Swimming as a new hobby and the tan that it brings

I’ve recently taken up a new hobby of swimming as a result of my two weeks in Sangihe… But still, swimming on an ordinary swimming pool never feels quite the same with if it’s done on the beach.

Whenever I ask Mom for a day out on the swimming pool, she always likes to wait until it’s after 3 PM or so, because tanning is one thing that she fears. While I prefer swimming at 11 AM.

“But we’re white Mom! Look at it, we may not be pure bule (Caucasian) but we’re still white Indonesians anyway..”

“Well if you insist, why don’t you go swimming yourself? I don’t wanna get a tan”

The idea of tanning has never entered those who live in the tropical regions like Indonesia, even by those who are white/fair-skinned in the first place, presumably because such an idea is inconceivable and thus deemed as “an anomaly” by the whole society.

I don’t need to use any Roy Morgan surveys here to back up my theory above. Just have a look yourself: in public swimming pools across Indonesia (with the exception of Bali), the ratio of pool visitors on 12 PM and 4 PM is a staggering 1:10!!

Well, I might’ve exaggerated that last part. But it’s true anyway: They hate tanning.

Not that I’m being racist here. Of course not.

Because I don’t mind getting a tan. Don't mind at all.