So I did it. I scuba dived. Scuba dove? What is the correct form? I'm not sure. And I teach this. Anyways. 
The story begins(and will be explained why later) the night before. Jade, my scuba partner, was laying on her bed. I could see her from the balcony from my room. While we are at the same hotel and on the same floor, we live in separate buildings. Yet our rooms are aligned and I can see right into her room. Creepy a little? Anyways. Naena and Ryan were there with her. I scream(at 1130pm) to try to get her attention. None of them can hear me. I try calling her, while staring at her room, her phone is busy. Finally, I grab some ginger that a student had given me, and get ready to chuck it at her room, in order to get her attention. Naena finally looks up and through Naena, Jade and I make plans to meet for breakfast and head out to be at the scuba place by 7am.
The story begins(and will be explained why later) the night before. Jade, my scuba partner, was laying on her bed. I could see her from the balcony from my room. While we are at the same hotel and on the same floor, we live in separate buildings. Yet our rooms are aligned and I can see right into her room. Creepy a little? Anyways. Naena and Ryan were there with her. I scream(at 1130pm) to try to get her attention. None of them can hear me. I try calling her, while staring at her room, her phone is busy. Finally, I grab some ginger that a student had given me, and get ready to chuck it at her room, in order to get her attention. Naena finally looks up and through Naena, Jade and I make plans to meet for breakfast and head out to be at the scuba place by 7am.We were to meet at 6:15am. 6:30am, and no sign of Jade. I call her, her phone is off. I call out to her. No response. I grab the ginger and throw it at her window, but to no avail. Finally, I walk my lazy ass down my two sets of stairs, and up her two sets of stairs and knock on the door. She was asleep. She gets ready quick and we head to the place. We each have an egg bagette sandwich for 6000 VND(16000=$1USD). We get on the bus, which leads us to the boat. There are about 30 other people doing various things in the water from snorkeling, rescue courses and scuba training. There are 6 of us doing "discover dives", which essentially lets us scuba dive like 
we had our liscense with limited training. The only catch is that we have a "master diver" holding on to us at all times. They basically do everything for us, we just enjoy the ride.
we had our liscense with limited training. The only catch is that we have a "master diver" holding on to us at all times. They basically do everything for us, we just enjoy the ride.We first meet the crew, but a very entertaining diver. We then split up into our groups. We learn basic dive concepts/vocabulary and the 5 handmotions for up, down, 
slow down, problem and equalize. The instructor had a very severe asian accent and I found it very difficult to understand him.
slow down, problem and equalize. The instructor had a very severe asian accent and I found it very difficult to understand him.Jade and I opt to go in the second group. We lounge around on the boat for a while, taking massive amounts of pictures and talking with anyone that crosses our path.
It's finally our turn. Jade goes first, and I watch her put on her gear and plop in. Ever since Laos, I don't like the jumping in bit, so I opt not to. I 
make my "master diver" put on all my gear on after I am already in the water. There is a man who volunteers to take pictures for me as I make my ascent into the water. I now have so many pictures of me in the water, which is great. So the Master diver tells me to put my mask on and put my mouth over the thing-a-ma-jig that connects to the oxygen. Then I am to put my face in the water, glide me along and see how I do. After about 10 seconds, my face comes back up and I am gasping for air. I cannot handle the breathing. All I wanna do is get out. I try again. I keep just my face underwater for about a minute. Its still very hard. I feel like my lungs are going to collapse and I might actually die. She tells me I am doing a good job. I feel like I will never be 
able to do it. I try one more time. I notice it starts to get easier. She then tells me we have about 20 minutes left and we should give it a go. I agree. We make our descent, probably about 10 feet or so. I am only focused on my breathing. I don't see anything. She keeps picking up shells and giving them to me, or showing me other pretty things. All I can think about is my breathing. Then all of a sudden, I realize that I am not going to die. That I can breathe. Then I start to enjoy the scenery. I see fish of all colors shapes and sizes. I see some coral. I see schools of fish. I see their whole life and I love it. I realize that I have slowly gone up and I see the surface. I come up and rip my mask off. My master diver freaks out and does a bunch of things to my suit and then asks me what's wrong. I say nothing. Apparently I was not supposed to go up that quickly and that was the improper way to do so. Oh well. We come to find out that we actually took too long and the boat was waiting for us to leave.
make my "master diver" put on all my gear on after I am already in the water. There is a man who volunteers to take pictures for me as I make my ascent into the water. I now have so many pictures of me in the water, which is great. So the Master diver tells me to put my mask on and put my mouth over the thing-a-ma-jig that connects to the oxygen. Then I am to put my face in the water, glide me along and see how I do. After about 10 seconds, my face comes back up and I am gasping for air. I cannot handle the breathing. All I wanna do is get out. I try again. I keep just my face underwater for about a minute. Its still very hard. I feel like my lungs are going to collapse and I might actually die. She tells me I am doing a good job. I feel like I will never be 
able to do it. I try one more time. I notice it starts to get easier. She then tells me we have about 20 minutes left and we should give it a go. I agree. We make our descent, probably about 10 feet or so. I am only focused on my breathing. I don't see anything. She keeps picking up shells and giving them to me, or showing me other pretty things. All I can think about is my breathing. Then all of a sudden, I realize that I am not going to die. That I can breathe. Then I start to enjoy the scenery. I see fish of all colors shapes and sizes. I see some coral. I see schools of fish. I see their whole life and I love it. I realize that I have slowly gone up and I see the surface. I come up and rip my mask off. My master diver freaks out and does a bunch of things to my suit and then asks me what's wrong. I say nothing. Apparently I was not supposed to go up that quickly and that was the improper way to do so. Oh well. We come to find out that we actually took too long and the boat was waiting for us to leave.We go to another dive site, and I decide to do the second dive site, along with Jade. Now that I was used to going underwater and having artificial breathe, I really got to enjoy myself. The coral was amazing. It was like an underwater city. It reminded me of shark tale, the animated movie. It was great, I absolutely loved it. We went about 30 feet underwater, I think. At first she was leading me around by the hand, but by the end, I was leading her, and getting to explore everything! She told me I was a natural. I'm very sure I am not. My ears really started to hurt the second time.
So as I am getting up for the second time, the head diver, who has been busting on me all day continues to bust on me. He told me that I should tell all my friends about the Diving company. Since this was our developed repoir, I tell him I have no friends. He says "figures". Then I tell him, that none of my friends but Jade were interested. He asks me if I am staying at the Dong Phoung hotel. I answer affirmatively, and look at him strangely. He asks me, "so did you meet your friend for breakfast?" I am very confused now. He informs me that he lives next door to me and heard our whole interbuilding conversation. What a small world!!!! The guy that is the head of our boat, lives in the room next door and has been for 10 months. So now we are in a little sound war, where we both try to make as much noise as possible to bother the other. Very entertaining.
I am definately glad that I went. It was a great experience and one that I will not soon forget!
After diving Jade and I headed to the beach for some rest and relaxation. I fell asleep, and next thing I know, Jade is giving an impromtu English lesson with some of the cigarette ladies. Then a bunch of teenage girls come, and I help them as well. Only with Jade would this happen!!
I am now off to Hoi An and Hue for some culture and history. I should be back by Sunday sometime. I will put all the scuba pics up on shutterfly as well as pics from the waterpark and long beach when I return!
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