Finally some news...

Time for the monthly update, and at least this time quite a lot has been happening...

crazy as it sounds, I'm now a fully qualified PADI Dive Instructor. It was a bit of a mad couple weeks to get there but managed it in the end. The first 10 days were an Instructor Development Course, which is basically to teach you how to teach. It was so strange being back in a classroom for hours on end, having to concentrate, and at times drove me nuts. It all went ok though, and the 5 of us on the course were all set to take the 2 days of exams straight after we'd finished. Until, 2 days before we finished we were told that because of an increased travel warning to Indonesia the examiner, who was coming from Australia, was unable to make it and the exams were cancelled. This wasn't really what we wanted to hear, but there was no budging them (large American organisation needing to cover their arse at all costs), but we were told we could travel to Malaysian Borneo where they were holding the same exams a few days later. Ridiculous as it sounded (Borneo is hardly close to Trawangan) that's what we all ended up doing. It was a bit like being on a school trip, although with no one to really organise us, but we managed it, somehow.

The exams themselves were horrible. I haven't had that butterfly feeling in my stomach for so many years now, and really didn't enjoy it. A mixture of written exams, water presentations and classroom presentations, they really got the old adrenaline pumping, but all went ok and everyone in our group passed. (It's actually pretty difficult to fail but that didn't make it any easier at the time).

As a treat to ourselves, and because we'd come all this way, we all decided we'd spend a few days diving in Borneo, at Sipandan Island, which is ranked up there in the Top 10 best places to dive in the world. Oh, it was so cool. We met Emma near there (funnily enough she hadn't fancied hanging around in some strange city while we stressed about exams) and were transferred by speed boat to our accomodation, not on the island but on a nearby converted oilrig. Slightly surreal, yes, but absolutely brilliant. For the next few days we did nothing but eat and dive, and the diving was just awesome. That combined with the relief of having finished the course made for a fantastic few days.

Next Emma and I took a slight (OK, big) detour on the way home to visit her brother in Thailand. We had an excellent 3 days with Richard, tried a bit of climbing, realised I much prefer being under the water and then headed off back to Indonesia. Meeting someone from Emma's life at home was a little weird - we've been together a good few months now but everything we know about each other comes from us. It was great, though, to put a face to Richard, and reassuring, in a way, to link our lives back to 'the real world'.

So the last few weeks have been pretty hectic but have also been amazing. They've also made me realise a few things:

• diving is the best sport in the world
• you can never see too many sharks and turtles
• I'm terrified of teaching my first course
• Indonesia is much nicer than Thailand
• I prefer being in one place to travelling around
• Emma hasn't been making stories up all these months, she really is from Devon, has 2 brothers, was a school teacher and is lovely

Tonight in Bali, saying goodbye to a friend of ours, Simon, then finally back 'home' to Trawangan tomorrow. It's been funny being away from there for 2 weeks, and has really reinforced what a great place it is. Only a month to go though before it's back to the Philippines, but then I think Malapascua is the only place that could be a rival to Trawangan for favourite places in the world.

In case I don't get round to it later, Happy Christmas to everyone. It's going to be so strange not being in England, but will be thinking of you all.