One of the most interesting things about living in new places is learning all the things that are different than what you are used to. In the Bahamas, I’ve found that I’m learning a lot about plants and animals that I’ve never seen before. Like the heron that lives in our pool (at least when Laika’s not around to chase him away). And the avocado tree in our backyard. The seasons — as much as we have them — are interesting to me, too. All the plants don’t bloom at the same time, like I’m used to with a traditional 4-season climate. Here, I’ll notice one tree blooming, and another will be dying at the same time. For example, currently the dilly tree in our neighbors’ backyard is busy dropping ripe fruit over the fence into our yard, the mango trees in the neighborhood have half-ripe mangoes, the avocado tree is just starting to bloom, and there’s a tree in our front yard (I have yet to discover what it is) that just dropped all of its leaves in the past week. There’s always something new happening and last week I noticed this:
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Shawn’s been in Washington since last Sunday for training. I was supposed to pick him up at the airport yesterday, but then this happened. So he can’t get a flight back to Nassau until Monday morning. It’s been a long week without him. I’ve tried to keep busy, but seeing as I’m kind of a homebody anyway, it takes a lot of effort to go out.
Last weekend was possibly the busiest since we arrived in Nassau, but it was definitely the most fun. On Saturday I went with a group of friends to Jollification, an annual craft and Christmas fair. I wasn’t sure what to expect going in, but there was some really nice stuff. I’m not sure where these artists and craftspeople are hiding out most of this time. And it seemed like a good potential venue for Witty Designs if I can get my act together and get some designing and sewing done before next year.
Nassau is a weird post in the Foreign Service world as far as housing goes. Housing at most posts comes complete with the standard issue Foreign Service furniture. It’s kind of weird to see pictures from people’s homes around the world and think, “Hey – I have that exact same living room set.” However, in Nassau, all housing is landlord-furnished. As you could guess, this can either be really good, or really bad.
I’m disappointed (or kind of grossed-out, really) to learn that winter is the time of year that all the rats on the island come out to play. There seem to be a lot of them. And they are large – I saw one this morning that was 8-ish inches long, plus tail. You would think that all of the roaming potcakes would keep the rat population under control, but not so.
I survived my first solo trip to the grocery store this morning! Besides the fact that I hate grocery shopping in general (regardless of what country I’m in), this is a big deal because it meant that I drove somewhere by myself for the first time since moving here.
As we get settled, it seems like not much of any excitement is going on. We did go to our first movie in The Bahamas today, which was rather exciting. The fact that they show first-run American movies (in English) at all is more than we’re used to. And to top that off, the prices aren’t even bad – $6 per ticket, and I think we only spent $10-ish at the concession stand. So even though things are “boring,” here are some pictures I took of downtown Nassau last week:
We’re slowly getting settled. Of course, it’s much faster than the last overseas move (our final shipment of goods is arriving today, 19 days after our arrival, rather than the 3 months it took in Kyiv), but there’s still adjusting to do. We’ve spent the last two weekends exploring shopping options – there are at least 4 major options for grocery stores, all carrying a different assortment of items. And there’s been a lot of driving on the weekends, mostly for practice. I’ve finally gotten past the point where I think we’re going to die at least once per trip because omg, we’re on the wrong side of the road! Driving on the left side still just looks so wrong to me.
I’m working on getting settled in to our new home in Nassau. First of all, our house is amazing! Way better than anywhere we’ve lived before. And much bigger in person that in the pictures we’d seen – a nice surprise. We’re currently struggling with some gas/hot water issues in the house, which is a little annoying, but at least we’re in a climate where lukewarm showers are doable. We have a big yard for Laika to run around in (for about 10 minutes at a time, then the humidity gets to her and she has to retreat to the air conditioning and her water dish), and with said humidity combined with the heat, our pool is a blessing. So far in the yard we’ve discovered a mango tree and a cherry tree. But what I’m most excited about is the fact that our neighbor’s avocado tree hangs quite a way over the fence into our yard, so I’m claiming anything that lands on our side…that’s fair, right?
We’ve been in Nassau almost a week now, but are still lacking internet at home. It’s amazing how complicated the process of getting set up is, no matter the country. It’s even more amazing just how important having internet access feels when you are denied it. I’m in at Shawn’s office today for our official orientation. I really thought that this move would be easier than the last, but the level of disorientation is just as high. At least I can talk to people here, even if I feel like I can’t understand their response half the time. Getting used to the island accent is going to take a while.