Coques and Foques

After going to bed after two in the morning last night, we were not very happily awoken around seven this morning. You just can't do that to teenagers! We went to the beach this morning, at least, because we didn't get to see it yesterday! It's really funny to hear foreigners (non-Americans, I have to specify here) try to say the word "beach" because it sounds like another word that I never use...you can guess. Everyone had scared me with stories of how the tide comes in like hundreds of horses at more than eleven kilometers per hour, and people who go out to collect moules get stuck, can't get back, and drown, or even how cars get stuck out there. I totally didn't understand how someone couldn't just run back to safe dry land because I'd never seen a beach that big...now I have. Goodness, the sandy part of the beach must have gone on for miles. We rode on the back of a tractor (wet, sandy baskets for seats) for at least five miles before we even saw the water! Before we saw water, though, we saw thousands of posts covered in moules! Someone later explained how it all worked, but it was pretty impressive. Despite the cold weather, I removed my shoes to squish my toes in the sand; I even played footsie with a crab! On the way to another site on the tractor, we all saw the dog of the fishermen/moulemen jump off of their truck and catch a seagull! It was shaking it all over the place and we were all moaning in sympathy and excitement. The son of the mouleman went and saved the bird from the dog. Apparently it was still living though because a few minutes later the son wrung it's neck. I'm assuming he did that to put it out of its misery because he didn't keep it for dinner or for the dog or anything; he just threw the seagull off the back of the truck.
Our next stop was to see coques (cockes/ the shell that's all over the US beaches). These coques were still alive, and I learned how to open the shells and eat one. It was not that bad actually; it was very salty, but that could have just been the saltwater. That was our last stop. Someone told me that there are foques (seals) at the beach, but we didn't see any. We went back to an area before the dunes and ate lunch and bonded over hugs. We all agree (save the Asians) that hugs are what we miss most from our home country.
Of course, after lunch I needed to go to the bathroom, and of course we were at the beach and there were no toilets to be seen. So, of course, I had to go in the woods. And, of course, I fell in a briar patch and cut myself everywhere. Lovely, just lovely.