more exciting stuff

wow, two things to write about in one day. an embarrasment of riches! though to be fair my entry this morning was concerning the events of the day before but still....
today was a big day. i have been wanting to jump out of a plane for, well, forever really. and i was going to in queenstown but the weather sort of foiled my plans. and thank god, because taupo skydiving is aparently the best in new zealand. i went with 'skydive taupo'. they picked me up in a limo (with five other kids for israel and belgium already hyped up or freaking out respectivly) and took up to the hanger at the airport, where we were show a video which convinced me to buy the full set-splurge and get the dvd of the fall and all the extras. i just didn't want to forget a second. we were able to pick the songs that played during the different parts. i chose for mine to start with 'eye of the tiger'! and then we were suited up and introduced to our instructors. mine was named steve and he was tiny. short. and very blonde. from chicago. the instructor /tandem partner wears the camera on their arm so it's all very personal throughout the freefall and into the parachute part as well. the video we saw looked awesome. i was in a daze the whole way through the prep but tried to keep my head and remember my instructions which revolved around holding myself in the shape of a banana. not too difficult.
we squeezed for pairs into the bright pink and alarmingly small plane and took off. there were two girls who were doing the 12,000 ft jump and they were to go first. i vastly enjoyed the flight, the country looked amazing from that height. the clouds so soft and far away. the weather couldn't be more perfect. but when it came time for her to go the first girl refused and looked very upset. they wenta rround again and her friend went and then again she refused so they took us higher so that myself and the other guy going from 15,000ft could jump. it was so hard to go last i was chomping the bit like crazy. and finally it was by time to go and i opened my eyes wide, put my legs under the bottem of the plane as instructed, and out we went, (aparently over the plane rather than under, due to weather issues) and i was euphoric. it was unbelievable. so hard to comprehend. so against nature and yet amazing. we were falling so fast my face flapped and i had to try hard to keep my arms from flying up over my head. and the spinning and tumbling. madness. utter awesome madness. and in what seemed like a moment it was over ( the best 60 seconds ever!) and the paracute was deployed and we were floating. and even that was wonderful. and even that went quickly and we were landing, perfectly i may hasten to add. none of this landing by sitting, i just stood up. a perfect landing!
they say the human brain can't comprehend heights over 5,000 ft and maybe that's why we are able to jump out of planes. it just doesn't occur to us that its not a good idea. but it is such a good idea. the best. i want to go again.....