This is what the people at the pool look like... in Malibu.I began teaching swim lessons to young children today at the local pool. Yes, we have a pool in town though it leaves much to be desired. I am fairly sure I will contract some sort of topical disease before the summer's over... but that's OK. Nothing a little penicillin can't clean up.
Of course, I knew that swim lessons in Azerbaijan would be different. Nevertheless nothing could have prepared me for that moment when I walked in the door to the pool. One teacher with... THIRTY FLAILING CHILDREN struggling to stay afloat. The children weren't waiting patiently at the wall for my instructions. Instead they were doing whatever they wanted despite their limitations, namely the fact that they can't swim. Swim lessons last for an hour and a half, and I am fairly sure this hour and a half cost me a few years of life. The lifeguard in me was surveying the pool, which means I couldn't devote all that much time to actually teaching.
This will be an interesting two months. If I don't make it, tell my mom I love her!
