I had my first sailing class ever yesterday. The university here has a sailing club, and I signed up for a class that they were offering with the Sea Sports Club out on the East Coast of the island. It is a 3-day course on laser sailboats- small one person racing boats. My next classes are Thurs and Sat next week. Anyway, I loved it! On our first day we were only out on the water for a little over an hour because we had to spend a lot of time going over theory, tying knots, how to rig up the boat, etc. I capsized within about 3 minutes of being out to sea, because of extreme confusion over what the heck I was doing, but then managed to keep the boat upright and moving back and forth for the next hour. Capsizing was a bit of an event, because you then have to single-handedly get the boat upright and haul yourself back into the boat (need to lose weight and build upper body strength to make that part a bit easier), but I am glad I did capsize because it made me realize that falling in really is not a big deal at all. Can't wait for Thursday and more sailing!

Oh, and the East Coast is really lovely. The Sea Sports Club is out at a place called Pasir Ris, which is much more residential. There are parks, trails, beaches. You can even see Pulau Ubin (another small island) from the beach where we launched. And in fact, the park at the Sea Sports Club has the coolest playground ever! If I was a kid, that place would be my heaven. Who am I kidding? I don't have to be a kid to enjoy it!