Day Two. Hungover.

It seems all of the pent up frustration and stress I gradually accrued over the last few weeks decided to burst forth from behind my eyes at around 9am on Day Two. Or perhaps it was the after-effects of the beers.

Sunday our fearless orientation leaders, Matt and Kelly, took us to IGA grocery store. My eyes were immediately drawn to the bright neon orange bottles at the front of the store that were labeled Tide, however I simply could not understand how that could possibly be considering hanging in front of the little tiny bottles was a price sticker marked $39.99!!! I just stood amazed, thinking this is going to be a very difficult 2 years. Then as I walked along I slowly came to the realization (remember the reason for the fogginess...) that the prices were in Eastern Caribbean (EC) dollars. Whew! With the exchange rate somewhere around $2.70EC for every $1US, the Tide was more like $14.80. Which is still maddingly high, but with a little creativity and a lot of generic products I can manage.

After the grocery run, we were all so very exhausted so we jetted off to Shipwreck Beach for a little fun in the sun! This beach bar, while it looks like not much, serves some fantastic hot dogs and cheeseburgers. As well as a mean cup of Island Punch.

Shipwreck Bar & Grill on Shipwreck Beach.

This picture just screams Jaws 2! (or was it three?)

Postcard Perfect. My orientation leader Kelly volunteered to lay out so the picture would look more genuine.

After hours baking to a nice golden lobster color, we raced home to clean up and headed out to the Marriott for dinner and gambling. Dinner was nice, and surprisingly economical. I had the quesadillas, mmmmm. I was very excited for gambling, as I have never stepped foot into a casino (with the exception of that horrible Hard Rock in Tampa). It was fairly disappointing. Lots of slots, some roulette and blackjack, and a few poker tables. The boys immediately went to work trying to get free drinks, while we girls logically spent $5US on a drink at the bar. It was very amusing to see them scoff at our banality, and then proceed to spend upwards of $20US playing the slots just to get a server to come over to them. And when they were finally successful, the drinks were 1/2 the size and quite weak. Girls Rule, Boys Drool.

I won $0.10 at the $1 slots! Gambling sucks.

Ps - Five seconds after this photo was taken, the manager of the casino rounded the corner at full speed and very nicely informed us of the no photos policy. I think they started walking over before she even got the camera out of her bag. I think they heard us thinking picture in our little brains. It's a conspiracy.