Everything is fine here weatherwise. Hurricane Ivan sailed right on past us and headed to Jamaica, which we all thought was going to be devastated like Grenada, but which escaped relatively unscathed (except for the manmade violence, unfortunately). On STX, we only got a little bit of rain the other night and some very welcome wind. It has been very hot here. As I wrote earlier, I am melting away from the heat. :-) In the past 5-6 weeks, I've gone from 174 lbs. to 167.5 lbs, almost 7 lbs. Yippee! Gotta be careful, tho, about getting skinny too quick as all of my new clothes won't fit any more.
I went shopping at the local K-Mart today to buy pillows, pillowcases, knee- high hose (too hot to wear the pantyhose I brought with me), a flashlight for when I walk home in the dark . . . it gets dark here by 7 pm), a battery for my little automatic camera (very expensive!), and flipflops (to wear around the house so I won't step directly on millipedes, which are not poisonous, by the way). I was surprised to find that the prices for these kinds of durable goods were the same as I would have paid at home.
Then I went across the street to the Big Lots type of store (I forget the name of it, right off hand) and loaded up on walnuts, almonds, dried cranberries, frozen chicken breasts (already cooked, all I have to do is microwave them), veggie burgers, feta cheese, cans of salmon and chicken, and microwaveable popcorn. I've stocked up now for a couple of months except for buying fresh veggies, eggs, and soy milk now and then. Food prices are definitely a lot higher here, and I keep getting shocked by the total that comes up when the young lady at the counter rings up my bill.
I don't need to buy much fruit, though, as all kinds of stuff grows in ML's front and back yard. I'm absolutely in love with the local "sugar apples" -- that's what they may be called, but they sure don't resemble what we're used to thinking of as an apple, either on the outside or the inside. In fact, they are really rather ugly and bumply. They are delicious, tho, especially after being chilled in the refrigerator. Once they are ready to eat, you can pull away the bumps and eat the sweet meat sticking to the inside. You can eat the sweet meat in the center by taking a big bite from the center, which will have several seeds in it, and then sucking each seed clean until only the shiny, black seed remains. Or, you can eat the seeds one at a time, savoring the taste of each one and sucking your fingers clean of the wonderful creamy meat that sticks to them. Yummy!!!
I still can't believe that I haven't been to the beach yet! I miss my backyard pool at home so much and swimming in private solitude. I got some bad news from ML today in the form of a warning about going to the beach alone. Actually, she told me that it's OK for me to go by myself to any of the beaches on the island as long as I make sure that there are other people around. But she warned me never, never, never to walk down a beach by myself, away from the crowd, or even to walk down the beach with just one other person. Apparently, the "bush" (the jungle growth back beyond the sandy beach) has eyes, meaning that bad men and boys lurk there, waiting for unsuspecting tourists to wander their way. Then, they rob them and possibly even rape the woman if she's alone or with a man they can overpower. This is such sad news for me since I love to have a beach all to myself, to swim and tan au naturel. This is so unlike the Caribbean that I knew in the 1980s.
On another note, I met a very nice lady in the grocery store this morning. Originally from New York City, she's been living in the islands for 14 years now. In fact, she met her present husband here. Like me, her children are grown, and she is pursuing her own interests now. In May 2005, she will finish a bachelor's in education at UVI. Incredibly, we're the same age, and we hit it right off! She promised to drop by the library Monday afternoon to say hi.
Another social engagement I have to look forward to is the monthly meeting of the "newcomers" group from vinow.com. I hope to get a ride to a restaurant called "Off the Wall" on Tuesday (9/14) so I can meet some of the people who participate on the VINow message board, which I've been monitoring and posting to for about 5-6 months. They are getting together around 6 pm to have dinner and drinks and to share good conversation and lots of tips about moving here. Many of us will be meeting each other for the first time, while still others are oldtimers and have known each other for a while. It will be nice, for a change, to be with a bunch of other people who are new, many of whom are experiencing the same kinds of things that I'm going through as I transition into this new life.
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