or: Settling into the New Year

Happy New Year!

It’s that period of adjustment trying to remember to write the correct year whenever I write the date again. I’m yet to get it correct on the first go and here we are, the fifth day of a new decade and I write the date quite a bit too!

It’s that time where I also like to look back on my past year and plan a bit more of the current one.

The past year has been a massive period of change with moving countries and changing careers (though arguably this could even read “working again” since it has been awhile!) so I’ve already decided not to overcommit to anything for this coming year. 

I have no particular travel plans at this stage beyond one of the islands slightly off the coast of Mauritius which it’s possible to get to on a catamaran (Gabriel Island) and to go to Rodrigues which is another island off the coast and this one requires a flight. 

Otherwise I think I’m going to be staying local… at this stage… I know myself well enough by now to know that travel plans are quite fluid for me!

On the settling in front, I’m not feeling particularly settled at the moment.

My things are yet to arrive from Hong Kong as my resident permit for Mauritius isn’t actually in my hands as yet. I am allowed to stay in the country indefinitely however I need to actually have this permit before I can have my stuff put on the boat to come over as without it, I’ll be charged extra customs and who knows what else tax since I can’t declare these things as household items. 

What’s particularly frustrating is that when I applied for the permit, I was told it would take 3-4 months. 

In July 2019.

I’m concerned about chasing them for it as I don’t want my application to then go to the bottom of the pile and then have to wait even longer.

I’m thinking of politely asking for a status update instead since perhaps something was lost in the mail.

Otherwise I need to accept Island Time is even longer than what I thought!

I have enough clothes with me however I want this space to feel like my home and without some of my home things, it still feels like I’m about to travel somewhere again in the not too distant future. I’m not meaning Gabriel Island or Rodgrigues either. 

Since I expected to have my things by now, this is partly what’s adding to me feeling unsettled.

The diving side of things has been fantastic. Underwater here is spectacular and even on bad visibility days, we are generally still quite spoilt. 

I enjoy leading the dives and teaching others about the underwater world and how to dive. It’s a lot of fun for me though can be quite tiring at times too.

I’m fortunate to be able to do this and not a day goes by where I don’t appreciate that I’m here and able to.

I also enjoy improving our online presence and this will be getting better and better as I learn more too. 

I’m enjoying the learning aspect of it as well as implementing what I’m learning and then seeing results. No surprise that I find this rewarding as most people find the same process rewarding whatever they apply it to.

My challenge on the diving side is more how the office space works and the dive planning as they are methods that I am still having to adjust to given the conversations when things change are in Creole and my understanding is still limited (this is something I’m working on as well as improving my understanding of French). Sometimes I’m not around when they have these conversations either so I’m not aware that there has possibly even been a change.

This means I need to continually ask what I need to do since plans change and I’m not updated unless I ask. 

It’s a frustrating way to work and I have asked if they can tell me instead of me having to chase or to write on the whiteboard we all use for dive planning however this doesn’t seem to be their preferred method of working. They prefer I chase. 

I’m putting it down to a cultural aspect because if I was asked every 15 minutes or so if the plans had changed, I’d get frustrated and would write on the board or just tell the person when it happened. That way everyone would stay up to date and there would be minimal interruptions. 

It would also avoid communication gaps and any misunderstandings.

It’s a good reminder that not everyone thinks the way I do and that I need to be more flexible.

It’s also a good reminder to focus on the things I can control rather than those I can’t and then just go with it.

Sometimes these reminders can be tiring.

I’m planning a year with a few less reminders required.

Now to figure out how…

 

Thanks to Capital Cities for the title to this post.