All I managed to do Saturday was laundry and nap. We went to Trader Joe's after class at 7:30 am (yes folks, 7:30 am on a Saturday), then came home. It was all we could do to put our food away and start a load of laundry. We all fell asleep for a good couple of hours. The couch in our living room is more comfortable than the beds. I've barely been able to check my messages this week, let alone return calls. And right now, that seems like an awful lot of effort.
The Oakwood apartments resemble a nice little hotel close to the beach. The paths between buildings are landscaped with flowers, benches, trees, and climbing vines on the balcony rails.
There's a heated pool & hot tub surrounded by deck chairs, palm trees and a couple of grills. After rousing from naps, which seemed to take another hour, we grilled some food and hung out in the pool -- along with the rest of the teacher trainees. We basically rule the complex right now.
Suddenly, it felt like a vacation. Heated pool, palm trees, perfect weather, nothing else to do. Perhaps the apartments are meant to be a compensation for how grueling the week is. We're isolated from the outside world -- during the week, we barely have time to think. And on the weekend, all we want to do is recover. Right now, there's something nice about being removed from the rest of your life. No routine to enslave you. No trappings of your former daily life, no phone calls to return, errands to run, or social obligations. The only decision to make is what we need from Trader Joe's. Life is stripped down to immediate, simple demands. Sleep, food, laundry.
Today Nalini, Chasity, Lilly, Mike & I walked the Venice boardwalk, which is a five-minute walk from the beach in Marina del Rey. It's just like the opening credits for Three's Company. There are houses and apartments all along the boardwalk. Some people actually live on the beach. With warm weather, all year round. It's damn appealing.
We passed Muscle Beach, which I didn't realize was a specific, tangible location. I always thought it was fictional, or metaphorical. Perhaps in former days, Muscle Beach was sandy strip of sun-kissed beach boys, perfecting Adonis physiques between waves and clambakes with girls in gingham bikinis. In present-day real life, it's more of a steroid freak farm that resembles a prison yard on the sand.
We saw a street performer balance a young girl, seated in a metal folding chair, IN HIS TEETH. His stage presence was more Three Card Monty than magician. He had this aggressive way of pressing the crowd for donations to the hat that made you wonder if a passerby would get clocked for trying to steal a free show. But none of us feared for the girl in the chair. Somehow, you knew he was okay with the kids.
Vacation brain set in when it came to the boarkdwalk vendors. We bought necklaces, clothing, bikinis. I, sadly, still have not found a cute hot tub bikini. But it was great to get Nalini, who formerly had a very simple one-piece, into a hot mama black bikini. There's a hot mama inside of Nalini just dying to get out. She's just not comfortable with it yet.
When I stay in one place for a long time, I forget how easy it is to change your world in a minute. It's changed completely at least three or four times in the last week. You just pick up and go. You adapt. It takes nothing, just simple, immediate demands. The decision to do it. Anything is possible. I want the world to keep changing, instead of returning to the regular schedule of the college. I want a new city, a new country, new things to see, new people, new lives.
Or maybe I just want another day of vacation.
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