the power of pink goggles

Oh yes, I hadn't been able to write anything for a very long time, until just now this friend whom I barely know asking about my job and what has been keeping for updating my blog. So I'm a little overwhelmed knowing some strangers actually read my blog. HAHAHA. 

Anyway, it has always been in my new year's resolution to learn something new each year. This year, in the last quarter of the year, I decided to learn how to swim. I read somewhere that swimming actually a very good sport. To practice swimming, you actually works out all your muscles. Not just that, it also increases your endurance, produces (not quite sure it's the perfect term) cardiovascular fitness and in short, it relaxes you.

So I started my lessons two weeks ago with this man who has taught people (mostly kids) to swim for at least 16 years. His name is Pak Made. He has been very patient with me. As I wrote this post, I still have 3 lessons to go with him. 

For as long as I live, I shall never forget my first lesson. The first stroke (or style) that I learned was the breaststroke, which I found a bit weird, because when I was in school, I remember the teacher told me that everyone should start learning how to swim with the free-style. But Pak Made said that the breast-stroke is actually the easiest one to learn and actually it has not so complicated techniques. I must admit that he's absolutely right.

The other interesting thing was my classmates (or poolmates). I kept having these different classmates for the last 5 swimming lessons I had. My first lesson, my classmate was a 5 years old girl, named Celine, who apparently not even a meter yet, but she swims like the wind. She loves water and she's super-brave. She just jumped right into the pool without any supporting tools or even a bit of fear. I also met these two brothers, Marco and Matthew, who practically swimmers already and I think the reason they're still taking this lesson to make me feel embarrassed. I remember they called me "OM" and Matthew asked me why I just learned how to swim at my age. Those pricks! They're actually really nice kids who are not allowed by their mother to swim in the deep end. 

Take that, suckers! HAHAHA.

Now to a more serious thought, during these two weeks of swimming lessons, I learned that sometimes, like many things in life, we need to relax, to enjoy little things. Pak Made constantly reminded me, as I swam from one side of the pool to another that I didn't need to be in a hurry. That I need to relax which actually makes swimming more rewarding. A few times, he said that I swam like I was really angry and impatient to get to the other side.

And he was right, I was impatient and I was worried by a lot of things as I swam. I was thinking about a lot of things, like whether my legs are synchronized, whether I did justice to my performance or whether people were laughing at me. Of course none of those happened and I needn't be worried. I guess, that's the biggest lesson I've learned so far.

O yes, in case you're wondering whether I'm a good swimmer now. Well, I can assure you that I can do the breaststroke in the deep end without Pak Made's supervision. The free-style is quite challenging because it's so tiring. Hopefully the next three lessons, I'll learn other strokes.

These frog-legs just cannot wait to dance under water.