It’s been quiet in my house this past week. My boyfriend has been away all week, so for the first time since I moved here I have had some time to myself.
As far as I’m concerned I’ve spent my time wisely. I’ve bought and successfully eaten all of my favorite foods. My TV choices have included plenty of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, The Bachelorette and old episodes of Sex and the City. I met friends for Happy Hour on Monday, and met them again for Trivia Night on Thursday. Friday, I grabbed some drinks after work with co-workers. And, I’ve managed to fit in a few runs in the morning (yes, I am conquering that bastard of a hill – see The Hill posting). Of course, both dogs are also taking advantage of this opportunity by sleeping in bed with me – Oakley under the covers with his head on the pillow and Thor at the foot of the bed.
Today, I decided to head to Town to do some shopping. As a side, Town is formally known as Charlotte Amalie, which is pronounced either Charlotte Ah-ma-lee, or Ah-mal-yah, but everyone calls it ‘Town’. This is probably because nobody has determined how to actually pronounce this place, but I digress.
St. Thomas actually has some pretty good shopping. The fact that there isn’t any sales tax on the island, coupled with all of the tourism, has encouraged some pretty high end fashion companies and many, many jewelers to set up shop here. There’s Gucci, Salvadore Farragamo, Tommy Hilfiger, BCBG, H Stern, Tiffany & Co. and Coach – to name a few. Since I’m not one for high-end shopping, I stuck to White House Black Market and a few of the more local boutiques and jewelers.
I enjoyed my time perusing around from shop to shop and wound up buying some gifts for friends and a couple of things for myself. I even splurged on buying my first pate for lunch, which is a local favorite that is basically a fried pocket with meat and spices inside. I now understand why these delightful pieces of fried goodness are so popular because I couldn’t put this thing down! I’m absolutely looking forward to my next one.
Of course, being alone for a week down here hasn’t all been fun and games. I’ve also had the sole responsibility of killing any and all bugs that may creep into the house. Naturally, last night, while brushing my teeth, I found the largest bug I’ve ever seen in my life, crawling around in the shower. Thankfully, I had had 3 glasses of wine when I found it, so I had enough courage to kill this thing without hesitation by using the end of a mop and a broom. Gross.
I’ve also had to be on garbage duty all by myself this week. Since the residential roads are too tricky for garbage trucks to drive down, there are centralized dumping areas where garbage has to be driven and dropped off. The first day I had to myself I noticed that our outside garbage can was full. Since I had an entire week ahead of me, I had no choice but to haul it down to the dumping area and throw it into the dumpster by myself. This was no easy task. First, to keep your car clean and maggot free, it’s important to double bag all garbage prior to putting it into your car. With this I mind, I used every muscle in my body to take the bag of garbage out of the dumpster, tie it up and get it into another bag. Since I’m a complete weakling, in order to get the bag out of the dumpster I had to tip the dumpster on its side and pull the bag out. I then ended up using the hill to roll the full bag down into the empty bag. At this point, the garbage bag was several yards away from my car. I geared myself up to lift this monstrosity into my car by cursing several times. Then, I somehow found the strength to hoist it up and into the car. Once I got to the dumping area, I again struggled with lifting the bag out of my car and getting it to the dumpster. I was successful in getting it out of my car but, I literally wasn’t strong enough to pull it up and into the dumpster. I tried and tried, but I just couldn’t get this thing up high enough to push it over the edge of the dumpster. Looking like a pathetic damsel in distress, a helpful man noticed me and came to my rescue. Afterwards, he disapprovingly said, ‘Have you ever thought of using more than one bag?” Exhausted, but somehow feeling like I needed to explain myself, I responded by telling this stranger that my boyfriend had [unknowingly] left me stranded with the garbage for the week.
So, this week has had its ups and downs, but overall it’s been nice to do my own thing for a bit, and the time has gone by quickly. In fact, I only have a few more hours before heading to the airport to pick up my boyfriend. I can’t wait to see him!
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