Skydiving

I read Elmarie's entry and thought: "There's a mistake, I'm sure we only went skydiving the beginning of this year" (within the first few days);  should have known not to doubt her (memory)...especially after her facebook message nearly giving the dates for everything we did for an entire month!

It started out as a frustrating Sunday evening...too many things we wanted (and needed) to do and not enough days to do it.

Ever been in a predicament like this? And this wasn't even assignments or studying...this was all fun! Where to fit everything in?

Weather plays an important part in skydiving...yes, the views, but also turbulence, wind currents, among others that might make your life more interesting that you really want it (on the other hand....Elmarie? you'd prefer that right?)

Elmarie went skydiving for her birthday...

She went as Luigi...

And this time...

She went as The Princess...
All those hours of Wii are paying off...even in skydiving you are coming through as a Mario Bros. fanatic

What colour did I choose...?
It wasn't really a choice, more an extension of being...you see, my blood is pink:

 "My Alles vir Altyd vir Magrietjie!" (My All for Always for Magrietjie)

...Magrietjie is my residence at university - just in case you are confused...

Wian (my brother) wore the yellow jumpsuit...we figured it can go as the yellow mushroom from Mario Bros...don't you think? Especially with the little hat (helmet replacements)...

Where was I...?

O, yes - the weather...Tuesday was a rainy, dreary day (the lady told us that it would be and that we can't go skydive on the Tuesday...) But that Wednesday, 29 December 2010 would be D-Day (not the WWII one, just the one where we would jump out of a plane from 10 000 feet...)

Our chauffeur (thanks Mabs!) stopped at Starbucks and off we were...driving...driving...all the way into Matamata (a town)...with no airfield....the airfield was apparently "just outside" Matamata...gee, thanks Mr GPS and Madam Website, now we have to worry if we were going to miss our jump (it was a really weird feeling)...mostly mush...excited-scared, scared-excited, annoyed (couldn't there have been this huge arrow with lights pointing to where we needed to be...like they have in the cartoons!?), paranoid that it was all going to be in vain (the driving, the excitement, the nervousness, the facebook status updates about jumping out of planes...) - also a good thing that I was in a car with people who have impeccable manners...they phoned to say we were late...(and can't find the place...etc ect...)

Did I mention that we went for a tandem skydive? not a solo one...
It helps, no training...and somebody gets to pull the straps if you can't find it/loose track of time/forget/loose consciousness (chuckle), that type of scenario...AND I still get to jump out of a plane at 10 000 feet!

O, and did I mention you then have a scenery guide (since you are only going up, they can't really be tour guides)...we could see sooooo much! Mount Ruapehu (with snow), Mout Ngaurahoe (aka Mount Doom!), Lake Rotorua...that’s on the plane ride up, on the freefall, I was trying to see everything…but at 200km/h or 9.81m/s², things do tend to look a bit different.

Apart from one solo jumper, I jumped out of the plane first…girl’s choice…I must say, there are days when I absolutely adore being a girl...

Skydiving in Retrospect:

I did sleep well the night before, I was slightly nervous and woke up before I "normally" would (it is, however, debatable if that is due to my alarm clock or nervousness)...
My hands were sweaty and cold (nervousness) or perhaps let's be positive: excitement?

And then, just calm, I didn't feel giddy, my heart wasn't racing, I wasn't particularly excited, I just felt freakishly calm...

We got into the plane...as per usual (I'm sure) the instructors ask you how you feel...and he assured me that my heart will be racing by the time the flap is opened and I can feel and hear wind blowing past the airplane...then shifting over and dangling my feet outside the plane...

I couldn't feel my heart race...and I couldn't hear it racing or pounding (a pounding heart would in anyway be no competition to the airplane's engine and the wind)

We took a photo, my instructor counted and we jumped/fell (whichever sounds more adventurous...) and I didn't FEEL anything...I was waiting for the adrenaline (from fear, from ecstasy)...all I could feel was the wind blowing up my nose and thinking that it feels the same as when you go swimming in the ocean and your sinuses get completely flushed by a wave - except here there is no water (another debatable point), or at least not water en masse.

I was trying to find the views I had just seen in the plane and realized that I had lost my entire sense of direction.
I know my reaction-time isn't what it is, or what it should be...considering the fact that I'm quite sure that my instructor had to pull the cord that deploys the parachute...since I couldn't find it.

Flying with the parachute...is awesome...it's quiet, you can have a conversation...time goes by slower per meter than during freefall (for obvious reasons: you're falling slower...wind resistance)
And nobody sustained any broken bones during landing (which is always a bonus...a trip to the hospital wasn't on the schedule)

When I got to the ground I would so have geared up again and go do it again! Although I felt completely and utterly drained...perhaps there was some adrenaline involved...(or disappointment)

Will I ever go skydiving again? YES, so definitely YES...! (I will just ask if I can get goggles of some sort that can cover my nose...)  

But the experience bothered me...the fact that I didn't FEEL anything, I felt somewhat zombie-like, somewhat numb...as if I could construct a barrier and keep myself separate and only hype myself to FEEL more, but that "feels" so fake...so rehearsed.

I mentioned it to my wonderful friend, Imke, and I'm glad I did, thankful I did.

I'm me, and I'm more than okay with that.