Today's orientation is filled with things such as learning about the program, about the island, how to be safe and not break the law, etc. Once classes begin, he'll be in class from about 8 a.m. - noon with an hour lunch break. Then he'll be in class till about 4 p.m. or so. And after that, it's study, study, study.
At the beginning, they have to dress nicely, with a tie and all. Which for Matt, means sweating like crazy. Poor guy. Way to make a first impression. But how cute is he on his first day?!
Don't worry - I made sure he ate a good breakfast, had his notepad and umbrella, and took his vitamin before he left.
We've had an eventful couple of days leading up to his first day. We went back to Banana Bay, which is quickly becoming my favorite spot on the island. But with these views, I'm sure you understand.
Banana Bay is a day cabana with wooden lounge chairs, picnic tables, tiki huts and hammocks on beautiful Fortune Beach. It is typically rather quiet, too, which is even nicer. We spent nearly six hours there on Sunday, and I got my first Caribbean sunburn. Thanks for nothing Coppertone SPF 50.
And no, we didn't go to the nude beach. No thank you. No way. Not ever.
Banana Bay also has great food! We tried the Conch Fritters, and they were delicious. And I was included in that 'we.' Impressed? I've now tried Snapper, Grouper and Conch.
While the girls and I relaxed in the sun, Matt and Jonathan went looking for 'treasure.' Side note, these two are so much alike it's almost scary. After awhile, they both came back with handfuls of beautiful shells. Thankfully there was nothing alive in them. And now we have a little decoration for our home. Good work boys!
Yesterday was a work day for me, and Matt enjoyed his last full day of laziness before the madness. He did attempt to get some groceries in between rainfalls which proved to be more difficult than anticipated. He loaded up on groceries and filled our new tarp, rolly cart thing with our items and headed home. However, the $3 rolly cart thing wasn't near as sturdy as it appeared. So as soon as he got on the other side of the road it broke. And the dragging on the ground made a hole in our green tea jug. Just as I was about to leave to go help him, some other students saw him and helped him carry our items home. A local saw the three of them and offered to take them all back to Sunset. Clearly they were struggling! Good news though, we didn't lose much of the green tea. As we said last night, probably only an eighth of it we lost, which is about $5. Groceries here are outrageously expensive.
Then on our way to dinner, we were waiting and waiting for a bus. Since it was Emancipation Day, the buses weren't near as easy to come by. We finally got picked up by a driver who immediately turned around in the median and started going the opposite direction of where we told him we wanted to go. He then picked up another man and continued driving in the opposite direction at blazing fast speeds. So once we get to downtown Freeport - about 5 minutes in the wrong direction - he stops and tells us to get off because he has to take the other man a long distance. So then we had to sit and wait AGAIN in a not-so-nice part of town until another bus would come by to pick us up. So a trip that should be a two minute bus ride turned into a 45 minute ordeal.
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| Inside one of the buses. He runs a clean bus! |
We FINALLY got to dinner to get our American food fix at Pizza Hut with the Womacks, and we finally got to meet the Greys! So excited that Ashley and Rachel are here, too! We had such a great time at dinner as conversation came easy, and we shared so many laughs. By the way, this Pizza Hut was far fancier than any of the Pizza Huts we have at home.
Most exciting part of today? I got HOT water in the kitchen sink! And by hot, I mean just a pinch warmer than warm. This is awfully exciting. So I went ahead and washed ALL of our dishes to take advantage of the extra 'hot' water. Oh the little things you become grateful for.
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