After waking up late (completely rested), drinking two cups of coffee, and eating two eggs and toast, I grabbed the computer and I sat in my corner and drank my coffee as I wrote. It was the perfect day for writing for me. I was well-rested, I was happy, I wasn't in a hurry, and I was relaxed. I also had an incredible view from my seat. I could see Ahmee's feet (she'd stretched out on the couch to read her novel), I could see through the glass doors to the courtyard with it's green grass and pools, I could see the sunlight flooding through the windows and hitting the white tile floor, and I could see the whole downstairs. It was so comfortable and so lovely. I didn't want to move from that spot and I didn't want to stop typing or drinking coffee for a long time (I have no idea how many cups I had).
At a certain point I had to use the bathroom and the computer needed recharging. I plugged up the computer, ran up to the restroom to use the facilities, and then when I was washing my hands I looked in the mirror and went, "Ew. I need a shower." I went back downstairs and asked Ahmee when we were planning on going to the beach, she told me fairly soon, and I told her I was going to take a quick shower before we went. At this she said that you take showers after you visit the beach, not beforehand. I took a shower anyway because my hair was greasy and I felt skuzzy. I found out one of the disadvantages of our space: the shower was like some of the showers we'd had before. It was basically just a small basin under your feet with a curtain around it. It doesn't keep any of the water in and when the curtain isn't long enough you end up having to soak up the small pond that accumulates on the bathroom floor.
While in the shower Poppy brought in the clothes that had dried overnight and put them on my bed. It was nice because when I was done I went into the bedroom and put on clean things. For those of you who hate doing the laundry, hear this: it might never be done, but clean clothes sure do smell better than dirty ones. My clothes had been getting close to the smell-nasty phase, and my jeans were the worst of all.
After getting dressed I went downstairs and we went out to the beach where we walked along the waters edge barefooted, exclaimed at the "islands" I saw, picked up tons of pebbles/shells/glass, and basically just enjoyed the sun and the water. Oh! I forgot. When we first arrived I saw the old man from yesterday and I asked him in Spanish where his dog was. He pointed to the shade of a concrete pillar and I squatted down to pet him and coo "ooooh bueno perro, bueno, bueno perro", the old man told me that the dog was 15 years old. I couldn't remember the word for old so I smiled and said nothing. The old man then asked me if I was Spanish or English. I told him I was English and shortly after that I went on my way thinking, "Hahahaha! A Spaniard thought I was Spanish! Yes!" An even greater thought was that the man lived in an area filled with English and German tourists, it's great that he couldn't tell I was not English because he must have heard English-speakers try to speak Spanish and fail many times AND many people who live in touristy areas often end up being able to distinguish where a person is from by the way they look, sometimes people don't even need to open their mouths to portray where they're from.
We got back into the car once we started getting hungry. On the way back we stopped by the main building to see in the restaurant there if we could order pizza to go. They told us we couldn't and that it opened at 7. We went and checked on the grocery store and were disappointed to find it closed. I did get to see my gato again though! Oh, I forgot, when we went to the grocery store there was a beggar cat who looked just like Auto (an old cat of ours who loves cars). I bent over and patted him and rubbed on him and the first time I did it he took a swipe and a nip at me when I went to leave, as if saying, "Hey you! I didn't say you could go! Get back here!" This time he didn't swipe at me, he rubbed on me and let me pet him and then walk back to the car.Once back in the room we got our happy hour things ready and repeated the process of the night before. After happy hour we still had time to kill so we turned on the television to watch CNN news. Since it was Sunday we got the Sunday special for politics. It was great listening to the arguments of the economy specialists, and it was wonderful getting to see the argument between two different senators over Barack Obama's economic plan and the views on bailing out the auto industry.
After this we went and ate our pizzas. We'd have bursts of conversation (this isn't unusual), about many different problems in the U.S. facing people (this was over the auto-industry, the government issues, and over personal problems). Towards the end of the dinner I was getting sleepy and I was zoning in on the soccer match that was on tv. I did my best to stay out of it.
Once back at the room I decided I was going to blog, Ahmee decided she was going to read, and Poppy decided he wanted to watch CNN. When he turned on the tv to CNN we found they were playing another special over Global Warming and the melting arctic. Since this is one of the most controversial topics of today and since it's a subject that greatly interests me, I put away my work for thirty minutes to watch.
No big news came for me, most of it I'd heard before, but I did enjoy learning about the birds that live in the Arctic that lay one egg each year. They lay their eggs on the cliffs and keep them warm the same way penguins do. The baby's don't even have their adult feathers yet when they take their first "flight". Really they just jump off the side of the cliff and glide down to the water to catch fish, sometimes at the encouragement of the parents, and sometimes by themselves. Sometimes these little guys will hit a cliff below. Normally they just bounce and keep going. I wish I could remember the name of that bird (reason they went into detail over that bird is that they wanted to portray one of the animals that was at "the top of the food chain" that could be effected by major climate change).
Another thing that was new for me was the idea of shipping through the Arctic Ocean. Different countries are now looking at that area as a possible future trading resource. It doesn't surprise me at all. Something else that didn't surprise me was the fact that Russia planted a flag at the bottom of the ocean, under all of the ice, on the north pole. Unfortunately I can't remember when they did that. Russians viewed it as heroism, while others viewed it with scorn (they had to do a bit of drilling to get there).
After watching this I was no longer in the mood to type. I took the computer upstairs to my bed, where I forced myself to write a bit more, and then I closed up immediately after I finished one day. I sat up thinking all kinds of arguments over global warming (something I've argued with people on countless times, and something that I still think about and question myself), reflecting on past arguments (with Iain, with people in my class, with teachers, etc.), and suddenly I was lost in thought. I'd turned out the lights and had stretched out, but I was not even close to being tired. Part of the problem was that I'd had caffeine during dinner and then the other problem was I wanted to remember moments, I wanted to talk to people, I wanted to argue my opinion, I wanted to do research (I never can get enough), and slowly I started bringing memories to the forefront, hoping to ease myself into sleep.
Normally this is all that's required, is to sit there and think of certain memories and daydreams that I adore. Normally I lose myself in a haze and I end up waking up the next morning into a clear day. This was not so for that night. I continuously woke up. I had memories brought forth that caused pain rather than sleep. I missed people terribly. Eventually I was able to put myself back to sleep but by then the curtains were taking on a blue glow and I woke up a few hours later due to the sun.
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