Wednesday, May 21, 2008

seagulls, tourists, hot-tubs and rugby

may 9, 2008
the islander
8:15 PM

i've never stayed in a hotel with bunk beds but it didn't seem to effect my quality of sleep. after waking well rested, we readied ourselves for some beach time. amy, jodi and i made our way the few blocks to the beach by 8ish this morning. we were soon joined by meagan and joel, but not before we had been thoroughly entertained by some people watching. we had to laugh quietly as we observed the elaborate poses of a group of tourists. aside from videotaping each other dancing on the beach with scarves, they found it necessary to enthusiastically pose with perfect strangers.

my favorite moment was when i glanced up and discovered a head of curly hair where jodi's should have been. i quickly realized the woman was having jodi photograph her, while laying on jodi's towel. she had jodi take several photos, ensuring that amy and i were included as part of her picture. the best part was when she turned around to face me, proudly displaying a pair of bright blue 2008 sunglasses, utilizing her two eye pieces as the zeros. this young woman continued in her pursuit of willing photographers, even using joel a few minutes later, to videotape her.

i had a go at boogie boarding, but the strong riptide made it difficult to stay within the designated flags for swimming. i was able to ride some waves before i returned to my towel and book on the beach. although i was able to enjoy a few small naps in the sun and even finish my book, it was not without appropriate interruptions:

"alison, do you want to help me catch a seagull?"
"as in chasing them?"
"no-as in, catching a seagull." -tyler

jodi and i helped bury tyler in the sand, entirely at his suggestion. we covered his head with a towel and placed food on his chest. sadly, tyler was unable to catch any seagulls, but it was great fun to witness this creative attempt.
our entire group had a free day in surfer's paradise, but we all ended up meeting and hanging out at the same spot on the beach. it was an unexpected, but pleasant surprise to have more company on the beach.

aside from seagull hunting, sunning myself and attempts at boogie boarding, i also enjoyed hunting for seashells on a beach walk with tyler and jodi. we had a tasty lunch of kebabs (i had chicken) with the purchase of an ice cream for dessert.

on our return to the hotel, jodi, amy, tyler and i decided to hop in the hot tub. we made friends with a few friendly australian young men who were working hard to finish the large pack of beer in their possession. i don't think i've ever been offered beer so much in such a short amount of time. i was impressed with the breadth of knowledge these guys possessed about the US. they asked us fairly specific questions about politics, culture and college life, which, in spite of their alcohol consumption, was quite impressive.

"are you from washington?" -jake, mocking my enthusiasm for my home state

the rest of our afternoon included shopping and t-shirt hunting for amy. i enjoyed a sasparilla as we walked from shop to shop. jodi, amy and i spotted the donut king during our shopping and stopped to buy our breakfast for the morning, in order to cross yet another thing off of the cultural experience list. the three of us finished our evening with a dinner of warm waffles and pancaked ith whipped butter and syrup. delicious!
another highlight of the evening was discovering more things that shared my name-a kebab shop and a street!

as an exciting finish to the night, we decided we needed to watch the dramatic match-off game of rugby between new zealand's kiwis and australia's kangaroos. amy, meagan, jodi and i were soon joined on our bunk beds by tyler, jon and joel to watch the game. with joel rooting for the aussie team and tyler + jon cheering for new zealand, the game is proving to be excessively diverting.

"i feel like everywhere we go, its always condom kingdom!" -joel, in reference to the multiple stores that share this name that we'd passed by with the topless sunbathing we were subjected to on the beach today









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