Life is Dahab has been fairly uneventful. Work has been very slow, and way too many days have been spent in the shop surfing the internet. So we have been looking into our other options.
When we first came started at Octopus divers, we met this group of Americans that were doing some diving. Most have moved on or gone back to Alexandria (they are all studying there), but two have been sucked into the Dahab lifestyle. Laura is a 19 year super genious. No really. She won't tell you, but you can put it together from the peices of her life. She quit school at around 16, never receiving a diploma, but was accepted into university. Now she is taking a year doing a program in ALexandria (she speaks arabic and hebrew) and turns out next October, she has already been accepted into a Masters program in Archeology at....OFXORD! Yes, 19 and accepted to Oxford. But she is very humble and most of this information was leaked to me by Tom.
Tom is also in the program. He is an Air Force kid who has moved around a lot. He just finished studying Arabic at a university in Texas. He is a Lader Day Saint, who has spent a couple years a while back as a missionary in Brazil. He has 8 brothers and sisters, but only one mom :). He is a funny guy, plagued by constant kidney issues. He told me a funny story yesterday about how he had some kidney stones before he left. They started acting up when he got here, and he saw a doctor in Alixandria. The doctor expamined him and gave his diagnosis...Blue Balls. Hilarious! And not only that, he prescribed some medicine and told him to go the pharmacy and get a testical supporter. hehehe. What on earth is a testical supporter? No one knows, and I think Tom just went with the medicine.
Anywho, so these guys are now doing some diving with Divers Down Under (our boss refused to give them a good price). Jimmy and I know the guys at Divers Down Under, because we stayed a few days at Seven Heaven, the adjoined hostel. It's a very chill place with a nice backpacker feel, but not the annoying partying that hostels in other place have (Dahab is not the place for nigthlife). We have been out with all them a few times to have some sheesha (water pipe with flavored tobacco Mom just in case you thought it was something else), and celebrate our friend Mohammed's Birthday party. It was fun. We hang mostly at the Funny Mummy. Its a reastaurant and sheesha cafe. Its not really any different than anyother place. They all serve a mix of local and western food. Have a no or few proper tables. Its all rugs and cushions and low coffee tables. All right on the water, all with a view of the mountains of Saudi Arabia across the the Gulf. A nice place to chill.
During his party, Mohammed wowed us with his tricks. He can set 7 objects and have two people touch one object each for 5 seconds. He will turn around. Then he waves his hand over the objects and can tell you which ones were touched and who touched them. The trick with knowing which objects were touched by feeling the heat that is coming off. THen he can tell who touched by looking at people's faces. He says they all have their special tells. It sounds simple, but other people tried it, and its not that easy at all. He used to practice for 3 years back in Jordan, where he's from.
So back to the job situation. Mohammed was saying he would like to hire some new instructors and after talking, me and jimmy decided why not. Our shop is dead. And the boss and co workers are starting to get on our nerves. So i am leaving as soon as I get paid. Divers Down Under is one of the busiest shops in Dahab, but Mohammed is the manager, and it has a laid-back backpacker feel. You only teach backpacker clients and its just a much nicer place to work. Plus, we could make up to twice as much. And, no more shop hours. When we have students we work, when we don't we are free.
But, before I forget, I have to mention the camels in my pool. So JImmy and I were enjoying our normal lunch of Koshary ( rice, pasta, tomato sauce, lentils, chickpeas and fried onion, all for 60 cents), when we see two camels run down the street. No one was riding them, no one was behind them just 2 camels. Hmmm we thought, that's unusual, even for Dahab. Then about 3 hours later we were sitting in the shop and we saw two camels run past us into the resort. Oh S*&^, we thought, and ran out. We were just in time to see them both take a flying leap into the pool. We couldn't believe it. All the staff and many of the guests were gathered around watching these two camels swim laps in the pool. They got in, but couldn't get back out. Finally some staff jumped in, and managed to usher them to the shallow-end, but they still couldn't get them out. Finally they got a wooden board and put it under one of their back legs. Then they lifted the front legs over the edge of the pool. It looked so painful for the camels, they were screaming and crying. THey were being pushed and pulled, screaming the whole time, but eventually they got out. They were a bit shaken, but after a few moments they regrouped and trotted off to the road and then broke into a sprint up the street. God only knows what other adventures they got into. It was by far one of the highlights of my life.
So, now, I am hoping to switch shops and enjoy myself a bit more here in Dahab. All work and no play makes Tracy a cranky girl.
