Competitions

I love competitions! I regularly search though all the portals I know to find out whether there are new and interesting ones I would like to take part in. Because I take part in so many of them, I sometimes win really cool prizes. Last year, for example, I won a return flight from Vienna to any European city of my choice. Together with my brother and his girlfriend we flew to Paris for New Year’s Eve – it was awesome. For another competition I had to write a poem about sweets and then won a big box full of chocolate!!

                           My brother and me in front of the Eifel Tower

                                                                            

My last prize took place about two weeks ago. On Facebook I read that a travel agency raffled a diving course with the Austrian world champion in freediving, Christian Redl. I was fascinated. I knew that I had to take part because I love scuba diving and snorkeling and all other sorts of water sports. I filled out the application form and waited…and waited…and waited, but nothing happened. On Facebook the travel agency congratulated the winners but unfortunately I was not one of them. 
A few days later I received an email where they informed me that one participant cannot take part and asked me if I had time and would like to come. Of course I had time! Two days later I met the other winners (about 10 people) at the “Therme Wien” in Vienna. When Mr. Redl arrived some of the participants were really excited and nervous and took pictures with him. He turned out to be a really nice guy, talked to all of us and told us the agenda for the next four hours. Then we started. At first, we had to hold our breath as long as we could and he timed us. I managed 1 minute and 5 seconds. 

Afterwards he showed us how to relax and concentrate on our body and breath. Moreover, Mr. Redl taught us how to breath correctly. I now know that it is important to have positive thoughts because they need less oxygen then negative ones and that it is essential to relax your body and to slow down your heart rate. Finally, we did the same exercise from the beginning. Everyone had to hold his or her breath and our teacher timed us. I nearly doubled my time with 2 minutes and 5 seconds! This was a great experience and I learned some very useful techniques. 

The Austrian world champion in Freediving - Christian Redl

Where everyone is quiet...

This post is about my passion for scuba diving.
I wanted to learn diving since I was 5 or 6 years old. My mother always told me: “You can learn diving when you are old enough and have enough money for the course”.
Luckily it didn’t take that long because when my aunt asked me about my confirmation wish I quickly answered “a diving course, what else?”
I wasn’t really sure if she would accept my wish, but it was worth a try. On my confirmation day I was very excited and nervous. I couldn’t wait to open my aunt’s present.
When we came back from the church she told me that she had bought something really nice for me. She turned to her car and gave me….. a big, white balloon! “Oh wow a balloon, thank you”, I replied and thought ‘Oh my god, a balloon! That’s it?’
“Open it”, she said.
“But you cannot open a balloon without destroying it”, I answered.
“Then destroy it, here’s a needle for you”.
I was confused and not totally sure whether to destroy it or not. So I just stood there and watched my family.
“I can help you”, my brother shouted.
He took the needle and burst the balloon. Suddenly about ten or fifteen plastic “sea creatures” fell out. My aunt had filled the balloon with them (I don’t know how she did that).
I was totally surprised and all of a sudden realized that this must be a symbol for the diving course. I looked at her and asked “Really?”
“I hope it’s okay”, she said with a smile.
“It’s more than okay, it’s absolutely awesome”, I replied.

A few weeks later I had my first diving lesson and I loved it from the very first moment. Since then I use every possibility for going diving.
The most amazing place I have dived so far was the red sea. There I saw some of my favorite animals such as “Masked Butterfly Fish”, “Anemone Fish” and turtles. I will never forget the last dive in Egypt when I saw two dolphins.

This was the best present I ever received and I will always love my aunt for it!

These are not my pictures but it really is that beautiful.