I know it's been a while since I last posted, but that's cause I wasn't in Barbados yet. Now that I am officially here and set up in my apartment, I will be posting more frequently.
So where to begin? I guess I'll start with my flight into Barbados. All went well until I had to clear through Immigration. I had written down that I would be staying in Barbados for 120 days, since I won't be leaving until Christmas break. U.S. Citizens can only stay in Barbados without a visa for 30 days, so the immigration officer asked to see proof that I had been accepted to the University of the West Indies. Luckily, early that morning before I left the NYC apartment my Dad had asked me if I wanted to take a letter from UWI with me. This saved my ass and got me into the country. Thanks Dad!
The following two days were spent by my mother and me moving me into my apartment. There were lots of things to be cleaned and purchased in order to make the place liveable, although the landlady did provide a really nice level of basic equipment and furnishings. That said, two trips to the grocery store cost me a total of $400 U.S.!!! Everything is just so outrageously expensive here. A can of Chunky soup that normally costs $2 or so in the States costs $5 here. A normal sized container of laundry detergent: $30. A single roll of Bounty paper towls: $4. Luckily for many of these items (notably paper goods) there are generic versions available that cost a lot less. Still, I was able to spend $400 even when buying generic whenever possible. Thank god Fulbright gave me a generous stipend. It is going to be expensive to live here.
Today my mother left for the airport at 11am (nicely dropping me off on her way) and I continued setting up my place. I eventually ventured into Bridgetown to buy a pre-paid cellphone. I was riding one of the usual yellow "Rasta" buses - so called for their tendency to play rasta rap music really loudly - that seem to never have working speedometers. It can be concluded that the owners spend their maintenance money on killer sound systems rather than autoparts.
Not surprisingly, doing the most mundane of things can reveal a lot about a different culture. On the bus I quickly realized I had no idea where I was going (where would I get off, how would I get to the cellphone store, etc) so I asked the woman next to me some questions. She was very friendly and in fact guided me directly to the Digicell store. Her only request was that I call her once I got my new cellphone. Aparantly Barbadian women have a thing for helpless white Americans...
Once inside the store it took absolutely forever to get someone's attention. The concept of customer service in Barbados seems to be wildly different from that in the States. Customers are expected to sit quiet in the midst of complete disorganization while they wait for a sales representative to be ready for them. That said, once you have the representative's attention, they are extremely nice. Coming from NYC I know I am going to have to adjust to the slower pace of life here. I'm willing to bet it won't be that hard.
Another interesting thing that happened to me today was when I was telling one of the workers at the hotel my mother and I were staying at that I was going to be studying in UWI, he immediately asked me if I ultimately planned to use my newly gained knowledge in the Caribbean or take it home with me. This is a fair question and one that Americans are always asking about immigrant students at U.S. universities. At this moment I plan to do both: helping the Caribbean but from a home in the United States. However, who knows how my year and a half in Barbados will change my outlook. It is conceivable that I could end up wanting to stay in the Caribbean.
That's it for now. There are plenty of more things for me to say but right now I am trying to see if Operation "Can The AC Unit In My Bedroom Cool The Entire Apartment" will be successful while juggling a couple loads of unbalanced laundry.
I will post again tomorrow, so stay tuned!
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