Thursday, 23 January 2020 - Namibia
Still no news of a job or my oral exam. At this point I am quite seriously worried. However I was more worried about the sky dive that I stupidly signed up for yesterday. Woke up at 8 a.m. and didn’t go for breakfast because Jay told me the jump can be quite nauseating so to be on the safe side better to have an empty stomach. So I just had coffee in my room.
I bumped into Clever at 9.30 a.m. at the lobby and he told me that they will pick me up at 12 p.m. instead of 10 a.m. because the weather was cloudy. At this point I had great hopes that the jump would be cancelled altogether. But since now I had some time I decided to walk around and see some points of interests here in Swakopmund.
First I walked to the War Memorial which is just a small monument with the dates of both World Wars stated on it. Then the lighthouse, and passing the State House to the Marine Memorial which is yet another small monument with 2 soldiers there and the wordings in German or Afrikaans I do not know. Finally to the Old Jail which was operational from 1909 to 1991. This was quite a distance away and I had to ask for directions several times; I must say that the locals here are really helpful.
Coming back to the hotel I passed the post office, police station, and the magistrates’ court. As I was nearing the lighthouse which is near the beachfront, I saw 2 elderly (white) tourists who when they saw me approaching, held on to their belongings more tightly. Racist idiots. I also saw many locals peddling wares and knowing how harassing they can be I tried to avoid them and they kept trying to call me but since they didn’t know my name they called me India 😂😂😂. I came back to the hotel in good time, and had another cup of coffee. Then came 12 p.m.
It all happened like clockwork that I didn’t really have enough time to be properly afraid. I was transported to the sky diving HQ where I signed all kinds of waivers, and then to the sky diving site where I was suited up. I looked like a jet fighter pilot 😁 which, once upon a time, was my dream until my eyes refused to be perfect.
Then came the plane and we had to board it. It’s a Cessna I believe, with just 1 pilot. The inside was completely bare. There were just 2 of us jumping at that time: me and a South Korean girl. I didn’t even know who my tandem was until I got into the plane. And suddenly my life was in the hands of this stranger who, by the way, tall and slim reminded me so much of Richard.
Anyway a minute or so before jumping he hooked us together and gave me my goggles, and told me that when we are jumping I was to hold my hands crossed to my chest, head back, legs up. Before I could even process this he said “now!” And there’s really no time to think at all, only do!!! And then we were out of the plane and it was damn scary, because you are really falling. Tap on the shoulder means open my arms out to the side, we were horizontal. Then the parachute which was another jolt, and then we were vertical and some adjustments to the holster as at this point it was choking me.
No comments:
Post a Comment