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.
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