Final

Hello, name, age, bday, how long in bkk, future plans?
The Similians trip was a part of ISB’s annual Week Without Walls program which takes place in February of each year. All members of the trip were part of the senior class of 2011 which made the trip a memorable experience. During the trip, we stayed on a boat called “The Junk” and travelled around the Similian Islands on the Andaman Sea where we stopped at various sites to dive.
This is an example of a typical day aboard The Junk. Each day would consist of around 3 to 4 dives, making the day really busy and tiring. After each dive there would be a large feast waiting for us which personally was one of my favorite things about this trip.
I chose to discuss my diving trip in Similians for various reasons. Firstly, I thought that it was a very fun and memorable experience. The trip was fun because the people in it made it so enjoyable. We had many inside jokes and were always fooling around. The sights were also so beautiful. The water were so blue and the beaches were so clean. It was unlike any other beach I’ve been to in Thailand before. And of course, seeing the fish while diving was really amazing – like I mentioned before, everything was so lively and colorful. Another reason I chose to talk about this trip was because some activities were a challenge. The whole trip was not just fun and games because we were being tested to get our Advanced Divers License. Therefore, during our spare time we had to study from a book and take lessons. We also were tested on skills such as buoyancy. Some dives were also more challenging than others especially the night dive because I was really scared of going in the water in pitch darkness. However, with support from my friends I was able to get through my fear. Lastly, I chose to talk about diving because it is something new and different which I have never done or thought I would do before. However, I am extremely glad that I gave it a try.
Expectations, thought I was gonna do bad, too scared but then it was okay. This influenced my performance. Therefore, I understand that at times I need to realize I have potential to do something so I should not worry as much. I learnt how to ride a bike.
A way of knowing this experience is related to is language. It is clear that people cannot communicate with each other through the use of words underwater. Therefore, divers tend to use hand signals to communicate. According to the Theory of Knowledge textbook, it is questionable whether of not our body language is considered language because it may not be intended. However, in the case of diving, these hand signals can be considered a language of its own because its sole purpose is to communicate a point. However, there is a problem with using just hand signals to communicate because there is a problem with translation and vagueness/ambiguity. This is because there are limited words/concepts that one can have signals for. Also, it is easy to miss or misunderstand a hand signals when not paying attention. It is hard to get someone’s attention because we simply cannot call out their names. Overwater, there are also special terms related to diving and living on a boat.
When underwater things look a lot different than what they actually are. That is because we are conditioned to perceive things in a certain way based on what we are normally used to. However, underwater objects look differently than on land. As we get deeper, objects show a lack of color because they are less exposed to the sunlight. Also, objects seem a lot closer than they actually are. Therefore, another sense is usually used to confirm what we perceive with our eyes. When diving this is usually touch since you can’t hear underwater. In terms of feeling, things also weigh differently when underwater. Overwater, we would have to carry a 5 kg tank and equipment which is very hard but underwater, the equipment floats with us taking the weight off our back. In terms of movement, we expect that gravity would break the yolk apart because we are used to this concept. But when we were underwater it didn’t break and it stayed together. The yolk also started to float. When we saw this, we were surprised by what we perceived with our eyes and used our sense of touch to get a better idea of what was happening.