Another beautiful day in paradise (sigh). I don't work until 5pm today at Iggie's in the Pantry. I went down to the beach to see if I could get a sailing lesson from the guys who are called "Activities Directors". There is no wind yet, so they asked me to come back in the afternoon. They promised to teach me to sail and told me I could go out as much as I wanted. Cool! I should have remembered from my friends, Leslie and Raymond, that most sailing takes place in the afternoon. Motor boats in the morning, sailing in the afternoon.
One of the nurses I used to work with gave me a little book of inspirational sayings about love, life and laughter. There are a couple of sayings I especially like: "It's not the things we do in life that wear us down. It's what we don't do". "Do what you love- it's what you were meant to do". "Life is too important to be taken seriously-Oscar Wilde". "Hang in there. Even the worst weeks have Fridays in them". And my favorite-"We all need someone who gives us the courage to be who we're meant to be". It's been fun reading a new saying every day.
Last night at Iggie's I met a girl-Sharette-(that's the only way I can think of her, I must be getting old!) who is a nurse. She's been a nurse for three years and works in Labor and Delivery. She is working extra at Iggie's, trying to save up money so she can move to the States. She says she can make more money there and that the cost of living is cheaper (!). Good luck to her! She was surprised I gave up nursing because she loves it. I told her I had been a nurse for 30 years and it was time for a change. I guess you have to be a little older to understand that.
I walked down to the beach shack Bolongo has set up on the beach but found both Antonio and Lee at lunch. So I sat down to wait for them. Antonio got back first, but told me he thought Lee should be the one to take me out as he has the most experience. So I sat and talked a bit to Antonio, who hails from NYC. His girlfriend/fiancee is from here. She was living in Massecuset while he lived in NyC. Her
mom wanted them to move back here, so they decided to give it a try. He loves living on the island and walks or takes a taxi everywhere. Lee finally came back and off we went. Everyone has to wear a life jacket, and once you have that, you have to jump or hoist yourself onto the Hobie Cat. The first time, I wasnalmost there but fell back into the water (thigh-waist high). I ended up scraping my left shin, ouch!
For the second try, he pointed to a strap that I could you to pull myself up with. That went much better, albeit, not very graceful. Lee did tell me there was no graceful way to get onto a Hobie Cat. Now that I have been lifting all those heavy pots and pans, my arms have gotten stronger-good thing! Wind in the bay is unpredictable, but once we got out beyond the two points of the bay, the wind was steady. Lee talked to me about coming about, tacking, jibing, pulling in and letting out the sail. I was a little nervous, one, because now we were in the open sea, and two, I have heard Hobie Cats flip over easily. He walked me thru getting the Cat righted. Not sure I want to experience that. He let me take over control of the sail when we turned back around (which like the Jet Ski, was easier than going out). You steer the two rudders in the back with a bar that connects the two of them, while you sit on oe side or the other at the back of the sailboat. Scary but cool! We made it back in one piece and upright. I'll go out again with one of them until I feel more comfortable with the boat.
It was back to my room for a shower. When you spend time in sea water and get wet, your skin gets kind of crusty, so I wash it all off. Apparently the sea water here is so saline, everything floats!
A little reading, then off to work at Iggie's 5-10pm. We were not as busy tonight as we were last night, at least not Pantry! When I am not busy, time goes SO slow. There was only prep for myself to do-chopping lettuce, slicing lemons into wedges, etc. I am getting faster in both prep and preparation of the different salads, wraps and sandwiches and of course plating desserts is easy. The wraps were a little harder because if you don't wrap them tightly, they just fall apart. Not good! I met a waitress named Janell (!) whose other job is director of physical education at one of the schools. She got her bachelors in Business in the States. She went to school on an athletic scholarship-tall and thin, so not a surprise. She wants to go back to school so is saving money (I sense a theme here). It still takes some getting used to working with the islanders. I think they are arguing with each other because they are yelling, then one of them will laugh and it's all over. Who knows?! I am back at the Lobster Grille tomorrow evening. I'll be doing Pantry, my favorite, lol!
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