I mentioned we had visitors and a landlord in my last post. I forgot to say we found a place to live. Some(one) call it a monster mansion. It is a pretty large place and as of yet we are the only tenants. It does feel a bit like you have stepped into a time warp. Being fair, I think this is likely the case with a great many apartments for rent in the student budget. The chesterfield and chairs, which we have since swapped, are gold floral and are quite worn. The curtains were probably a similar shade, but time, use, and the sun have since transmuted them. I'm not too hung up on them. We'll do a little TLC and the place will be right up to date with the '80s. What I am most concerned about is the propane oven. These are in a few apartments I took a look at, but none had tanks that seemed so volatile as ours.
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* I really want to stress here, we are in no danger and our place thus far has been great. I took a few literary liberties. Those tanks do look a little grungy though.
One of the hurdles of living in Grenada is the currency exchange. The Eastern Caribbean Dollar (XCD) is directly related the US dollar by a rate of 2.67 XCD per 1 USD (the rate depends on whether you are buying or selling). In Grenada many places accept both currencies—this I find to be really great if you are American. It is fortunate for us that the Canadian dollar is very close to the American dollar as of yet; regardless, making the conversion from EC $100 to USD and then to CAD get's a little tricky at the supermarket. My whole sense of value is out of whack.
We went to IGA last Thursday. Thursday is stock day. Apparently every student on campus knows this. It's the day when you actually have a chance of getting things like fresh milk. If you miss the fresh milk, apparently there is a lot of canned and boxed milk sitting unrefrigerated on the shelf. I also want to mention that they store their eggs in a similar fashion. It's pretty warm and humid in Grenada, I wonder if some of those eggs end up hatching. Things at the IGA are generally more expensive than in North America. Despite being pretty far and between glasses of water, we couldn't bring ourselves to buy the EC $200-300 Brita filters (without the pitcher). Our tongues have been fairly desert like until recently. Spices on the other hand are dirt-cheap—we have a lot of spices now. We just need a few things to spice up.
All we have to add flavour to in our fridge is some fish. The fish has been there a couple days now; we went out for dinner at Charcoals and didn't have any leftovers so the (one) ordered some. There are a lot of stray dogs in Grenada and we spotted a practically skeletal one on our street last week. She's been looking for him every time we leave the house to give him some food, bless her heart (and the rest of her). This is also the reason she carries kibble in her purse in a Ziploc bag. She's a true veterinary student if I ever knew one.
She takes the SGU bus every morning to school. Their schedule can get dicey, especially on a weekend. Sometimes they show up eleven minutes early when you think you are in good time being ten minutes ahead. Weekdays seem to be better, or the opposite and they show up a bit late. We have a gate that can get a little wedged. Things get a little frantic when the bus is coming and I am fiddling as fast as I can fiddle to get the gate open. It mostly works out, except when they are eleven minutes early. Leaving the school they are more or less right on time. I mentioned these busses aren't as fun as the Reggae busses; this isn't so when it comes to the off-road, off-route, night busses. Their mandate is to get you directly in front of your home safe and sound. Often this means going on pothole-ridden roads or hills that must be 50% grade. I am glad the busses have ceilings to hold us in. It's a pretty fun ride. The somewhat awkward part is when they drop you at your house. The security guard (he only rides on the night busses) and the driver both stare at you while you get into your house. That's great, and feels secure, but then you realize that everyone on the bus is watching just the same. I almost want to see what happens when an altercation does occur. Does everyone jump out and doggy pile the perp?
There are a lot of other SO's on the island. They actually have a club that I have joined. On Sunday we went to the SO Social. I would have called it a SOcial but I am not on the board and I don't know yet if they are the type to appreciate puns. We met quite a few people; but I am going to be honest, I feel a little outnumbered by the gal to guy ratio. A lot of them are mothers. I have to admit, it does seem like a perfect time to raise children. You can't work anyway and you save on day care. I think the oldest kid I saw was possibly 3. We don't have any kids to raise, so I am looking forward to taking our dogs to play dates. I did meet some guys; I haven't met any that aren't in Graphic or Web Design though. I guess we are all a similar breed.
Finally I have taken a few photos. It is just too bad that they are of rusty tanks; most of you were probably expecting some gorgeous beach shots and some photos of my famously tanned bod. In the biz, that's what we call the teaser. I will have some nice ones soon; after all, I have to prove that we didn't decide to fly into Toronto to campout for the last two weeks. The duvet might have made sense in that case.
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