So much has happened since my last blog! I hadn't realized how long it's been. At the end of the school year last term we were struggling down here so there wasn't really any time or energy left to write anything. To make a super long, aggravating story short, our landlord in our last apartment decided to turn off our electricity. We lived in an all inclusive type of a place, so we didn't have to pay our electricity bills. We paid our May's rent and then we had a "power outage." Nick had been doing laundry that day and our clothes were in the washer. I suggested we take the clothes out and line dry them, but he said he'd turn the washer back on when the power came back. The office assured us it would only be a couple hours. Well, low and behold, the power did not come back that day, or the next, or the next. The office just kept stringing us along, telling us they didn't know anything. We went to the electric company, who told us Mr. Griffith (our lovely landlord) was very aware of his outstanding bills but was refusing to pay, and until he did, we were out of luck. We had a generator that on a good day may have powered 3 rooms, but it was attempting to power 70. You can only imagine the amount of power each apartment received. As Nick put it, the ceiling fan was moving at "horror movie speed." We didn't have lights, our refrigerator didn't work, so we lot all of our food, our air conditioner certainly didn't work, and the fans were definitely not moving any air. This forced us to open our windows, but since we always had used A/C, we didn't have any screens. We were getting eaten alive by mosquitoes at night. Nick was laying in bed with dryer sheets covering him (that supposedly wards off mosquitoes, but the jury is still out on that one) and I was laying in bed spraying Off on myself. One night I actually slept for a few hours on the tile floor to try to suck in some of the coolness that may have been left. To top things off, since we lived at the top of the hill, our apartment required an electric pump to pump water to us, so without any power, we couldn't even take a shower, let alone get a drink of water. People in the complex started sleeping at school and trying to find hotels. The problem was, many of us had dogs and no one would take us because Grenadians are terrified of dogs. I finally found the owner's number (who conveniently is now living in Miami) and called him. He had no sympathy and told me that the electricity is expensive and he just wasn't going to pay it anymore. Seriously? This was all going on during finals week, so stress levels were high anyway. We woke up on Saturday morning and went and looked at two different apartments. We finally found a nice place where we moved to and currently live. We are still battling with our old place to give back our deposits and May's rent money. Supposedly the owner is selling the place and/or going bankrupt; no one can ever give us a straight answer. We will see if we ever get that money back.
We finally got to leave the island after another successful round of finals. Once we got home we hit the ground running. We only had a month until our wedding! Within 4 weeks, my wonderful friends threw me a beautiful bridal shower, we got our marriage license, chose our food, finalized the guest list, finished up center pieces, got toasting flutes, cake cutters, wedding jewelry, cake topper and my mom made my garters. Nick went house boating for his bachelor party with all of his buddies. For my bachelorette party, all of my girlfriends and I headed to San Diego for the weekend. We went to a murder mystery dinner and then we went the the gas lamp district. It was so much fun! Before we knew it we were at our rehearsal dinner and then our wedding was there! We had family fly in and stay at our house. It was really nice seeing everyone.
On our wedding day, everything was perfect. I think it went that way because I hadn't expected perfection; I just expected a fun day. But everything went the way it should have and it was beautiful. The staff on the boat couldn't have been friendlier and the weather was awesome. Nick and I said our vows while one of our good friends married us. He did a great job and all of our bridesmaids and groomsmen helped us have the best day.
The next morning we all went to brunch at Woody's Wharf and then Nick and I had to fly to Seattle for our honeymoon. The server at brunch was possibly the worst I've ever seen. He spilled an entire tray of bloody marys down my back and on Nick's side! He didn't really even say sorry, but brought me a t-shirt. I told them Nick needed one too and they finally got him one. The manager never came over to apologize, and they didn't give us anything discounted on our almost $1000 bill. I didn't want to throw a fit, but we definitely will never go back there after that. Nick and I flew to Seattle and stayed at the Double Tree for the night. We got upgraded to a suite and it was really nice! The next day we got on our cruise ship to Alaska! We fished in Ketchikan and I caught my first, second, third and fourth fish ever! They were good sized rock fish. Nick caught a couple rock fish and then he also caught two halibut. The guide took us to a campsite and they cleaned and cooked the fish for us right there. It was delicious and so much fun! We zip lined in Juneau and then went and looked at the Mendenhall glacier. It was really cool. I couldn't believe how blue the ice was. Then in Skagway we went horseback riding. It was really fun and so relaxing. We got a room with a balcony and it was definitely worth it for this Alaskan cruise. We went through Tracy's Arm Fjord and it was breathtaking! The best part was we just ordered room service and sat in our pajamas (and jackets!) on our balcony while we cruised through. We sat with a couple very nice couples as dinner and did some of the ship's activities. All in all, it was an amazing vacation and we definitely plan on going back to Alaska at some point.
Unfortunately after our wedding and honeymoon, we had to go back to reality. I worked all summer at Raging Waters and had a good time doing it. Nick worked for his best friend, Rob, doing shipping for his lighting company. Everything was pretty uneventful until July 3rd. Right before our wedding, we lost my sister's horse to an extreme case of colic. It was so sad and so sudden that we were all hit pretty hard. On July 3rd, my mom and sister were looking for a new horse. My sister got on one to try him out and he started to spook and crow hopped, causing her to fall off and break her sacrum! (That's the part of your back that joins your pelvis for those of you who are less medically inclined.) She was confined to bed rest and using a wheel chair. She finally is able to use her crutches to get around a little bit better, but she still can't put any weight on her right leg. She is going through physical therapy and hopefully will be able to walk soon.
On August 12th, Nick and I had to head back to the island. Our flight left at 6AM from LAX, so we left my house at 3AM to get there. As always, we were flying with our dog, Maverick. He did really well and everything on the trip was thankfully non-eventful. We got to Grenada at 8:30PM that night and believe it or not all of our bags showed up too! We got through security and finally got to our apartment around 10:30. Where we currently live, there isn't anything to eat walking distance. Thank goodness Nick caught the chef that works here and he made us a couple of hamburgers. The next day we called around to find a car and registered for classes. Since it was Carnival down here, the island was pretty much shut down and it was hard to find anything open. We finally got a car the next day. It is a 1996 Peugeot. It is the UGLIEST gray hatchback car in the whole world. It has a manual transmission and since we drive on the right side of the car down here it was a little interesting at first getting used to shifting. The clutch has to be pushed in at just the right place; if pushed in too little or too much, it grinds. You have to find the sweet spot. The lights only work if you turn on the brights, which is kind of common down here, anyway. There aren't any automatic locks or windows, but we're not exactly asking for luxury I suppose. We got gas in it the first day and it all came leaking out from under the car! We took it back to the guy and apparently there was a blockage it? I don't know very much about cars. He fixed it. I drove it without Nick and kept stalling when I was backing up and in first. Then it stalled when I was in third! I told him and he chided me about not knowing how to drive. My car at home is stick! I definitely know how to drive it. He got in it and figured out there is a choke. He told me, "Well you just have to pull the choke out a little bit more to give it more gas. It's like a lawn mower!!" I have never mowed a lawn in my life and had no idea what the function of a choke was, but now at least it doesn't stall all the time. We went out in the morning to drive it and one of the tires was completely flat. The owner came and filled the tire and then we had to take it to the tyre (that's how "tire" is spelled here) shop to get it fixed. The owner paid for it, but to fix the tire, the bill was only $10EC. That's like $3.75US. I don't think you could get someone at most tire places in the states to even look at your tire for that little. Luckily something down here is cheap!
We're all settled into our apartment and Nick is out fishing. I'm not sure how long it's going to be before he comes back because it's absolutely pouring outside. It is rainy season after all. Class starts tomorrow and from what I'm told this is going to be my hardest term yet! Time to buckle down and get things done.
