Hello – Daniel here for the last week as a trainee at Kon-Tiki in Ao Nang!

Another week has passed and now I have only one of eight weeks left of my trainee period. This internship has made me more comfortable to speak English, developed my knowledge in tourism and also in diving.

On Monday I was in the shop helping Andrea and Annika. I took care of the delivery so they could continue with their computer work. I also made about a hundred price tags. I only needed one but that is just waste of paper so I printed out three pages of different stuff. That also makes things easier for the shop staff in the future. So when they need a price tag they don’t have to print out a new one; so we think about the environment and the staff doesn’t have to waste time to print out new tags.

On Tuesday I was on the boat working as an assistant to the snorkeling guides. It was a tour to the famous Phi Phi Island. I have been on this tour many times and it is always nice to work on this tour. We have also another tour called the Exotic Phi Phi Island and this is really my favorite tour. The difference between these two tours is that when we do the Exotic Phi Phi Island we stay at one of the islands, called Phi Phi Don, and have a look at the culture and the people staying there.

Back to my working; I also helped the guests to find masks, fins, life jackets and I also answered all kinds of questions that the guests had. As I am studying a tourism and service program it is always good for me to practice “small talk” with different kind of people, different ages and from different part of the world. When we work at the boat it is always nice to talk with the guests about their day, what dive and/or snorkeling stop they liked best, what country they are from etc. Then when they ask about me, what I am doing at KonTiki I am happy to tell them that I am still in Upper Secondary School and have the good opportunity to do my internship abroad and in this case at KonTiki in Thailand. “Woah”, they usually say and also “I wish I was young again and had the same opportunity as you to study abroad”.

On Wednesday I was with Jerone at Centara Resort. Centara is a five star resort, situated nearby the sea in Ao Nang. We have a small store for Kon-Tiki there offering guests at Centara to try dive both in the pool and of course tours with our boat. You can go there either by foot or by boat. When you go by foot you have to walk on a small bridge up and down through a forest with monkeys hanging around you and it is rather exciting. When you go the “water way” – if you do not want to take a boat you can walk or swim from the Ao Nang beach. Different guests come during the day asking for everything from snorkeling and diving to borrowing the toilets! You can never be prepared on what questions you will get; another practicing moment for my tourism and service studies.

On Thursday I was with Fredrik at the dive center. The dive center is situated about 3 kilometers from our shop in Ao Nang. At the dive center we have all our diving and snorkeling equipment. We had to fix the snorkeling taxis because they had broken down. Of course I did that work with a smile although I had fixed them two weeks ago and now they had broken down again. Why? Last time I had used glue which was not water proofed. Good of me when the items should be used in the sea but you always learn something new, don’t you?!?

On Friday I had my day off. That suited me very well as my parents and my sister have been visiting me in Ao Nang during this last week. Today it was their last day in Ao Nang so we made an excursion to The Hot Springs. This is a very beautiful place situated around 80 kilometers from Ao Nang inside the county. It is a waterfall with hot springs and you can take a bath in this “sweet water”, which is good for your health.

On Saturday I was with Max at Sheraton. Sheraton is the other 5 star resort where we have a diving shop. Sheraton is a larger resort than Centara and we have also more contact with the staff at the resort. For example, when we are sitting in the store some of the Sheraton staff comes in and say hello and look for us if we are working!! This day we had two Chinese kids that wanted to try diving in the pool. They were very young but very good. There was no problem at all. It was also good that they could speak English. I wonder what the diving terms are in Chinese???

Today it is Sunday and my last day this week and also the last day I am writing in the blog.

You might wonder who “the intern Daniel” is and where is he coming from? I come from a city in the middle of Sweden called Karlstad. I am studying at Tingvalla Upper Secondary School (Tingvallagymnasiet) at the Hotel and Tourism program. I am now at my third year and will graduate in June 2014. At my school we have two teachers that have been working with internationalization for a long time. Instead of doing your internship in Sweden the students at my school have the opportunity to apply for internships abroad, financed by our government in Stockholm. The teachers put up flyers about the internship and then students like me can apply. After you have applied you come to an interview. If it goes well and they think you can handle being abroad by yourself for two months and work hard they contact you and give you the happy news. Then of course the most important of all is that we have kind and interested companies abroad like Kon-Tiki that will take me and other students and give us the chance of this great experience.

So thank you Malene and the rest of the staff for this period and for this fantastic opportunity.

Praktik hos Kon-Tiki Thailand – Tiden går fort när man har roligt

Visste du att du kan göra din praktik hos oss här på Kon-Tiki i Krabi? Det visste inte jag för fem år sedan, för hade jag vetat det så hade jag inte spenderat mina praktikveckor med att plocka disk på Princess bageri i min hemstad. Jag hade åkt till Thailand för att lära mig allt om dykning, snorkling och turism.

Daniel är en av dem som valde att göra sin praktik hos oss och han har nu varit en del av vårt team här på Kon-Tiki i snart en månad. Det är tråkigt att vi snart ska behöva ta farväl av vår omtyckta praktikant. I snart 8 veckor har Daniel hjälpt oss med allt från att organisera i butiken, hjälpa till med kunderna till att agera assisterande snorkelguide ute på havet. Och det är precis så det är att praktisera här, du kommer inte alltid veta vad du kommer få göra morgonen därpå. Och det är bland annat det som kommer få dina veckor att kännas som dagar.

Kon-Tiki välkomnar eldsjälar som inte har någonting emot att spendera sin praktik i ett land med en medeltemperatur på 30 grader tillsammans med andra människor som också brinner för vad de gör. Men låt inte destinationen lura dig, det är inte semester utan dagarna kommer vara fulla av diverse olika uppgifter och utmaningar. Men visst skadar det inte att göra sin praktik i ett av Thailands mest berömda semesterparadis?

Någon stannar två veckor, en annan stannar över en månad. Det är något som vi kommer överens om med din skola. Tack vare varierande arbetsuppgifter och mycket nya lärdomar får vi tillsammans tiden att gå väldigt snabbt, samtidigt som vi har väldigt roligt.

Nu har du chansen. Jag rekommenderar dig att ta den, jag önskar att jag hade gjort det.

Se här när Malene blir intervjuad av praktikant från Tingvalla

The adventures of a Kon-Tiki Intern – second week

Hi, second week now and Daniel is back in the shop! This month all the male staff are saving a mustache. We are saving a mustache because November is the month to raise awareness for prostate cancer, also known as Movember. To show that we care we let our facial hair grow for a month. The one that got the biggest mustache the end of the month wins.

This Friday I was with Charlie at Sheraton, staying by the pool and offered guests to try SCUBA diving. We also were in the shop that they have at Centara, selling tours and answered to all kinds of questions. This Saturday I stayed with Mauro at our Sheraton office. Both Centara and Sheraton is pretty similar, at Sheraton we also were in the pool and then the shop. The only difference was that Sheraton offered lunch and the hotel is much bigger than Centara. But both of the places are amazing!

This Sunday me and my friend Martina went out and watched Loi Krathong at Ao Nang beach. We watched people dancing and playing music. We also dropped a Krathong down in the water to bring someone happiness and to pray for others. A Krathong is like a basket with flowers and candles, which you lit together with someone special and send off in the night as the tide is turning. People also light balloons to bring luck as the rise up in the evening sky. Loi Krathong takes place on the evening on the full moon once every 12th month. In the western calendar this usually falls in November. I think this tradition is very beautiful day. Everyone is happy, it’s dark outside and there are candles and music all over town.

The adventure of a Kon-Tiki intern!

Hello! My name is Daniel Nilsson and I am the new intern at Kon-Tiki here in Thailand. My intern started two weeks ago and I am going to be here until the 20-12-13. During my time here I have been in the shop, copying papers, marked fins and talked to customers, cleaned the windows and helped out in any way I could. But this isn’t all I have done, I have also been on some of the boat tours, assisting the snorkel and dive guides, helped the guest to find equipment that fits them, like mask and fins. I am going to write on this blog once a week and talk about what I experience and what I am doing. I hope you will continue reading about my time here at Kon-Tiki.

Kon-Tiki trainee Amanda

Hey, let’s go!

My name is Amanda and I’m from Sweden and I have been having my internship on Kon-Tiki in soon three weeks, it feels just like yesterday that I was opening the door to kontiki dive center. This two weeks have going so fast, and it have being so fun to meet all the new people and all the stuff.

The thing I thinks the best here is that your days never are the same, one day you’re working in the shop and cleaning, paper work and things like that. And then the next day you are out whit the boat and snorkeling whit the guests. During my time here I Thailand I have learn to talk more English and a have grown as a person. Now it’s less than a week left in paradise and I know that I’m going to miss this so much!

I’m very happy that i got the possibility to have my internship her in Thailand on Kon-Tiki. Malene and the PADI dive masters and instructors – thanks for that you have taken care of me during my time here in Thailand.

Realgymnasiet Äventyrs turism inriktning dykning Västerås