before I flew out of Charleston I was calling my local dive shop seeing if my books had come in and whether my serviced gear was ready to be picked up. Yes, I am still thanking the Lord that everything worked out and that I got everything accomplished in time.
Anyway, I decided that I was going to leave Charleston a week early and go up to Pittsburgh to see my sister and her family. Then I would fly straight out of Pittsburgh. What I didn't know is that my parents had decided to fly my other sister out to Pittsburgh during that time so that we could all see each other. It ended up being so much fun, and my special Aunt Jennifer also came up during that time. It was a lot fun, and I believe Jeremy and Sarah are still trying to recover from that crazy weekend. After both Janine and Jennifer left it was really neat to relax and see both Sarah and Jeremy in their parent modes. My hat goes off to both of them, because I have to admit that after a week of two small children crying, needing to always have something in their tummies, and also for wrinkling their noses and saying “EWWW..........poo poo” I was ready for Croatia. That week really showed me how selfish I am and that I am no where near the child rearing stage. Parents (and I mean good parents) really have my respect, because that is one of the bravest things someone can do, and it scares me to death to think about the responsibility it takes to raise little ones.
My week at Sarah's went faster than any other week I have ever had. I was sad to go,but excited for what was to come next. At the Pittsburgh airport I got the first small taste of how things were going to be. The machine refused to print out my boarding passes and no one knew how to make it print them. They ended up doing it manually. My flight to JFK was uneventful and so was the flight from JFK to Frankfurt. It was strange though to be on a plane flying from America and not hear one word of English on it. Just about everyone was from Germany going back home. Needless to say, very little of my four years of German came back to me.
Once in Frankfurt I had no idea what I was supposed to do. I knew I needed to get my boarding pass for my flight to Split, however what about my bags and was I supposed to go through customs? I had no idea and ended up walking around and riding the different trains back and forth from the different terminals trying to figure it out. Eventually I realized I was supposed to go through customs, get my bags and then check in with the Croatian airline people. Finally, I got my boarding pass and got my bags checked. However, I was not supposed to have a second bag and it cost me 65 euros. A little steep I thought, but it was either that or not have either my clothes or dive gear.
I got to Split and had to catch the bus into town. The airport was 20 minutes from town so we had a nice ride through the country. The bus dropped us at one end of the strip of the old town that ran next to the water. Of course this is the busiest part of the city, because all the tourist stuff, along with the local markets, and the ferrys, are located there. To makes things even better, there was a festival going on that day in honor of the Patron Saint of Split. Throngs of people were everywhere and I had to manage my way through them with two 40 lbs bags, all while trying to find my hostel. I had directions but the were very nondescript. They read, make your way to the palace wall, turn right, walk for one minute, there should be a large gate (silver gate) in the wall, and on the right of the wall is a large stone building, enter the building and walk up the stairs. Yeah, I really didn't think I was going to find this place to easy. Luckily, there was a nice lady that read the confusion on my face and helped me along my way. Turned out that I found the place quite easily, and everyone there was really nice and helpful. I actually wasn't going to be staying in the actual hostel but at an apartment they had for people to stay in. I moved all my stuff in and decided to go out and look around.

The city had gotten busier by this time and I just wondered around. It is an amazing place and the festival really added to the feel of the city. After a couple hours of walking I went back to the apartment to try and get some rest. In the past 24 hours I maybe got 2 hours of sleep. After a couple hours of sleep I decided I would go back out for a while and then go back to bed. I need to explain something about my room before I go on. To get to it you had to go through another persons room. No one was in that room when I checked in or when I went back to my room. As I went through the door to exit my room I hear a gasp and of course the GIRL that was in that room was changing. I was so embarrassed and quickly ducked back in my room. After a few seconds she said it was alright for me to come through, and quite awkwardly we got through our introductions. We figured out a system to get around the strangness of how our rooms were set up and from then on everything went fine.
Back in the city, I grabbed my dinner of pizza and gelato and hiked up to the city's lookout point. The views were amazing and after a couple of hours of walking around I headed back to get a good nights rest.
The next morning was more of the same, coffee and a small cafe, and more walking around. The weekend markets were open and everyone from the country had brought their wares for sale. They had everything for sale. I saw walnuts and honey, fresh cheeses, butcher's hacking at meat, dried meat hanging, fruits and veggies of all kinds. It was by far one of the neatest markets I have seen. I also walked through the fresh fish market which was really neat. So many different kinds and they all looked like they were just pulled from the sea. Back at the regular market I bought a cherry turnover and walked to the park to read my PADI scuba manual and eat. That cherry pastry was so good I thought about going back for more.
I bought my ticket to the ferry to Vel Luka and it leaves at two. I have about an hour and better get ready to hot foot it to the ferry. Hopefully I will make it and not run into any problems.