Sunday Date

Sunnuntaiaamu alkoi samanlaiseen tapaan kuin edellisviikollakin. Juoksutreffeistä Ashleyn kanssa on alkanut tulla traditio ja toisaalta, mikä oikeestaan olisikaan mukavempi tapa aloittaa viikon viimeinen päivä. Ajelimme Sunny Islesin hiekalle juoksemaan paljain jaloin..

Laturin ollessa vielä Suomessa, olen joutunut turvautumaan iPhoneen ja oikeastaan tällä kertaa olin enemmän kuin iloinen, että puhelimen pixelit ei ylitä 8, sillä jotenkin en vieläkään ymmärrä miten, löysimme itsemme nudistirannalta. Normale. Koko Amerikassa asumisen ajan olen ollut sitä mieltä, että suomalaisethan ovat lähes liian sinut alastomuutensa kanssa. Aatamin asussa pompitaan pitkin kesää ja vielä ahtaudutaan kyseenalaisen pieneen ja höyryiseen koppiin paljaat reidet vieretysten. Ei. Me suomalaiset osataan pitää alastomuus kaikessa estottomuudessaan kuitenkin tyylikkäännä, ainakin eiliseen kokemukseen verrattuna.

En ole mitenkään vastaan nudistirantoja, mutta toisaalta olisi ihan yleisöystävällistä laittaa edes jonkilainen merkki tai kyltti. Noh, tällä kertaa sellaista ei ollut. Juoksimme alueen läpi, missä ihmiset pelasi rantalentopallo, hölkkäili, pelasi dominoa, teki kärrynpyöriä ja muita sirkustemppuja, tietenkin alasti. Viimeisin isku oli vanhempi herra, joka oli päättänyt lähteä kesken auringonoton aamulenkille ympäri nudistirantaa. Juoksuvauhti yllättäin nopeni merkittävästi kun huomasimme herran juosseen vierellämme liian kauan.

Sunday running dates with Ashley are slowly becoming a tradition. Usually we just drive somewhere without any bigger plan and run around to explore new places where we haven't been before, and in Miami there's a bunch of them. Well, last Sunday we ended up going to Sunny Isles Beach where running barefoott on the soft and warm sand is a must. One of the best ways to start the last day of the week, if you ask me..

In my last post I was telling in Finnish how my SLR camera charger had just mysterisously disappeared, and due to having a dead camera or then using the camera in my phone, my motivation to update posts has been as high as the United States' economy. Well, luckily my mom reported from Finland that she had found it and the charger is now somewhere between Loimaa and Miami, on its way to where it belongs.

Almost the whole time that I've been living in the US, I have strongly believed that Finnish people are the only ones in the world who are completely ok with their nudity. I came to this conclusion in the very beginning of my "living in the US-experience". When I was still studying in Virginia, I had a swimming class every Monday and Wednesday. Obviously before the class you change and take a shower and etc. Back home in Finland, the only normal way to take a shower or go to sauna (or steam room) is naked, and yes, this also includes public spas. So, as a young, foreign student, and with "one love" mentality, I took off my clothes, put them in my locker and jumped into the ladies' showers. Soon the other girls came too, although they had their swimsuits on. Yap, me standing in the middle and completely naked. Oh my god, I remember that feeling forever.. Wasn't the most embarrasing moments suppose to belong to middle school? I guess not.

Well, after last Sunday morning and running through a nudist beach by accident, it completely turned my opinion upside down. It was probably the first time in my life when I was actually happy that I wasn't carrying the big camera on my shoulder.

Definitely I am not against nudist beaches and in fact it's a good thing that they exist. You know, people can practice their normal activities, like jogging, tanning, swimming, playing UNO cards, and things like that completely naked. I must say, though, that I was extremely surprised about the naked beach volleyball.. I hope that there would be just some kind of sign or warning before the area starts just to let people know what's coming up.

Under all those looks of old men sitting on their blankets and wearing Adam's costume, the short 1 mile run through the naked area felt like a marathon. The akward feeling reached its peak when this one a little bit too old man and his butt cheeks started to come too close. That's when we decided that it's our time to run as fast as we can.

I think from now on we will start to plan our running routes better.

-Emilia