Transferred Thoughts #4

Staying Afloat

Friday, April 15th, 2005

Some people dream of being rich and famous, hitting the limelight, their names on the lips of millions.

During the dying moments of my 33rd birthday, I realised i was not immune to this, and made plans of crashing my way into life with a big splash …

So today, I alighted the - what a coincidence! - 33 as it went down Dalkeith Road and signed myself up for some swimming lessons at the Royal Commonwealth Pool. (d’oh! what were you thinking???)

My friends in Edinburgh say that for someone who lived in an archipelago like the Philippines, they find it strange to learn that I can’t swim.

‘Not even like a dog paddles in the pool?’, they enquired.

‘Nope’, say i.

‘Lassie, yer a bit irregular, aren’t ye?!’

hmmm…

Anyway, going back to swimming.

My earliest memories of my (futile) attempts to formally learn how to swim go back to when I was 17. It was the summer I finished high school and was waiting for classes at UP to start. It was a summer of aimless existence and I was desperately looking for something to do. During my musings, I remembered how my sister and I tried to learn it whilst visiting my dad’s hometown in Southern Leyte, near the sea which washed over a small strip of beach belonging to my grandparents. We failed miserably at this, and ended up gulping down generous amounts of (salty! bleeech!) seawater. I decided to remedy this. So i enrolled for swimming lessons.

How I wished I went for ‘Adult Swimming Lessons’ then!

The first day of those lessons found me the oldest student amongst a group of pubescent kids! AAAAAAAaaaargh! Imagine the embarrassment!

The funnier thing was these kids seemed to take to water like fishes do! Didn’t the odd absence of terra firma bother them one bit? Or the fact that people have *died* while in the water? Or the fact that while submerged in the water, you are actually subjecting yourself to a body big and powerful enough to engulf you? (of course, these may well have been issues exclusively plaguing a sure-footed Arien like myself, and not something kids concerned themselves with!)

Needless to say, I finished the course.. and never attempted to swim in a pool again.

However, from time to time, I did feel some regret that I never tried to seriously re-learn it again. My first trip to Boracay was one such instance. I was with friends and colleagues from work who - fearless in their knowledge that they could brave the sea - marvelled at the wonders lying under the clear blue Boracay waters. Whilst i had to suffer the disgrace of holding onto a lifeline, kept afloat by a lifesaver. That very moment, I would’ve traded some time off at my local well-being centre for time spent re-learning how to swim.

Upon returning to Manila, the normal routine of work and life once again overtook this plan to re-learn swimming, but thoughts of it did linger in my head.

When i was packing my suitcase in July 2004, headed for Edinburgh, again, I debated whether I should purchase a swim suit in Manila. not that I was hoping for the Earth to reverse on its axis and find Edinburgh all of a sudden awash in warm, bright sunlight. But I did hope that maybe with the prospect of having enough time on my hands, and lesser matters to be responsible for, I would finally brave the waters. The memories of previous visits to Scotland convinced me that bringing a swim suit might be a sign of too much optimism. I ditched the plans to bring a bathing suit.

Having the Royal Commonwealth Pool nearby, with its indoor swimming pool and its waters kept at a constant 24C, is enough to inspire even the most sceptical (read: moi), though. Of course, it also helps that lessons are affordable and that instructors are always helpful (this latter bit is clearly hearsay. i am merely relying on feedback provided by a mate here!)

Anyway, the first lessons will start next sunday at 9:00 a.m. :-) I’m half-anxious to take another plunge at this activity, and half-relieved to know that at this stage in my life, I still have enough resolve to have a go for swimming one more time.

Who knows, eh? I just might float!