The Unexpected Results of Showers and Supermarkets

So, moving to the Caribbean in the midst of hurricane season, probably not the best idea.   For the past 4 days it has barely stopped raining.   No, not raining – pouring!  Part of the main road was washed out and there were some minor landslides and flooding.  A pretty mild storm according to the locals, but tap water turned brown and power was down for large periods of time.  Luckily where I am living there is a large generator.  Unluckily it was positioned directly outside my bedroom window.  So sleep hasn’t come too easily these past few nights.  I did however discover a sure fire way to wake up in the morning: electric shock. 

 I was standing in the shower yesterday morning, ironically contemplating this strange British-influenced concept of electrically-heated showers,  when: ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!  Yup – zapped!  Hard.  The worst part was that my entire body spasmed from the shock and aggravated my bad back.   Other than being shook up (literally!) and the back issue, I was okay.  The current must have entered and/or exited my index finger as that did feel a little strange for the next few hours.  I kept on looking down at it expecting to see a burn mark or a glowing fingertip.  (Was kind of hoping for the glowing fingertip so I could go around saying it my best alien voice: “E.T  goooo hooome”).  An electrician came by to check it out, but everything seemed to be in order.  Guess I must just have an electric personality!  (you have my permission to groan at that one).

Given the weather, I haven’t been up to much.  I was putting off grocery shopping but when I got down to a single can of beans in the cupboard and a jar of mayo in the fridge, I braved the weather and headed out.  So far I had only been going to the grocery stores in town, which were crowded and smelled like rotting.  I was tipped off on a bigger, nicer grocery store between my work and home and so decided to try it out.  And what an important discovery it was!  First of all, it carried Canadian Club!  At $20 for 1 litre – happy days!  Second,  it was frequented by young people!  Turns out it is the closest supermarket to Ross University – the medical and veterinary school attended by masses of Canadians and Americans.  As I was picking out tomatoes, I also picked out some friendly targets. 

I approached two girls seemingly close to my age and asked where the hell all of them were hiding!  The answer was what I expected – the strip of bars out at the beach.  Unfortunate as this is not easily accessible for me, especially after sundown.   We chatted for a bit.  They were empathetic to my not having a car (they did and couldn’t imagine life here without it) and being on my own and so gave me their numbers in case I “needed anything”  Uh, yeah!! I need friends!   I now feel like a young girl with a crush: should I call them? Maybe I should just text them?  Should I wait a few days?  Will they think I am too desperate? Or clingy?  Maybe they were just being polite giving me their numbers...  I don’t want to become “that Strange Supermaket Girl”.   So, like every young girl with an unrequited crush I went home and ate a tub of ice cream.