I Love the Beach
December 23, 2005
The crabs are the color of the sand. They skitter around in the surf and burrow into the beach for protection. They’re everywhere. If you sit long enough in one place they will pop up out of holes next to you and look at you with these big eyes and then; poof, they’re gone in the sand. Sometimes we chase them just to see them run. They run really fast. It’s solid entertainment.
There is a fair amount of litter on the beach, but the water is green and clear and very refreshing. We head for the beach after breakfast, play in the sand until ten when I take my drum lesson, and then into the waves for body surfing. After that it’s lunch, nap, and play in the sand some more.
Zachary loves the sand. We have built castles and mosques and tunnels and slides. We build them so that he can tear them down. At first he was pretty nervous about the waves, but he has grown more comfortable and will now play in the surf a little. If I hold him, we can go out into the waves and let them splash us. He laughs like to die.
The one frustration we have is with the vendors. They hound you like there’s no tomorrow. Everyone is very friendly, but for every ten people you greet, nine of them want to sell you something. One fellow even told Carrie that she was not a proper traveler because she was not buying anything. It is not that we are opposed to buying things, but much of what they sell are trinkets and statues and things we don’t really need. Hopefully, now that we have been here a few days, they will leave us alone.
This place is starting to fill up. When we got here there were only a few folks here. Now there are several families and many children. Zman has been trying to interact although it’s challenging as they all speak French. There are two little girls about his age who have taken to him and they run and dance together. As the only Americans we are definitely oddities. We have met people from all over the world, but no Americans. That’s not a bad thing, even if it is somewhat isolating. My French is still very poor so I have to rely on hand gestures and smiles to communicate.
I talked to my sister this morning. It always feels good to do. She knows me and we can communicate without really saying much. It helps to ground me. It also makes me a little homesick. Neither of us has ever spent a holiday so far from home and family. It helps that we are in such a beautiful spot. Of course it also makes me glad I am not there to experience the cold and rain and transit strikes and general holiday mayhem. Those things I do not particularly miss. We have been teaching Z Christmas Carols. He especially likes Jingle Bells and sings it over and over and over and over. If I close my eyes then, I can almost picture myself in the mall…
MJR
The crabs are the color of the sand. They skitter around in the surf and burrow into the beach for protection. They’re everywhere. If you sit long enough in one place they will pop up out of holes next to you and look at you with these big eyes and then; poof, they’re gone in the sand. Sometimes we chase them just to see them run. They run really fast. It’s solid entertainment.
There is a fair amount of litter on the beach, but the water is green and clear and very refreshing. We head for the beach after breakfast, play in the sand until ten when I take my drum lesson, and then into the waves for body surfing. After that it’s lunch, nap, and play in the sand some more.
Zachary loves the sand. We have built castles and mosques and tunnels and slides. We build them so that he can tear them down. At first he was pretty nervous about the waves, but he has grown more comfortable and will now play in the surf a little. If I hold him, we can go out into the waves and let them splash us. He laughs like to die.
The one frustration we have is with the vendors. They hound you like there’s no tomorrow. Everyone is very friendly, but for every ten people you greet, nine of them want to sell you something. One fellow even told Carrie that she was not a proper traveler because she was not buying anything. It is not that we are opposed to buying things, but much of what they sell are trinkets and statues and things we don’t really need. Hopefully, now that we have been here a few days, they will leave us alone.This place is starting to fill up. When we got here there were only a few folks here. Now there are several families and many children. Zman has been trying to interact although it’s challenging as they all speak French. There are two little girls about his age who have taken to him and they run and dance together. As the only Americans we are definitely oddities. We have met people from all over the world, but no Americans. That’s not a bad thing, even if it is somewhat isolating. My French is still very poor so I have to rely on hand gestures and smiles to communicate.
I talked to my sister this morning. It always feels good to do. She knows me and we can communicate without really saying much. It helps to ground me. It also makes me a little homesick. Neither of us has ever spent a holiday so far from home and family. It helps that we are in such a beautiful spot. Of course it also makes me glad I am not there to experience the cold and rain and transit strikes and general holiday mayhem. Those things I do not particularly miss. We have been teaching Z Christmas Carols. He especially likes Jingle Bells and sings it over and over and over and over. If I close my eyes then, I can almost picture myself in the mall…
MJR
posted by Bronx to Timbuktu at 2:19 PM
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