Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Spider spider on the wall...


Almost there…

Neil loves the bats and the spiders. On our arrival while sitting in the open aired airport cafeteria at 9 in the morning, in broad daylight he sudden dropped his yaw and asked, “Am I just tired or did I just see a bat the size of dog flying past in broad daylight..?” He has not stopped his fascination.

Neil is a great help. Thank heavens he has some electronic training too – we made short work of some faulty connections of the intercom and the magg switches on the plane.

Our accommodation this year is in the old Beau Vallon flats. They have been used on a yearly basis but mainly for the general staff, interns and volunteers for the program. Last year I moved into the top of these flat but it was just for the last half of the program period. (In the beginning I lived in luxury. Air-conditioning, satellite TV, washing and cleaning services. What happened to that?) The two of us have moved into the bottom right side of the units. It is a two bedroomed flat with a lounge, kitchen, shower-bathroom and a nice balcony. Four of us are staying here. Yes. Gareth and his girlfriend Laura has one room and Neil and I are sharing the other. Certainly nothing wrong with sharing but certainly nothing wrong with wanting your own bedroom too… It sure is taking some getting used to getting my mind back to the army days of sharing a room. Thankfully Neil is a gentleman. Even if he snores occasionally (he warmed me about it – I too warned him of being pelted with anything within arm’s reach at the time too!) but it seems to working out ok.

Upstairs we have Caiara, Abi and Jenny. Caiara and Abi are old-timers to the program – this year they are team leaders, while Jenny is new and one of the interns.

The interns went out on the boat on Friday morning for the first time. Would you believe they found three whale sharks!? They had a fantastic time by the sounds of it and have been on a real high ever since. On Saturday night we had our official welcoming bash at David’s house. As usual he excelled with a great feast. I loved the ice-cream and his special homemade chocolate sauce. Out of all the years in Seychelles I met another interesting person. Laura (I never got her surname) but she is doing some research into the socio-economic changes within the nature reserve areas of a few Indian Ocean Islands. And if that was not enough she turned out to be a balloonist (I’m sure there is a word for that?) What a grand time we had. Would you believe that Neil worked for a Balloon operator when he was 16 for 6 months, chasing around the country side for him and never even got to go for a ride once? Is life not just like that!?

Wish you were here..!
;)

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