Four more days in St. Lucia.

Yesterday I was at JQ. As I came around the corner of one of the aisles, I saw a little girl playing around. When I looked at her parents, I saw my friend Milan and his wife. I couldn’t believe it; because I remember the day that child was born! Now here she was walking and talking. Amazing all the things that have happened in two years.

The past couple weeks have been busy; yet I’ve managed to get in sufficient relaxation. Two weeks ago Eric and I went to Martinique for the weekend. We took the ferry over. It was nice but short. It was nice to eat fancy croissants and cheeses, but I could have done without all the smoking (few Lucians smoke). We stayed in Trois Islets, the main tourist area where I stayed with Mom and Jane last year. It’s just a water taxi ride into Fort De France, the capitol. One day we walked around there and checked things out. It reminded me a bit of Quito; a big city with all the fancy stuff, but still a bit dingy around the edges. Eric did most of the navigating because he speaks French pretty well. I eavesdropped a lot, and was surprised at how much I could understand.

We took the ferry back to St. Lucia on Sunday. It was as chaotic and disorganized as the last time that I went, but this time it didn’t get my pressure up as much. The worst part was that we got caught in the middle of a storm at sea, which was VERY rough. I had white knuckles the whole way, and the boat attendants handed out barf bags to everyone. As far as I know, no one was sick. But it wasn’t fun.

The following day, Eric and I packed up again for Dominica. Eric has been doing a lot of business there, and I tagged along to visit some friends there and to see some of the island. Last year when I was there, it was for a conference so I didn’t get to do much sightseeing. As it turned out, I didn’t see that much this time either, but it was still enjoyable.

We stayed at the Fort Young hotel, which is an old fort that has been changed over. It was really cool and had big cannons and three foot-thick walls around. The hotel was right in the middle of town and right on the water. I found Roseau to be considerably more charming and CLEAN than Castries. Many of the colonial-style and stone buildings still exist (the ones in Castries were wiped out in various fires and hurricanes).

On Tuesday a cruise ship was in at the port. It was parked right outside our hotel and was massive. All of the vendors and taxi guys were out in force. It was a good day to walk around town, so RJ, one of the PCs there, gave me a little tour. I was also able to find an internet café; the hotel wanted $20 EC PER HALF HOUR for internet. That was criminal and ridiculous, so I found a place that only charged $5.

I spent two days hanging around the hotel pool and sitting by the phone. On Wednesday I was to have a job interview via phone, but there was a mix up, so it happened on Thursday instead.

Months ago I had been looking online at being a substitute teacher when I go back. Mukwonago schools would be most convenient, but I worried about how much work they would have available, with only one middle and one high school. So I was looking at Waukesha Public schools and came across an ad for a bilingual teacher’s aide to work in the ESL program at one of the middle schools. I used their annoying online form to apply. Mostly I copied and pasted from my resume, but I wasn’t totally happy with how it came out. I felt like some of the questions and my answers were redundant. But I submitted it and didn’t worry too much. Then a couple of weeks ago mom called to say that Waukesha schools had called about the position. So after a volley of emails, the director of the program set up the phone interview. It went very well, but was more the psych profiling type of interview where they ask you the same questions over and over. So I felt really positive about that, partially because it affirmed that I was employable. I’m still waiting to hear the official word though…

Friday I was torn about what to do. The hotel had tours to some of the attractions, and I was interested to see some of the lakes and waterfalls in Dominica. I also was curious to see Portsmouth, the second city of Dominica, and home to a sizeable offshore medical school (thereby possibly having more interesting, foreign-market stuff). In the end, I decided to just hang out on my own and go to Portsmouth. It was about an hour bus ride up the coast. The town was about the size of Soufriere, but without the vistas. There really wasn’t much going on. I found a cute sea-side place and had lunch and looked at my map. I had seen signs and advertisements around for a souvenir and craft store, and there was one in Portsmouth. So I thought I would walk back towards the bus stand, and check out the store. Dominica is known for its indigenous arts and crafts. The store was a bit of a let-down. It was just like S&S or the $3 Store in St. Lucia; mostly cheap plastic stuff made in Taiwan. Upon first shopping at S&S, a number of us commented that we missed the high quality of Wal-Mart, if that gives you any indication about S&S. There was one little shelf where they had tossed a few magnets and mini flags. Needless to say, I didn’t buy anything. It was still a nice little jaunt though.

We came back on Sunday on an airplane that was smaller than a minibus. You could see sky through the door jamb. But it was that many fewer people waiting in the immigration line, so it was ok.

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Yesterday I went with Jaimie and Angela to a new bar that Jaimie found. It was in Ciceron, just off the millennium highway by the tunnels. It was perched right on the cliff over the water. I never knew the water over there was accessible, but there were beautiful lagoons and some kids snorkeling. We had a beer and watched the sunset.