Today was hands down the warmest day I've had here so far.
And do you know what other people were wearing when Otosan and I went to buy
lunch? They were wearing pants. Wearing
pants in weather as hot as today’s is like trying to commit heat suicide. Or at
least pull off a successful faint. If this is how people here treat above
twenty degree weather then I’d like to see them try Canada.
Before heading off the island Enoshima for the day, Otosan
and I drifted quickly through a grocery store to purchase lunch. The store was
one of those ones with five stories and different thing on each story. I’m
pretty sure it’s called Aeon, but quite frankly it’s hard to be sure because
the ‘A’ looks more like a stick that’s leaning against what is trying to be an
‘E’, except it didn't quite manage this so the doctor had to supply it with a
circle brace that didn't really work because you can see the other side of the
circle and now it looks like a maimed version of an ‘E’ with four sticks instead
of three, and a perfectly healthy ‘O’ and ‘N’ are hanging around on the end
questioning all of their life’s decisions.
We took the train to the island, and on the way I bought
myself a drink from a vending machine (I've gotten much better at this). But I
made a bad choice and accidentally purchased a hot drink. As in the bottle itself was literally warm when it came
out. I was feeling pretty stupid about this, because the drink in the picture
actually had a fire symbol next to it, but then the train came with air
conditioning and all was okay for a while. Until I realized that particular
train was one of the wobbliest trains ever. It was so rocky that even this
business man who’d been leaning casually on the wall and playing on this phone
was forced to hold on to the metal bar. I almost fell over backwards the one
time I let go.
I noticed the temperature increase the moment we stepped off
the train. It was very, very hot. I started sweating almost instantly, and
cursed my stupid drink all over again. Enoshima was clearly a big tourist
attraction, because there were all sorts of tourist-y shops on the way to the
shrine. This may be a good time to add that to get to said shrine, you have to
walk up a hill and several billion flights of stairs. I’m pretty sure the
shrines on Enoshima are for matchmaking, because there were lots of hearts on
things. Otosan and I didn't really stop at the shrines anyway; we just sort of
drifted by them and continued down a very long path with many stairs until we
reached a huge glass tower. We paid the admission fee and went up to the top to
take pictures. I could have stayed up there forever, it was high, the scenery
was beautiful (although I was admittedly too lazy to take many pictures- I
blame the heat. It saps my strength), and the wind was just perfect. By the
time we headed back down, I felt refreshed.
Unfortunately, this feeling was not to last. The walk to the
beach wasn't as bad as the walk to the shrine because it was all down the
stairs, but the heat was just increasing. I did happen to notice that the beach
was beautiful- it was formed entirely of natural rocks, meaning there were
random tidal pools everywhere. Eagles flew overhead and the waves flung
themselves about with an energy I envied.
We found a nice spot and sat down to have lunch. Everything
was going well and I had just eaten the first few bites when it happened. I
sort of sensed something coming up behind me and I figured it was just a
person, so I ignored it. That was when a huge bird whipped right passed my head,
claws snatching at my food tray as the wind from its passing ruffled my hair. I
jumped with a yelp, and the eagle soared back up into the sky.
There was a scary-looking tear in the Styrofoam tray, but it
looked like the bird had missed my food. And my hand. I’m not sure if its goal
was my food or my hand, but I hid both anyway and ate more carefully after
that. It didn't come back, and neither did any of its friends.
I finished my lunch and stuffed the tray back into the bag
as fast as I could, then I started peering into a small tidal pool where I
spotted something weird. It looked a little like those tentacle
toy/ball/things. I think it was because of this that I stared at it for nearly
ten minutes thinking: I really want to
poke it. But what if it stings me? What if it’s poisonous and I die? Is it
worth it? But it looks just like those toys. What if it’s spikey and poisonous? The only way to find out is to
poke it…
I tried to ask Otosan what it was, but he couldn't see it.
This made me question my sanity all over again and gave me a headache, so I
turned my attention to the crabs instead for the remainder of my time there.
When we went to leave, it turned out that the exit was
closed for renovations (probably so no one was crushed to death by falling rock)
and we had to use the entrance. Back up the stairs we went, and I’m sure they’d
added three extra flights since we’d gone down them earlier. I wound up walking
behind this old woman. She walked slower, and paused a lot between flights.
When she noticed me behind her, I think she felt bad, but I was actually very
grateful. See, this way I had an excuse to stop and move slowly. I could retain
my “Heck, this is nothing” attitude and get plenty of breaks at the same time.
It was perfect. Or, it would have been if I didn't
desperately need to pee again. I spent half the walk feeling awesome about the
pace and trying to ignore the heat, and the other half wondering how much
people would care if I just peed in the middle of the street, or- when I
started getting really desperate- if maybe no one would notice should I just
pee while walking and play oblivious, like I’m
not doing anything weird. My legs are just really sweaty. Got a problem?
Fortunately it didn't come to this.
Prior to going back to the house, we took a brief detour to
see a giant Buddha statue. It was so large that people were actually allowed to
go inside it. Apparently, it’s really old too. A couple hundred years old, I
think. But we didn't stay long because both Otosan and I were exhausted.
Apparently a lot of other people were exhausted too, because
when the train stopped at the station, it was actually too crowded to get on,
and we had to wait for the next one. The next twenty minutes were a blur of
being tightly squashed against a bunch of other sweaty people, so it was a real
relief to get off.
You know something, it’s pretty amazing how much pee and
food are both mentioned in my blogs. Evidentially, they are both things that
are very close to my heart.
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