Swimmers Digest

The week so far has gone super fast, and it's been just absolutely great! What can I say? I guess McDonalds got it right: "I'm loving it!"

Two days after diving I had some problems with my ears when I was coming back to the surface, it was as if I couldn't equalize up on the surface. Extreme pressure was on my right ear especially, which was super painful, and discomforting. And after a brief visit to the doctor, she told me that it was some water that was trapped behind my ear drum that was causing the problems. I've been given some medication that should take care of the problem, hopefully it will. But we'll see about that. So yesterday I was on board one of the boats helping out instead, and that was a lot of fun. Just helping a bunch of new kids with their gear, and then helping out on board the ship like changing the gas cans and what not. Did some sea kayaking too which was a, as everything else here, really chill. And after doing that for maybe 20 minutes, I was sweating through my t-shirt and thought it would feel great if I got in the water to cool down (it's about 17 degrees Celcius). I jump in without getting my head wet, and while I was in the water, Michelle, my DM instructor thought it would be a good chance for me to do one of the tests, and me being the dumb ass I am, I said, sure, why not!

The test was to thread water for 15mins, no problem I thought. I start, and then I realize I'm treading in salt water! Haha! Super easy man, no problem! That meant I could easily switch between my arms and legs and not get tired for a really long time! However, the only problem was that the water was only 17 degrees. Why is that bad? Because water is 21x as conductive as air (translates to you'll get colder in water 21x as fast than if you were in the open air), my plan was then to thread with both arms and legs to get my heat up, but at a very calm pace. After 12 minutes, Michelle decides to spice it up a bit by giving me two 1KG lead weights for me to hold on to. Yay. To spice it up even more, she tells me that I had to hold the lead weights above me head with my elbows not allowed to go underwater. That was tough. The first minutes felt like it had been 5 minutes, and then I ask how much time is left, while my head was bobbing up and down, gasping for air (trying to time my exhales and inhales) I hear the worst answer ever: "Uh...about 1 or 2 minutes?" I replied: "WHAT DO YOU MEAN 1 OR 2 MINUTES?! MAKE UP YOUR MIND!!!" She decides to give me 1 more minute, and I saw Ben another instructor close by and ask him to come by my side to grab me because I was about to collapse. Michelle begins to count down 15 seconds....10 seconds....5 seconds....3 and half seconds....DONE! I turn to Ben and drop my hands under the water, tread towards him and give him my weights, swim to boat, jump up onto the back and look like a dying seal on the back deck. But I did it, which was really good. And it felt good having done it on the spot. That was my near drowning experience for the week.

Oh, and I almost crashed into another car while driving over here! That was the 2nd most terrifying close encounter I've had while in a car. So I come around a corner, and then I see two cars in both lanes - both coming towards me! This winding road is a 100km/hr road (in Sweden it would of been a 50 road) so every car is going fast. Anyway, I come around the corner, see the cars, sh*t a brick, and slam on the brakes. I don't lock the brakes, but I gave it a nice hard push, start honking, and mentally start preparing my self for the impact and everything that would eventually follow. The car that was in the proper lane, slowed down too, and allowed the car doing the over taking to squeeze in a bit faster so disaster was avoided. And man, I was panting for dear life after that one. I was really pissed at the driver wondering what the hell she was thinking (yes it was a woman...no comment) and started to think that she was just a complete nutter. And while I was driving down a road, I almost put myself into a similar situation. It was a straight road, the car infront of me was doing 75 on a 100 road, so that was a bit annoying. I pop TM into 3rd gear, and start to accellerate, and then I start to over take the car. I know that there was turn up a head, which I had planned for, and I was expecting a car to come out of it how I would react to it. Bam! A car comes out, but I had planned it all pretty well, so there was nothing to worry about but I was thinking what would of have happened if I waited only 1 more second, then there would of have been a serious accident. Point of this story: If you're driving a '92 Toyota Corrolla with a butt load of miles on it, don't expect to be able to do any good over takings on a two laned road. I've learnt my lesson, I'm not going to do unless I can see for a very a long way a head.

Sweet as guys!

What else is new? Oh yeah, met a really cool girl from Kuwait who is doing a fellowship where she's given a bunch of money to travel the world for a year while doing some research. So she's bene traveling for quite a bit, swimming with sharks all over the world (her research was how different cultures view sharks, or something like that). I taught her some good card games that would help her along her travels (breaking the ice and what not), hopefully they'll be as useful for her as they have been for me.

Aight guys, that's it for now, and yeah, don't use the following ingrediants at the same time: garlic, onions, red bell pepper, carrot, beans in tomato sauce, and fresh tortillini. Most revolting things I've ever concocked. Ewwwwww!!!

Here are some pics your way!