Swimming has been on my wish list for a long long time now but I never got a chance to actually learn. In Phoenix we used to take the kids to the pool and I was pretty scared of the deep waters. So, when I moved to Austin with a lot of time on my hands, this was on top priority.
We soon realized that there are very few swimming classes for adults here. Not surprising, since the American culture has water activities as an integral part of daily life and it is somewhat like driving- a basic life skill for survival here.
Finally, we learnt that YMCA would be having adult beginner swim lessons. However, my husband does not believe in doing things quickly- he has to have time to ponder and mentally prepare himself( if you are out for grocery, you cannot suddenly suggest going for dinner to a new place). So, by the time we decided to enroll, the class was full. Finally, in mid August, we had to enroll for classes in last week of Sept!
Finally, the day arrived and after lots of planning and discussion about everything from which towel to take to which road to use, we left 10 mins after our scheduled time. Husband was under lots of pressure as we were late and he showed all his driving skills. And then, in US, in a non downtown area, we were not able to find parking! While husband fumed, I indulged in 'India Nostalgia' where parking was a daily stress. Finally, we reached the class check in 5 min late. The lady quickly signed us in and asked us to hurry as we were late. We rushed to change and ran to pool. We were excited- finally we would learn swimming!
When we reached there, we were told that since a huge storm was coming and the pool area had metal beams in the roof cover, we would have to vacate the area and the class would be canceled. So much for the rules here- sometimes they are incomprehensible to our Indian background. After so much of 'hyping' about the lesson, we had to leave without even touching the water!
P.S. Adults not knowing swimming is such a social ostracism issue here that when we finally had our class, the swim director personally came and thanked each one of us for joining the class. Adults here don't know swimming only if they have something extreme like water phobia. There were 4 us in the class- all Asians- and we did not enlighten him that we did not know just because we never had access to a pool and not because we had mental blocks.
We soon realized that there are very few swimming classes for adults here. Not surprising, since the American culture has water activities as an integral part of daily life and it is somewhat like driving- a basic life skill for survival here.
Finally, we learnt that YMCA would be having adult beginner swim lessons. However, my husband does not believe in doing things quickly- he has to have time to ponder and mentally prepare himself( if you are out for grocery, you cannot suddenly suggest going for dinner to a new place). So, by the time we decided to enroll, the class was full. Finally, in mid August, we had to enroll for classes in last week of Sept!
Finally, the day arrived and after lots of planning and discussion about everything from which towel to take to which road to use, we left 10 mins after our scheduled time. Husband was under lots of pressure as we were late and he showed all his driving skills. And then, in US, in a non downtown area, we were not able to find parking! While husband fumed, I indulged in 'India Nostalgia' where parking was a daily stress. Finally, we reached the class check in 5 min late. The lady quickly signed us in and asked us to hurry as we were late. We rushed to change and ran to pool. We were excited- finally we would learn swimming!
When we reached there, we were told that since a huge storm was coming and the pool area had metal beams in the roof cover, we would have to vacate the area and the class would be canceled. So much for the rules here- sometimes they are incomprehensible to our Indian background. After so much of 'hyping' about the lesson, we had to leave without even touching the water!
P.S. Adults not knowing swimming is such a social ostracism issue here that when we finally had our class, the swim director personally came and thanked each one of us for joining the class. Adults here don't know swimming only if they have something extreme like water phobia. There were 4 us in the class- all Asians- and we did not enlighten him that we did not know just because we never had access to a pool and not because we had mental blocks.
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