During this vacation, I've been trying to learn how to surf.
The first couple of times, Dan just sent me out and said, go ahead, try surfing.
I got pretty freaked out, the waves crashing onto me, a nine-foot board attached to my leg, and me having no idea whatsoever what I was supposed to do.
Once he realized that I'd have to work up to that, we started just at the edge, and now I can finally stand up (only in the whitewater, though, not actually catching a real wave).
It's really hard.
I feel pretty stupid out there, standing in the water up to my shins, trying to get up on the board.
It's probably good for me, though. I hate doing things that I'm not good at, and usually I just prefer to not try.
(Well, that's not exactly true. I often feel that way about my new job. And about raising kids, come to think of it. But somehow it doesn't feel as public as standing up on a surfboard with people all around and falling down over and over.)
I'm not bad at body boarding, though. For my birthday, Dan got me a pair of flippers. (Which is something else I have to figure out. The first time, it took me fifteen minutes to get out to where the waves were breaking. I kept tripping over my feet.)
I know body boarding isn't as cool as surfing. But hey, if it's good enough for President Obama, it's good enough for me.
7 comments:
Once you stand up a couple of times and feel yourself gliding down the wave, it will stop being hard and will just be fun. I'm going to try boogie boarding and kneeboarding when I come down there in March. Maybe we can do some tandem surfing!
Definitely! I'll keep practicing.
I think it's so funny that Dan just sent you out with the board and said 'go for it.' He's Brazilian, right? I've noticed this approach to learning things here, particularly when I used to train Capoeira. One guy I used to study with told a story about how his sister, in her first Capoeira class somewhere in the States, was suddenly ordered to "Flip!!" by the mestre- no lead-in, no instructions, just "Flip!! Come on!! Flip!!"
So, does this make it a body boarding BIRTHDAY? Happy day!
I read the blog religiously - usually my fix is filled early Saturday mornings before yoga - but I'm a slacker at posting responses.
Hope you got my postcard from Portugal. I went back in December and heard you and Dan and the "zh's" all over again.
Lots of love,
Rebecca
Walk backwards into the waves in fins.
See you Saturday! (Ju won't stop talking about it - "I wanna go to E.'s birthday!")
the whitewater is my home when I am surfing...
Ohh...duh. Walk backwards.
Kole, maybe we can go surfing together sometime, then!
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