Saturday, August 22, 2009

A little comparison



I was just thinking about the difference in the diving conditions in the locations I have been living for the past 10 years. Here is a brief comparison!

Johnston Island
Walk to marina
Take very very short boat ride to dive site
as easy as it gets!!!




Marshall Islands
Ride bike with dive gear to marina
drive nice boat out to a variety of choices...literally hundreds of choices on where to go for GREAT diving!


Antarctica
Drive a "pisten bully" to a little hut
scrape fresh ice off the dive hole
descend down an ice tunnel
see penguins on the way home



When divers done, take extra clothes and jump in ice water just for fun!






Qatar
Drive SUV through sand dunes to dive site
Walk through trash
See wild camels on way home








Suprising things I have recently learned...


Wow, its been 3 months since I posted anything here....still in crazy Qatar, working and it seems like every day I learn something new that just about makes my jaw fall wide open.

Here are the most recent lessons learned:

  1. Some Muslim men don't shake hands with females! This was the first time I have ever encountered that.
  2. To some hardcore religous, its not ok to sit next to a Muslim guy if you are female....
  3. The standard wages for a live in maid to work 12 hours a day 7 days a week are: $202 per month!!
  4. Its very common for families to be arranging the marriages for their daughters.
  5. Its impolite to open a gift in front of the person who gave it to you!
  6. 64 ounces of Tide laundry detergent costs: $31.92
  7. Momma camels are very mean if the baby is nearby.
  8. A driver can actually refuse to drive females around and will put a sticker on his car if he wont take them.
  9. I was asked what religion I wanted the guy coming to fix the TV to be. I had to have them repeat that to me a few times. They wanted to know if its ok to send a Christian to fix the TV or should it be a Muslim. WOW! That one got me, I just said no matter to me...whoever knows how to fix the tv is fine.
  10. You can actually go to jail for eating or drinking in public during Ramadan.
and yes, I learned all of these (well not the jail bit) first hand and probably the hard/embarrassing way!!!

Here are a few recent pictures
Me the executive!!! who woulda thought...

JoJo on his very first ever ocean dive.
yes you sure can burn raviolis!


the awesome pool that's just steps from my office!!!Parking lot of the beach....nobody cares, they just throw their trash wherever!
Me and my new ride!!!

Momma & Baby CamelThe worlds most expensive laundry detergent!!