First Day in Dive School

---

Okay, so I just walked into the internet cafe to write my blog, and it's a different guy running the cafe. The guy from last night is here too, but he's just hanging out with two other buddies. It's a total of four guys crowding around the computer. I believe they've upgraded to straight-up porn....with the volume turned on high. As I can't see the screen, I'm only judging from the sounds. There's a girl in the internet cafe. Hilarious.

Onto the real blog (although I admit I have fewer stories now that I'm at a 'dive resort):

This morning I thankfully woke up at 8:00. Class started at 9:00, and I didn't have any way of ensuring that I wake up in time. I searched the room of my bungalow for an outlet so I could pug in my cellphone and use the alarm, but there wasn't an outlet anywhere!

After breakfast we sat in class for about two hours while the instructor talked to us about basic commonsense stuff like buoyancy and pressure.

I then grabbed lunch, dropped off my laundry at a store where they will wash your clothes for $1.30 per kilogram, and headed for the swimming pool. This was our 'closed water training'. We were taught how to assemble our scuba tanks, and then hopped in the water. I can't really say that I enjoyed the pool session. We did exercises like filling your mask with water and practicing blowing through your nose to clear the water. That really sucks because you inevitably get some water up your nose. We also practiced completely taking off our masks, and putting them back on. That sucks even more. Then we had to take off our mask and swim with the instructor around the pool, and then replace our masks. By this point I was a little more used to putting my mask back on, so maybe I'm improving! The other really shitty exercise involved simulating some sort of malfunction in the regulator, causing the air to exit the mouthpiece in a long flood of air - too much pressure to actually breathe. To cope with this, you have to take the mouthpiece halfway out of your mouth, and essentially breathe through the big bubble caused by the flood of air. That really really sucks. It's impossible to tell whether you're breathing in air or water. I'm still conscious though, so I guess I was breathing in air!

We finished the pool session, and I hung out on the beach and played Frisbee for a little while. By then the dinner buffet was set up, and everyone flocked to the food. I splurged on a King Prawn. It was about 120 grams - a really really big King Prawn, and cost about $4. That's not cheap for a backpacker, but I assume it's cheaper than home....is it? I also added a scoop of Soba noodles to my plate for an extra dollar. That clearly wasn't enough food for a growing boy, but I'm becoming wiser. Instead of paying for all of your food, why not eat the food that others can't finish? The British seem to be apt at piling their plates with more food than they can consume. On girl didn't want her last spring roll. Thank you! One guy didn't want the rest of his chicken with cashews. Yes! Another guy didn't want his last springroll either, and also couldn't finish the other half of his filet mignon. Score! (Mom, I was careful to remove the contaminated portion of all shared foods).

I spent the rest of the night hanging out on the deck of a bar that juts out over the sea. Everyone sits on pillows at 6 inch high tables. Very cute. I'm a cheap date though. 1 beer a night is all I need, or care to buy.

I chatted some more with Mikey - the scottish guy who just came out of Afghanistan. He seems to be a bit of an alcoholic. Now I can't remember how much money he spent in the pubs of Scotland when he first got back, but in 5 weeks he spent something like $10,000. What a way to spend the money you made while dodging gunfire in Afghanistan... It sounds like this guy had a pretty scary time there. His FOB (a small military base), received mortar fire on a daily basis, and was nearly attacked by an American airplane that mistook it for a Taliban camp. He said there was a total of 7 days in which he wasn't shot at, and he was there 6 months. He averaged 25 to 30 calls for air support a day. I find that hard to believe, but I really don't think he's lying. At one point, while working the artillery cannons, a tank of pure oxygen exploded in their faces, giving three guys serious burns, and lighting on fire the fuses of the artillery shells in his hands. He was so shell-shocked that somebody punched him in the face so he would let go of the shells, and sand was thrown on them. He personally disarmed 4 roadside bombs. At one point he was in a town with an officer and 20 Gherkas. The Gherkas were receiving fire, so they moved up toward their target, leaving Mikey and his officer in the street. They watched 40 Taliban gunmen running towards them, 500 yards away, flanking them and the Gherkas. They ran inside a building, and the officer told Mikey to shoot him if the Taliban made it inside the building, as he didn't want to undergo the torture and certain death of capture. Mikey called in an airstrike, and the plane dropped a 2,000 pound bomb which missed its target and collapsed the building Mikey and his officer were in. It took the Gherkas 4 hours to dig them out.

I swear, you meet the most interesting people when backpacking.

---