My students and I at Smith’s Kyobashi talk about many things during our lessons, like travel, movies, hobbies, etc. One of my long-term students really enjoys—among other things—scuba diving and underwater photography. Thanks to him, I’ve actually learned some things about it, in particular, the equipment. When it comes to being a photographer, he does have a lot of skill. He’s even won prizes for some of his pictures, and looking at them it’s easy to understand why.
His adventures underwater and his pics make for great topics for our weekly conversations. In some ways, I envy him because he goes diving in Palau and Okinawa once a year, and a couple of times a month in Wakayama. I’ve never been to Okinawa or Palau, but would like to some day. Truth be told, I’d never even heard of Palau until he told me about his dives there.
I’ve actually always wanted to learn to scuba dive, but because I’m not a good swimmer, I’m afraid to try. Somehow, I can’t shake the thought of being laughed out of the dive school when I tell them that I swim like a stone. My student’s told me that it doesn’t matter, but that image is still strong in my mind.
One day, I’m going to have to put that fear aside though and take the plunge. I’ve done many other things that I didn’t think I could have before, so why not this? Either way, I’m looking forward to our next conversation to see what he’s been up to.
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