I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted. I’ve just been living in a crazy whirlwind of a life the past few days. This post is going to be a long one. Bear with me.
On Friday Ken and I decided that we’d spend the day in Nassau. We left the hotel at 9am and took the number 10 bus downtown. As we were riding the bus we ended up stuck behind a parade. So we got out and decided to watch. It was a parade for autism awareness and it was fantastic. There were dancers, and two bands and whole mess of people walking in support. I don’t know if it makes me ignorant to say this, but it was nice to see that even in smaller communities there was a strong movement for autism. Everyone was happy the music was great. 
As we got closer to downtown the crowd started to thin out and I managed to find a sunglasses shop that had a pair of $10 shades. It’s tradition for me, whenever I go on any sort of vacation I need to find a pair of sunglasses for 10 bucks. Mostly because I lose sunglasses so often it doesn’t make sense to spend any money on them, but I also enjoy the challenge of looking. I ended up spending some time in Port Lucya looking for a pair and the ladies wouldn’t meet me at my price point. It was probably for the beter because the ones I have now are super cute.
We ended up finding a cute place for breakfast. It was the first hot breakfast that I’d had since I’d left and it was so great. The grits were truly southern—yellow and buttery—the bacon was thick and the eggs soft scrambled. The company was also fantastic. It was great to spend a day with Ken. We ended up goofing around the whole time. We were together 6 hours and we were never bored.
After I found my sunglasses we had a chance to walk around. The architecture and the flowers are so beautiful. And there’s so much public art everywhere. I ended up taking mountains of photographs. There were also lots of fun things for Ken and I to do circus things on. He’s amazing.
One of the hardest problems I have when traveling is finding the right souvenirs. I rarely actually succeed. I ended up following Ken’s lead and getting a cigar for my boyfriend. Ken spent about half an hour talking to these gentleman about the cigars he ended up buying. I figured after he did all of the work all I had to do was buy the same ones he did. I think Robert will enjoy them.
We finished our afternoon together going to Nassau’s version of a fish fry. It’s very different from the one we went to in Freeport. It’s more like a strip mall of food stands. Half of them have places to sit, others don’t. We ended up eating at one with colorful benches. I decided to try conch fritters. They weren’t anything special. And after a week of eating crap it was just hard to stomach. I had some steamed broccoli and cauliflower as well. That was fantastic. The service was truly Bahamian… relaxed we’ll say.
After lunch Ken and I went back to the hotel. I hung out at the beach for a while—I wanted to make sure my burn settled in. We also had a show that night. It was a great close to my first tour. The craziest thing happened on the way home, though. It was a Beer Festival in Nassau and when we were leaving the festival was just ending. We were on a bus and the people in the streets were just riotous—throwing beer cans at the bus and everything. The traffic was so bad It took us about an hour to get home when it only should have taken us 15mins.
That night Matt, Ken, Sego, a few of the others and I went and had a late night soak in the hot tub. It was the perfect end to the week.
Then my life got crazy. We left Nassau at noon and we had a lay over in D.C. The 4pm flight we were all supposed to be on was cancelled, and they had room on the 3pm flight. I had no bags checked so I hopped on and ended up getting home by 3:45. Seriously. It must have been the quickest flight I have ever been on. I got home and had a chance to spend some quality time with my awesome boyfriend, dog and cat.
Monday morning I was surprised by how much stuff I still had to take care of. I had to do laundry from the Bahamas trip. Re-print and sign my lease (trying to do that while out of the country was impossible and ridiculously expensive, I dread seeing my cell phone bill) I had to arrange my car insurance and re-pack making sure to have all of my important documents secured. It was crazy. I was almost late for my flight because I had so much to do.
The trip to San Jose was easy and uneventful. I tried to sleep on the plane. That didn’t work. So I stayed awake and watched House Hunters: International for six hours and forty minutes. Boring and supremely uncomfortable. When I arrived at the airport the delightful Donald (Anne Louise’s dad) was there to pick me up in my used-new car. It’s fantastic. It’s a little purple Nissan. It’s manual, from 1996, tiny and absolutely perfect. I haven’t named her yet. Tuesday was also a crash course in life with a car. Gas…. You need it. (not too often, my little car’s tank lasts a while) LA traffic sucks…. Like really really sucks. And don’t drive when you’re tired. (I had three LARGE cups of coffee all day) I’m better at driving a stick than I expected. I’ve only stalled it three times.Anne Louise, Lisa, and Donald were ridiculously generous. I they gave me so many things to get myself started in my apt. bedding, a little coffee maker, towels, a toaster oven, random bathroom supplies. It was amazing to know that so many things were taken care of as I was moving.
I went to my brother’s place when I drove in Tuesday. I'm so grateful the my brother lives in town. I've found that I'm most shocked by the lonliness that i've felt. This is the first time in my life I've made a big move and had very little family waiting for me on the other side. I didn't realize how it would hit me until I got going. It's hit hard, and I'm so happy that my brother is here. He's been amazing thorough this move. He deserved extra props for that. He's letting me crash at his place while I get mine settled. Here's a picture of us from my last visit. Aren't we just adorable... and humble.
My bed is actually here and until my dad gets here, with the SUV I'm hoping he rents, it's going to stay here. For now I’m enjoying the couch. I love my new place. It’s way bigger than I expected. It has it’s “charming” qualities. But it’s good for a first place in a new city. Now for the fun stuff about work. The real big thing is there isn’t all that much fun stuck to talk about. The first day it was all orientation. We got our uniforms and were briefed on corporate policies. Yet again I’m stuck in men’s clothing. Everything aside from the bringht pink swimsuit and sized and cut for the male form. It’s all comfy though, and SeaWorld launders everything for me so I’m not complaining. Actually they take care of absolutely all of the necessities. In addition to my regular uniform, I have two wet suits, chineese pole shoes, towels, sunscreen, a swimsuit, shampoo, conditioner lotion, a chorus of other amenities. Free coffee. With french vanilla creamer. And really-really cheap food. Yesterday for lunch I had a grilled chicken sandwich, a side if peas and an orange and it’s cost me $3.25. Wow. Bottles of water are $0.79 if you choose to buy them but they have free stuff for us already.
Everyone is so nice here I don’t quite know what to do with myself. Everyone is all about helping. There are a bunch of hires from years previous, and they’re all about showing us newbies the ropes. The energy and the vibe is perfect for creating a fun creative environment.
Today we had water emergency training. That was an adventure. The bay is cold. Very Very very cold. But the Shamu wetsuits really keep you afloat. I found myself treading water vigorously for a while until I realized that I could just relax. The suit itself is buoyant. Then we had our CPR training. I am now officially certified to help in case someone needs to be rescued out of the water or they're having any cardiac/respiratory problems. 30/2/5
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