The Diary of Anne Ku

SWIMMING

16 May 2000 Tuesday

It took me three summers to pass beginning swimming. Yet four years later, my physical education teacher put me back in beginner's class. Humiliated but determined, I paddled upstream to my senior year in high school whereupon my fellow classmate rescued me. Lifeguarding in the summer, he taught me the proper way to a breast stroke was to make a heart out of it. In other words, reach out like an arrow and pull back to form an upside down heart. The secret was in the timing, the rhythm, and the pace.

I finally got the opportunity to practise this technique while staying at a five star hotel in Singapore for two and a half months. Each day after work, I'd swim to the sunset and reward myself with a tropical cocktail afterwards. Soon Singapore slings, mai tais, and pina coladas tasted like Tequila sunrises. Anyhow, such persistence qualified me for taking scuba diving lessons in a far bigger pool than the one at my hotel. It also opened up the world of water sports: water skiing, windsurfing, jetskiing, and even modelling beach wear at company events.

As I dive into swimming pools wherever I go, I have to thank my dear friend for teaching me how to do the breast stroke. Unfortunately, he didn't have time to teach me the freestyle (the crawl stroke). To this day, I'm still splashing water on all sunbathers and onlookers. No doubt, they wish too that I mastered both strokes.