Many of you already know of the latest developments in my life. For the rest of you: I have ended the relationship with Jan completely and permanently. I can’t tell you why without being accused of disloyalty or “washing dirty laundry in public”, so let me just say that I had plenty of extremely good reasons to run.
I am overwhelmed by the support of my family and friends throughout the past 2 years – even though most of them have never been in this kind of situation, their empathy, understanding and patience together with online self-help groups are what have given me the strength I needed to finally end the relationship.
Now it’s time to get back on my feet and stop feeling like a naïve, gullible, romantic idiot. I need to get my self esteem back, I need to look to the future and most importantly, I need to get back the spark in my eyes. How does one do that, you ask? Well, I’m going to spend the next 2,5 months with my family and friends in Denmark and Norway. I’m leaving in less than a week and am already soooo excited. I haven’t been “home” in 3 years, so it’s about time!
There is no doubt in my mind that I’ll return to Thailand with spark, self esteem and ready to rock ;) Oh, maybe that answers the other question I’m getting………yes, I am returning to Thailand in September to continue working for the M/V Oktavia.
Our season ended 1st May and let me assure you it was tough! We have a fantastic and unique product, but this was the first season running the boat directly, so there were quite a few things to do – routines to be established, evaluated and changed. The whole administration had to be built up from scratch and of course we didn’t want to start with too high fix costs for staff, so we all worked really hard.
Considering the global financial situation and the fact that it was our first season, we have every reason to be happy and proud. We did better than expected – but of course not as well as we hoped ;) The new mantra is……….next season, everything will be much easier/better/nicer :D I have absolutely lovely colleagues and “owners”, so I’m really looking forward to next season.
My brother, Torben, came for a week’s visit in April. We went on "my" boat 3 days and had time for a bit of touristy activities as well :) It was great to be able to show him “my world” – which is apparently very different from the images in his head; I think he was relieved to see that I am not a dive bum hanging out on the beach every day getting drunk at 11 am ;) He’s returning in December with his partner, my nieces, nephew and niece-in-law – the “kids” (hm, not sure I’m allowed to call them that) are going to do their open water course with me; gives them a chance to find out I can be strict and demanding as well :0
My brother, Jacob, is a diver - as are my niece, Bodil, and her husband; you may remember they visited me on Saba. Diving with family is so very cool; it even beats playing Monopoly at family gatherings ;) Unfortunately, Torben doesn’t dive anymore, but we snorkeled in the Similans and had a lovely hour at Koh Bon with 3 manta ray encounters. Huh, welcome to my office :D
Sadly, a combination of work, permanent illness, and relationship issues meant I didn’t spend as much time with my friends as I’d like…….that, too, will be different next season. First step is to spend a couple of days with Debs on Phuket before I fly to the cold countries :D
All in all, I’m on my way out of the deep, black hole and am fortunate and lucky to have marvelous friends and family, who not only catch me when I fall but also help me back onto my feet, Everything will be O K :D
Take care lovely people, until next time…….
Your Karin / QoW xxx
