Qistina - Challenges of an Outdoor Person

My heart was thumping, threatening to jump out of my chest. My mind was racing, making half of my brain throb with fear. I stared out at the ocean, wondering whether the tiny little creatures underneath the surface were waiting for me to jump into the big waves. My mask was fogging up, and I took it as a sign that maybe I shouldn't go snorkeling. I glanced at my partner Krithika, and she gave me a thumbs up, a huge smile on her face. At least someone was excited. I gave her a tiny grin back, and closed my eyes. I tugged at my lifejacket, making sure it wasn't loose. I loosened my mask a little, allowing oxygen to enter. I needed to calm down. It was the only way to get this over with. I could hear Richard, our guide, announcing to the whole group that it was time to walk down to the shores, preparing for our snorkeling. I looked around at Daniel and Maria, the looks on their faces jubilant. Great, I'm one of the only people to be worried. I placed the plastic part of the mask into my mouth, biting the edges of it with my side braces. It hurt, but as long as water didn't enter my mask, I'd be fine. Our group waded into the water, looking down at the sea creatures. They looked so tiny! I smiled slightly at the sight. We swam deeper into the ocean, observing corals and sea cucumbers and certain fish. My ribs had started to hurt by the time we were done snorkeling, but I felt refreshed! The whole time, I was scared of going snorkeling, and I couldn't believe how worried I was! I thought about everything we did in the past four days, and I was almost jumping out of my own skin; everything was so much fun! From the tree houses to the snorkeling, there was not a day that I missed home. Realizing it was the second last day before we had to leave, I was quite sad; being away from my parents never affected me so much that I wanted to stay away! Going back to the city seemed boring, but I knew if I kept thinking about it, it would be worse the next day, when we actually had to leave. On the bus back to KL, I remembered all the silly and goofy moments that seemed to take play in our whole Malaysia Week, and I decided, that out of all the temporary homes I've had, this, Tanjung Rambutan, was my favorite one.