Muffy Toe

hello!

Please excuse my lack of communication. Here's some news...

I did my seal dive this weekend- 18.5 metres down which is the deepest I've gone so far. They swam right next to me and all around me. The selas were bigger than I thought they'd be- just like the ones you see at the zoo doing tricks. They had creepy eyes, but apart from that they were awesome. If you do a flip or sumersault, they do exactly the same one in the same direction but faster and 5 times in a row. On our second dive we just saw 8 Port Jackson sharks resting on the bottom.

The dolphins loved our boat because it wasn't very fast and traveled just their spead. Twice, they swam out to meet our boat and then turned around and traveled with us for 5 or 10 minutes. They were absolutely beautiful and there were a few baby ones. They loved to jump out of the water and sometimes they'd do it on their side as if they were trying to look at us. I could literally reach out and touch them.


When we woke up in Jervis Bay on Sunday morning there were 4 kangaroos outside our flat. One thing led to another and soon I was feeding one of them bread right out of my hand.

Currently, I'm trying not to get sick, but it appears that after 6 months of perfect health (a record for me!) my body is surrendering to whatever illness has been going around the Starlight office. Tomorrow will be my last day, then it's laundry, sorting, packing, and meeting Walt and Jenny at the airport on Friday night!

Mrs Stubbs, my marks for the semester came through and you'd be proud of them. Obviously, I DID put some significant time into the "study" part of "study abroad." =)

But, I am more proud of my Padi certification than my school marks. Here is my philosophy on that...

Five things I value highly are warmth, eye contact, sound, voices, and closeness to people. Scuba diving does not offer ANY of these and when you take ALL of them out of my life, I get a bit unnerved and panic-y. I was swimming in the middle of winter (with a 10 mil wetsuit and mandatory vest/hood) and it was very cold in and out of the water. When you're underwater it's completely silent- all you hear is your own breathing and the thoughts in your head- no music, no voices, just silence. And I feel extremely isolated and alone underwater. Even if someone is near me, I don't feel close to them because we're not breathing the same air and while we can communicate needs, we cannot communicate thoughts and I cannot "read" them.

So the reason I am more proud of my cheesy Padi certificate than any violin or school one is that while music and reading/writing are very much a part of who I am, scuba diving is a very un-Michelle thing to do. It's not scary for me, and I do love everything I'm learning (I always knew that dogs and cats have personalities, but assumed that all fish were just boring old fish. How cool is it that our God made even the tiniest fish so quirky and with a very distinct personality.) And when I do get flustered, I just try and make eye contact with someone (other than a seal). That seems to make everything better.

So, when I spend 30 minutes 18 metres underwater, those are the kinds of crazy philosophies I come up with. =)

One side note- All of the international students arrived this week for the coming semester here. They are easy to spot. Just look for the question marks on their faces, standing in line for the bus or roaming aimlessly around the city. I feel like I've only been gone a few weeks, yet when I see them, it seems like I've been here awhile. It's funny how time works.

I will miss my Italian coffee shop and the guys that make my coffee there. Today I was sick and a truck splashed water all over me as I was crossing the street. So they laughed and gave me free coffee.

Everyone pray that I don't get sick before Daddy comes to visit. Thanks for keeping up with my little ramblings. Y'all are golden. (Like how I mix Texan with Aussie??) =)

Love,
Mich