It was a bit quiet around the blog for the last 4 weeks. The reason for that is, I was working on my own company!
Yes, we are 3 of us now opening our own Swim School with licence!
"We" means, me (of course), my partner Karim and our friend Elke. We have been busy the last weeks with creating the homepage of Ocean Explorers Academy, we have been sitting to discuss how and when to start, have had many days of planning and chatting about what everyone of us wants.
So we agreed and we start with the Swim School. In addition to that, we have the Mermaiding included.
Now we are going around to the hotels to make deals with them and we try to get famous around Sharm el Sheikh to get bookings for the swimming lessons.
If you would like to support us, please go through our website and social media and give us a constructive feedback about it! If you have experience in things like SEO or how to make better social media posts, let us know!
Any other idea or support would be great. The point is, we start now a business in a really hard time but yet we believe in our success. But you will never be successfull without the people around you ;-)
I will publish the further steps of our adventure as soon as there's a little time to breathe in between...
Today I would like to give you an insight in a part of my work (it doesn't really feel like work, but yet it's called so) :-)
Last winter I finished my "Mermaid Instructor" in Sharm el Sheikh and since I'm practicing more on my skills and movements. In between I would say I'm on a good level with all of that, as well with the photography to catch my students.
Please enjoy this video of Jacky and me that we were shooting the last 2 days in a local Hotel that allowed us to use the equipment and the cameras. Our cameras are great, the photos are cool but we need more practice with filming :-) Anyway, it was soooo much fun to do these shootings and we hope to repeat this soon!
The Try Mermaid is a beginners program where you learn to use the Monofin and movements without a tail or skin. After completing this program, you can continue with the Mermaid, Ocean Mermaid or the Model Mermaid courses. All of them give you more specific info and training with additional equipment and skills. Every of these programs or courses are including a digital recognition or certification card.
She fell in love with a tiny turtle I was crocheting and she asked me how to do it. Unfortunately there's some practice necessary and this was the inspiration for my next video.
I show you how to do basic crochet animals, in this video especially a whale.
It is an easy pattern to learn the main stitches of crochet animals and gives you a good practicing exercise :-) Next week we will go for modifications and color changes!
The written pattern you will find here and as well on my "pages" section.
This weeks topic was chosen in our community, a group on Facebook around my blog.
It seems like you guys like silly stories, so I will share a special one with you today.
First I need to explain you something about myself. I'm awkward, clumsy as it's explained in the dictionnary! I can fall down while standing, I can cut myself with a spoon, so get ready for some laughters :-)
Let's start with from the beginning.
I was working on the beautiful island of Fuerteventura, located in the Atlantic Ocean where you can encounter some really nice stuff!
Something very special to find there are the "Angelotes", Angel Sharks, an endangered species of flat, ray-like Sharks. They are the most beautiful creatures I know! They have the name from a move they make. They cover themselves in the sand and when they start to swim away the have a "cloud" of sand behind them that make their pectoral fins look like large angel wings. Have a look at them:
I'm really fascinated about them, they are just unusal und their patterns are stunning.
Fuerteventura is a volcanic island but quite flat (also underwater) what makes tit a perfect nursery for the Angel Sharks. The topography is simple, sand and rocky plateaus and shelters :-)
Nevertheless it has a variety of marine life there that makes it worth to dive down and explore. Because of the sandy ground, it is also a preferred spot for Torpedo Rays (Marbled Electric Ray).
So I was in the Dive Center one morning, as usual, preparing the forms for the guests and there was this one guy with his camera that didn't want to join from the boat as he knew that entering from the shore gives you more variety on the dive on our big reef (Veril Grande), escpecially with the camera.
So I took him and I grabbed my torch that all the colors appear at deeper depths. It was such a beautiful day with stunning light underwater and we decided to stay in a depth around 20 meters on top of the plateau
Big reef, front view
So as we were diving around, looking for nudis and flatworms i recognised some shape under a rock, thinking it was a Torpedo Ray
Torpedo Ray, hidden in the sand
I pointed my torch on it, turned around to my buddy and wanted to inform him about my encounter, still pointing the torch down.
Suddenly I've felt a pain in my hand. I was shocked and didn't realise what was going on! Had a look down and saw my torch laying next to an Angel Shark... I turned back to my buddy and the only thought I had in this moment was: DID HE CATCH THAT ON CAMERA?
Unfortunately he was filming some Barracudas in the same moment and just swam by after he heard me screaming :-))
So there's no video proof of the bite, I'm sorry that I don't have this footage available for you... Here's a video where you can see the Angel in slow motion:
He asked me if I'm fine and I was checking my hand. Nothing special, some scratches on the skin and that was it. So I grabbed my torch in front of the Angel Sharks head, asked my buddy about the remaing air and we decided to turn back to the exit point. There was no pain, no weird feeling, just nothing left from the bite. Until we reached our safety stop depth on 5 meters. Slowly we have been covered in a brownish cloud and we were wondering if the wind changes and the current is bringing particles that are usually found in shallower depths.
He pointed on my hand and then we realised that due to less pressure in shallower depths, I was bleeding like crazy. This time I saw that this little scratches in 20 meters suddenly appeared to be open and deep wounds. Still no pain ar any other feeling at this time in my hand, just wondering...
So we finished our safety stop, went back up to the surface, took our fins off and started to walk back to the parking (around 400 m over sandy beach). We crossed some other divers that were on the way to start their excursion and they asked if the Angels are around. My buddy just replied with a dry "yes and they are in cuddling mood". Everyone was laughing and each group continued to walk until one guy of the other group turned around and startet to shout something about "blood" and "someone needs help" and things like this. We also turned around and noticed, that I left a bloody trail all over the beach :-)
My hand started to be swollen and I felt the pulse now in every finger. It started to hurt slowly and I began to feel a bit dizzy. I guess the shock was over and the adrenaline disappeared.
I grabbed my T-Shirt from the van and put it around my hand and my colleague (she was waiting for us in the parking) was nearly blacking out (she doesn't like blood). That was a drama during our 5 minutes car drive :-)
Back in the center, washing and desinfecting the wounds of course. As we had our medical box on the boat I improvised with cotton and insulation tape (cable tape)
I was 2 days outside of the water when I already started to freak out about the long dry period. I grabbed a silicone glove, taped it well around my wrist, put my diving glove on top and headed back to the water. It took several weeks until it was completely healed.
IMPORTANT:
- That the Angel Shark attacked me, was completely my own fault!! First of all I pointed a torch towards marine life's face, in the eyes. Don't do that ever. Point the torch next to the animal, you still catch it in the beam.
- Don't blame sharks in general! They are indispensable for our ecosystem under water! They eat the trash, the sick, the dead and the injured fish (or birds) and avoid them to spread necromanitc bacteria and parasites through the water.
- Don't take it as easy as I did, if you got stung or bitten or scratched by marine life, go and see a doctor. It can happen that there are remainings inside the wound that can cause infections. If this would happen to me again, I would go straight to the hospital.
- Don't blame any animal for your wrong interaction and behaviour! Mostly you know you're doing something wrong, just leave it ;-)
And here are some more photos for you:
Enjoy the diving on Fuerteventura with this video here, taken from one of my former guests (and yes, the diver with yellow fins is me)
Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed this story!
Let me know what other topics you are interested in!
Today my and partner and me are showing you how to do Kanafeh, a traditional dessert that is mostly eaten during the holy month of Ramadan. There are many different variations and styles as it is a dessert that is made in different regions and countries. Every country has a specific creation and different ingredients they use.
My partner is Egyptian, he was born in Alexandria and he likes Kanafeh a lot. We tried different variations of the Egyptian style and we decided that we like the "not so sweet" version (without syrup) the most and this one we would like to present you here in the video:
Today I would like to talk about a few books I love, the comics (not the children edition).
It's this kind of book that you don't want to give away as you are reading them over and over again :-)
Ralf König was born in 1960 in Soest/Westfalen, Germany. In the beginning of the 80ies he became the most famous comic designer in the German speaking gayscene. Many of his comics have been translated in different languages and some of them were even released as movies.
Gay comics is not the typical niche for comics but he's authentic and funny and he has also other stories he released as comics like my favourite trilogy:
Protoype (Prototyp, Prototipo): Adam and the Snake, Allegory of the Cave, Fall of Men
Unfortunately, this trilogy was not translated to english until now. But still, there are several comics available in english like "The Killer Condom" or "Bulls Balls".
I like his unique style and the sarcasm that can be found in each and every of these books. Escpecially these ones about the gay scene are so authentic (as Ralf König is gay himself) and are giving us an interesting view from the other side.
Today I have as well a small recommendation for you:
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Enjoy me seeing baking a Swiss Braided Bread, with all my struggles (like not having enough hands) and pronouncing mistakes :-) I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did. Written step by step recipe and guide
So here we go:
Please leave me feedback about my first video, let me know what you liked and what not so I can improve myself for the next time!
Find the links here in case you would like to order one of the items I'm using:
If you are going to use the provided links, you are going to support me and my blog. Nothing will change for you, not the articles and not the price but I'm receiving a tiny commission on the sale. If you feel like I'm worth it, go for it ;-)
Until today I didn't really do much on this blog apart from updating my qualifications but I would like to change that!
So I decided to start with that today :-)
My first post will be a short introduction about myself and the interest I have, so you know what you can expect on this site.
My name is Anita, I was born in 1985 and I did an apprenticeship as commercial clerk in a big electronics company. After this I was working in a venetian blind production company where I learned many different things from customer service, montage, accounting, machine revision, hydraulics and pneumatics and many things more. It was also the time where I started diving in the lakes of Switzerland. Soon I figured out that this is exactly what I want to do for a living so I continued in that sector until I was able to live from it :-)
Now I am an Assistant Instructor Trainer, this means I can teach courses up to Assistant Instructors and I can teach each and every Specialty Course on Instructor level that I have (quite a few, check them out on my mainpage).
I am also an official Mermaid, a dream that I realised as I wanted to be one since my first cinema visit of "Disney's The Little Mermaid".
So apart from diving (main income) and mermaiding I have some other interests that I will talk about on this page.
Of course I have a strong interest in the marine life around me, it is just nice and interesting to identify the animal around you and learn facts about it!
Sticking with animal, I like all the animals, doesn't matter what. There's only one I really hate from deep inside: the mosquitoes. I don't see a sense in them apart from stealing my sleep and make me look sick with all the red dots...
Something completely different, music and movies / TV shows. I have different interests and expectations on these, from very interesting up to complete nonsense. But still, some of them are responsible for my interest in Mythologies, especially the Celtic and the Greek one. What leads me to another topic: Games
Any kind of games! Boardgames, games on the PC, tablet, Playstation, Nintendo, Pub Quiz and so on, I like to try them all!
Apart from these main topics, there are some secondary things I do regurarly like reading, handcrafting, upcycling, baking and cooking and gardening.
You will find posts about all these topics either written here, published as a video on my Youtube channel or as a post on Instagram or Facebook but of course I will connect all of the platforms so you can decide where you would like to follow up ;-)
I made it! A few months ago I decided to fly to Thailand to become an SSI AIT and I passed the seminar succesful. It was an unbelievable experience and I met many interesting personalities and got precious advises for my future. There was joy and dislike in the same moment during the training, disappointment and proudness simultaneously but it was totally worth it! I never learned so many different things before in that short time. Now I will continue my journey on a different level, with a different view and deeper knowledge. "Never stop learning, because life never stops teaching" A big thank you to everybody that supported and guided me in this time.
