1.27

Today we had our first swimming conditioning. The beach isn’t like a beach in Florida (at least not the one we condition in). There is a small patch of sand and it’s in a kind of narrow bay. There is coral and fish on the bottom, but it’s pretty hazy in this part, so you can’t see much. We have to be able to swim a mile by the end of the course (not really have to; it’s more of a goal). The staff set out a 100 meter rope and you have to swim around it (down and up) 8 times to reach a mile. I actually did it! It took me almost an hour and a half, but I did it! Of course I didn’t swim swim though (like an Olympic swimmer…well obviously or I would have finished sooner) my swimming was more like doggy paddling/frog kicking. But hey, I did it! Not many other people did, so I was happy. There were a lot of sea lice though, so I was pretty itchy. It stopped once you got out of the water, so it was ok. The worst thing though was trying to get the salt water out of my hair! For those of you that don’t know what I look like or haven’t seen my in a long time, my hair is almost to my mid back. So try washing that with cold water and expensive shampoo! I did it, but decided it was going to be the last time! I borrowed some scissors from a friend and cut my pigtails right in half! My hair is now to just about an inch below my shoulders! I feel so free! (Why did I ever have long hair again!?!?) It’s much easier and cheaper to wash now (I used about half my bottle just to get the salt out of the long hair!) And I don’t have to gasp for breath when my hair touches my back (still not used to the cold showers!) The pictures shows about how much I cut off. If you take a dollar bill lengthwise, that the amount I cut (not straightened).