Since you're reading a new entry in the blog, I clearly survived the swim test! I did it 2 days ago, and am still feeeling the effects!! It was far tougher than I thought it would be, especially the tired diver tow...pushing someone in full scuba kit whilst wearing full kit yourself through 100m of slightly choppy seawater after having already swum 1200m and been treading water for 15 minutes was a bit of a challenge!! But it's over now...I took another exam and passed, so am now half way through the academics...a nice milestone to reach at half way through my time here!

Not only have I been swimming like a mad thing, I've also learned some new words. Although the Marines left a few days ago (and it's incredibly quiet without them), we've all been practicing talking like bootnecks, and it's really catching on. Here follows a brief and far from comprehensive glossary of Marine vocabulary that may well turn up in the blog from now on!

• Hoofin'! - Awesome!
• Honkin,! - Not so awesome. Rubbish
• Gen? - Really?
• Wet - Drink
• Scran - Food
• Threaders - Angry
• Essence - good looking
• Redders - hot
• Icers - cold

These few words go together to make some truely satisfying sentences: 'I was threaders that my scran was icers...it was honkin'!' And in fact, hoofin' might be the most satisfying word to say ever! At the same time, I'm trying to pick up as much Arabic as I can...Let's just say Little Mo is a very patient teacher. I can finally count to 10, say hello, ask people how they are, and say I'm fine. After that I just smile and repeat it all again!

The diving has been pretty good this week - we're helping out with another Advanced course, so have done yet another navigation dive. Hopefully soon we'll get to go to Blue Hole and Canyon for the deep and drift dives...they're the best sites in Dahab. Today and tomorrow we're doing a mapping exercise for the DM course, and it's so boring, yet almost impossible at the same time. We've got to get 2 sites finished, along with 3 emergency plans by tomorrow night, so it's early doors for me tonight...just a few wets and the chance to get my arse kicked at pool a couple of times!