Mostly about Diving

11-24-08/11-25-08 Okay, this post is going to be jam-packed with factoids and tidbits of news (at least I hope so), to explain for the length between my last post and this one.

Last Tuesday, Hidao (our instructor) came by the school and requested that John Mark and I have a "makeup" dive class that evening. Why would we say no? So, I went--and spent forty-five minutes trying to get my ears to equalize. After thirty of those minutes, my right ear popped a tiny bit--but the left? Ah, I thought it was hopeless, especially when John Mark was totally getting everything. Needless to say (to those who know me well), I left Hidao's house frustrated and about ready to quit. I knew I was being unfair to myself by making comparisons between me and the others, but it was a very very human thing to do.

Wednesday night, after prayer meeting, I went over to Ryan and Jhan Dale's apartment to talk to Jhan Dale. Well, it was to play a car racing game (more like car smashing game, for me who can't handle curves) and it ended up being me listening to Jhan Dale. Here is the quite-streamlined story. He'd seen me return to the girls' apartment after my second dive class, and when he had taken the class, he'd had problems equalizing as well. So, after I'd played about four races (losing each time), he just turned to me and started talking about diving and stuff. I sat there, practically crying, and blurted out, "I'm about ready to quit," and he held his hand like he was stopping me and said, "Listen." Then he told me not to quit and gave me some tips on what I could do to try and get my ears to equalize. I looked at the clock, and it was entirely time for me to do crunches and pushups with Emily, take a shower, and then go to bed.

Thursday we had a full class session. We suited up, making jokes about wet suits and talking about my ears (Alan said that I needed to go deeper than "a foot"), and got in the water. I was nervous about going down--I didn't want to spend almost the entire class period trying to get my ears to equalize again! Hidao asked if I'd checked my ears yet--I hadn't, so he told me to go down and see. So I lifted my deflator and descended--but guess what? Alan descended, too, to encourage me to go deeper than a "foot." And wonder of wonders, my ears equalized and I got to do everything with everybody!

Thursday was also the day that Ryan came back from assisting with the Majuro accreditation--and lo and behold! Kevin Costello had sent me a bottle of A-1 Steak Sauce! I was so excited--partially because it was entirely unexpected. So, thank you, Kevin! I've been using it sparingly in order to maximize the length of time I'll be able to utilize it. We also appreciated the bananas that Ryan brought back for us, and the Subway sandwiches he brought from Kwaj on his way back to Ebeye. They were most yummy after our dive (because I get very, very hungry after a dive).

Sunday we dove at Shell Island (which Hidao owns) and we got down to thirty feet and practiced taking off our equipment and putting it back on--underwater. It figures, but when one's weight belt is taken off, it's a good thing to keep a hold of it, or else you'll pop to the surface (no, I did not do that, but it felt like I was going to, even when I had a nice grip on my weight belt). Also, to put on my weight belt, I have to twist in the water and be upside down (relatively) during part of the process. As I was doing it, there was this whining noise going through the water--and I immediately thought that something had gone wrong with my equipment. I finished putting on the weight belt and looked up in time to see Hidao signalling Landen to stay down where we were, and Landen nodded and made the "kill/dead" gesture (drawing a finger across one's neck). I looked up and saw the trail some boat had left behind it. So, boats are whiny underwater. Something new to add to the list of things I didn't know but now do! After the dive, I snorkeled around (because I'm still getting used to fins, mask and snorkel).

Yesterday (Monday) I attended a PTA meeting--which would probably be slightly less boring if I understood everything that was being said, and if it didn't seem like my presence was practically unnecessary. But I suppose because that "T" is in PTA that I must be there. *sigh* I now understand why my boss last year usually mentioned that she didn't like meetings any time that she had to go one. Meetings seem to be the bane of a teacher's existence--but maybe those are just the meetings on Ebeye, conducted mostly in Marshallese and go on forever after starting an hour late because we were waiting for the parents to show up. Argh Marshallese time!

Today (the 25th) we had our final dive, at the lagoon outside of Hidao's house. We practiced doing emergency ascent swimming, then went for a loop around the bottom of the lagoon. We got down to sixty feet--no equalization problems for me whatsoever! Some of the group say that we didn't get down that far, but I do know how to read my gauge--so, at least I got down to sixty feet. It was sweetly awesome! Now, if my mask would quit fogging so I wouldn't have to clear it underwater (which is still a little heart-stopping, but a lot easier). I had to clear my mask five to six times during this last dive. I saw some brightly colored fish, possibly a purple starfish thing, plenty of brownish coral (which probably would have been brighter had we not been diving close to sunset), and the shimmering ceiling of the surface. I am currently tied with Alan (2-2) at games of underwater rock, paper, scissors [same as regular rock, paper, scissors, but played underwater] (because we were taking turns doing the emergency ascent on the rope with Hidao), and have lost two games of underwater slapsies [you know, that dumb game where your hands are almost on top of someone else's and the person on the bottom tries to slap the person on top's hands). I stopped after two games because it's really hard to laugh underwater.

Tomorrow we have our final paper exam--and pay for the course--and order our personal equipment. I'm planning on getting fins, boots, mask, and snorkel. So, I need to get some grading done, compose a few emails, and go over the process of computing bottom time. More later.