Hello there (another generic email, I obviously just don't love any of you enough!)

Well what can I tell you, the island is still beautiful and the weather has been unbearably hot for the past 2 days, even locals are staying in the shade but we might have a storm tonight to cool things down a bit.

I've had quite a disappointing day so I thought I'd indulge in a little email time!

I decided to take the plunge... literally and try diving only to find (after 4 hours of videos and exams) that I can't breathe through a regulator! apparently some people just can't it's all psychological- even out of water I feel like I'm not getting enough air - which of course I am really. Anyway, upshot of all this is that I will not be coming home a qualified diver. I would like to point out that I did actually try it in the water, about 20 times and everytime I just couldn't breathe... but at least I tried. Fortunately I can do the project here just with snorkelling so that'll be fun still, I'll just have to remember to put sunblock on my back - I've seen some nasty sunburnt backs walking round with snorkels!

On the plus side I can do loads of reef snorkelling for free and of course I have the $120 spare that would have gone to the diving school!

somemore volunteers arrived today which is good as that makes 6 people doing a project designed for 16! they are 2 lads about 20ish who have just had 'hey guys' tattoed on their bums 'cos that's the cool thing to say at their uni... I'm not sure they've thought it through properly, and lets just hope they never end up in prison... If you're wondering how I know, it's because they both showed the entire restaurant last night when we were eating! normal behaviour for this island apparently!

I've settled into the laid back lifestyle, even managed a few days on the beach and I've read a load of books that I've been meaning to read for ages. I tried to go present shopping yesterday and ended up buying myself things - so don't hold your breath for gifts!

well, only a few weeks to go now!
Hope you're all having fun without me!