Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween, everyone!  

I will be heading out to Red Hook for Halloween festivities tonight.  I will bring my camera to see if I can snatch some photos of the events and finally have something to post.  

In the meantime, I can't stand the lack of pictures on the blog, so here's one from my full moon trip last May.  This is from White Bay on Jost van Dyke.

I could live like this

There are always new things to find and love about the islands.  Yesterday I discovered the joy of sunset at Secret Harbour.  I want to take a moment to give props to Blue Moon and Secret Harbour.  Blue Moon - an American cafe - is a bar and restaurant at Secret Harbour, which is a beach resort.  Secret Harbour beach is known to be a great place for transplants to go because it's not a tourist spot and doesn't get overly-crowded.  It has nice amenities (chairs, umbrellas), great food, good snorkeling, etc.  

Secret Harbour has a website with pictures far better than I can post - www.secretharbourvi.com.  You can select "dining" to find out more about Blue Moon and see a version of the menu, which changes a bit.  It seems everyone has their favorite Blue Moon dish and swears by it.  The "bar and patio" is on the way to the "restaurant" so I must confess that I've never actually made it to the restaurant.  I've seen it from the bar, though, and it does look nice.  But back to my story...

Blue Moon is hands-down my favorite lunch on island - a wedge salad that is out of this world.  This thing gives salads a good name.  Check it out --

"The Wedge - Iceberg lettuce, brown sugar smoked bacon, roma tomatoes, creamy Gorgonzola bleu cheese dressing, and drizzled with balsamic vinegar"

I went yesterday for a late lunch.  Slater (very sweet bartender & another reason to go to Blue Moon) asked what I wanted - after coming around the bar to give me a hug of course.  "I want a coke and a wedge salad."  He responded, "I already got the wedge, I just wasn't sure what you were drinking today."  So much for me being a woman of mystery.  And by the way, the salad was delicious.

Blue Moon is filled with regulars, which is the kind of environment I really enjoy.  After finishing my wedge yesterday, a new acquaintance showed up and we chatted for a bit.  Then the sun was setting so we headed to the beach to recline in the beach chairs and watch the sun go down over the water.  My friends, is there anything more perfect than this?  It was about 78 degrees, there was a good breeze, my belly was full of wedge salad, the sound of the waves gently hitting the shore filled my ears, and my eyes were fixed on the blue sky and fluffy white clouds while the sun treated me to a show as it dimmed itself and tucked behind the clouds and eventually down below the horizon.  I found myself saying, as I often do here, "I could really live like this."  And what a joy to find that I in fact do live like this.

I continued to lay on the beach chair for a bit to watch the boats bob gently with the surf and the few swimmers enjoy the water at night.  I eventually waded in myself, for I couldn't let a good bikini go to waste.  The warm, calm water was relaxing.  It is a different experience to be in the ocean at night versus day; I recommend it.  A couple new acquaintances swam over for some friendly conversation before heading to Blue Moon for drinks, at which point I figured I better get back to "reality" and made my way to Duffy's...

General update

Hi!  I'm noticing that it's been almost a couple weeks since my last post.  I can't blame it on being busy really.  I had a rather light week last week which was good because Steph came to visit me, yeah!  I love having visitors.  One of the many reasons is that it's fun to see my islands afresh through their eyes and it helps me to really appreciate what a great opportunity it is to be here.  The only bad part is when my visitors leave, and that is especially true with Steph.  Miss you.

The talk about town now is generally focused on Halloween.  It's a big holiday here.  Any holiday that can possibly involve a party and adult beverages is a big holiday here.  There are costume contests at several places.  Duffy's theme is red, white, and blue for the election.  

I have finally bought an island car!  Yeah!  Greg described it as red, runs well, and holds 5 drunks comfortably.  All true!  I like to notice islandisms, or "only in the islands" situations and decided to start pointing them out on the blog.  In this case, it's that only in the islands does "cleaning out the car" mean removing the empty beer bottles and "to go" shot glasses your friends have left behind...

I also love to notice the language differences here and have pointed out a few in the  past.  One recent phrase that I enjoyed hearing was, "It ain't nothin to hurt your head over, Jenkins."  Which can be translated as, "it's nothing to worry about."

Well, I better get to sleep.  It is a busy work week for me.  I will post again soon.  I haven't snapped the first photo since I've been back (except with my phone), so will have to resurrect an old one to at least post something pretty and keep you all interested.  Hope you all are well...

Goodbye Omar

This trip to St. Thomas is proving to be more adventurous than I had anticipated.  I have now also been through my first hurricane.  Thankfully Hurricane Omar veered off to the east instead of taking its projected path straight to St Thomas.  

As I mentioned, I was working at the hospital last night and it was a unique experience.  The hospital was a great place to be.  Mainly because there was free food.  All night!  I'm up for anything free, especially food.  I mean, we all know what a big eater I am!  It seems the hospital was acting as a command center of sorts so the cafeteria was providing food to its staff as well as local police, fire, marshals, etc.  I enjoy the image of the hospital as acting as a community center in this way.

One of the things I love about being here is my hospital moms.  The locals are regarded as rude, and certainly they can be, but I think much of that is misinterpretation.  Most of my interactions with locals occur at the hospital and I have been blessed to be so warmly received by the ladies that I work with.  This is a tight community and the women strike me as motherly.  That doesn't mean that they make you cookies and ask about your day.  It means that they take care of you as best they can, correct you when they think you are wrong, and advise you on how to keep out of trouble - without any sugar-coating.  So I guess the local practice of calling women "mommy" is quite fitting.  Anyway, on the night of the hurricane, one of the CNA's, Ms Collins, took me under her wing.  She declared that she would take care of me during my first hurricane and she was true to her word, making sure, among other things, that I had plenty of food and drink overnight.  So everyone at home can rest assured that I was in good hands.

I also want to give a shout-out to Todd, who called Wednesday to check on me and offer for me to come wait out the storm at their house in Red Hook.  It's comforting to have such great friends here in St Thomas.

Thank you all back home for checking on me.  It means so much to know that I am thought of even though I am far away.  Your calls, emails, and texts are much appreciated and help me to not feel quite so alone.

I will be in touch again soon, but just wanted to get a message posted to let everyone know I am okay.  Gotta run for now, there's a bushwhacker at Duffy's with my name on it!

Tropical Storm

It rained a lot yesterday and the day before, which perturbed me greatly.  I came to the island for sun.  Sun!!  I can get rained on back home, for crying out loud.  But, I soothed my irritation by reminding myself that I will be working anyway so what does it matter?  Plus, the water is good for the cistern.  I'll take a long shower in the subsequent overabundance.

But then, the clinical care coordinator came to me this morning and matter-of-factly stated that she needed me to fill out the hurricane form.  

Excuse me?  

Yes, would you like to wait out the storm at the hospital?  

I'm sorry, what?

Apparently we are to be getting weather.  I really do need to start watching the news.  They've closed the schools today.  I am told that my landlord should board up the windows and move outside items inside.  And I should be sure that I have plenty of bottled water.  The people on the radio were all to quick to point out that hurricane season isn't over yet.  Thanks...  

I asked my usual charge nurse, Julie, if she will be working.  She will.  I asked her to keep me safe and reminded her that I came here for sunny weather.  She seems to think that I will live.

As a point of interest, I, as a nurse at the (government-run) hospital, am considered an essential employee and must stay on-island.  Or at least this is what they told me in orientation.  (I have been known to tend toward the gullible side...)  Now the situation isn't that panicky at the moment, but I wanted to point that tidbit out in case anyone was wondering how that works.  It's not like on the mainland where you can try to get people to move inland.  I guess it's not practical to vacate the entire island every time the wind blows.

Please think calm, unwindy, dry thoughts for me and I'll keep you updated.

-your island insider, Traveling Nurse Trish aka Tropical Storm Trish

Earthquake!!

Well, people, I have another adventure to add to my list.  My first real earthquake.  Yes, we do get earthquakes in the islands, though they aren't that common.  I was at the hospital when it happened and it was substantial enough for me to seek cover in a doorframe.  

It definitely took one of the nurses by surprise as she stuck her head out of the med room to holler, "Who runnin' down de hall?!"  No, that's not someone running, that's an earthquake!  

The earthquake was reportedly 17 miles below the ocean centered around Little Harbour at Jost van Dyke.  It measured 6.1.  

My patients felt it, but all took it in stride.

I wondered about Pearl, laying in her crate at home, wondering why it was moving all of a sudden...  She never has liked unstable ground, so I'm guessing she was particularly perturbed and especially so if it roused her out of sleep.

But, no fear.  No damage done, just another story to tell...

Back on Island!

Hello everyone!  I am back on island, as they say in the Caribbean.  Thanks to all for writing, calling, texting, etc to check on us.  Pearl and I arrived safely on Tuesday and have been settling in.  

Our new place is great.  I'm not in a resort this time, but rather in a quiet neighborhood on "the North side."  The North side is sometimes noted to be like living in a jungle and it is very lush and green and full of bird-like creatures.  I even have a rooster, though thankfully he doesn't seem to be stationed here full-time.  

I did finally get out for a bit of fun last night and enjoyed seeing some of my familiar faces and meeting several new folks as well.  Gotta live it up now because come Monday it is back to work for this girl.  

Well, I just wanted to put up a quick note to update you on my arrival.   I also want to thank the many of you who have contacted me offline in response to my last blog.  I wish you all well and will be in touch soon...