The next morning we went down to breakfast (still raggedy, but we figured that no one minded too much) where we spoke to all the people we'd met the previous day, and where we loaded up our plates with goodies. Of course, the breakfast ritual is almost always the same so I'll simply continue on to the rest of the day.
I did the exact same thing on the beginning of this day that I had done the day previous. I working on schoolwork during the hours where everyone else was in church (and when it wasn't as hot out). After about 2 I left the work to play. This time I didn't stay in the water long at all, even though the water was completely calm. I'd gotten a sunburn from the previous day (and knee abrasions from going around on my knees when playing in the sand) and the cooler water was made freezing whenever I went in past my hip. So, instead of taking the usual path, I decided I wasn't going to dive in. I went and played in the sand again. This time I decided I'd work on a sand sculpture instead of a castle. This is another thing my family used to do when we went to the beach. My Momma is a huge sand baby and enjoyed making at least one sculpture every time she came to the beach. We built dragons, sea turtles, mermaids, and dolphins.
Since my favorite thing to do was always the pods of dolphins I decided I'd make those. I built three different dolphins over the course of 2 hours. They weren't whole dolphins though. Never in the wild do you see a full-bodied dolphin above water unless they're jumping. Since I am not gifted enough to make a sand sculpture of a dolphin jumping out the water, I made three different sections of a dolphin.
One dolphin you could see the head coming out of the water and you could barely make out the fins. Another dolphin you saw the main body with the fin on top and the side fins being very predominant. The last dolphin was the hardest for me to make. This, was the tail that was sticking up out of the water as if the dolphin had just dived. It was difficult because the thinnest part of the dolphin is at the point where the fin and the tail are connected. Basically, the issue was of balance. After having the tail crumble on me multiple times I managed to finish it off.
As I was building these castles many people came up to check on what I was doing. James was the first to walk up and check on me, asking the same question he'd asked before: "Whatcha doin?" This time when I told him I was making dolphins he didn't ask if he could help, it was too advanced. He did ask if he could build a sand castle nearby, which he did and which he didn't spend much time on before heading off to play elsewhere. The next people who walked up were two women about my Momma's age who came by asking what it was I was making, and exclaiming to each other how life-like they looked (even though they both guessed wrong at first as to what they were-tis ok, I hadn't seen a dolphin for years) as I worked with the sand to make them more-so. The women got a photograph of me (my hair in my face tehehehe) and my dolphins (I hadn't gotten started on my tail dolphin yet so it wasn't the whole thing). They continued to stand there and watch me work for at least 45 minutes. Meanwhile another man with a very fancy camera came up and said (as he took pictures), "Those are definitely dolphins!
I lived by the beach for years and I can definitely tell that those are dolphins!" They ended up asking me if I'd lived by the beach, if I had an interest in Marine Biology (at one point yes I did-an interest that hasn't died yet I'm afraid, I've just not been so adamant about fueling my own interest in the field), if I was in sculpting contests, if I was in my schools art program (am not-instead I'm in choir), and what else I'd sculpted before. After answering their questions I turned back to my final project: the picky fin. As I was working on this another person walked up. This was a guy only a little bit older than I am (not sure how much), who praised my work and my artistic ability, and who enjoyed staying around. I didn't mind talking to him as I worked, but he followed me around long after I'd gotten done and I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't slightly relieved when he had to go inside. I'm not sure exactly what it was about him that I didn't like. I think the most likely reason I didn't like him too much was the attitude he had towards the kids I'd had a good time with the day previously. One of the first things he'd asked was how I'd managed to untangle myself from the kids. I'm not sure what to say about that guy. There were moments where I wished he'd go away, where I'd get uncomfortable with him looking at me constantly, and following me around from job to job and even up to my grandparents. Then there were also times where I really enjoyed talking to him-like after we moved past art or religion to things like the dance or things like hobbies and studying habits. I enjoyed talking to him about some things, but then other times his staring unnerved me and made me want to be alone.
After we left the beach that night we went out to eat at the same restaurant we'd eaten at before. The people in this restaurant mistook us as German (which made Ahmee laugh), but treated us kindly enough and were very nice to us (even though we'd arrived incredibly early for dinner on the Italian clock). After dinner we went back to the hotel where I sat in the hotel lobby with the laptop for at least an hour trying to send an email to my teachers my work. As Poppy and I sat there I got to watch all the kids who were in the church group as they huddled around the computer in the lobby (I have to use the laptop to send and receive work-related email so that I can download it onto the computer I take with me, complete the work on the laptop, and then send completed work back from the laptop). I also got to watch as they all went down to the dance. The guy who'd talked to me earlier in the day saw me again as he passed through to the dance, stopped said hello and asked if I was going to the dance, told Poppy (again) about my artistic talent, noted I was doing homework, as if I could go to the dance later, and then went on his way when I said no. Some of you may be surprised that I turned down the opportunity to dance. I had several reasons to not go. The first was that I was exhausted and I only wanted to go cuddle up in bed. The second was that I had a strong suspicion that this dance was only for the church members. The third was that all of those people who were going down to the dance were extremely dressy. My dress-up clothes wouldn't do (girls my age had on dresses that looked between semi-formal to promish), AND I couldn't see how people could really dance in their outfits. Many of the women I saw had strapless dresses. The type of dancing I had in mind would have caused some indecency on the dance floor (those dresses slide all too easily). My final assumption was that those women were either not going to dance at all, were going to get drunk (don't know if the religion permits it or not) and then dance like crazy when they were intoxicated, or that the dance-type they had in mind was more formal and didn't require the movements that I enjoyed so much (for a second I pictured ballroom guys coupled up with girls-but that was a silly thought). I was happy to not go and to instead climb into bed, but I wasn't happy to leave the scene of action. After deciding I didn't want to go down (took all of two seconds) I went back to watching the scene in the lobby. One of the last things I got to watch was the smooth-talking of two younger boys. These guys were about 12-13 and had snuck out of the dance to sit and wait in the lobby. When one of the boys fathers asked why they weren't down there dancing the older one replied, "This has got all to do with man-points!" The dad went, "Oh really? How so?" The boy said, "Yeah! You get more man-points if you go in with a girl." The dad chuckled and said, "Ahhhh I see, you're waiting to snag a girl. Ok then, go for the man-points."
Once I reached my bed I enjoyed reviewing the day in my head as I slipped into a deep sleep.
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