COUNTRY: Maldives
PROGRAM: UniBreak Groups - University of Sydney
PROJECT: Teaching and swimming coaching
WRITTEN BY: Jessica Leigh Camilleri
Week one in the MALDIVES!
What an amazing first week! After over 20 hours of door to door travel we finally arrived in Thinadhoo very late at night. Ever since then we have not stopped sweating! Taking a tour of the island the next day was an eye opener, with us discovering that many of our expectations were exceeded.
We couldn’t believe that 6000 people actually live on this island and couldn’t figure out where they were all hiding!
After smashing two bottles of water each we finally came home and discussed how we would survive the next four weeks in such heat! However, we have powered through, completing a week of 6am coaching sessions as well as theory lessons throughout each day.
The best part of this experience has been the kids with their accepting and enthusiastic behaviour! We are still struggling to learn their unusual names, however they have our names down pat with all our signatures and dates of birth being recorded in their notebooks like we are famous or something!
When we are not teaching or being swamped with kids you can find us in the beautiful blue water, soaking up the sun in our long board shorts and rashies! The food has consisted of extreme spice and whole fish being served on our plates (eyes included!). But with only two people sick in the first week, and one visit to hospital we cant complain!
All in all, travelling in a group has been very fun and so has experiencing the Maldivian culture (both religion and relaxing lifestyle), but ask us how we feel in another three weeks and we might have a different view!
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