Berenang

I can't swim.

Can I? I can propel myself forwards in water via kicking my feet, I suppose. But I don't know what to do with my arms. And I don't know how to breath. Every time I turn my head out of water to inhale I end up gulping water. And I can't do anything but panic if my feet don't touch the bottom.

So no, I can't swim.

I wonder why. I have this very distinct memory of being sent to swimming classes when I was a kid. This was back when we were staying in Kerteh, and mom would bring me to the resident golf/country club for lessons. I have a vague notion of being taught how to paddle my feet while holding on to the sides of the pool, but the strongest memory, the most solid recollection I have of swimming class is being with a bunch of other kids at the edge of the deepest part of the pool. The instructor put a buoy in the middle of the pool, and proceeded to ask us to swim to it and then back to the edge. HOLY SHIT WAS THAT SCARY. I remember swimming and breathing in sputtering motions, wanting to panic and not do it, but everyone else seemed fine and able to. I didn't want to be the only one too chicken to do it(I was six, but I had pride, yo). So I got to the buoy, where the instructor was treading, held on for a while, then sputtered and spewed my way back to the edge. I think he said something about how I could improve, but I think at that time I was just consumed with "TAK NAK BUAT LAGI DAH! TAKUT!" thoughts in my head. I can't remember what happened after that, but I think the way I swim now is exactly how I swam that day, so maybe I stopped going for classes.

Damn. I wish I could swim. I should be able to swim. If I could just do a decent front crawl that can get me from one end of the pool to the other, I'd be happy.

Is swimming something that can be self-taught? Study in theory, go to a pool, practice? One of my favourite Lat cartoons is a scene from Kampung Boy, the one where he depicts how he learned to swim, basically via his dad tossing him into the river when he was a kid. I'd like to believe if someone creeps up behind me and pushes me into a pool my survival instincts would take over and suddenly I'd be a freaking mermaid, but you and I both know that wouldn't happen at all. I'd just flail around and somehow make it to the edge of the pool before trying to kill the person who pushed me in. Swimming skills gained? No. Manslaughter charges? Yes.

Maybe I should coerce someone into teaching me. Kakak? Maybe I could save up money and go for lessons.

Takpe. By hook or by crook, I'll learn how to swim. I'll be a seal in the water someday. A penguin. A water baby. A platypus. A cat with a strange likeness for water. Until then I'll just sigh longingly every time I go to the gym and catch a whiff of the chlorine from the pool.