hrvatska

"Split."

-The Clash, 'Should I Stay or Should I Go'

This place is amazing. I don't know if I've ever seen such wonderful beaches, and the people are absolutely incredible. I don't even know where to start in describing it. I suppose I'll just start where I left off.

I have no idea what day in the week it is, so I can't tell you what day I got here. Tuesday maybe? Probably Tuesday. I told you about some of the things I saw that day, and how I was pretty much out cold in bed for four hours in the middle of the afternoon. Then I showered (my hair felt incredible and sleek and CLEAN for the first time in several days, thanks to the intense water pressure in the shower), made dinner, updated this, and tried to go to bed early. However, the Brits in my room seemed bound and determined to prevent that. I heard about all the things I'd been hearing about the previous three weeks from Kat ("I'd rather be a northern monkey than a southern fairy," "Oh! What's occurrin'?" "If you can't go to Uni, go to Met. . .") and they didn't leave to go out til half 11. Then they came back absolutely pissed only two hours later. Someone broke a mug, someone broke a toilet, a good time was had by all. Except me.

My plan had been to get up early the next morning for a run. But I was just too exhausted from the night before. So I only got up at 9, then went running, then came back, then laid out for three hours. Unfortunately, it is already mid-September, and the sun's rays are no longer as powerful as they were just a short time ago, so I barely got red at all. I tried again today, for four hours, but still no luck.

I've visited the marketplace a few times since I got here, and I keep finding myself marveling at these people. They're fabulous. You've got these old Croatian women, looking like stereotypical babushkas, wearing all black and little black head scarves, sitting there scowling and hawking vegetables, speaking zero English and disregarding any sign language you attempt. I tried to tell a lady yesterday that I only wanted one red pepper, but she just shook her head and put three on the scale. It was only 3 kuna though, so it didn't really matter. (That's another thing. 1 euro is worth 7.1 kuna right now. So I paid maybe 50 American cents for those peppers? Not bad at all.)

But a little more about old Croatian women. I love them. On the beach yesterday, they're all just laying there, taking the sun, pulling their tops down millimeter by millimeter to get the best and most risque tan possible. Then some of them hop in the water and start doing the breaststroke out into the ocean. I waded up alongside one of them yesterday and we had this bonding moment where we looked at each other and our body language was like, "OMG THIS WATER IS SO COLD!" even though she probably didn't speak a word of English.

Oh and they've got this awesome game that they play on the beach. Not the old ladies really, mostly just youngish men. They take a ball, and they toss it in the general direction of one of their mates, and then that guy has to hit it with his hand, and so on. Except the objective seems to be to try and put it almost just out of the other guy's reach. So they're constantly going full extension into 2-foot deep water to try and save this ball. It's an incredible game, and I think it was created for me. It would make a fantastic softball drill.

Speaking of that, I saw a gymnastics coach today utilizing the beach in his training. He had his girls in hip-high water, and then they did handstands or handsprings in the water. They weren't very good at it, but hey, this is Croatia we're talking about here, not Romania.

And it's so weird being in a foreign country and not being able to understand ANYTHING. I've gotten a few things, like thank you and a few numbers. But not much. Basically I pretend to be Italian when I talk to shopkeepers, because a lot of them speak some Italian. It's actually making me miss Italy.

Anyway, I love very much this city, but I will be returning to Ancona tomorrow night by ferry. This time I don't even have a seat, I'll be sleeping on the floor because it is 10 euros cheaper. Should be fun. Oh! And I think I've figured out what I want to do with my life, and that is work on a boat. Like be a sailor. Or a pirate.