Every time I do these monthly roundups, I can’t believe how long I’ve been away. ELEVEN MONTHS! WOAH! Hard to believe when I arrive in Canada next month I’ll have been away for a year. To be honest, I didn’t actually think I’d make it here this long. It’s crazy and I’m still so proud of myself for deciding I wanted to move down here and be a dive instructor…and now I’m doing it.
So what went down this month:
- I did a guest interview with my friends at 20 Years Hence – go take a read if you’ve ever wondered about my thoughts on everything edible!
- My streak of good luck continued underwater with sightings of wild dolphins and hammerhead sharks, and finding a GoPro Hero 3
- Move number…uh….4? 5? Not sure… I decided it would be better for my mind, wallet and liver if I moved out of town to chill out for awhile. Good luck struck again and I got a sweet housesitting gig!
- Cubicle Throwdown finally got a Facebook page and Poseidon will strike you down with his trident unless you go ‘like’ it 🙂
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| as usual for roundups – gratuitous diving photo of myself, thanks sarah |
Now for my new feature in roundups – the coolest thing I’ve seen on the internet this month. For month 11, this award is going to Thug Kitchen! If you’re offended by bad language (and if you are, haven’t you fucking noticed how much I swear on my blog?) this isn’t for you. But this is by far the funniest thing ever. This dude mad hustles some badass vegan recipes with the most hilarious shit written on the photos and in the descriptions, all while showing people vegan doesn’t have to equal boring. Check it out!!
To all those near and far, long distance high five. You rock. Thanks for being a part of 11 months of absolute craziness.
Remember you can see all of my monthly roundup posts by clicking the “roundup” tag below!
Right on, man. I just moved to Korea in June and time has been flying by. How long does it take to get the certifications necessary to work as a dive instructor? I've thought about getting certified in Thailand and teaching it. Any tips (or posts I should read)?
Hey Tim, have you done any certification courses?? I'm a PADI instructor…it depends where you want to teach. In Thailand SSI is a bigger organization than PADI. For PADI, the first course is Open Water, it takes 4-5 days, then Advanced Open Water 2 days, then you need 20 logged dives to start EFR & Rescue next that's 4-5 days and then you need to have 60 logged dives to start a divemaster internship which takes anywhere from 6-10 weeks working in a dive shop and learning skills from your mentor, and assisting on courses and guiding dives. It's a ton of work but really valuable. Before you can start your instructor course you have to have 100 logged dives and be a certified diver for at least 6 months. The instructor course is about 2 weeks and culminates in a two day exam. The entire process costs about $4000-5000 and that's on Roatan, one of the cheapest places in the world to do it. If you expect to work as an instructor, 99% of the time you need your own gear which can run from $1000-$5000 as well. It is not for the faint of heart (or wallet), but it's a pretty amazing job. Email me if you have any more questions!
Also, where are you in Korea? One of the instructors at our shop just left to teach diving in Busan for the summer…if you're anywhere near there let me know and I'll put you in touch with him!
11 Months! Rock on! Time flies around here (sometimes) doesn't it?? Thanks for sharing the pics I took. We're about due for some new ones. Preferably with a hammerhead backdrop!
Sometimes sooooooooo slow and sometimes way too fast. I'm still hoarding the ones you took, doling them out one at a time in my roundups 🙂 We should definitely do it again!! I'll work on the hammerhead 😉
Congrats! High five return!
Thanks Colleen! High fives all the way in Mongolia 🙂