Life’s a Beach

I GOT TO GO TO THE BEACH!!!!  It felt so good to have my feet in the sand, to let the water wash over me, even to have the salty water burn my eyes and throat = )  Yesterday, Chuks’s brother, Ossi, took me to…oh shoot…I kept asking him the name of the beach so that I would be able to write it, but I still forgot (it’s like Labodi Beach or something).  

In the morning, I got to watch Iris and Dante while Nana Yaw and Natasha did a presentation at the school.  It was so fun and so tiring…haha = )  They are just the cutest little kids ever! = )  We played with the blocks, pretending they were dragons and birds, read poems, and went on a bear hunt (I took them with me to buy phone credits, which are sold about 100 feet from our place…but Dante wanted to keep going because we had to find the bears, so we followed their “prints” for awhile, until we conveniently found them when I said it was time to turn around…haha = )  They also let me try blackberries, which are nothing like the blackberries we have in America.  I wouldn’t have even known they’re a fruit because they’re not juicy.  But they were very yummy (kind of a chocolatey cherry taste with a peanut buttery note = )  

When they got home, I went upstairs to get ready because I was still in my pajamas…but, unfortunately, I didn’t know we were going to the beach (he had mentioned wanting to go earlier…but it was just in casual conversation).  So, I dressed in my standard uniform, a skirt and Downeast T (luckily it was my most casual skirt) and off we went.  We were in the taxi for a long time…and I was wondering where we were going because it was like we went into the city and back out again…but I figured I’d just go with the flow and see where we ended up.  When we pulled up to the beach entrance (there was a big sign with a gate thing because they charge a fee), I was like, “Oh my gosh!  I didn’t know we were going to the beach!”  He didn’t believe me at first, but then he was like, “That’s fine, we can just walk along the beach and next time you can bring your swimming attire.”  I felt so bad, though, because it costs a lot of money to take a taxi that far…plus once we were on the beach I wanted to get in so badly…so I ended up just swimming in my clothes…haha = )  

Their beach is so different than ours.  It’s what I imagine an East Coast beach to be like - there were all these little shops and stands selling food and drinks, a bunch of tables and chairs set out for patrons of different bars, and tons and tons of people!  No one was laying out…there was no space to lay out… and even the water was just a mass of bodies.  The people didn’t go past the shore break, though, so it was just everyone standing and bobbing in the waves as they hit the shore.  The “lifeguards” were these guys with whistles and sticks, who would walk through the crowds of people, keeping them from going too far out or over (it was like there were side boundaries, too).  Sometimes they would just move all of the people out of a certain area, for what reason I don’t know.  On the shore, every couple of feet there’s a new group of boys playing football, but they’re in such a confined area, it’s more like keep-away.  We joined one group for awhile, and that was really fun = )  When we got back in the water after that…the water felt hot, almost.  I always thought Hawaii beaches were warm, but here you don’t even have that initial ::cringe:: moment when you get in.  And it’s so interesting what the people wear!  Some of the boys wore shorts, but a lot were in boxers, and even briefs, and yet many had shirts or tank tops on.  The girls who were “swimming” (there weren’t many in the water) mostly had on swimsuits, but they wore mostly tankinis instead of bikinis…and EVERYONE had shorts or skirts on.  The beach had a lot of rubbish (there were no trashcans), but other than that it was pretty clean.  Like the sand was mostly white (unlike the black sand that Stacy and I saw at the beach that we went to in Kamakura…which wasn’t a black sand beach btw), and the water was pretty clear.

One thing that was the same as Hawaii was that there were a lot of fights = /  But no, Jules, I didn’t jump in to try to stop them…haha = )

We sat at a table for a little bit at first…but soon after we decided we wanted to swim.  I asked him about where to put my purse…and followed him to what I figured would be lockers or something.  But we ended up going to one of those little shops and asking the girl working there if we could leave my bag in the back.  I was really nervous because I had my wallet in there, my camera, my prescription sunglasses…but Ossi seemed to think it was fine, so I went along with it.  How cool is that…that we were able to trust a complete stranger with our valuables! = )  Like I said earlier, it was SO nice to get in the water!  But the guys there were crazy!  I thought I had gotten kinda used to the extra attention for being white, but these guys had absolutely NO boundaries!  So yeah…after being in the midst of everyone for awhile, we went down to the edge of the group.  

As it got darker, in a couple of different areas they started to play music.  It was really fun dancing for awhile…but again the guys got to be too much, so we went to go get popcorn! = )  I forgot about popcorn…haha…but it was SO yummy! = )  

It was so much fun…but by the time I got home, I was really tired and really hungry…and I found a plate of dinner waiting for me in the microwave = )  I couldn’t believe it!  Mandy’s the best, isn‘t she?! = )

IRIS!!!!  This is like her classic face = )  

And then a big smile = )  I didn't get a pic of Dante...but there's a video of him at the end.

I was trying to get the man's cool hair

Ossi chillin' when we first got there

Is this cool or what?!

This kid really wanted me to take a pic of him...haha...

...and then of course his friends all wanted to get in on one

PACKED!

But no one's out very far

 A horse! = )

This stage was getting set up to play music later in the night