Arriving in the heat of Thinadoo

COUNTRY: Maldives
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT: Teaching; Sports Coaching
WRITTEN BY: Minna Featherstone

Three plane rides and one midnight speedboat later I finally arrived with six others at Thinadhoo, the island our group of fifteen would be living on for the next month together. After the first sleep in and drowsy introductions, Asad, our super friendly in-country partner took all of us out snorkelling on a small uninhabited island just off the coast of Thinadhoo.

For many of us who had just arrived in the small hours of the previous night, the short 2 minute walk from the guesthouse we are staying at to the boat waiting to ferry us away almost seemed too much to cope with. How could we imagine teaching and living and walking through this thick, sticky heat for an entire month? As soon as we hopped on the boat and climbed onto the deck above, we were hit by a cool reassuring sea breeze that stayed with us until we arrived at our destination, jumping into the crystal clear water straight from the deck of the boat, close to gorgeous coral reef to snorkel in before the shore.

When we reached the island we were treated with a delicious feast of spicy fried rice, freshly caught barbequed fish and cold milos. On the boat trip back dolphins chased our boat and returning to Thinadhoo felt exciting again.

Thinadhoo has around 6000 residents, but we had trouble believing it when walking around the island because all the locals smartly stay inside to keep cool during the hottest parts of the day. We visited Thinadhoo school and met with the principal Ajeeb who introduced us to the teachers we will work with when school starts next week. The primary school is one of two on the island and has bright gorgeous murals painted in all of the classrooms.Starting next Monday we will help out at the school from the 7:30 in the morning until 2:30pm and then start our swimming lessons from 4:30 in the afternoon at the local beach.

So far whilst we have been enjoying our time exploring the island rain has poured on us whilst we were returning from snorkeling, we've waved to many excited children we've seen on our walks, played a lot of uno, had a dance party on a deserted beach which we also stayed overnight on under the stars and gone fishing with Asad and reeled in many great catches. Tomorrow we are going to visit a nearby resort island and we are all excited to bask in some aircon and have a break from spicy foods for a few meals.

Next week will be great when we finally meet all of the school kids and start teaching, but right now, we are all really grateful to be easing into the heat with a lot of fun adventures.