I was really happy finding time to write about what’s going on lately with my life. At this point, I move to the island and try to reinvent my life here.
It has been weeks since God knows when, since I published on my blogsite.
I’ve been kinda busy lately with life that I cannot even squeeze in my love for writing.
For the past several weeks, I trying to balance my life between the weddings plans, my job and my divemaster training.
The last 12 weeks were a great reinvention of my life. I drove my 10-year-old motorbike for 150 kilometers to the northernmost tip of Cebu. Along with my scuba gears and 2 bags, I put them all on a boat that heads to Malapascua.
I have realized at this point that this is the only thing that I needed to live my life. As I stare at my possessions, I can affirm that there are a lot of illusions in this world. The illusions that suck you in on having a big house, a fancy car or labeled clothes. With my backpack, a laptop and good internet connection, the world is my oyster.
I arrived at the dive shop where will I be practicing my diver master training- SK Divers. 12 months after I got my Advanced Open Water with them; I went back for the reason that I’m trying to prove to myself that Ruvi, my instructor, will deliver the best instruction that I need and he will develop the best divemaster out of me.
Malapascua is quite a small island. Everybody here knows everyone and the trade they’re in. And every business that everybody has- either personal or commercial.
The dive shop was small as well. One time, there was some trouble with the electrical wiring at the shop. Ruvi send me to talk to the only power supplier on the island. The only information I gave was: there’s some problem with the electrical wiring at the small dive shop. The electrical guys immediately got off on their feet and head to the “small dive shop”, bringing only pliers and electrical tape. To the people in the city, can your electric company do this?
How small the island is, is also how many a good food options are available. I arrived at the island just in time that Ruvi and his students were just about to get some dinner. Ruvi and I went to the restaurant along with a bunch of people. Some were Ruvi’s students. Others were former students who went back to see Ruvi and dive on this beautiful island again.
We were the largest group at that restaurant at that time. Ruvi proudly said that the seat he sat in was the same seat he took on his very first night on the island 16 months ago. In this group, there are things that are common- everybody speaks Hebrew and everybody just got out of their military service. And in this group, I was the foreigner.
After dinner, we went back to the dive shop and all I want to do that night was to take a good shower. I was driving for 5 hours under the angry sun and the tropical humid makes me want to soak my body in cool water. Fresh water is a luxury in Malapascua. In this modern times, people here still fetch water from the well. The efficiency of delivering water here still lives 30 years ago. The dive shop, however, invests in a water system that makes the life in the shop a little bit easier. It has a 500L water tank that goes through a pump that delivers water to the different parts of the shop. When the water supply gets low, we’ll ask for someone to fetch water for us to put into the tank- which is a unique occupation on the island, by the way.
In the next few weeks, Malapascua will be my home.
My life’s rudder led me here and my love for diving is the wind that pushes me to do what I did. This alternative life is my reality at the moment. I’m excited about what’s ahead of me in the next following days.