Bunjee Jumping!

Last Saturday, Caitlin and I went bungee jumping! ahhhhh! We went with our friends, Kate, Meg, Tom, and Tom's friend, Daniel. I kept vacillating between feeling sick and lightheaded to feeling excited about the free fall (30 meters). Then I think I mentally checked out for a bit until I started climbing the stairs higher and higher to the platform. It was beautiful up there, we were in the LongQingXia Gorges which are a couple hours from Beijing. The water was green and sparkling and it was a warm, sunny day. But when they started strapping my ankles I thought, "Oh no, there is just this Velcro strap around my ankles and that doesn't seem significant enough, may I please have a full body harness?! " Then they taped my shirt down and ushered me to the ledge. When I stood up, the chain connecting me to the platform clanked loudly as I waddled to the jumping point. I had asked them to please not push me, I wanted to jump myself. But as soon as I was in position, looking down, ALL THE WAY DOWN at the water, my brain just snapped into NO WAY mode. It just didn't seem right, I can't VOLUNTARILY step off this ledge and free fall towards the water without a parachute or a life jacket or a helmet or some sort of protective- something. I knew if I didn't ask him to push me, I couldn't do it, so I nervously yelped "TUI WO!" (push me) and he did--ever so gently--and down I plunged. Oh if only I could find the words for what the fall was like...of course, full-fledged panic comes to mind....also head rush, I felt like my head was going to explode, so much so that it hurt. But then there was the distraction of what I feared the most-- the jolt of springing back up, like I was being sucked up by a vortex. I got some good screams in before I decided I could wave to the people watching down below. And then the boat came with a man lifting a long stick up towards me to grab so they could pull me down and unharness me into a seat on the boat. It was rather hilarious because after we all compared notes, we realized they tell you to sit down when you are still hanging upside down with your feet up in the air. We all got a good laugh in about that....it was a fun way to tie up the adventure. Our friends took pictures which we will pass on soon for sure. I don't know if I would do it again, but I still want to try skydiving sometime! However, with The Great Wall 1/2 Marathon last weekend and the bungee jumping this weekend I am thinking the next few weekends might be good times to read and fold laundry--another kind of thrill for sure:)