It's been getting longer and longer between posts. I don't know why, I just keep thinking I'll leave it till tomorrow and then.. well.. on "tomorrow" i think the same thing... :S :S
So I won't go through everything I've been doing. It would take too long and I have half an hour before the computer room gets shut.
Last week was lots of kayaking, mainly because the wind picked up and it wasn't safe enough to take kids out in dinghies or to do windsurfing. It was surprising how two groups OF KIDS, one older and one younger could be so different... and the younger group were the better one: they got on the water and were better than the older group were at the end of the session. Incredible. But still, that's how it was.
Then for the last two days I've been keelboating, getting ready for the assessment (two days long) on Thursday and Friday. There's been lots to take in and when you're trying to take it in when you're on the water it can be quite hard. Certainly today I got quite confused several times.
Oh! I know. On Monday LAST WEEK, I had a day off. However I can't drive and no one could drive me anywhere so I couldn't go windsurfing. I became so bored int he morning I resorted in going to Ops (Daily Operations i.e. the centre of all the watersports sessions throughout the day)and asking the Chief Instructor and another Senior Instructor if there were any jobs I could do.. yep, that's how bored I was. Though they seemed quite surprised when I accepted their joke of "you could wash our cars." So yep, I spent my Monday morning washing cars. Yay :D :D well it was something to do...
Then on Saturday a Church group came.. I say a church group I mean a group who were linked by their church. It wasn't a whole church, nor a church youth group. Although youthgroup and UKSA could go together very well I reckon. It was very cool to have them and due to the considerations of Steve he put me with the group for that day (their only day) and I had a great time. We did raft building in the morning, which was well good, though it descended rapidly into a big game of pirates towards the end and the adult team actually dismantled our (kids team) raft. Don't worry, it backfired, as the next race was one where we had to race each others rafts (not so easy to do for the adults who only had a half-assembled remnant to paddle). Then in the afternoon we walked into town and got the most amazing milkshakes ever. Then on o the waterfront and a spot of crabbing.. without much luck I'm afraid. We caught a few strange fish but the nearest we got to catching a crab was when I (yes ME :D :D) hauled up my line and there was a whopper crab, with a shell as big as my outstretched handspan, hanging on it. Unfortunately I was so surprised and excited that I dropped it again.. before anyone could see it... thankfully my quick thinking saved the day; I lowered the line directly where the crab had hit the water and caught it again, giving other people in the group a sight as proof that I had caught it, even if I still didn't get it half way up the wall before it detached itself again... and that was crabbing. Then it was the end of the day.
Also on that day (Saturday) was Dr Who. Those of you who watched it: WHAT!?!?!?! are they intending to leave us with that for another few months and then play the rest of the series later on in the year!?!?!?! that's crazy!!! >:( >:( grrr... the ending was good... the rest of the episode average. Matt Smith's acting... excellent :D :D
Not much else has really happened..... I had a good chat with a certain Jono Payne yesterday, which was nice. I stood on the decking overlooking the sunset on the water of the river Medina and it was rather splendid. I think Joanna may well think there is some sort of conspiracy going on though... the second time in two weeks when a member of my family has got Jono out of washing up.... oops... sorry.
Right time to go.
Night.
Tuesday, 31 May 2011
Sunday, 22 May 2011
Navigate here...
This week has been taken up by Navigation. That is five days solid theory; in fact much of it reminded me of maths... so five days solid of maths lessons... well, more interesting than that, but in essence, that is what it was. The first day was pretty much all covering what we'd been told before, however we had three other peeps doing a different course doing it with us, and they were all starting from a pretty basic level. In truth, we all were, but the three of us on our course probably had a better foundational/background knowledge.
We were doing loads of chartwork and plotting courses, which sounds simple (drawing a line between two points) until you then realise you've got to account for how the tide will be moving you and affecting where yo end up, on top of that you then have to adjust your course to allow for leeway (how the wind/waves knock you off course) and all the calculations and notations for everything add up to create a rather complex and large topic to get your head around. Other than chartwork, which also included pinpointing your position on the sea, variation, deviation and such abbreviations as SOG, CTS, DR, EP, we also looked at the subjects of meteorology, tides (in even more depth, i.e. how to work out what is too shallow for your vessel, how to extrapolate information from a primary port to work out the tidal heights and times of a secondary port, how to work out how high a tide will be at any given time, involving graphs of tidal height, how strong a tide will be at any given time, the direction of a tide and how to account for it when planning a passage) sound signals (day and night/fog), day signals, light signals and patterns, buoys (IALA A and B) distress signals, collision regulations... etc...
So yea, lots and lots of information, however, it's required little effort on my part to grasp and learn it. It has all just made sense and clicked together, plus there is something quite cool (in a sad way) of standing over a chart with a pair of dividers, a plotter and a pencil and working out your course... even if it was on a training chart with fake names and places.
This morning didn't feel like I was going to have two one and a half hour exams.... but I did feel like I was joining in with everyone else who is having exams at the moment. I think my exams were probably the best though.... if you finish early you can go, four questions, you could stand up, results before leaving the exam room, simple... yep, everything you could ever want in an exam was right there. And yes, in that first exam I was there for an hour and got 100% :D :D :D :D :D I have never got 100% in a proper exam before (if you could call this a PROPER exam lol) unless you count that fluke at GCSE where I somehow got 100/100 UMS marks for all my science papers.... I'm not complaining but I was pretty sure there had been a mistake or they'd confused my results with someone elses.... ah well
In the afternoon those of us on the watersports course got the second test, the others will get it when they do the practical side of the course next week, we only get the theory. This turned out not to be a one and a half hour written exam but an appraisal and evaluation of knowledge through spoken answers. Basically our teacher was there and read out the questions which formed the written paper we technically should have been doing and we answered verbally, together, to confirm to him that we knew everything that was needed to pass. I'm sure I don't need to say that he was satisfied and passed us. So YAY!! :D :D :D :D And big respects to all you people out there slogging through hundreds of exams. I'm here hoping you do well.
What else has gone on this week... Cell group on Wednesday as normal, all good. Friday I had Catalyst Plus, which also was good. I ended up walking to it because I didn't want to get hot and sweaty on my bike; also I knew that Christians being Christians I could almost CERTAINLY get a lift back if I didn't have the baggage of a bike... either that or I'd have a long, cold walk home late at night to ponder my stereotypical assumptions of Christians and how they might need adjusting ;) Thankfully they held out and I got a lift home :D :D :D lol
Yesterday I went to Ryde for the first time to a church service called Connect2 (at least I'm pretty sure it was called that) that was all good. Some of the youth peeps I know have a band which does worship and hey were playing, so I was mostly going to support them. They're a great bunch and it will be well cool to see where this leads them and how they'll grow. I also wonder if once upon a time certain elder friends of mine started their journey in a similar place.
What else have i done this week... oh I KNOW! I went to see the latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie. And, I'm relieved to say, it was well worth the watch. It was rather good. The only thing I think could have been improved on (other than a few scenes which were a bit pointless - MINORITY/FEW though they were) was it could have done with a central main character. There were main characters, defo, but one central character who was a goody... it was kind of supposed to be Jack I felt, but I don't really think Jack is a character who works well being the centre of the story, which is why in the original trilogy you had Will. Jack jumps everywhere, it's almost confusing sometimes. ON the other hand, Depp did marvelously well and Jack was just as he always was. I really liked the film: I'd buy it. Oh and you didn't necessarily NEED to have watched the first three to see this one... though I'd recommend seeing the first one just because it's amazing and will give you all the characters... having said that... seeing the trilogy first would probably be HELPFUL... oh and an extra note... the last line is a classic (maybe cliched, but made to be "not cringey") and is rather wonderful.
So yep that's been my week... or highlights of anyway... this coming week it's back to assisting/instructing after a day off tomorrow. Then sometime towards the end of the week we start our keelboating endorsement training (three days practising/two days assessment) which is all cool... all cool.... So I'll see when I can next gather myself to blog... until then... :D
We were doing loads of chartwork and plotting courses, which sounds simple (drawing a line between two points) until you then realise you've got to account for how the tide will be moving you and affecting where yo end up, on top of that you then have to adjust your course to allow for leeway (how the wind/waves knock you off course) and all the calculations and notations for everything add up to create a rather complex and large topic to get your head around. Other than chartwork, which also included pinpointing your position on the sea, variation, deviation and such abbreviations as SOG, CTS, DR, EP, we also looked at the subjects of meteorology, tides (in even more depth, i.e. how to work out what is too shallow for your vessel, how to extrapolate information from a primary port to work out the tidal heights and times of a secondary port, how to work out how high a tide will be at any given time, involving graphs of tidal height, how strong a tide will be at any given time, the direction of a tide and how to account for it when planning a passage) sound signals (day and night/fog), day signals, light signals and patterns, buoys (IALA A and B) distress signals, collision regulations... etc...
So yea, lots and lots of information, however, it's required little effort on my part to grasp and learn it. It has all just made sense and clicked together, plus there is something quite cool (in a sad way) of standing over a chart with a pair of dividers, a plotter and a pencil and working out your course... even if it was on a training chart with fake names and places.
This morning didn't feel like I was going to have two one and a half hour exams.... but I did feel like I was joining in with everyone else who is having exams at the moment. I think my exams were probably the best though.... if you finish early you can go, four questions, you could stand up, results before leaving the exam room, simple... yep, everything you could ever want in an exam was right there. And yes, in that first exam I was there for an hour and got 100% :D :D :D :D :D I have never got 100% in a proper exam before (if you could call this a PROPER exam lol) unless you count that fluke at GCSE where I somehow got 100/100 UMS marks for all my science papers.... I'm not complaining but I was pretty sure there had been a mistake or they'd confused my results with someone elses.... ah well
In the afternoon those of us on the watersports course got the second test, the others will get it when they do the practical side of the course next week, we only get the theory. This turned out not to be a one and a half hour written exam but an appraisal and evaluation of knowledge through spoken answers. Basically our teacher was there and read out the questions which formed the written paper we technically should have been doing and we answered verbally, together, to confirm to him that we knew everything that was needed to pass. I'm sure I don't need to say that he was satisfied and passed us. So YAY!! :D :D :D :D And big respects to all you people out there slogging through hundreds of exams. I'm here hoping you do well.
What else has gone on this week... Cell group on Wednesday as normal, all good. Friday I had Catalyst Plus, which also was good. I ended up walking to it because I didn't want to get hot and sweaty on my bike; also I knew that Christians being Christians I could almost CERTAINLY get a lift back if I didn't have the baggage of a bike... either that or I'd have a long, cold walk home late at night to ponder my stereotypical assumptions of Christians and how they might need adjusting ;) Thankfully they held out and I got a lift home :D :D :D lol
Yesterday I went to Ryde for the first time to a church service called Connect2 (at least I'm pretty sure it was called that) that was all good. Some of the youth peeps I know have a band which does worship and hey were playing, so I was mostly going to support them. They're a great bunch and it will be well cool to see where this leads them and how they'll grow. I also wonder if once upon a time certain elder friends of mine started their journey in a similar place.
What else have i done this week... oh I KNOW! I went to see the latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie. And, I'm relieved to say, it was well worth the watch. It was rather good. The only thing I think could have been improved on (other than a few scenes which were a bit pointless - MINORITY/FEW though they were) was it could have done with a central main character. There were main characters, defo, but one central character who was a goody... it was kind of supposed to be Jack I felt, but I don't really think Jack is a character who works well being the centre of the story, which is why in the original trilogy you had Will. Jack jumps everywhere, it's almost confusing sometimes. ON the other hand, Depp did marvelously well and Jack was just as he always was. I really liked the film: I'd buy it. Oh and you didn't necessarily NEED to have watched the first three to see this one... though I'd recommend seeing the first one just because it's amazing and will give you all the characters... having said that... seeing the trilogy first would probably be HELPFUL... oh and an extra note... the last line is a classic (maybe cliched, but made to be "not cringey") and is rather wonderful.
So yep that's been my week... or highlights of anyway... this coming week it's back to assisting/instructing after a day off tomorrow. Then sometime towards the end of the week we start our keelboating endorsement training (three days practising/two days assessment) which is all cool... all cool.... So I'll see when I can next gather myself to blog... until then... :D
Monday, 16 May 2011
Since the last time...
I realise that it has been a few days since my last post, but they have been full of stuff...
Friday
We had a day off on Friday, which was great. I got up so that I wouldn't miss breakfast and once up I decided not to waste he day but to do something. That something ended up being cycling down to Newport and helping set up for Catalyst, which - if you remember - is the Praise Night equivalent on IOW. It was great fun and included climbing up ladders to hang up massive banners, setting up all the tech stuff, playing loads of music, chatting with friends, going to the local Christian bookstore and getting lots of books and CDs to sell in the evening, and generally having a good time.
Then I cycled back, on both cycle rides I passed police who were entrenched on a bridge overlooking some marshes. I later looked on the local news to find out why there were news reporters and police there and it turns out they were searching for a body of a teenager who disappeared in 1996 (I was FOUR!!). I'm very glad I later found out that he'd actually disappeared on the waterfront not on the cycle path, it did worry me just a LITTLE that I'd been cycling on the cyclepath in the dark on my own that someone had (I thought) been "disappeared" on. I don't know if they found anything or not.
In the afternoon I went down to town, bought some new shoes, a plain lunch of pita read and water (which was genuinely sooo good), and some stationary I'd been needing for a while. Taking it slowly it took an hour or so, then I came back and chilled out in the computer room until dinner, and then it was time to go catch my lift back to Newport and Catalyst
At Catalyst there was a group from BMS there who'd come back from a project (I believe in India) and they were pretty much leading it. So that was good fun.
Saturday
Saturday was back to work experience. I was with a group from Surrey (near Guildford, ie near home) and we did a session out just beyond Cowes Harbour with the Doublehanders (Visions if you remember my mention of them from when I was dinghy sailing) the Cats (ie multihulls/Catamarans) and Picos (again think back to when I was dinghy sailing). Once more I was in a safety boat in the morning, this time driving, and I was with the Vision session (we took out three). I just followed them around and made sure if they needed any help they had it. I also had to facilitate swapping kids so that they all had a go on them. It was great fun and just that morning of powerboating increased (I felt) my confidence and ability in it. We went to the beach for lunch and the kids played around. The tide went out EXTREMELY fast, however, and we ended up making a rather hurried rush back to the boats to save them from becoming beached. Even then we had to leave one boat on the mud and come back for it later on when the tide came in. In the afternoon I was on one of the visions with three kids, three boys who were forever asking if we could capsize and then forever worrying about what to do should we capsize. (I didn't capsize, even if it was the first time I'd sailed in almost two months) It was a great day overall and I had loads of fun. (a recurring statement, surprisingly enough.)
Sunday
I was with the same group of kids on Sunday as I was on Saturday. the were leaving at 2.30 though and so we only had a morning session. This time the visions stayed on land and we took more picos out. One of the "Cats" was also left behind. I was on a safety boat with the large pico session. this ended up involving helping them rig (by yelling instructions at them; you have to yell to be heard, it's really not because I got angry), doing a little bit of coaching to improve their sailing, watching out for that stray pico that would end up ridiculously far away from the main group, keeping an eye on any picos that might stray too close to the wall, towing picos away form the wall when they did get too close, helping picos get upwind (much more difficult than it sounds when your kids have done none of the theory and know relatively nothing about sailing) - having said that I spoke to one of the more experienced instructors today and they gave a solution which was so simple and easy I wondered how stupid I must have been not to think of it... drive in front of them and get them to follow you, then you don't need to explain in child's language about the no go zone or a close hauled sailing position, and having more fun.
In the afternoon, once they'd gone, we finished tidying up all the picos, then were tidying the site for an hour/hour and a half. Then we were let off early WOOO!! at the cost of owing our Chief Instructor a favour... ominous indeed. lol
In the evening some of the youth from various churches I know had a worship evening/gig on in Shanklin so I grabbed dinner extremely quickly and then caught a bus... no one had warned me how bad the buses are here... I expected to be half an hour late... which is reasonable... the bus journey ended up taking one and a half hours. I set of at 6-ish. The event started at 6.30. I got there at 8. (don't do the maths i know it doesn't add up and that's because this is a summarised version with rounded numbers.) I caught the last song... I was not happy with the buses AT ALL. At least there was free cake to be had aplenty :D :D And I met some new friends, who were friends of Simon and Hannah. And ended up going home with Simon (local youthworker) and them and chatting for a while then going with Simon to take them to the ferry back to the mainland. It was great meeting them and definitely made up for catching only the last song of the event. And on the upside they have another event this Saturday in Ryde, so I'll go along to that :D
Monday
Today was half and half. New groups were arriving so for the morning we were doing pretty much nothing. We checked their rooms to make sure they were clean and ready for them, we got their lunches ready, we sorted out what we'd do with them in the afternoon. Then things began to pick up when we went to get them. They are from Surrey again, and near Redhill again, which is really cool. We did some wet games with them (getting them to chuck cups of water at each other whilst blindfolded, fill up a pole covered in holes by plugging the holes with their fingers, play games whilst standing under the showers, which could be turned on if they weren't going fast enough or did something wrong), which was amazingly fun, just having a splash around and a laugh and then did a pontoon jump, which was also great fun. At one point there was even a small waterfight with the hoses, which was immense also.
Then in the evening I volunteered to help with their evening session as well. We walked up to a nearby park and did some relay races in groups. Then all the girls wanted to play rounders and all the guys wanted to play.. no prizes for guessing... football. So the other two instructors took football and I was left to run the rounders... thank goodness I listened in school and didn't skive P.E. :D :D :D After a while rounders degenerated into a prolonged toilet break (girls... eh? :P) and then into a rather fun game of Frisbee. It was great fun and we were all laughing loads. Then a nice walk back and I came into the computer room (where I am now) to write this.
It's been long, yep, but I've had a lot to cover. So, hope you like the up date. It's been great fun so far as I thought it would be. I have one more day work experience and then five days of theoretical navigation study. So yea.. going to be an interesting week. This group is amazing though and I hope I'm with them again tomorrow.
Friday
We had a day off on Friday, which was great. I got up so that I wouldn't miss breakfast and once up I decided not to waste he day but to do something. That something ended up being cycling down to Newport and helping set up for Catalyst, which - if you remember - is the Praise Night equivalent on IOW. It was great fun and included climbing up ladders to hang up massive banners, setting up all the tech stuff, playing loads of music, chatting with friends, going to the local Christian bookstore and getting lots of books and CDs to sell in the evening, and generally having a good time.
Then I cycled back, on both cycle rides I passed police who were entrenched on a bridge overlooking some marshes. I later looked on the local news to find out why there were news reporters and police there and it turns out they were searching for a body of a teenager who disappeared in 1996 (I was FOUR!!). I'm very glad I later found out that he'd actually disappeared on the waterfront not on the cycle path, it did worry me just a LITTLE that I'd been cycling on the cyclepath in the dark on my own that someone had (I thought) been "disappeared" on. I don't know if they found anything or not.
In the afternoon I went down to town, bought some new shoes, a plain lunch of pita read and water (which was genuinely sooo good), and some stationary I'd been needing for a while. Taking it slowly it took an hour or so, then I came back and chilled out in the computer room until dinner, and then it was time to go catch my lift back to Newport and Catalyst
At Catalyst there was a group from BMS there who'd come back from a project (I believe in India) and they were pretty much leading it. So that was good fun.
Saturday
Saturday was back to work experience. I was with a group from Surrey (near Guildford, ie near home) and we did a session out just beyond Cowes Harbour with the Doublehanders (Visions if you remember my mention of them from when I was dinghy sailing) the Cats (ie multihulls/Catamarans) and Picos (again think back to when I was dinghy sailing). Once more I was in a safety boat in the morning, this time driving, and I was with the Vision session (we took out three). I just followed them around and made sure if they needed any help they had it. I also had to facilitate swapping kids so that they all had a go on them. It was great fun and just that morning of powerboating increased (I felt) my confidence and ability in it. We went to the beach for lunch and the kids played around. The tide went out EXTREMELY fast, however, and we ended up making a rather hurried rush back to the boats to save them from becoming beached. Even then we had to leave one boat on the mud and come back for it later on when the tide came in. In the afternoon I was on one of the visions with three kids, three boys who were forever asking if we could capsize and then forever worrying about what to do should we capsize. (I didn't capsize, even if it was the first time I'd sailed in almost two months) It was a great day overall and I had loads of fun. (a recurring statement, surprisingly enough.)
Sunday
I was with the same group of kids on Sunday as I was on Saturday. the were leaving at 2.30 though and so we only had a morning session. This time the visions stayed on land and we took more picos out. One of the "Cats" was also left behind. I was on a safety boat with the large pico session. this ended up involving helping them rig (by yelling instructions at them; you have to yell to be heard, it's really not because I got angry), doing a little bit of coaching to improve their sailing, watching out for that stray pico that would end up ridiculously far away from the main group, keeping an eye on any picos that might stray too close to the wall, towing picos away form the wall when they did get too close, helping picos get upwind (much more difficult than it sounds when your kids have done none of the theory and know relatively nothing about sailing) - having said that I spoke to one of the more experienced instructors today and they gave a solution which was so simple and easy I wondered how stupid I must have been not to think of it... drive in front of them and get them to follow you, then you don't need to explain in child's language about the no go zone or a close hauled sailing position, and having more fun.
In the afternoon, once they'd gone, we finished tidying up all the picos, then were tidying the site for an hour/hour and a half. Then we were let off early WOOO!! at the cost of owing our Chief Instructor a favour... ominous indeed. lol
In the evening some of the youth from various churches I know had a worship evening/gig on in Shanklin so I grabbed dinner extremely quickly and then caught a bus... no one had warned me how bad the buses are here... I expected to be half an hour late... which is reasonable... the bus journey ended up taking one and a half hours. I set of at 6-ish. The event started at 6.30. I got there at 8. (don't do the maths i know it doesn't add up and that's because this is a summarised version with rounded numbers.) I caught the last song... I was not happy with the buses AT ALL. At least there was free cake to be had aplenty :D :D And I met some new friends, who were friends of Simon and Hannah. And ended up going home with Simon (local youthworker) and them and chatting for a while then going with Simon to take them to the ferry back to the mainland. It was great meeting them and definitely made up for catching only the last song of the event. And on the upside they have another event this Saturday in Ryde, so I'll go along to that :D
Monday
Today was half and half. New groups were arriving so for the morning we were doing pretty much nothing. We checked their rooms to make sure they were clean and ready for them, we got their lunches ready, we sorted out what we'd do with them in the afternoon. Then things began to pick up when we went to get them. They are from Surrey again, and near Redhill again, which is really cool. We did some wet games with them (getting them to chuck cups of water at each other whilst blindfolded, fill up a pole covered in holes by plugging the holes with their fingers, play games whilst standing under the showers, which could be turned on if they weren't going fast enough or did something wrong), which was amazingly fun, just having a splash around and a laugh and then did a pontoon jump, which was also great fun. At one point there was even a small waterfight with the hoses, which was immense also.
Then in the evening I volunteered to help with their evening session as well. We walked up to a nearby park and did some relay races in groups. Then all the girls wanted to play rounders and all the guys wanted to play.. no prizes for guessing... football. So the other two instructors took football and I was left to run the rounders... thank goodness I listened in school and didn't skive P.E. :D :D :D After a while rounders degenerated into a prolonged toilet break (girls... eh? :P) and then into a rather fun game of Frisbee. It was great fun and we were all laughing loads. Then a nice walk back and I came into the computer room (where I am now) to write this.
It's been long, yep, but I've had a lot to cover. So, hope you like the up date. It's been great fun so far as I thought it would be. I have one more day work experience and then five days of theoretical navigation study. So yea.. going to be an interesting week. This group is amazing though and I hope I'm with them again tomorrow.
Thursday, 12 May 2011
In which I cover the first four days of this week
Day One - Monday 9th
So this was the first day of the final part/section of our course and we began well: with a familiar face. Steve Jackson, head dinghy Instructor at UKSA and also one of the two instructors we've had nearly all the way through from beginning to end, was our instructor. We were down for just doing a welcome to UKSA etc etc. HOWEVER, as we both have already been at UKSA for months already this was unnecessary and we therefore ended going for a powerboat trip down to Lymington. We spent an hour or so planning out our course, route etc and taking into considerations tides and weather. Then we took out the new coach boat, so far some of the only people to have driven it (to my knowledge). Tom drove us up there, I drove back and in the middle we had lunch. Compared to our normal safety RIBs it is fast... we both managed to get up to 40 knots....... yep, it was well fun and it was good practise too. To finish the day we helped with the site tidy-up which is exactly as it says... make everything look pristine. (some might say shipshape)
Day Two - Tuesday 10th
This was an interesting day. In the morning we had "industry guidance" and we got some help with our CVs and stuff. As we both, however, had pretty decent CVs already there wasn't much to do and we were finished by lunch. In the afternoon after inquiring as to the vacancy of any jobs that needed doing (there was nothing) I spent it reading and finished my third and final book just within the 36 hour mark after buying. That's about a book a day, however, i had finished the first two books in roughly the first 24 hours (26 hours) and I did pretty much no reading on the Monday.... or Sunday morning. reading time was probably... hmmmm.... altogether somewhere around the 24 hour mark. Not bad going... and I'm looking forward to rereading all of them. I'm also now interested in what the film versions of "I am number four" and "The Eagle of the Ninth" are like.
Day Three - Wednesday 11th
Day three heralded our first day of assisting in sessions and the two sessions we helped out in were both in areas we weren't qualified to instruct in. The first was keelboating, and, in the afternoon, multihull-ing. Both were fun. In the keelboats I went with Martin, another familiar face, and I just helped out. They're like large dinghies to be perfectly fair and apart from a few minor differences it went well and smoothly. No one was doing ay instructing, it was more of an experience-thing for the kids instead of a lesson. In the afternoon me and Tom were together in a powerboat, all I did that afternoon was sit in the powerboat. Which was surprisingly good fun, just to be watching and smiling. So that was all good. In the evening I went down to Newport for cell and saw everyone again, which was great. We also went down to the youth cafe for a bit and I said hello again to some other friends. Then we went back and had "cell proper" with question of the week and everything. We finished late as we'd started later and I found myself once again cycling back in pitch blackness (other than my light) at about 11.20 at night. I got in at about quarter to twelve and was very eager at that point to then jump into my bed, which I promptly did.
Day Four - Thursday 12th
We were with the same group again today, and there is something that I didn't mention about this group: they're disabled. It's been challenging but so much fun to be working with them. there are a number of wheelchair users and we've been lifting them in and out of their wheelchairs to get them onto boats and rafts over the last couple of days. The hardest part about it is the lack of response. You can only hold conversations with a couple of them and even then it's patchy sometimes. But don't get me wrong it's been an amazing group, and they were, individually, great kids/young people. Today was a bit of a splurge of activities. In the morning we instructors built a raft before the session began and then we had various kids being paddled around on it. We got some open-hull kayaks out and an instructor and a leader would take a kid out between them. Then there was a bit of dinghy sailing where we attached a tow line to the bow painter of a pico and then, with a five second demo/tuition on how to use a rudder we sent them off, some individually, some with one of the group leaders, for a short sail in the "pond" that is to say the water directly in front of UKSA. Then they'd be pulled back in with the tow rope. It was great fun and we all were switching different activities. Paddling a fully loaded raft around was the hardest thing to do, especially with only two paddlers. The most interesting part was supporting one of the wheelchair users in a kayak, I call "them" that but not because that's how I think of them, just so that I'm not saying their name. We had another instructor paddling at the front and all I had to do was sit with this person on my lap and talk to them, though there was little response and no verbal response from them at all.
It's been a great experience, and I'm really loving it. They leave tomorrow sadly, but as a first-time group it's been pretty amazing.
And then, finally, tomorrow, I believe that I have a day off :D :D Now how to spend it now I have no books.... hmmm.... I'll have to let you know tomorrow...
So this was the first day of the final part/section of our course and we began well: with a familiar face. Steve Jackson, head dinghy Instructor at UKSA and also one of the two instructors we've had nearly all the way through from beginning to end, was our instructor. We were down for just doing a welcome to UKSA etc etc. HOWEVER, as we both have already been at UKSA for months already this was unnecessary and we therefore ended going for a powerboat trip down to Lymington. We spent an hour or so planning out our course, route etc and taking into considerations tides and weather. Then we took out the new coach boat, so far some of the only people to have driven it (to my knowledge). Tom drove us up there, I drove back and in the middle we had lunch. Compared to our normal safety RIBs it is fast... we both managed to get up to 40 knots....... yep, it was well fun and it was good practise too. To finish the day we helped with the site tidy-up which is exactly as it says... make everything look pristine. (some might say shipshape)
Day Two - Tuesday 10th
This was an interesting day. In the morning we had "industry guidance" and we got some help with our CVs and stuff. As we both, however, had pretty decent CVs already there wasn't much to do and we were finished by lunch. In the afternoon after inquiring as to the vacancy of any jobs that needed doing (there was nothing) I spent it reading and finished my third and final book just within the 36 hour mark after buying. That's about a book a day, however, i had finished the first two books in roughly the first 24 hours (26 hours) and I did pretty much no reading on the Monday.... or Sunday morning. reading time was probably... hmmmm.... altogether somewhere around the 24 hour mark. Not bad going... and I'm looking forward to rereading all of them. I'm also now interested in what the film versions of "I am number four" and "The Eagle of the Ninth" are like.
Day Three - Wednesday 11th
Day three heralded our first day of assisting in sessions and the two sessions we helped out in were both in areas we weren't qualified to instruct in. The first was keelboating, and, in the afternoon, multihull-ing. Both were fun. In the keelboats I went with Martin, another familiar face, and I just helped out. They're like large dinghies to be perfectly fair and apart from a few minor differences it went well and smoothly. No one was doing ay instructing, it was more of an experience-thing for the kids instead of a lesson. In the afternoon me and Tom were together in a powerboat, all I did that afternoon was sit in the powerboat. Which was surprisingly good fun, just to be watching and smiling. So that was all good. In the evening I went down to Newport for cell and saw everyone again, which was great. We also went down to the youth cafe for a bit and I said hello again to some other friends. Then we went back and had "cell proper" with question of the week and everything. We finished late as we'd started later and I found myself once again cycling back in pitch blackness (other than my light) at about 11.20 at night. I got in at about quarter to twelve and was very eager at that point to then jump into my bed, which I promptly did.
Day Four - Thursday 12th
We were with the same group again today, and there is something that I didn't mention about this group: they're disabled. It's been challenging but so much fun to be working with them. there are a number of wheelchair users and we've been lifting them in and out of their wheelchairs to get them onto boats and rafts over the last couple of days. The hardest part about it is the lack of response. You can only hold conversations with a couple of them and even then it's patchy sometimes. But don't get me wrong it's been an amazing group, and they were, individually, great kids/young people. Today was a bit of a splurge of activities. In the morning we instructors built a raft before the session began and then we had various kids being paddled around on it. We got some open-hull kayaks out and an instructor and a leader would take a kid out between them. Then there was a bit of dinghy sailing where we attached a tow line to the bow painter of a pico and then, with a five second demo/tuition on how to use a rudder we sent them off, some individually, some with one of the group leaders, for a short sail in the "pond" that is to say the water directly in front of UKSA. Then they'd be pulled back in with the tow rope. It was great fun and we all were switching different activities. Paddling a fully loaded raft around was the hardest thing to do, especially with only two paddlers. The most interesting part was supporting one of the wheelchair users in a kayak, I call "them" that but not because that's how I think of them, just so that I'm not saying their name. We had another instructor paddling at the front and all I had to do was sit with this person on my lap and talk to them, though there was little response and no verbal response from them at all.
It's been a great experience, and I'm really loving it. They leave tomorrow sadly, but as a first-time group it's been pretty amazing.
And then, finally, tomorrow, I believe that I have a day off :D :D Now how to spend it now I have no books.... hmmm.... I'll have to let you know tomorrow...
Sunday, 8 May 2011
More Reading...
Had a day off today, good to get to church (first time in four/five weeks) and see everyone again. Even better that everyone remembered me :D then spent the afternoon of the day off reading... and I have finished book 2 of three (not a series). So the first book I read was Scorpia Rising; I'd only read it if I'd read the others in the Alex Rider series, aimed for older kids/younger teenagers. This book, however, "I Am Number Four" could have gone one of two ways. It could have been brilliant or it could have been shocking. It was actually brilliant. The style of writing is an uncommon one (first person) but through the whole book it worked well. Typicalised by short, simple/compound sentences it's not in the literary style of a writer like Tolkien, for instance (how many books are) but the plot was original and gripping. It was not absurd and it stuck to the author's created rules for the heroes (who are aliens) i.e. it did not halfway through suddenly introduce a new "rule" like "they're immortal and don't need sleep or water if they run round in a circle three times clucking like a chicken" or anything ridiculous, they could be hurt and they weren't invincible, very important characteristics for heroes and the only bad side to the book is the strange paragraph at the beginning where it claims (before the story has started) to be telling completely true facts. Call me cynical, but i think that if the events in the books are true... well I'll go no further; needless to say that for me it is nothing more than fiction - albeit a jolly good fiction. Loved the originality of the planets, worlds, situation and plot, though some might argue it's a typical and cliched plot.
The next book to read is on called The Eagle, which has recently had the prestige of being made into a film... so hopefully that too will be well worth the buy...
For now, I'm the one who's saying "bye" though, as I end this and go to sleep. Next and final part of the course starts tomorrow and it's gonna be good :D
The next book to read is on called The Eagle, which has recently had the prestige of being made into a film... so hopefully that too will be well worth the buy...
For now, I'm the one who's saying "bye" though, as I end this and go to sleep. Next and final part of the course starts tomorrow and it's gonna be good :D
Saturday, 7 May 2011
A Windsurf Instructor Reads?
So today has been the last of many days and the first of many more. So is everyday, come to think about it, but maybe some days more so than others. I finished the final part of the core section of my course today and am now qualified as a windsurfing instructor. The strange difference of the reactions in my thoughts between "I've passed" and "I'm a windsurf instructor" is strangely considerable, he second one eliciting much more excitement and the first producing almost no response at all.
We finished about twelve o'clock and most of the people on the course went home immediately, some will be back in a few weeks to work here so it wasn't goodbye forever, but it was still goodbye. The course was over. The next course (the next PART of the course for me) starts on Monday. This gives me Sunday free, YAY!! and I intend to make full use of being allowed the luxury of going to church in the morning tomorrow.
This afternoon, however, me and a friend went out to Newport. We had a quick lunch there. McDonalds, which is a novelty to us, as there is no McDonalds in Cowes. However I possibly made my first mistake when I went into waterstones. I happened to see a new book... a book I've been waiting for for quite a while... yes, though it is slightly embarrassing this is the last book for definite in the series (so the cover assures me) i will tell you that the last book in the Alex Rider series is now out and I am the new owner of a copy of it. As it was in a 3 for 2 offer though I then got two more books... sigh... I had my first proper reading sesh in a long time this afternoon and am now between a quarter and a third of the way through the book. :D :D :D :D i don't think I mentioned (although I might have) that I stayed up till 1-ish the other night reading... ahhhh to be reading again :D :D :D good times. i reckon if i had three straight days off I'd have those three books finished. easy. however I don't :( :( ah well.. probably for the best...
On the other hand, a windsurf instructor reading? I think I must be quite an unconventional windsurf instructor...
We finished about twelve o'clock and most of the people on the course went home immediately, some will be back in a few weeks to work here so it wasn't goodbye forever, but it was still goodbye. The course was over. The next course (the next PART of the course for me) starts on Monday. This gives me Sunday free, YAY!! and I intend to make full use of being allowed the luxury of going to church in the morning tomorrow.
This afternoon, however, me and a friend went out to Newport. We had a quick lunch there. McDonalds, which is a novelty to us, as there is no McDonalds in Cowes. However I possibly made my first mistake when I went into waterstones. I happened to see a new book... a book I've been waiting for for quite a while... yes, though it is slightly embarrassing this is the last book for definite in the series (so the cover assures me) i will tell you that the last book in the Alex Rider series is now out and I am the new owner of a copy of it. As it was in a 3 for 2 offer though I then got two more books... sigh... I had my first proper reading sesh in a long time this afternoon and am now between a quarter and a third of the way through the book. :D :D :D :D i don't think I mentioned (although I might have) that I stayed up till 1-ish the other night reading... ahhhh to be reading again :D :D :D good times. i reckon if i had three straight days off I'd have those three books finished. easy. however I don't :( :( ah well.. probably for the best...
On the other hand, a windsurf instructor reading? I think I must be quite an unconventional windsurf instructor...
Thursday, 5 May 2011
Er... I don't know what to entitle this one...
I'm out of practice. I forgot to blog yesterday, sorry.
Having said that yesterday was a long, long day, and fairly full, including a sprint-cycle over to Newport to a nonexistent cell group and a slightly more sedate cycle back home shortly afterwards. Getting time to read here is hard, I was up till the early morning on Tuesday reading a new book and I would have done that last night too had I not fallen asleep whilst mentally debating whether to have a small snack.
We've not being doing much personal windsurfing this week, it's all been for the purpose of demonstrating to beginners certain moves and techniques, which is all well and good but it means big boards and small rigs. It's still good fun, but not AS fun as a nice small-ish board and a large rig would be.
There have been late nights too. We ended at 8.30 yesterday, man that was long. Today wasn't so bad, but I ended up staying and watching "The Windsurf Movie" which was being shown. Pretty amazing stuff going on there... one day... in many many many years time maybe I shall be a quarter as good as that...
Learning lots and the assessors are really nice. They are really encouraging and relaxed, but at the same time they get through everything we need to get through.
What's going on the rest of the week?? Well, tomorrow I think we can expect going through everything we've done in the last two days, then child-protection stuff. Then on Saturday we have the actual moderation, which will be good I think. Then I shall or shall not be a windsurf instructor.
Oh, I have finished the book I've been reading, the penultimate book in a series that has had an axe taken to it by the death of its author. They're some of my favourite books from my childhood and I still will read them. I say penultimate because, after a little bit of research, I found out that his last book was actually published this year, I guess it must have been done post-humously (is that the right term, i can't remember ever having to spell it before) obviously it's not post-humouRously. So I will get my hands on that at some point or another.... The one I've just read was actually very good.
hat's all for now I think, I need to work back into getting this blog going properly again. :D Hope you're all well.
Having said that yesterday was a long, long day, and fairly full, including a sprint-cycle over to Newport to a nonexistent cell group and a slightly more sedate cycle back home shortly afterwards. Getting time to read here is hard, I was up till the early morning on Tuesday reading a new book and I would have done that last night too had I not fallen asleep whilst mentally debating whether to have a small snack.
We've not being doing much personal windsurfing this week, it's all been for the purpose of demonstrating to beginners certain moves and techniques, which is all well and good but it means big boards and small rigs. It's still good fun, but not AS fun as a nice small-ish board and a large rig would be.
There have been late nights too. We ended at 8.30 yesterday, man that was long. Today wasn't so bad, but I ended up staying and watching "The Windsurf Movie" which was being shown. Pretty amazing stuff going on there... one day... in many many many years time maybe I shall be a quarter as good as that...
Learning lots and the assessors are really nice. They are really encouraging and relaxed, but at the same time they get through everything we need to get through.
What's going on the rest of the week?? Well, tomorrow I think we can expect going through everything we've done in the last two days, then child-protection stuff. Then on Saturday we have the actual moderation, which will be good I think. Then I shall or shall not be a windsurf instructor.
Oh, I have finished the book I've been reading, the penultimate book in a series that has had an axe taken to it by the death of its author. They're some of my favourite books from my childhood and I still will read them. I say penultimate because, after a little bit of research, I found out that his last book was actually published this year, I guess it must have been done post-humously (is that the right term, i can't remember ever having to spell it before) obviously it's not post-humouRously. So I will get my hands on that at some point or another.... The one I've just read was actually very good.
hat's all for now I think, I need to work back into getting this blog going properly again. :D Hope you're all well.
Tuesday, 3 May 2011
Return of the Dan
I now sit once more in a sophisticated, cool room somewhere in the most northern part of the wonderful Isle of Wight. I tap away from the comfort of my own country and am most glad for it. I am back. It feels good to be here, to be around what is familiar and to see what changes have occurred over the last month. It is a funny feeling and I'm not sure I fully understand it so I can't expect anyone else to but even though spending a day back home was great and there is still a space for me back there it didn't feel like where I should be... what I mean by that is that it feels more fulfilling to be back at the Isle of Wight than in Redhill. Being in Redhill still feels like it is only a visit... I guess because it is.
On the last day of Egypt we all went out for one last session, and it was an important one because it was part of a charity event called "Windsurf for Cancer Research" and at roughly 10.30 Egyptian time everyone out on the water all did a helitack, or if they couldn't do one then they tried to. I'd spent pretty much every spare moment I had on the water that week practising it and I'd got it. The only hitch was that the practising had been done in light winds, on the Sunday morning the wind was stronger than it had been during the week. Luckily I was up early and spent over an hour practising all over again to try and get the hang of doing a helitack in slightly stronger winds. Needless to say that this involved a lot of swimming. When it came to it though that extra hour paid off and I landed the helitack, though I did fumble it slightly (I guess I should admit to that) So I was well happy when we left.
ON the Friday night/Saturday morning some of our group (i.e. me and one other guy) joined a organised trip to go up Mount Sinai and watch the sun rise from its peak. We left the hotel at 11.30 in the evening and went into town. The owner of the business was the brother of one of the Egyptian Nielson's staff that we knew and he came to pick us up personally, which was cool. Then at 12 midnight we, along with seven others, left in a taxi that would take us to the base of Sinai over the course of two hours. Getting out of the taxi (in which we'd all been slowly nodding off to sleep) woke us up pretty quickly as it was freezing and the wind wasn't being too kind either. We pulled out the extra clothes we'd packed in our bags in preparation for this and soon we were at least comfortable.
The taxi driver showed us our guide (guide is slightly misleading as all he did was walk in front of us and make sure we didn't go in the wrong direction - which wasn't that hard) and we set off up the wide path made for camels to take people to the top. We walked, however, and it was rather amazing. The stars were literally alive, not only were there loads of them (comparative to England) but they were bright and fiery. It almost felt like they were Lords or great warriors; maybe I read too much, but it was stunning.
When you get to the top you then have 700 steps (not that any of them were particularly worthy of the title "step") to reach the peak. They reminded me of the steps leading up from Cirith Ungol to Shelob's Lair. Not to such extremities but definitely reminiscent of such rough, uneven stairs. In fact I did wonder several times what I would do if I reached the top of them to find a big black hole leading into the mountain or a giant spider; I never reached a conclusion that I can remember. Overall it took about two and a half hours to reach the peak. As you got higher through the darkness you could see the vague shadowy shapes of ridges and rocks and the surrounding landscape and you got the sense that it was going to be magnificent when the sunlight spilt onto it and revealed it all.
We were waiting at the very peak, which is a flattish, smallish plateau with a large drop on every side. We waited about ten minutes. It got lighter and lighter and you could see the whole land but to my slight disappointment I never saw a Lion-King-esque flood of golden light over the land due to a layer of low-lying cloud across the horizon. Instead we were treated to seeing a glowing yellow circle floating upwards. Yes we saw the sun, and it is testament to it's blinding brilliance that even through the clouds we could see it's shape and colour, if not its brightness.
After about half and hour we started down. On the way down we got past the 700 steps and then our ascent-mirroring descent was diverted from to go down the 3000 steps that form a quicker, rockier, more challenging way to reach the peak. The steps wound their way down a ravine and there were small touches to the otherwise desolate, rocky landscape that made it feel like it was the remnants of an older time when maybe the way was more used. Touches such as a couple of rough-stone arches built between narrow passages, and an area where there were lots of piles of small rocks stacked on each other. At the bottom of the ravine was the monastery, but from the bottom looking up it was impossible to see that there was any route down the rocks. No one who had not been up the mountain before and was going up without a guide would ever imagine that there could ever be steps up that place, the path was completely hidden, even from us who had less than five minutes previously been walking on it.
We had an hour's wait before the monastery opened for tourists and we had a brief look inside because it was supposed to hold the burning bush. I saw three or four different species of bush. One of them had a fire extinguisher next to it so I guess that MUST have been the one they thought was the burning bush...
Then we left promptly, it being about ten o'clock in the morning by this time and we met the taxi where we'd left it (though it had gone and come back obviously). A two hour taxi ride back and the trip was over, a great experience and loads of fun. A challenge and an adventure (well, for those with any imagination it was an adventure anyway, but so many adventures nowadays are like that). Needless to say I was very tired, but did pretty well during the day, doing lots of written theory work which needed to be done and also going out for a windsurf in the afternoon. A great day.
That was all I really wanted to add about Egypt. Now what's been going on today. Well it seems like it's going to be a great week. Despite horrid whispers that the assessors would be militarily-strict task masters it appears that they are not. One even lives in Redhill and was until 18 months ago the manager of Aquasports at Mercer's lake. Crazy.
It seems fairly relaxed and again it strikes me that it's ongoing assessment, yes, but it also is a course where they teach you how to teach; they don't expect you to be perfect. And that is no small relief.
Seeing the other half of our previous group (from before I went to Egypt) was good. It was nice to see them again and to share experiences. They've been doing the instructor development which I'll be doing after next week and it sounds like it's going to be amazing. Lots to look forward to it seems, from improving my personal level to getting to assist with sessions to learning new skills and, if the wind and sea state are right, almost killing ourselves as we zoom around on the Darts (I exaggerate of course).
So yea, let's get this week over and done with, which will be fun enough, but then bring on the third, and final, part of this course. I will be the only one to have done all three parts together.
I've written enough I think, more than enough more than likely. So I'll stop there for tonight. Being back in the UK I expect to be writing more frequently now so all is pretty much back to normal :D Hope everyone reading is well.
On the last day of Egypt we all went out for one last session, and it was an important one because it was part of a charity event called "Windsurf for Cancer Research" and at roughly 10.30 Egyptian time everyone out on the water all did a helitack, or if they couldn't do one then they tried to. I'd spent pretty much every spare moment I had on the water that week practising it and I'd got it. The only hitch was that the practising had been done in light winds, on the Sunday morning the wind was stronger than it had been during the week. Luckily I was up early and spent over an hour practising all over again to try and get the hang of doing a helitack in slightly stronger winds. Needless to say that this involved a lot of swimming. When it came to it though that extra hour paid off and I landed the helitack, though I did fumble it slightly (I guess I should admit to that) So I was well happy when we left.
ON the Friday night/Saturday morning some of our group (i.e. me and one other guy) joined a organised trip to go up Mount Sinai and watch the sun rise from its peak. We left the hotel at 11.30 in the evening and went into town. The owner of the business was the brother of one of the Egyptian Nielson's staff that we knew and he came to pick us up personally, which was cool. Then at 12 midnight we, along with seven others, left in a taxi that would take us to the base of Sinai over the course of two hours. Getting out of the taxi (in which we'd all been slowly nodding off to sleep) woke us up pretty quickly as it was freezing and the wind wasn't being too kind either. We pulled out the extra clothes we'd packed in our bags in preparation for this and soon we were at least comfortable.
The taxi driver showed us our guide (guide is slightly misleading as all he did was walk in front of us and make sure we didn't go in the wrong direction - which wasn't that hard) and we set off up the wide path made for camels to take people to the top. We walked, however, and it was rather amazing. The stars were literally alive, not only were there loads of them (comparative to England) but they were bright and fiery. It almost felt like they were Lords or great warriors; maybe I read too much, but it was stunning.
When you get to the top you then have 700 steps (not that any of them were particularly worthy of the title "step") to reach the peak. They reminded me of the steps leading up from Cirith Ungol to Shelob's Lair. Not to such extremities but definitely reminiscent of such rough, uneven stairs. In fact I did wonder several times what I would do if I reached the top of them to find a big black hole leading into the mountain or a giant spider; I never reached a conclusion that I can remember. Overall it took about two and a half hours to reach the peak. As you got higher through the darkness you could see the vague shadowy shapes of ridges and rocks and the surrounding landscape and you got the sense that it was going to be magnificent when the sunlight spilt onto it and revealed it all.
We were waiting at the very peak, which is a flattish, smallish plateau with a large drop on every side. We waited about ten minutes. It got lighter and lighter and you could see the whole land but to my slight disappointment I never saw a Lion-King-esque flood of golden light over the land due to a layer of low-lying cloud across the horizon. Instead we were treated to seeing a glowing yellow circle floating upwards. Yes we saw the sun, and it is testament to it's blinding brilliance that even through the clouds we could see it's shape and colour, if not its brightness.
After about half and hour we started down. On the way down we got past the 700 steps and then our ascent-mirroring descent was diverted from to go down the 3000 steps that form a quicker, rockier, more challenging way to reach the peak. The steps wound their way down a ravine and there were small touches to the otherwise desolate, rocky landscape that made it feel like it was the remnants of an older time when maybe the way was more used. Touches such as a couple of rough-stone arches built between narrow passages, and an area where there were lots of piles of small rocks stacked on each other. At the bottom of the ravine was the monastery, but from the bottom looking up it was impossible to see that there was any route down the rocks. No one who had not been up the mountain before and was going up without a guide would ever imagine that there could ever be steps up that place, the path was completely hidden, even from us who had less than five minutes previously been walking on it.
We had an hour's wait before the monastery opened for tourists and we had a brief look inside because it was supposed to hold the burning bush. I saw three or four different species of bush. One of them had a fire extinguisher next to it so I guess that MUST have been the one they thought was the burning bush...
Then we left promptly, it being about ten o'clock in the morning by this time and we met the taxi where we'd left it (though it had gone and come back obviously). A two hour taxi ride back and the trip was over, a great experience and loads of fun. A challenge and an adventure (well, for those with any imagination it was an adventure anyway, but so many adventures nowadays are like that). Needless to say I was very tired, but did pretty well during the day, doing lots of written theory work which needed to be done and also going out for a windsurf in the afternoon. A great day.
That was all I really wanted to add about Egypt. Now what's been going on today. Well it seems like it's going to be a great week. Despite horrid whispers that the assessors would be militarily-strict task masters it appears that they are not. One even lives in Redhill and was until 18 months ago the manager of Aquasports at Mercer's lake. Crazy.
It seems fairly relaxed and again it strikes me that it's ongoing assessment, yes, but it also is a course where they teach you how to teach; they don't expect you to be perfect. And that is no small relief.
Seeing the other half of our previous group (from before I went to Egypt) was good. It was nice to see them again and to share experiences. They've been doing the instructor development which I'll be doing after next week and it sounds like it's going to be amazing. Lots to look forward to it seems, from improving my personal level to getting to assist with sessions to learning new skills and, if the wind and sea state are right, almost killing ourselves as we zoom around on the Darts (I exaggerate of course).
So yea, let's get this week over and done with, which will be fun enough, but then bring on the third, and final, part of this course. I will be the only one to have done all three parts together.
I've written enough I think, more than enough more than likely. So I'll stop there for tonight. Being back in the UK I expect to be writing more frequently now so all is pretty much back to normal :D Hope everyone reading is well.
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