Oh St Maarten, we have waited so long to meet you! Though, no amount of expectation or planning would prepare us for this!
As the plane began to ascend, the waters below were glittering in the sunlight and the excitement in the plane was on the rise. No one could wait to begin their adventure, whether it was a vacation, coming home or beginning medical school. As we gathered our carry on luggage and began to walk down the stairs onto the asphalt, the swass (that is sweaty ass, thank you Allie) began...instantly.
Going through customs was not an issue, they simply asked how long we were staying and for what purpose. Not once was the paperwork for Hope and Jasmine requested, but who cares, we were all here!
The girls and the luggage were taken to the curb (picture an island in the middle of a two way street - with absolutely no shade), where they went potty and waited for me to get the rental car, SUV actually, as there was so much stuff...didn't we just have a garage sale and get rid of everything? Why do we still have so much stuff? We decided that every time something was brought into the house, something of equal or greater size has to be removed from the house...we are still working on that. I digress.
Getting the rental car was our first true experience of "Island time", which is like "CP" time, but on a much larger scale. A shuttle picked myself and two other couples up from the airport, and transported us to Budget car rental...that took about 30 minutes though it is only 3 minutes away...I could have walked there faster! The shuttle arrived at Budget and I was the last to be helped. Mind you, everything took a lot longer because they don't use computers. Everything is hand written. Very strange. Anyway, I got the paperwork and walked outside to get the car...45 minutes later I was driving back to the airport. What should have taken 20 to 30 minutes ended up taking about 2 hours, with Joe, Jasmine and Hope baking in the St Maarten sun. I felt really bad. Joe thought something had happened because apparently a cop (the few that they have here) and an ambulance drove by when I was gone. The relief on his face was apparent.
Joe loaded the car like a boss, he made everything fit. Hope was on my lap in her crate and Jasmine was in the backseat in her crate. No amount of air conditioning was cooling them and I was getting nervous. It didn't help that I took us the wrong direction for about 15 minutes...so much for that innate sense of direction that I thought I had! Once we passed the second pharmacy and casino (which were the landmarks I was told to watch for because there are no street signs), we turned around.
Finally on the right track we found the pharmacy, turned right and made our way down Amazone Rd. Terry, the guard, informed us that he didn't have the keys to the condo because we were expected hours ago. Slight panic started to set in. Exhausted, smelly, two dogs...what now! But, he went to the office and was able to locate the key...Thank the Lord!
I let the girls out of their crates and was so excited to see our beautiful new home. Joe unpacked the luggage while the girls and I went up to to the house...The door opened to a complete disaster! The floors were disgusting, it reeked like gross boy, all of the dishes had a greasy film, the bedding and towels were dirty, there were nasty stains on the couch, chair and mattress pad, and the bottom of the tubs were covered in black grime. We were completely horrified.
Moving somewhere is so much different than vacationing or visiting. When you get to your destination there is no food in the refrigerator, no cleaning supplies, no complimentary soap, no toilet paper, no wifi, no telephone, no consierge to assist...nothing. We had to leave our scared girls in this new, scary place to get essentials and feed; anytime wifi was needed, we had to walk to the lobby and use the office phone, if necessary. Thank goodness we came so early.
That night we found some clean bedding to sleep on and opted out of using pillows. We woke up the next morning and immediately started to work. I cleaned the kitchen first, as it seemed the least overwhelming, then the chairs, tables, doors and walls that were all covered with fingerprints and dirt. But, the bathrooms were the absolute pits...The tubs were so awful, the bleach was working reeeaaaallll hard! While I did that, Joe cleaned ALL the greasy dishes. I swept, mopped, lit some candles and it began to feel like home. We also did a million loads of laundry so we had some towels and bedding to use until our tubs of stuff were delivered.
Overall, we felt successful. What else could go wrong, right?
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