The test passed!

Today was the day for our theory class and final exam – and we all passed! The test was filled with multiple-choice questions, and it turned out we were allowed to chat a bit since our instructor didn’t mind our quiet murmurs. Since our first dive yesterday, I had been contemplating whether I should drop out of the course. The first dive went fine, but I could feel that I wasn’t really going to fall in love with the sport. I had absolutely no desire to put on the gear and jump back into the water again. I told our instructor that I wanted to stop. He couldn’t argue with me, of course, but he thought I should come along with the others in case I changed my mind. Our instructor, Henrik, would take Jan as his new buddy instead of me, which wasn’t a bad swap at all. On the boat heading out to the dive site, it was rocking quite a bit again. Jan started to feel a little seasick, but getting in the water usually helps, so he decided to dive. I stayed on the boat to take pictures of the others in the water and on the beach. In the evening, our instructor invited the whole group to his girlfriend's place for her birthday. We wanted to bring a gift but weren’t sure if his girlfriend was Thai or... After asking the owner of Big Fish about Henrik's girlfriend, we found out she was Thai. The owner also mentioned that we should bring a gift that could be part of the celebration; otherwise, there were no rules. Our group teamed up and bought flowers and a bottle of wine. Everyone in our group had rented motorbikes, so we zoomed over together to the party. The outside of Henrik's girlfriend's house was decorated with fairy lights for the celebration. People from all over the island were invited. We enjoyed some really good food: potato salad, grilled dishes, and Thai specialties. Later in the evening, there were fireworks. All the dive instructors had to cover their ears, as it seems that diving can be tough on the eardrums over time. Henrik and his girlfriend seemed genuinely in love with each other. There wasn’t a big age difference between them, so we got the impression that they were together because they liked each other, not just because he was European and had more money than she did.