* sigh *

What a couple of weeks it’s been. Most non-retail work places have been closed since Christmas week so I have spent the bulk of my time at the beach. It’s been a really nice break. The beach has been busy but fun. It’s high tourist season and some days there have been as many as four cruise ships in the harbor. In mid-December there was also a yachting race that finished here. Most of the yachties stayed on through the holiday. Also there have been many Lucians who are living abroad who came back to visit their families. The beach has been packed, and we have met a lot of people.

There have also been a lot of visitors that we know; other Peace Corps people, friends of Peace Corps people and friends of other friends. I honestly met fifty-some people. It was good though, because some of the regulars were off-island for the holiday.

The highlight of the week was New Year’s. It was a little more eventful than Christmas. Deb, Patrick and I went to the Canadians’ to make a dinner. Patrick was visiting for the holiday—his father is one of our Peace Corps supervisors. We made all kinds of tasty stuff. Deb and I brought stuff for pizza and salad, Shannon made a macaroni pie, and Heather made an eggplant dish. From there, the Canadians went to a house party with some friends of theirs, and Deb, Patrick and I went to a couple of our usual spots. We watched fireworks on the beach with my pal Milan from work. Then we went to our usual bar, Shamrock’s. Every place had a cover, but Shamrock’s was the most reasonable. There, we ran into a few other people. Once it got towards morning, we were a little disappointed. The TV and radio ads for the party had said that breakfast would be served. But when it got to be breakfast time, or at least about 6, it turned out that they were charging for breakfast. Deb could not be torn away from the dancing, so Patrick and I just left. Deb ended up getting home at about 2 the next afternoon.

The next day was Doris’ birthday—she’s one of the other volunteers. Quite a few people came out to the beach for that. But mostly we lay there like a bunch of partied-out slugs. After the beach, a few of us went to get pizza. Lauren and her friend, Marshall, came to my place so they could hang out in town the next day.

Last night we checked out a couple new places. First, Deb and I went with her friend Effe and her boyfriend to a place called Tropicana. It was a bit early, so not much was happening there. Then Deb and I met up with Margaret, Patrick, Donal and Jeff at a place called the Jazz Lounge. Apparently it’s new. It was a nice place and a nice change from Shamrock’s. They had a live jazz band and big squishy couches. We hung out there for awhile, then inevitably ended up at Shamrock’s.

It’s going to be hard to go back to work tomorrow, but it will be nice to have a bit more structure in my life again.

Over the break, I read four books:

Margaret Atwood, The Robber Bride

Barbara Kingsolver, Pigs in Heaven

Harry Potter books one and two.