Lost in translation...

This is a little story about how even though St. Thomas is part of the US, it is a totally different culture.

One of my patients found out it was my birthday tomorrow. A minute or so later, she asks "I don't mean to pry, but I know you must have recently graduated, and how much do you make?" I thought, wow, that sure is brazen of her to ask my salary. I paused for a second and said "how much do I make?" and she said "yes." I explained to her that I would tell her how much average starting salary is for my job, and she proceeded to look at me strangely. And she said "no, not your salary, how much do you make, you know, how many years." About the same time, a conversation I had with the upstairs neighbor came into my head (people here when asking age or talking about age refer to "making" an age), so I said "ohhhh, you mean how old will I be!" Then she began to laugh as I said "sorry, still getting used to Island terminology" and told her I would be 26.

I'm sure this was much funnier in the moment, but I thought it was a nice story of how things are different no matter where you go. Of course, I guess "how much do you make" comes from the Spanish and French wording of the question of age which roughly translates to how many years do you have. Another odd saying is that if anything is broken, it is "mashed up."

Time to get ready for the Birthday Extravaganza Weekend, so far the plans are: lunch with the coworkers, dinner with the upstairs neighbors at Oceana, scuba diving on Saturday, and St. John on Sunday! Should be a great weekend, I'll be sure to take pictures!

Fast Delivery!

Wow, so I mailed a package on Friday home and it only took 5 days to get to NC. Record time! Plus, this was mailed regular mail, not even priority...way to go post office. Too bad the same can't be said for the quickness on mail delivered to St. Thomas, oh well!

Chicago, here I come...

While I don't want to jinx it, I believe that I have finally decided on my next travel assignment. While I have contemplated a variety of different choices (from Washington DC to Orlando), I have finally decided on Chicago, IL. Why Chicago? Well, it is a big city with a ton of history and many things to do. Plus, the weather should be nice in the summer, and I wouldn't want to travel there in the winter as I would freeze! I won't know a specific job location until closer to time, but there are plenty of options, so I'm not worried about finding a spot. I feel that this will be a nice city for me to go to, and a huge change from the slow-paced world of St. Thomas...plus, I can take my car with me!

Duffy's Love Shack

I finally got to go to see the famous Duffy's Love Shack last night! This is a place where each drink comes with a certain glass, and you get to keep the novelty glass when you are finished. We had a lot of fun and got to go dancing (which I haven't done in a while), so it was fun.

Atlantis Submarine

Today, I finally used the complimentary pass for the Atlantis Submarine trip that I was given. It was interesting to be 76 feet deep and not out there scuba diving. While it was nice not getting wet, I did miss seeing the fish up close and personal, as in diving. I took a ton of pictures, so it will be interesting to see if I took any good shots.

Dolphin Video

Here is the video from the dive last weekend! Thanks to Colette for taking the video and pictures. On a good note, my underwater camera came in the mail today. Hopefully, I can get some practice with it and get some great shots on my next dive :)

Rainbow in Paradise

I was grocery shopping in Pueblo (and of course, I left my umbrella in the car) and it began to rain. Thankfully, the rain wasn't too bad, and it had slowed down by the time that I left. On my drive home, I looked over and saw a beautiful rainbow. Thankfully, I could still see it from the house, so I took some pictures of it. They may not be as clear on here, but it was gorgeous!