November 3 - Thailand: Koh Tao
Dive Master in Training - Day #9
I have an ear infection.
It's one of the worst things that can happen to me during this last week of my DMT. I'm four dives short of my 60 dive requirement, and I still have another in-water skills circuit to complete. So I'm pissed off.
(Sorry, but I couldn't find any Clip Art for a real ear)
I took a Cipro as soon as I woke up and felt the pain, and then went down to the dive center with Jon to talk to Kate. She said that I shouldn't worry about it, and that I'll be back in the water in no time. Worst case is that I dive 4 dives in two days. As long as they're not deep dives I'll be OK.
Hanging Out
So I spent the morning running errands and laying around (not simultaneously, of course). I walked down to Ban's 2 to see the nurse for some ear drops. Unfortunately the sign on the door said she wouldn't open until 11:30. I went back to the room and waited for Jon to come back from the morning dive so we could get some lunch. He was assisting in and Advanced Open Water course with Mark.
He showed up at 12:30 and we went to AC's for Phad Thai. Then Jon walked me back to Ban's 2 to see the nurse, who did a little bit of poking and then gave me some antibiotic ear drops called Tarivid. She says that I'll be better in 5 days but I'm hoping for 2. We'll see.
Jon went with the other DMTs to finish the second skills circuit with Kate and I went back to the room to sit with drops in my right ear. What a pain in the tushie.
Night Dive
After the skills circuit, Jon came back up to the room and we chilled out for a while. Then it was time for the night dive for the Advanced Open Water course. I decided to go out on the boat with Jon and the gang just because I missed the water for a day. But I also wanted to do my "Emergency Plan" which is a requirement for the DMT. So I lugged the laptop out to the boat, and once everyone had gone under water I turned in on and got to work. Lin and Tom were enthralled with it. Tom pulled up a chair next to me and just sat and watched me type. Then Lin wandered over and did the same thing. I wasn't even doing anything exciting, but they were completely content to just sit and watch. When I started adding colors to it, I turned to Tom and said, "Blue or Yellow?" He thought about it, looked at me, and with a huge grin said, "Blue!" So blue it was. They hung out for a while watching me until the divers started coming back in. I put the laptop away and helped the divers put their gear away.
Back on land, I sat and talked with Juliette - one of the other DMTs for a while. She's going to Bangkok tomorrow to get certification to be an English teacher. But she recently wrecked her rented moped and had to pay 7000 Baht to the owners (about $160.00). So now she's low on money and isn't sure what to do. So we sat and talked for a while and then went into the bar to hang out with the gang. Jon was with some students from the Advanced class, and they decided to try some Japanese place for dinner. I wasn't really in the mood to go because my ear hurt so bad, so I went to bed and Jon went out until pretty late.