I went diving on Saturday with my open water class. I certified my three students and and got to spend a day out on the water. The weather was great and the dive conditions were really good too. Good dive conditions = easy day of teaching. One of the big highlights of the day though, was my class. These 3 students have been a big bright spot in my life. They are all very different and have their quirks, but I think that's why I like them. They know their quirks, and they don't care about them. It was an easy class to be around because there was a general acceptance of each other. Combine that with some raunchy humor and a love for scuba diving... you get a TON of fun.
Becoming an instructor has been one of those life long dreams. I was always a little fish growing up and I would love to go to the beach when I was a kid and watch the divers get in and out of the water. I was that annoying toddler that followed them around and asked a million questions. So, of course I was beyond excited when I finished up my instructor course back in April. Since then, I had difficult student after difficult student. I had a few good ones in there, but there was a lot of tough classes and grumpy students to deal with. It was discouraging. I had looked forward to teaching for so long and I was quickly finding out that it is not all sunshine and rainbows. This class made up for all the hard ones I've had over the past 8 months. They brought so much enthusiasm and desire to get out there and start diving. They not only reminded me why I wanted to teach scuba, but also reminded me why I love diving in the first place. This is one of those classes where I think the instructor learned just as much as the students did.
This class is planning on rolling right into my advanced class that starts in a couple of weeks. I am SO thrilled to get to teach them some more and dive with them again. I've made some special friendships here that I know I'll keep with me forever. It's a great feeling. :-)
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