Update, update, update...

Saturday
23:13 hours
Canteen
Four Seasons Resort Maldives

If you’re wondering why I start off my entries with date and time, it is NOT for the benefit of the audience, it is for my OWN reminder. Ha! You pretty much lose track of time and date here, it’s just the entire environment of being here and now, not caring about the world.

And of course a little drama that I try to evoke, from what I watched in ‘The Last Samurai,’ where Tom Cruise’s character, Captain Algren, starts off his journal entries with the season and year. Disgusting. HAHAHA!

Anyway, I just ended my second call to my family back home so a big shout out to them Hayashi-s! And HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUMMY!

*‘Lin’ in Japanese, is read as Hayashi, and my ‘Thye Kwee,’ suddenly becomes Dai Ki, so much cooler than the predecessor that has brought me much teasing since my childhood, not that it bothered me much. Ha. How I found out is courtesy of my dear friend, Hitoshi Yamaki-san. Just never got around to penning it down.

Hayashi Daiki. Kakuii yo.

It’s been a long, long time since I blogged I suppose and after my phone call with them I realise how much people have not been hearing for me so here goes..

Maldivian wedding
I attended a Maldivian wedding on 24 November. HA! I remember getting the call from Melanie, asking if I was interested and I was like, “WOO-HOO! MALDIVIAN WEDDING!”

How often do you get to experience a wedding of another culture? I quickly rushed for dinner from my housekeeping hut and got changed into something decent looking, you’d see in the pictures on Facebook soon enough, and met Melanie who looked very nice, like for the first time I thought, “MEL’S A LADY!?” HA!

Anyway, it was 9.30 p.m. and we had to meet our Maldivian friend, Manaf, who’s just really a clown in a human shell, at that time but there was no way to reach him so we proceeded to the neighbouring island Bodu Huraa on our own, hoping to find the way.

Soon enough after landing on the island he yelled out our name and he escorted us to the wedding. He quickly let us in that it was his friend’s wedding and that guy was what about 23?

When you look at the pictures you’d understand pretty much how I felt. Ha. It was just a very interesting emotion, or mixture of them; happiness for the couple, surprised as it was my first time and I guess the entire mood of things, it was just very much my kind of place, a happy place.

It’s pretty similar to a Malay wedding back in Singapore where we hold them in void decks, except that it’s held in a plain field, and they make up for the lack of elaborate furnishings with resources from nature, leaves and flowers from the island itself.

The couple pretty much stood together for the whole evening taking pictures with everyone who wished to had it taken. There was a French photographer, he actually came here and fell in love with the place, with a Maldivian girl, became a Muslim and still lives happily in Bodu Huraa.

Kinda amazing don’t you think? The girls were thinking he must be out of his mind but I suppose because of where he came from, the tranquillity and peace here is so much more appealing.

There was a buffet, a drinks and dessert counter, and people pretty much find their own spot and mind their own business. Maldivians are essentially non-expressive, even though the Maldivians I work with are pretty much crazy and friendly, a result of working in a company with such a strong culture.

We didn’t spend too long in Bodu Huraa, neither at the wedding. Nimaal, another friend of ours in housekeeping, took us on a walk and we just talked about everything under the sun, taking in the night sky, which is just dazzling with stars. No high-rise building blocking the view, no highways.

Housekeeping
I’d just like to share a day in housekeeping when it was raining heavily down on us.

The weather is pretty consistent here in the Maldives and when it’s about to rain, you can really see the dark clouds carried over here by the winds. Before the day it rained, we’ve been having pretty cloudy days and it was kinda expected that it would be raining soon though I was keeping my fingers crossed it never would.

The nightmare had to happen in the EVENING, and on that day it was just really our luck, my trainer and I, we had SEVEN rooms and of which a few were not serviced in the morning. Can you imagine, we normally have to carry our bags of linen, trash, a bucket with chemicals for cleaning, our dust mop and broom, and now we had to hold on to a freaking umbrella while our clothes were gradually SOAKED!?

It was quite the experience, AMAZINGLY REFRESHING I must say. Ha! Looking back it really was refreshing, something different really perks me up.

Anyway, right now I’ve been cleaning rooms on my own all week, and my experience cleaning rooms alone has changed my perspective a little, that you get a lot more guest interaction cleaning rooms than possibly interacting with the guest upfront at the reception.

I have had guests ask me for my name, asking me how I was each day I cleaned their rooms, and a couple that has been nothing but friendly and warm towards me, offering me sweets while I cleaned their room and today they had a short chat with me, asking me how old I am and everything else. Then again it all depends on the guest, how open they are to a conversation. ☺

Well this interesting Anglo-Indian couple since they arrived has been talking to me non-stop, and for once they made me feel reserved. Ha. Well today they asked me how old I am, how long I’ve been here and all. So I shared with them my internship and they were really surprised.

Gentleman “It’s really good for you, coming here at 19, I mean looking back it never would have happened, coming to the Maldives alone at 19.”

Me “Why not?”

Gentleman “It just never would have happened.”

Lady “I would be crying for my mommy everyday.”

They are born and bred in England and I suppose they come from wealthy families. But honestly, I really don’t think much about packing my bags and leaving, they really had me thinking if it was that much of a hurdle coming here alone. Ha.

Maldivian families
I remember one night when I was sitting in my room watching tv, my room mate Sahir, came back and we just started talking randomly. He shared with me that he has a girlfriend in Male and about his aspirations to own his own business and let money work for him. Good on you mate!

He also let in to me about his ex-girlfriend, a German lady, who came here on training and how she helped arrange for his visa, accommodation and even found him a job there, for them to be together.

It never happened because his mother actually called the police and he was stopped at immigrations, and they told him his mother forbade him from going and was crying for him to return.

Which brings me to my point, family ties in the Maldives.

He told me that there is no way that he could have left his crying mother and father, who brought him up, taught him well and gave him so much love that he could never have wished for. Until today, when he returns home during his vacation, which is hours away by speedboat, his dad or mum would sit with him until he falls asleep, talking to him and giving him some good advice about life, much like they did telling stories when he was a kid.

And I really am touched by this story, of how strong family ties can be. His parents are now no longer working and simply enjoying life as their seven kids are supporting them and this is pretty much the way it is in the Maldives.

People fall in love, have families of their own, build their own homes, and shower their kids with love and support, and their kids naturally reciprocate when they’re grown. A retirement plan? Possibly, but I think people generally enjoy having a family and flesh and blood here has a whole new meaning from what it is in Singapore.

Diving!
I finally logged 3 dives on my last off day, which was last Monday!

I was talking to Chika-san the night before and telling her that I have an impromptu off day the next day and wondering if she could fit me in for diving and she told me there was no guests. In my disappointment I just said oh well, seems like I’d never dive here, and she was stunned.

“You mean you haven’t dived yet?”

“Nope.”

“Okay no problem, tomorrow I talk to Ben and we go to house reef, I’d take you there.”

WOOHOO! It was a really nice gesture on her part.

I was also telling her about the deaths of our national dragonboaters, my condolences to their families and may they rest in peace, and she was telling me how her boyfriend’s bestfriend just died in the dumbest way possible, all wet and trying to connect a live wire on a speedboat after diving. When the grandmother found out, she passed away of shock the following day.

Okay sad news aside, I had the best dives I could possibly have ever.

Oh, oh! There was once when I went surfing, I was just sitting on the board and a MANTA RAY just glided past me on the surface of the water gracefully. That was simply out of the world! I’ve yet to see them underwater so I’m looking forward to diving at Manta Point.

It’s been months since I got my dive license and here I am diving in the last paradise on earth. My buoyancy control is a lot better, I can dive literally upside down, just floating in the waters, I could descend properly with two kilos, stay underwater for a comfortable 45 mins with one tank.

I was also telling Aisyah Z, after my dive, that I made a realisation during the dive.

People go diving, hoping to see some rare creature, or in my case, sharks, which I did, but it’s never about what you see, it’s about what you don’t see.

Sounds a bit philosophical so let me explain.

The beautiful thing about diving, that I feel is so addictive, it is everything that being on land isn’t. It is just you, being only conscious of your equipment like your oxygen levels and making sure you don’t go too deep, and nature. There is this sense of peace, sense of clarity, this incredible sense of being, not having a care in the world, and just appreciating all there is around you.

I was out there looking out for sharks, when for a moment, when I was so busy trying to control my breathing and buoyancy, trying to avoid hitting the reefs, that I just stopped worrying about everything, and I just focused on being there, being 18 metres below sea level, appreciating all that is around me.

It was then I felt so much at peace, that for the first time ever, I was diving with absolute clarity of what I was seeing.

Stills sounds a bit chim yeah? LoL. Let me simplify it a little.

In love, when so often people look out for that ideal partner, that focus causes them to not see what is around them, that perhaps that ideal partner was there all along, if they would only open their eyes.

In ballroom dancing, when so often I become so conscious of technique, I forget that dance is about freedom, expression and having fun, the dance looks robotic and suddenly when I let loose and let the music take over, the dance looks so much better and I come up with moves I never dreamt I would have, than when I was overly-conscious of my moves.

It is about what you do not see, so I challenge all of you to open your eyes to all there is around you.

City Boy VS Island Boy
To end off this entry, I think it’s good enough to last another week or two, ha! I will come to my dilemma of life as a city boy, versus life as an island boy.

Every now and then, I wonder what it will be like to return back home in Singapore.

Here, I do not worry about the food I eat because even though the selection is not the most appetizing, I do not cook my meals, neither do I do the dishes, and it absolutely fulfils my nutritional requirement.

There is a gym that is usually empty for my use everyday at my doorstep. I can wear the same clothes everyday without a care of what people might think because this is a self-sufficient island. I also realise I do not value having a home, because to me a house is essentially a place to sleep and shower. I would much prefer to make everywhere my home and make the ground I sleep on my bed, and the sky my blanket.

I just go to work every morning and after six days, I get my off day which is at my disposal, I can choose to dive, surf, and not pay, or just do nothing at all. The only thing I worry about is laundry and it’s not much to worry about considering I wear the same stuff everyday and uniforms are provided. I could really get used to this.

When I return, to eat like I do now, it will cost me much time and effort. To wear the same stuff everyday would be dreadful and socially unacceptable and it’s definitely going to cost to look good. The gym’s going to cost me money at every visit and then again if I were to sign up for a long-term membership, I'm not sure I'm up for visiting everyday when I have to wait for equipment and bring my gear and spare clothes to change. >.<

Diving will cost me hundreds a pop over a weekend, including a long ride up to Malaysia at a lousy resort. Surfing will be skimming in Singapore and they are just two different activities in itself.

I really wonder how things are going to change when I get back home, and somehow I am afraid of losing this vision I have, of travelling the world, calling every home, and making Singapore only a stopover point once in a while. I do not yearn for a degree much like my peers, I do not care for riches nor climbing up the corporate ladder, many of the things that has meaning to most people means nothing to me.

I want to travel, I want to experience different cultures, I want to learn other languages, I want to live among other cultures, I want to work with other cultures. Best if the company provides my lodging and food, just like here. ☺ Preferably in a hotel or resort.

The one thing I value most is freedom and Singapore just doesn’t have enough of it, not for me.

01:14 hours