Koh Tao 3

Koh Tao is enjoying one of the busiest times of the year, now that various countries in Europe are enjoying their holidays. As a result, I have been able to teach quite a lot these past weeks. My efforts to talk to various diving schools, which I called doing some business development (LOL) have resulted in working for a few of them and even had to turn down others because I was already teaching with another one.

I got the chance to see how different schools operate and also gain a lot of experience in teaching scuba diving. I am now a Master Scuba Dive Trainer (MSDT) which requires a certain number of certifications of students and being certified as a specialty instructor which I am in several ones. To become a MSDT was my diving objective when I started out this adventure, so that’s another tick in the box.

Now, only one week left on Koh Tao before I make my way back to The Netherlands, it all seems to have gone by rather quickly. Don’t worry, I am not yet reflecting on these past 11 months; will do that some time later. ;-) I guess remembering all the things which happened during these period seems always a bit difficult and making these time to seem rather short. For now, I can already say that this year has brought me many things and I am not only talking about the chance to get to dive so much. Personally, it helped me to get a better understanding of my life and what I want. And that has become much simpler and easier.

However, Koh Tao brought me something more as well which was totally unexpected. My neighbors at the time where I live where organizing a diner party for friends they had met on the island. As James & Emily are an Italian-Canadian couple, pasta was obviously the choice of food and in this case, home-cooked pasta! It had been a long time I had eaten it. Anyway, they had invited several people from yoga, diving and other occasions where they had met people. Early in the evening, a friend of theirs had just returned from staying in Krabi and came to the party as well, the same day as she had arrived. When she entered, I was stunned by how she looked and who she was. I was immediately very interested in her and wanted to get to know her. Apparently, she had the same feeling about me as well. As from the first moment we hit it of with each other. We got to talk to each other and had a great evening together and with everyone else. In the end, Sophie, as her name is, spent the rest of her holiday with me and we had the greatest time. We developed these great feeling for each other in a very short time and it was very sad to see her go home.

However, we want to see each other again, so I changed my return plans and come back to NL a bit earlier. I will be spending about a week back home getting things organized, but after that, I will see her again. We are both very exited about that and want to see of our feelings, despite the short time we spent together. are still there and then who knows…

Right now, I am so exited about seeing everyone back home and spend face and quality time together. It will be great! I also have been working in the meantime on finding a job. Yes, I will stow away my diving gear for professional use and find something else to do in NL. I already have several options including interviews lined up when I am back. But before I get to those, I will have 2 relaxing days in Samui, fly directly from there via Bangkok to Düsseldorf, get the train to Utrecht and stay with Patrick and his family, so I will be finally back on the 3rd of September!

I cannot wait to see you all!

Big hug,
g.