Awful August

Three days!!!! Three more days and I am finished the worst summer ever. Never have I been so glad to wave goodbye to a summer. It is slightly ironic that I live in one of the best places in the world, yet I just suffered through the worst two months of my career. I only have seventeen mosquito bites, one jagged scar from a boy who body surfed a wave right into me, a sore shoulder from my coworker launching a steel chair into my back and one extremely greasy face from a summer of sunscreen. I have survived! This feeling is akin to the high I get at the end of my races. By Friday night I plan on being so deep into an unconscious oblivion that will erase all memories since the beginning of July- and I mean sleep induced oblivion, because that is exactly what I plan on doing for the entire weekend... maybe more. Now if the summer has been difficult, then August has been the hardest. Aside from my torturous days, I have apparently lost my sanity as I signed up for the annual Stroke & Stride. This is a series of three duathlon races. The first was a swim of 400m followed by a 2 mile run. The second was 600M swim and a 2 mile run. The final race in the series is tomorrow night, and is an 800m swim followed by a 2 mile run. I am not sure I will make it to the end! Due to my complete lack of energy at the end of the days, I decided not to bother with training, I mean, if I could run a half marathon 2 years ago, then I must still have some of that fitness left...right???? Haha, the first race saw me nearly collapse at the finish line. I felt like I had thrown everything I had into it, so I was absolutely shocked when I found out it had only taken my 28 minutes. It felt like a century. The second race went much better, but the after effects were way worse. For more than an hour my head pounded and my eyes teared up at the pain. So as you can see, I am much excited for tomorrow to be over and done with, and no, I have not started to train for it...
August has also sucked due to the weather. The heat here is unbearable sometimes. Even the iguanas and snakes seek refuge from the unrelenting sun. Initially I was surprised at how bearable the weather seemed, but that was in June. Now it is a whole different story. By 8:30 in the morning it is already 30 degrees. By 10:00 it is over 35 degrees in the shade. The weather network puts the "real feel" temperature between 42-46 degrees. The fan we have set up at camp blows the hot sticky air straight at us, and I find that my hair is nearly wet through by noon. I am able to sweat through at least two to three shirts in a day and even the chickens are too smart to come out in the heat. They hover in the crevices at the side of the yard clucking away. At some points it is too hot to even think, and I sink into the only comfy chair on the porch and feel as if I will wilt away. Our field trips require getting in to the hot van, which must simmer at a temperature in the 50 degree range all day long. Lucky that Speedo Lady had her windows glued up so we are at the mercy of the air conditioner, which always takes at least three minutes of blowing hot air until it can finally cool down. The only bonus to this heat exposure is that next time we're in Canada and Blake wants to play "hot car" I will certainly win!
So as you can see, the fact that there are only 6 days left in August has me smiling. I can't wait for September, which will bring with it a two week vacation in Canada, of all places! Thats right, we have chosen to vacation at home this fall so that I can return to normal temperatures and actually put on a T-shirt and jeans for the first time in 8 months... and of course the fact that it is my sister's wedding makes the trip even sweeter. Although August was a difficult month I hold out much hope for September, mainly because all of my teacher friends are back to work and now I get to relax!

Pictured above: Even the iguanas need to cool down, cycling in a sprint triathlon- which gave me the idea to sign up for Stroke & Stride

Customer Service

Customer service has reached an all time low in this country. There must be few places in the world you can go where the cashiers don't even acknowledge your presence, but blindly scan your items and then wait until you check the computer for the total. That kind of service is the norm here. When we first arrived I was astounded at the amount of people that take personal calls on their cell phones while at work. Once that shock wore off I was surprised at how many service providers would ignore their customers while they were on the phone The all time worst experience I had was when I went in to our cell phone company's office so I could figure out why my voicemail didn't work. I waited in line for about ten minutes while the guy behind the counter texted his friends. At first I had assumed he was actually working on someone's phone, but when I got to the counter and he asked me to "hold on" as he texted something on his own phone and then shoved it into his pocket, I became very aware of how the service industry has degenerated. As part of a health initiative with a local insurance company, I go out with a team of fitness + health professionals to many local banks, firms and hotels to do what we call a "health check." I weigh, measure and take Fat percentages and Body Mass Indexes of the workers. At one particular job last week there was a young nurse who sat beside me. Her job was to take blood pressure and cholesterol readings. She claimed she wasn't feeling well and would put her head down on the table. When a patient arrived she would slowly lift her head, grab a needle and poke them, not even explaining to them what was going on! Then while she waited for the results to scan through her computer she would put her head down on the table and text. I was mortified! Especially since she was supposed to be part of our professional team. In one particular case, a patient sat down next to her and she didn't even raise her head off the table. The patient coughed, to let her know he was there, and still nothing. Finally he said "hello???" and she raised her head, glared at him and grabbed a needle. If I had to guess I would say that she perhaps spoke to a tenth of the people she put through that day. Contrary to popular belief, it is not just the young ones that are so rude either. At the health check this week, there was a nurse in her forties with us (thankfully the nurse from the week previous didn't return) and I nearly laughed because at one point when I looked up, both she and her patient were chatting in to their cell phones while the blood sample was being processed. It looked like something one would poke fun of in a comedy sketch. This summer I am running a summer camp, and the other camp counselor spends the majority of her time on her cell phone as well. I will be returning from lunch or a bathroom break and find the kids spread over the entire property, climbing high in the trees, beating each other with Lego and practicing wrestling moves on the trampoline while my co-worker is huddled over in a corner, screaming into her cell phone to be heard above the chaos, recounting her latest failed attempt to seduce the newest bachelor in town. Ridiculous! I feel ashamed that parents think their children are in good hands, when a 43 year old single mother can't even take the time to supervise child's play!
In the rare cases when cell phones aren't the culprit, it is fellow employees and friends. Countless times I have had to wait for help while a worker is chatting about the weekend, her family or what is for supper with her colleagues. I have gotten so used to this behaviour that I actually have to step back and remind myself that I can't and don't want to conduct myself in this manner. Perhaps this rant on poor service is just an ethnocentric viewpoint. Perhaps Canadians just have a different level of service, and this is normal in other countries???

Anniversary surprise

This past weekend was Blake and I's first anniversary. I knew from the beginning that I had wanted to do something special, so I told Blake that I was going to take him out kayaking in the bioluminescence and a drive up the coast, and instead I booked us two tickets to Little Cayman- a relatively untouched sister island 90 miles west of Grand Cayman. He was shocked on Friday when I picked him up from work for kayaking and sprung the tickets on him. An hour later we arrived at the airport and boarded the smallest commercial plane I have ever been on. It was so small that we could see out the cockpit window and my butt was nearly halfway into the aisle (and I must admit, I do have a small one)! 30 minutes later we arrived in Little Cayman on a runway that is only 30 feet from the only road, and actually crosses the road to get to the "airport" which is a small building that also houses the fire station (1 fire truck) and the post office (all 60 mailboxes). We were picked up at the airport by our resort staff and ushered to a beautiful dive resort right on the beach. That evening we had an ocean front room and relaxed with some drinks by the pool. We later walked to the only grocery store on island and bought some ridiculously priced sodas and fruit. For dinner we walked the lonely road from our resort to the only independent restaurant on island for a delicious meal. Our walk back in the dark along the poorly lit and very rutted road will forever burn a hole in my memory as the scariest venture ever. The entire walk back I could hear the larger than normal land crabs crawling about in their ditches. Due to the lack of light I nearly stumbled over one of the behemoths, which sent me into a fit of hysterics. Blake had to grab my hand and we walked down the centre line the rest of the way while visions of alien crabs attacking us danced through my head.
The next morning we woke bright and early for a two tank dive trip to the world famous and much acclaimed Bloody Bay. Listed continuously as one of the top five dive destinations, this bay blew our mind! Never in the previous 10 dives have I ever seen coral and life like we did on this untouched and unspoiled reef. It was teeming with bright pink and purple sea fans, huge coral formations and tons of colourful fish, not to mention large turtles and small rays. There were exhilarating swim throughs and little cave like tunnels to swim into as well. On one of our dives a large Nassau Grouper (about the size of small dog) took a fancy to Blake and followed him around, trying to playfully nibble his hair and and pull at his board shorts. I was able to get close enough to pet this friendly fish and he loved it! He stayed with us for the remainder of the dive. Once back on the boat we heard that some reef sharks had been in the area too, but we hadn't spotted one. The remainder of our afternoon was spent on a gorgeous bike ride around the peaceful island that was once the first settlement in the Cayman Islands. There are now less than 150 people who live on the island, and the pace of life is the slowest I have ever seen, but the feeling of calm and serenity was heavenly. We returned from our ride sweaty and ready to jump in the pool. That evening we watched a thunder storm and sipped some wine on the beach, reminiscing about this time last year.
Sunday morning we took the old school bikes out for another spin and then packed up for the airport. Arriving only 15 minutes before our flight we were not even I.D'd when the attendant printed off our tickets. What a way of life! Now that we are back to the "bustling metropolis of Grand Cayman" we appreciate our special island all the much more. I would recommend a visit to Little Cayman for anyone who desperately needs a break from civilization, or anyone who loves to dive. We had the most amazing time! But it is also always nice to be back to our home! I can't believe that Blake and I have been married for a year, no doubt it has been the best year of my life and I can't imagine sharing this experience with anyone else!!!