While the kids' school year started with a bang as usual, my own "Scuba School" finally wrapped up two weekends ago as I finished my open water training dives. I was so thankful to have had a gorgeous weekend to do 4 dives on the north coast of Taiwan, especially since last weekend seemed to be Worldwide Hurricane Day, with stormy monsters menacing both our homes. (Still waiting to get more information on our Houston home, but from what neighbors could see, damage seemed to be trees and fence.)
The dive sites were about an hour drive from our part of Taipei so we were suited up and in the water by about 10am both days. In an "only in Taiwan" moment, we had to swap locations for the dives because when we pulled up to one of the dive sites, a religious festival was in full swing complete with clanging cymbals, firecrackers and people dressed up like dieties. Would have been a little tough to push through the throng in a wetsuit and scuba tank. Once we got to the other dive site, though, things went smoothly. The two biggest challenges honestly were walking across the parking lot and out onto the rocky outcroppings with my 70lbs of gear--I am not the buffest of gals, as you know, so "heavy" is an understatement--and then getting from the rocks into the water. For our first dive at Pitou harbor, I was supposed to do a classic roll back into the water from a squatting postion. Unfortunately, I hit a slick patch on the rocks when I got to the edge, busted my tail and just scooted in from where I was so gracefully seated. I did manage the roll back on my second dive, though.
My memories of the first day of diving are a little hazy. It was all about kicking properly and mastering bouyancy control, learning to descend and ascend at a gentle steady rate, and practicing some of the basic skills like recovering my regulator if it got knocked out of my mouth. Day two saw us able to dive at Longdong Bay--the festival was over. The drama for me was a giant stride (i.e. free fall) into the water from a small cliff. I know it was only about a 6 foot drop but I kept thinking, What if I smack my the back of my head on my tank valve or something? It took me a few minutes to psych myself up and actually, it was kind of fun plunging into the water like that. The highlight of that day had to be finding the octopus on the coral reef. By end of the second dive I was pretty wiped out. To exit the water I had to pull myself up onto the jagged, volcanic rocks--I was so thankful for no waves that day. I heaved myself up and lay there for a few moments, then removed my mask and wiped my face, not realizing that I had silty mud all over my glove. I also learned from my instructor that I had a nice trail of blood and snot coming out of my nose. Ummm, pretty.
Here are a few pictures from the dives. I was ecstatic to meet this personal goal, and we're already planning dive trips for the remainder of our time in Asia. Thanks to everyone who encouraged me!
We have a cub scout! Yes, Boy Scouts of America reaches all the way over to Taiwan via the Far East Council. Barret is loving it, and somehow I ended up a den leader so it's fun working on Tiger Cubs together. Things aren't quite as conventional as I imagine they would be in the US. Somehow I always thought of Scouts as more of a Dad-Son kind of thing, but with so many expat men traveling and working at odd times, it's the Mommas that seem to keep things running. And this Momma even has a badge of her own that says "Trained." I've so wanted something like that since I became a mom! Now it's official. Since I have no uniform other than a bright yellow Pack 91 t-shirt, I usually just stick it to my forehead to remind my family that I now have credentials=) Here are a few pictures of Barret and his fellow Tiger Cubs at our first big Pack meeting. We took a hike at a camp area on Yangming Mountain. I know you are thinking rustic trail through the woods and it was sort of that but with the typical Taiwan Stairmaster event of climbing huge rock steps hewn into the hillside. We also had the typical crossing of a street adventure in this country where drivers never seem to imagine that a crosswalk might have people actually crossing it. Basically, if you're on foot, you better haul it. After the short hike we returned for hotdog roasting. Here I had to laugh since 50% of the time involved trying to start a fire from damp wood, and like the minature men that they are, the cub scouts all stood around and gave advice to the leaders and older scouts who were trying to get the durn thing lighted. Cuz that's what men do. 
