As I wrote earlier, we’re now enrolled in the IDC starting in a couple of days. The IDC aims to the PADI Instructor Examination (IE), for which there are som prerequisites. First of all, you have to complete the IDC, have been a certified diver for at least six months and have 100 logged dives.

The original plan for us was to do our IDC in April, which would have given us more than enough time to do the required hundred. We both had some 30+ when we arrived and we’re somewhere around 80 right now. Given that the IDC starts in two days and I’m still overexhausted from last week, I’m going to have a hard time reaching the three-figure mark before IE.

Luckily, BSB is a 5-star Career Development Centre, which allows its instructor candidates to fulfill the requirements out of order. This means I can take the IE with only 60 dives, sail through it and do the remaining dives afterwards.

What a relief. Now all I have to do is stop telling myself that I should somehow match the performance levels of my beloved wife. I guess it’s an equality and pride thing for me to bring in as much competence as she does. Yes, yes, I know it’s stupid, but still something I need to work on.

In other news, we finally have to change our bike. The current one seems to have a bad alternator and a bit of cold start trouble, giving me leg cramps from all the kick starts. Let’s hope we get a better one as a replacement.

Tags: Blue Season Bali, diving, instructor internship, motorbikes, PADI IDC, PADI IE, stress, transportation

I have been very quiet for some time (again), because I really feel like I’ve taken one too many hits from the stress on this whole assignment. Although my anxiety as such does not feel so overwhelming anymore, the somatic symptoms prevail. Muscle ache, sleepiness (10 hours a night isn’t enough), sweating of palms and feet, being out of breath and gastrointestinal disorders could result from a number of things, but my best guess is a sort of anxiety disorder. I hope to know more on coming Friday after consulting a doctor.

In actual news, there has been some progress in the repatriation negotiations. I would love to give out more details, but there are so many company confidential ones I don’t want to take my chances. I hope it suffices to say that Corporation payroll will be missing one specialist by the end of this year.

I’d be jumping up and down from pure excitement if I was feeling well.

Tags: oh bugger, planning, sleep, stress, time, travel, why I wanted a change, work

Today I finally got the spectacles I’ve been waiting for, and they seem to work according to the first couple of hours. I went to the office to sort out the heaps of mail that had accumulated during the past seven weeks, just to find the minutes of the meeting I wrote about last week.

The TL had seen necessary to list every single absence of mine since I came here, just to “sum them up”. After the list there was an “input from TL” section, mostly like so:

We got a lot of comments for our work and it seems that not all the necessary elements have been there. We haven’t had enough support from you.

You have had a lot of absences and haven’t been in Bangalore enough.

…and so on.

Needless to say, the TL didn’t have the balls to admit what he was after with these comments. According to him, it’s only “stating what has happened”, but anyone with half a brain can see what he’s trying to achieve with his bullshit. I wasn’t going to feel guilty earlier, and I’m not going to start now. It’s just a bit difficult to stand my ground when accusations come from the person who assigns my tasks and evaluates my work performance. I am tempted to bring the issue up with upper management, but I’m not sure if I have enough grounds to raise a proper complaint.

So tell me: what the hell should i do with this situation?

Tags: let me know, morale, oh bugger, stress, what?, why I wanted a change, work

I needed some hard data on the causes of stress levels, so I did some math about last six months in my life. To be frank, the results were a bit terrifying.

Six months can be considered 180 days, or 26 weeks if you wish. On 92 days of those 180 I’ve lived in my own home, and for about 5 of those 92 days we were emptying and cleaning up the place. That said, I’ve lived 88 of the last 180 days on temporary accommodation, and the number is going up as I write.

But that’s not all of it. Taking into account that I can come up with 11 different places I’ve lived in this period (not counting my original home), I’m left with an average stay of eight days in each place. Take out travel days and the number is even lower – my flight hours alone come up to something like half a week since last December.

Throw in the dysfunctional circumstances of the country, dependence on other people and my need to take care of everything by myself, and it’s easy to see what’s wrong. I hope it gets better once I move in to the house and can finally settle down for a moment.

Tags: accommodation, hotels, oh bugger, stress, time

This morning was quite awkward and I was extremely happy when the E came to pick me up from DD. I felt like a trapped animal inside the apartment even though the conscious part of my brain is trying to say there’s nothing to be afraid of. It is easy to get paranoid in the middle of nowhere after such things happen.

My next move is to discuss budget issues with the Big Boss back in Oulu, get a decent serviced apartment close to the office and leave DD behind for good. I am even considering a hotel room for some days if suitable apartments can’t be found promptly.

I hope to get this thing resolved before Christmas holidays.

Tags: accommodation, diamond district, stress, what is different