the beach and the sunburn

we drove to the beach today-- the beach by the turkey/georgia border, which is much cleaner and calmer than the beach right here in batumi. it was no more than a 15 minute ride (though sometimes i have no idea how long a trip is because we're either going really slowly over potholes or really fast on the newly paved roads).

being driven around batumi is one of my favorite activities because i get to look at the development. i think the unmaintained buildings and roads are even more alarming to me now because i see what they will become or used to be (in soviet times). the funniest thing about fixing up the city is the color choice for buildings. driving to the beach, i saw house after house painted bright pink, salmon, seafoam green, lime green, orange, lavender (!), sky blue and aqua. what color combinations! i suppose that many resort towns feature those colors, but since what i'm used to is grey, dilapidated, and corrugated tin, it's surprising to me.

i also forgot about the driving here. the way to drive is: as fast as you can. and if there's someone driving slower (to save their car or parents some grief), you pass them in almost any circumstance. for instance, if there's a car coming in the opposite direction, you still pass the car in front of you, making the road a three laner instead of two. pedestrians do not have the right of way. i love california. if a pedestrian is crossing and theoretically in your way, you honk to alert them of your imminent arrival. they move out of the way.

back to the beach: the black sea, at least in georgia, has rocks, not sand. this is cool because they're beautiful and you can look at them wet and dry and decide which ones to take home while you don't listen to the young-people slang-filled speak that you don't understand. this is also not cool because the rocks are really hot in the sun and hurt a lot to step on, even when they haven't been baking. i will be investing in waterproof sandals soon.

people don't stare at you at the beach the way they do in the states. they make blunt statements that are not meant to hurt or compliment, really. like: you're really really white. yes, this is true. so maybe i got a little influenced by this common comment and have continued diligent sunscreen usage, but not kept covered up all the time in the sun. thus the sunburn in the title. i may have started a minor tan, though. people laugh a lot at me when i tell them this. on the same note, people don't stare at your body the same way. one doesn't go to the beach to show off how skinny they are because they're ALWAYS showing off how skinny they are! so it's not uncommon to see a big momma watching her children run around in the water, standing with her belly hanging over her bikini. same goes for men's bellies and bikinis... although i guess they're called speedos. i saw one one-piece bathing suit today, not including mine.