I Made It!
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Hello, everyone! I finally made it! Actually, I got here about 4 days ago. I won't even go into my Internet woes, but believe you me, they are many. Just know that from creation to post, it will probably take me a few days to get every installment up.My first day was a whirlwind of IT, HR, BQ (Bachelor Quarters) arrangements, and other such two-letter acronyms. I've also been learning a multitude of three-letter acronyms, which I've been told is popular with the military folk. They are:
PDR (Pacific Dining Room - as in "I'll meet you at the PDR at noon.")
ARC (Adult Rec Center - as in "The ARC closes at midnight.")
PCS (Permanent Change of Station - as in "I'm PCS-ing next week, so I need to sell my stuff soon."
ARC (Adult Rec Center - as in "The ARC closes at midnight.")
PCS (Permanent Change of Station - as in "I'm PCS-ing next week, so I need to sell my stuff soon."
There are more, but I'm drawing a blank, much like the stares I give when these are spoken to me. It's quite the alphabet soup vernacular over here.
I am having a hell of a time getting my bearings. I'm directionally challenged anyway, so this has proven to be my biggest obstacle. Luckily this island is small, so if I'm ever lost, it's only temporary. There are two sides of this island - the lagoon side and the ocean side (it's all "ocean side" to me!). Pacific Dr. runs along the lagoon, the Ocean Rd. runs along the ocean, and Lagoon Rd. runs right down the middle. Confusing! Instead of looking to the ocean (or lagoon) for my reference points, I'm instead looking toward something with which I'm familiar: water towers. There are two main ones here - a rusty one, and a less rusty one. In between the two are all the major shops and the cafeteria (or PDR). If you were to pass me on the road, you wouldn't see me looking down to avoid coconuts or out across the ocean (or lagoon). I'm always looking up!
Despite constantly being lost and cursing at my computer, I'm having an amazing time here. It's so comfortably warm, everything is so much more relaxed, and just today I had a woman about my age introduce herself out of the blue and invite me to a dinner at her house with her girlfriends! Everyone's been incredibly nice and helpful; I really couldn't have asked for a better welcome.
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Hi Laura, I came across your Blog from my "Google Alerts - Kwajalein" emails. I grew up on Kwaj and so did many of my Facebook friends. It is so neat to read about what its like for someone new to the island! And brings back so many memories. I hope you don't mind but I'm going to post your blog on my FB page, I know many my friends will get a kick out of reading about life on Kwaj today thru the eyes of someone new. Enjoy Paradise!
Hi, Jeanine! If you think your friends will enjoy my blog, by all means, share it! And feel free to leave more comments! I always like to see what my friends have to say.
Oooh LC maybe you can start a volleyball team there!
Glad to hear you made it!! Has your stuff arrived yet - all 450 lbs of it?
Can't wait to read each installment of your adventure, Lady. I'm vicariously strolling island streets and tripping over coconuts... :)
Um... that was Heidi, btw.