Night diving again last night - this time a wreck MV Talada; photos to follow shortly. Amazing, as always. Saw 4 sea turtles, cuttlefish, large puffer, flounder, lobsters, crabs, shrimp... no sharks this time. was more graceful about my movement underwater and proud of the way I conserved air. I was a bit too panicky the first time therefore much less efficient. A fun thing happened in the middle: my light went out. This is a problem; it is pitch black without one. I stayed calm and tried to problem solve, but the bulb was out. I swam over to my buddy and showed him the issue. I could have hugged him when he produced a small spare from his BC! Obviously the first piece of gear I purchase back home will be a dive light.
This morning I promptly forgot that it was 8am and that I'd rather be in bed asleep once we continued the thoracic limb. My new friend David from Puerto Rico is just as excited about the hoof as I am. He's got a TB farm @ home. We broke out the hacksaw and bolt cutters and went to town on our leg/hoof. I was so excited and gleeful, they probably think I'm crazy. I went from subdued, waiting-for-the-coffee-to-kick-in state to ecstatic in about a minute. The other group members (cat person, dog, dog, blah blah) were yawning. David and I are going back later to continue the leg. Students no longer perform terminal surgeries here, so I won't be able to perform tenotomies as I had hoped, but there will surely be a Dr. Redden clinic in the future.
Finally a note on culture. Customer service is not a term or concept that exists here. And I forget that you should not assume anything, for instance that the ATM will always be in service. I am getting low on cash, so I wander over to the ATM on campus today. Out of order. Not cool. Also the mailroom lady is an excellent example of Kittitian attitude. They value neither your or their time. So upon showing my ID and asking for my mail, she grabs about half of the C stack and goes through it painstakingly slowly. Then looks up at me blankly without a word. I realize she is indicating that I have no mail. But there is an entire stack (the other half) that remains in the C box. ?!? I guess maybe next time she will arbitrarily pick up the other half?
1st exam on Monday; I'm looking forward to a pina colada and an hour swim today at Timothy Beach while the others play volleyball, then its hit the books all weekend long...
- bye for now -
lkc
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