27 March 2006

Taxes at Work.


Another week down. Actually, it was a fast week. We only had two classes per day, which is something of a dream around here. Unfortunately, that dream ended this morning about as abruptly as the construction next to my room began. In all fairness, it has been going on since we've arrived, but I feel as though they definitely begin earlier and earlier in the morning. I can't complain specifically if it means they will finish on time (actually, they are building a new dormitory in which I hope to live next semester, but it had an original completion date of August 2004. I think Hurricane Ivan had something to say about that.).

But, that does not mean I enjoy hearing the banging and sawing and shouting and whatnot at the exact time of the sunrise each day, which is coincidentally around 6:30 each day. The good news, of course, is that the countdowns have officially begun. I now have only 49 days remaining on the island until I get to leave and enter civilization again. OK, I'm being unfair again. They have a distinct civilization here, just not one to which I was prepared.

Let me elaborate. At our on campus restaurant, Glover's, which is complete with a full bar, among other things (I can't help harping all over that all the time), they very often will let you order and then say, "We're out." To which one often replies, "Oh," and goes back to the menu. After another few minutes, after trying to order again and hearing, "We're out of that," one begins to wonder what they actually have available. Unfortunately, no one who works there is going to volunteer that information so you have to keep ordering until you get it right, or so I used to think.

One of my friends walks up, orders, pays and then meanders off to find the rest of us and relax for a few minutes on a Friday afternoon. After ordering, you just wait until the food appears behind the bar and then you have to judge if it's yours or not, and then go ask and maybe get told, "A few more minutes." So, after fifteen minutes of waiting for his pizza, he heads back up and wonders how much longer?

The lovely woman at the register says (I'm not making this up), "We're out of small pizzas, you can only order large." My friend says, "No you're not. Use a smaller piece of dough."
- Register responds, "I said we were out."
- "And I already ordered and paid. I'll be back in ten minutes."

Lo and behold, it worked. He went back up in ten minutes and his pizza was waiting. I cannot specifically verify the cleanliness of said pizza, but it was a lesson learned for all, i.e., one can get things done around here; it just requires the proper motivation. Of course, try acting like Miss Register in the States and there would be some consequences; in Grenada, this is the norm.

Anyway, in addition to the little tiff with the Glover's staff, there was a little party called Sandblast a week ago. It was a way to blow off some steam from all of the exams that most terms had just finished. It was held on the same beach as the first party, and was in much the same manner. Except this time it was during the day and there was sponsored water activities like wake-boarding, banana boat riding, food, volleyball tournaments, etc. One of the highlights: the professors always line-up for a water-balloon toss from the students, so that was pretty funny to watch.

Another highlight, of which there is a picture above, was a small rainstorm we received in the middle of the day. This is extremely common here, i.e., a downpour for fifteen minutes, and then back to perfect weather (it supposedly doesn't happen in the dry season, read: January through July), but we are proving them wrong on all accounts.

Regardless, it began to rain, so the huge speakers needed to be covered. If one looks closely at the pictures, the phrase "USAID" can be seen, which is what the U.S. writes on anything they send to the 3rd world to help them recover from anything, and which the local medical school is using to cover its speakers during huge parties. A classic irony of which all Americans should be proud . . . and it works for us!

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

USAIDITWRITE

hey bud! sounds like things are going well for you, and the gotee is growing on me (and obviously on you too). no, really, you are starting to look like a real doctor, kinda scary. you are still so young...

Mike

9:36 PM  

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