Oh, Monday!

Today, March 16, was the first day of my new work life!

I thought I would be more nervous, honestly. Turns out, I wasn’t fretting about it as much as I thought I would be. I woke up early at 0600, prayed, read my Bible and devotional (as is my daily ritual), and then instead of lolly-gagging around or preparing food (of which I had none), I decided that I would go on a walk. As I pondered where to go, I realized that the Post Office opened the lobby at 0700 so people can access their PO Boxes. I decided that was a great place to start, seeing as I knew I had mail and probably a package or two waiting. I looked up the distance and it was 1.2 km which is about ¾ miles and a 15-minute walk. I set out on my journey, walking down the neighborhood. It is early morning and still cool outside, so I was wearing my tie-dye long-sleeve shirt my friend Sarah made me a couple years ago. As I was walking, I saw something in the road.

It was a dog that looks like a fox and it was the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.

It was laying there with its’ back legs sprawled out behind it, dead center in the road watching for cars. As I approached, it didn’t scram and it didn’t growl. It just kind of looked at me with wonder and I couldn’t help but smile. I don’t approach the dog, so I just turn and keep walking. The scenery here is beautiful. In the quiet of the morning, it seems very surreal. I pass ruins of sugar mills, run down churches, and overgrown yards. I like quiet walk. As I get towards the end of the road, I look to my left and see a garden. My neighbor told me that it’s a community garden and multiple people manage it like a rotating roster. That is SO COOL. You almost couldn’t see it behind the trees lining the road, but if you stop for a second and just look, you can see all the lines of dirt and the small plants growing out of it. I decided to take a mental note to return there when someone is working it. I continue on my journey.

The sun is rising even higher and this made for an excellent photo. I had to stop just before the post office to get the shot of the buildings being lit and the palm trees giving spotty coverage to the sun. This morning was shaping up real nicely. I get to the Post Office, go inside to my PO Box and found a couple pieces of mail and an orange plastic piece that either said “package” or “parcel”. I knew in the coming days I will have a lot more of those plastic notes because I shipped whatever I couldn’t fit into my bags by way of flat rate shipping (Seriously, this was a life saver!). After I did that, I left to head back to my house. It’s such a nice walk. This time I was going along the main road, and even though it was busier, I still enjoyed walking by the school and seeing the mural along the front. I took in all of my surroundings as this is my new home. It’s quite charming, if I do say so myself. I got back to my place with half an hour to spare and I just took my time getting ready since I am literally a 2-minute drive to work. I’ll walk to work tomorrow since I have to return the rental car tonight. My car is supposed to arrive at 1800 (6 PM) so I will have to go get it tomorrow (exciting!!).

I get to my office (it took everything in my power not to selfie it up right out front) and I wait until my coworker arrives to let me in. We go in and he leads me to my office. We exchange our morning pleasantries, he explains some other stuff, and then I turn my attention to my office before my boss comes in. I take in my office.

That space is an utter disaster.

They had been using it as storage for a bunch of extra things since they haven’t had a biologist in there for a couple years. The picture I am posting here shows everything except the two metal shelves behind the door that is just chock full of random items. I already knew I was going to have to clean this, and now there I was looking for the best way to attack the beast.

Those who know me know that I am REALLY good at cleaning and organizing.

It’s almost a meditative thing, but I also think that it’s part of my OCD. My boss comes in and she lets me know what to expect for the day, which is basically a “clean your office so that you can get to work” kind of deal. She gives me that, “sorryyyyyy” look because she knows how bad it is, but I just smile and say, “Don’t worry, I got this.”

I spent the next 3.5 hours deep cleaning, organizing, and re-arranging that office.

Once I start on a project like that, just know that you will not be able to stop me. My strength and my weakness is my tunnel vision on things like this. You can tell me to do something else, but my attention will continue to be drawn back to the disarray until it has been arrayed (haha). The relief I felt after cleaning that room was AWESOME. I felt SO good. Everyone looked in and they were amazed, and they loved that I rearranged the furniture too. It’s not completely finished, but it is finished to the point of me being able to at least focus on work. That’s all I needed.

We went to lunch and the rest of the day was me catching up on things and getting familiar with my surroundings. It was also the time for us to be updated on COVID-19 and our precautions and how we are to handle the situation. Basically, we disinfected literally everything and will continue to do so every day. We may even have to have different days in the office. But I’m not really worried about it, that will all work out one way or the other. But make no mistake, we have COVID-19 on the island. We have at least 1 confirmed. Will the island become a mad house like how it is in the states? I have no idea. It’s a waiting game!

After my successful first day at work, I got home from getting some groceries and I asked my neighbor’s son if he would be willing to pick me up at the airport because I had to return my car. He agreed (everyone is so freaking nice!) and as we are at the stop light to turn right for the airport, I realized that I forgot to REFILL THE GAS TANK. So, what do I do? Put my arm out the window to signal him and then get into the lane that goes straight and we head to the gas station.

Let me tell y’all about the gas stations here. They do not take payment at the pump. I have yet to come across one that does. You have to go inside every time and you have to basically guestimate how much gas you’ll need. I already feel like I’m wasting his time, so I quickly run over to him and apologize (he says no biggie) and I rush to go in, pay, and then pump the gas. THANKFULLY I guessed correctly with how much gas to put in! I mean, technically I didn’t really guess… I just had a $10 bill and hoped that would be enough, and it was! I mean, as we are driving I’m constantly praying that the gas stays at the “F” on the gauge, but I mean it was basically $10 to get it to full. We got to the airport, I dropped off my car with the Avis guys who were already there moving cars and then we headed back to my house! It was simple and easy and I was thankful to have such awesome neighbors.

I spent the rest of the evening hunkered down, but I did talk to my other neighbor Matt for a little bit before I decided I was too tired to hold a conversation anymore. By this time, it was about 2045 (8:45 PM) and I thought it would be a good idea to make important decisions. I knew that I needed internet so I could at least post on the blog when I write, but I also knew I wasn’t about to pay $50/month for 6mbps. No way. So, I figured, “why not just pay the extra $10 on my cell phone plan to get 10 Gigs of personal hotspot?” That was definitely a good idea. The bad idea, was trying to change your plan when you don’t have wifi near you.

Y’ALL. MY SERVICE WAS CUT OFF WHEN I UPGRADED MY PLAN.

That’s when I started to freak out a little bit. “What if someone calls and it says not in service and people think I’m dead?!” “What if an important text comes and I don’t get it?!” “What if my friends can’t see my location anymore and they frantically call and it’s disconnected!?”

Obviously, my anxiety came out. I go to Matt’s apartment, knock on the door but soon realize that dude is probably passed out. I see his new neighbor going up the stairs and asked if she had wifi which she replied with “no, we just moved in.” WHAT DO I DO?!?!?!?!?!?

I throw on my light blue crocs and I walk my frumpy, tired butt to my office to use their wifi. At 2130 aka dark outside and no cars on the road. When I got there, I just sat outside the building and typed in the password. Jokes on me, though, the password was written by someone who didn’t really write the differences in capitalized or lowercase letters. Took me 5 tries, but I got it!

Yup. That happened. Good news, nothing else happened and I got a glimpse of my neighborhood at night. After getting over the nervous jitters (remember, I’m afraid of the dark), I got my phone fixed and I walked back with comfort, knowing that if anything happened, I could once again place a call. That ease allowed me to really appreciate my street at night. I noticed things I didn’t really see in the daylight. It ended up being a really nice end to my evening, and I even won a fitbit challenge against the boyfriend!

I guess the moral of that last story is that things may seem hard to do at first (like leaving at night for wifi) but once you get over that initial hump of fear, you can get the task done and maybe even end up with a quality experience.

At least, that’s how I’m choosing to look at it. And with that, I bid you adieu!

-Curby