The Coming of Summer

Some notes from Liz:

Back home, y'all are dealing with snow flurries, changing leaves, and biting winds. In Paihia, every day is sunnier and hotter than the last. Jen and I went to the beach today, had a proper swim for the first time in the ocean (before it's been more of a dive-in-and-then-leap-out-shrieking kind of situation), and laid in the sun for what felt like hours. (Don't worry, no sun burn.)

Yesterday, in a strange return to childhood, the eight of us here at Centabay literally spent three hours racing around the hostel and yard playing kick-the-can, "man hunt" (a U.K. game similar to tag), and Sardines. I think we have now exhausted every single hiding spot in this place.

If you're not familiar with the game Sardines, it's a pretty basic concept - one person hides while the others count, and then the seekers split up and search. When a seeker find the hiding spot, he or she climbs in, which often requires contorting his or her body and getting wayyy too close for comfort. Eventually everyone is crammed into a tiny space, trying hard to be quiet. The last person to find the cluster is the new hider the next round.

Our game ended with an epic grand finale when Dan, the Englishman (he apparently hates showering, which is not exactly someone who you want to play Sardines with) decided to hide in the spa pool (hot tub.) (The hot, chlorine-y water probably did him a world of good.) The hot tub is covered with a large foam lid when not in use. Dan lay prone underneath the mat, sticking his nose out of the water like some kind of primitive sea creature. One by one, we came by and lifted the lid, half as a joke, and found underneath several of our colleagues, fully clothed, half-submerged, gulping breaths in the inch of air between the bubbles and the lid. I was fifth to find the group; we lay in the hot water perfectly still, deaf with our submerged ears, waiting.

What's really amazing is how quickly I went, "Right, get in," and clambered in, shorts and shirt and all, pulling the lid over my head like a blankie. Never did I stop and think, "Wait. What am I doing?" Sardines is a serious game.

Jen was last to find us - she said the strange lumpiness of the foam cover made it obvious. She pulled off the lid and climbed in herself, and we all sat there for a little while under the hyacinths.