Just Keep Swimming

Typical morning cappuccino

This week has gone by as fast as any other week, yet now it really feels as though we have lived here as our time seems to come to an end. Just the other day we were saying there were four weeks left. Now there's about one and a half weeks. I can't believe how much we have done in such a short amount of time, and how much we can still come up with to do.

About a week ago, I decided that I wanted to see if scuba diving here on the island was possible. I have had my certification since I was 10, and have really only had the opportunity to dive in the Pacific Ocean. After doing some research and going through countless emails, I was able to set up a dive date for yesterday. It was absolutely amazing and different than any diving I have done. First, the water was clear as always and the visibility was better than I've ever had it on a dive which allowed me to see all around which I was under the water. Another thing that I wasn't really expecting was the variety of fish that I saw and how some of them were just as colorful as fish that I had seen in Hawaii. There was a giant crab, some groupers, and also a little hermit crab. The part that I liked the most though was there was this one rock that was covered in thousands of these little tiny black fish and they seemed to just be suspended there. I always forget how exhilarating and nerve wracking diving can be. There's all the equipment, maintaining buoyancy, trying not to crash into other divers, and freaking out when you accidentally try to breath through your nose. But it's the small moments such as watching all of the little fish where I feel as though I am actually part of the world that make all the weird feelings worth it.

Isola dei Cavoli - second dive spot

My scuba equipment for the day

There are flowers EVERYWHERE on the island

As of right now, the language is still a bit of a mystery to me. When I went diving, only my instructors spoke English. When they were speaking in Italian with the rest of the group, I was kind of lost. Of course there were more technical terms with all of the dive equipment, but still it was a bit frustrating and intimidating. This older lady sat next to me on the bus one day, and unfortunately I couldn't really have a conversation with her because I didn't had the words to respond. All of these little events made me recall how hard it really was when I was learning Portuguese. There were definitely more days in the beginning where I would understand nothing but a few words. Some days I would go without speaking to many people or even forming complete sentences. Yet, eventually I figured things out. Here, I don't really have that time and I feel caught in that space where it's as if I'm a child all over again, watching, observing, and listening to everything around me. It's a weird feeling and hard to not get annoyed sometimes, yet whenever I do manage to say something right (majority of these encounters involving food) it's always a small accomplishment. Everyday we all just keep going, and maybe by the end of the dialogue, some Italian will come to us.

Part of the boat pier from the boardwalk