Please enjoy your stay...

Last updated: 13th May 2013

I've been here 3 weeks and already 3 people have booked their flights. Hurrah! Unfortunately my wife is yet to join the club. Booooooooooooo. 2 more lucky honeymooner's  are also soon to follow. So here's a definitive list of things to pack to make your stay more enjoyable.

You must remember, you are coming out to Africa, things like Pantene Pro-V for Smooth and Silky hair just does not reach our desert island, and when it does, it costs £4 for a tiny bottle. Alas, here's what you need:

1. Antihistamine bite cream: Anthisan is quite good.
2. Dramamine/Sea sickness tablets for your trip to La Digue/Mahe
3. Anti Histamine tablets
4. High factor waterproof suncream. SPF50+ and SPF30+. On the first few days, you will need Factor 50+. Anything less and you will burn within 30 minutes. From Day 4 or 5 onwards you can scale back to 30+, but re-apply every 45 mins. Ambre Solaire Kids Resisto is good.
5. Aftersun cream.
6. Sunhat/sunglasses
7. Insect repellant. 
8. Beach shoes/Flip flops-Don't walk bare feet on the coral. You'll cut your feet. Plus the centipedes can hospitalise you. Watch out if you're walking around outdoors in leafy areas.
9. Slippers/Socks-To wear in the house-We keep it clean!
10. Lots of thin linen tops and bottoms-short sleeve and long. Long sleeve for the evenings-it prevents you being bitten.
11. Men-1 pair of trousers and smart shoes/sandals for evening meals out.
12. Beach towel and normal towel
13. Obviously pack all the other essentials-wash bag, toothbrush, etc etc.
14. Earplugs-Planes fly over the house and we have a resident snorer.
15. Cereal (See below)
16. Enable roaming on your mobile. Inform your bank that you're going overseas. 
17. Scuba diving log book/PADI card if you've been diving before

Cash

How much money to bring is always a tricky question. Here's a rough guide to your day-to-day expenses:

Takeaway lunch: £3-4
Hotel lunch: £12-20
Hotel/buffet dinner: £25-35
Pizza: £7
Car Hire: £30/day
Ferry to La Digue: £20 return
Snorkle hire from Emerald Cove: £15
Scuba: £50
Bus journey: 25p one way
Taxi: £10-20 a journey

Breakfast we usually do at home, I'd advise bringing your own cereal as there's not much out here and it's triple price. Otherwise, there's always bread, eggs, bacon, beans etc you can buy from the shops.


Also consider:

1. Torch-It get's dark at 6.45pm and there's little street lighting.
2. Conditioner-For the ladies (or the guys) who like it smooth and soft.
3. Mask/Snorkel/Fins for snorkelling. These can also be hired from Emerald Cove.
4. Waterproof jacket-It's equitorial. The rain is occasionally heavy esp in Dec/Jan.
5. Spare battery for your camera
6. Spare SD card-See above and the rest of the blog for further evidence.
7. Waterproof camera-A luxury, but great to take around the pool/beaches.
8. Book/Ebooks-in case you get bored of travelling in paradise. There's also a lot of waiting around here, so a book usually helps.
9. If you have been to Africa recently, they will also require a certificate for the Yellow Fever jab. A transit through Addis Ababa on Ethiopian airlines does not count as going to Africa.
10. Halifax Clarity Credit card-They do free overseas ATM withdrawals and purchases.
11. Sunbrella-if you really don't want a tan
12. Sleeping eye mask-The sun rises early.
13. Dry snacks, nibbles and your favourite cereals if you're really particular about these things.
14. 33% extra underware as you'll be showering at least 3 times a day.
15. Orange clothing-if your visit coincides with a Cote d'or football match, it is essential that you attend for the experience of African football atmos. And secondly, Cote d'or play in orange.

On arrival, you will need to provide your hotel address on the landing card form. Give them my name, address, tel and NIN number, tell them you're staying with a resident. Please request this in an email seperately. 

Further reading: http://www.virtualseychelles.sc/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=97&Itemid=100

If you can readily access anything from the list below or if you have spares lying around, please could you bring a few out as we cannot get them easily out here. Don't go to too much trouble though. The list will decrease in size/change as visitors come and go!

1. Jordan's or similar organic sugar-free cereal
2. Pepper grinder
3. Portable hard drive full of (legally backed-up) films. This is Seychelles, Somali pirates are prohibtied. DVD Pirates on the other hand... 
4. Mouse matsor other random unwanted tech.
5. Please ask for most up-to-date list!

Thing you do not need to pack:

1. Warm clothing. It never gets below 20. Maybe you will need something for re-entry to UK climate though?
2. USD/Travellers cheques-You cannot get Seychellois ruppees in the UK, so just bring GBP or your Halifax Clarity Credit Card. I can also do currency exchange with you at a better rate than the banks.
3. Travel adaptor, there's no need we use UK plugs.

Lemons and Limes

So far, I've tried to report as fairly as possible. But I realise that some of my accounts are about as balanced as the propoganda coming out of North Korea. Firstly, it is true we do have an awesome leader. I hope he doesn't go all Kim Jong Ill on us all though. Secondly, it is true there are parts of this land which are paradisiacal as Mrs. Tiana Raleo told her son. However, as you can see there are many challenges about living in Seychelles.

Firstly, I don't think it's possible to put on weight out here; that is unless you eat Creole chicken and chips everyday. Believe me, some people do! What I mean is that the selection in the supermarket is so unpredicatble, meat is pricey and the variety of veg is somewhat limited. Kind of related to this chat about products, we watched Tim Harford's talk today about increasing complexity in the modern world during an INSET session.




He stated how in a typical supermarket, there would be 100,000 products, yet in a hunter gatherer society, there were only 500. I joked to Boatswain M, that our beloved local supermarket (MAS) probably had less than 500 products. Being a hunter gatherer is fun for a while, but when you can't get basic ingrediants like lemons or limes, you do get a tad frustrated. You also become more inventive with your culinary concoctions and inevitably, you lose weight. It got to the point where I saw lemons for the first time in 8 days in our local supermarket and I literally got an adrenaline rush. Excited by the prospect of a bit of zest in my life. Silly me!

The only thing keeping us afloat is Jenny's bakery. Anyone who builds their bakery on land owned by the school is a) awesome b) going to do a LOT of business!

Keeping on the positive side, I discovered yet another wonderful classroom view to rival Professor G's this week. Ellie L (AKA "My so called sister who likes to go to the beach and butchers without inviting any other family members") has this stunning view from her classroom window:

We're also situated on the same grounds as the local church. It seems I have moved from one school with an ajoining church to another. This one is Roman Catholic (I think) as 90% of the Church's on the island are Roman Catholic. Based on this, I wonder if my long-time mentor/mother Mrs H could get a job out here? Or just come here on "school business".

It's hard to believe you're in a work environment with views like these surrounding the school, but when your Windows Server has been hacked and there's no Internet access in school. You kind of feel the pressure, it also means I'll be coming into school on Saturday to help our technician out with all the little jobs that he has no time to do. Alongside that, like all schools we have an INSET program and lessons to plan. Some people doubt we actually do much work out here, so here's more proof.

For those teachers that drink coffee, i.e. every teacher with QTS, you'll be pretty shocked by the price of coffee out here:

That's a medium size jar and it translates as £10.50! Moral of the story, get rich or drink tea!

Working in an international school does have its pro's. Practically anyone of influence on the island is on the board of governors or as I like to refer to as being "on board", given the Captain/ship metaphor. We get frequent offers, such as this "optional TGI Friday's pool party at La Reserve hotel". Happy hours from 6pm-8pm.

 

"OPTIONAL" I hear you say? Even on this slightly overcast day like today, I think it would be rude not to represent the expatriates to the fullest. Unlike HRH Prince Harry of Wales, there probably won't be any strip billiards or indeed any billiards involved. There is however a swim-up bar. As designated driver, I'll be swimming up for my Mango and Orange juice then! It might just be me, as I only learnt how to swim 3 months ago-but I've not yet figured out how you swim back with your drinks. I'll report back after le weekend.


Posts will be less regular due to a) unpopular demand b) workload!

LOST in paradise

As we flew over from Frankfurt, it's only normal to think about the plane crashing, if the thought has never crossed your mind, you're lucky or lying. I wondered if we would be stranded like those passengers on Oceanic Airlines Flight 815 from the TV series LOST.

Some people told us that Seychelles is a bit like 1970's britain. A lot of things end up stranded in the Seychelles, such as very bizarre products in the local shops. Entrez "Hair Mayonnaise" for example!

On a random walk out yesterday, I came across Lemuria's golf course, stunning yet empty. Apparently it's quite an affordable rate for tourists and residents (£250 for 6 months or something like that), but we've yet to see anyone on the 18 holes. I met a local guy called Michel nearby, he was opening a coconut with a Machete- ripping through the tough outer husk looked cool, so I thought I'd have a go and I brought 3 coconuts home. Unfortunately, my Machete skills were still quite novice, so after 20 mins and breaking sweat, I had to take a hammer to it in the end. After all that, the coconut juice was sour inside, gutted! I'll try again tomorrow, but as a local shop owner advised, maybe I should use an axe!

School reminds me that this is a very real experience, it is not an episode of LOST and it is not a dream.

This is the view from the school science rooms, a beautiful view of Baie Ste Anne and a private beach down below. How many schools boast a private beach?

Captain M, being not only a legendary headteacher but also a very talented artist and art teacher decided to decorate the white walls of the school with stencils. Each child (aged 4-14) had the opportunity to make their own piece of positive graffiti art. We only had 5 mins, so I couldn't possibly capture all of them:

SHOUT OUT TO FLO GONTH for the image below. Eventhough I never made your blog, you have made mine on Day 2! The piece is very apt, given that you're a twin and I'm sure that the infinite consciousness that is our universe is trying to tell me something. This piece is a year or two old, so it's way before I even thought about the Seychelles as a place to teach. The world is a funny place. Time to dig out the Family tree Mr Gonthier and ask Papi about distant relatives in the Seychelles.

 

And here is my lovely calssroom, a white canvas for me to work on I guess. My predecessor "Madame L" is an absolute legend and left me with rich Schemes of Work and so much info on the kids. She even asked each member of my form to write me a letter to introduce themselves, reading those have reminded me why I love this profession.

On the day we went in, the internet was down and the school server had been hacked many months ago. People literally laugh when I tell them my aim is to restore the network along with our capable technician "H". H is from India, he's pretty sharp and a real nice guy, I look forward to working with him and trying to fix our little network.

To put things into perspective, there are 7 teachers in the secondary section and there are 175 students from Reception to Year 10 in the whole school. Compare that to Marylebone's 110 teachers and 1000 students, it gives you an idea of the scale of things. It should be an exciting year ahead; lets solve these IT problems and then we can celebrate with a Seybrew or Ti Shot. More on Ti Shot and home brewed beverages later!

End of Day Two.