a dismal swamp

So my Mom doesn't believe me, but I live in a swamp.  I remember googling this town before I took the job and being like, "Yes...right on the coast."  Well, what I've learned is not all water is ocean water.  What I thought was coastal Carolina has turned out to be a river/dirty harbor.  You might think I'm kidding when I say it's a swamp but no joke, there's a park up the road called Dismal Swamp State Park.  There are bugs EVERYWHERE and I've woken up with more mosquito bites in one night than I have gotten all summer.  We have frogs around our apartment building and the grill on my new car is full of dead bugs.  One day I was running a little group in our gym at work and this gigantic spider rolls up.  Of course, I shriek, get up and yell for the nearest guy to come over and kill it.  Unfortunately, the nearest guy was my patient who also happens to be blind as a bat and practically deaf.  He doesn't even know what I'm talking about it and is staring at this spider thats a foot away from him being like, "what's going on??".  Ugh.  I could do without the bugs.

But this town has some positives.  Wednesday nights are very happening.  Every Wednesday you can rent a movie at Blockbuster for 99 cents, buy one get one free pizza at Uncle Tony's, get a free pint glass at Coaster's Pub, and go to a cooking class.  Who knew Wednesday's could be so exciting?!  Needless to say, the weekdays are pretty quiet around here.  The most exciting thing I do is go grocery shopping.  And that's exciting because I feel like I'm practically getting the groceries for free compared to what I paid in Boston. 

We checked out Virginia Beach this weekend.  I would say it's....trashy but fun.  Neptune Festival was going on which is a big local festival with a boardwalk 30 blocks long full of tents selling a lot of random stuff.  There was a carnival and tons of food stands.  Kind of like a supersized Gaspee Day fair.  We were welcomed to the festival with some live music and a woman dancing in an American flag bikini, tube socks and sneakers with a whole lot of junk hanging out.  I'm sure you can find her on youtube because there were about ten people recording her since everyone else was wearing t-shirts and jeans with their families.  For her sake, I hope she was on something because she was dancing like a mad woman and the live music wasn't even happening yet.  It was just a CD or something.  She was joined by a dude wearing a leopard print cowboy hat trimmed with pink fur.  Like two peas in a pod.

We thought we'd spend the weekend there but hotels turned out to be 3x more expensive than we thought so we made our way back to E City.  We went to see The Town on Sunday - just a qucik 50 minute drive to the movies.  But, this movie was worth it.  The references to Brighton, the Irish, the Zackem bridge, and a quick glimpse of the Harp made me really miss Boston.  Oh the days when I could walk out my door and hit Dunkin' Donuts, Starbucks, a movie theatre, and 50+ bars/restaurants all within a ten minute walk....I digress.  If you can't tell by this entry I miss the city life!  I hope you all are enjoying it and appreciating it's many little perks.  I, on the other hand, will look forward to the soy bean, cotton, and tobacco fields outside my front door.  Wooo!!

southern hospitality?

I didn't eat at this place but it was tempting.  I'm starting to think this southern hospitality thing is a myth.  I actually saw a bumper sticker that said "Welcome to the south.  Now go home."  Ouch.

Well, it's been a couple of weeks now and I've definitely had some interesting experiences.  Where to start.  Work is going well.  I'm the only OT for 150ish beds so that keeps me pretty busy.  It took me a couple days to learn the ropes but things are going better.  I have met some real characters in my patients.  I love asking them what they do.  They're grocery store owners, antique auctioneers, goat farmers, wheat farmers, corn farmers - lots of farmers!  I don't think I've ever met a farmer and now I have like ten at work.  Definitely a rural community.  And they love to yell at me.  Here are some quotes I've gotten so far: 

"You better not drop me girl!" says the 80lb toothless man.  "Are you gonna kill me?!" he later asks.  

"You're from Rhode Island?! What are you doing down here?"  my response: "I have no idea."

"Rhode Island?  I've got a cousin in Rhode Island. He lives in Providence.  You heard of that?  Rhode Island, Providence.  Is that what's it's called?"

My response: "It's Providence, Rhode Island."  can't believe I live is a place where they don't even know how to say Providence, RI correctly.  Sheesh.

But anyways, we ventured into the town this week.  Found out where all the "Coasties" hang out.  We're grateful for them - some normalcy in those conversations.  We tried going back to that bar a couple days later and let me tell you - this place changed from day to night.  No longer were there young attractive military men packing the place.  Instead we had a handful of long, nappy haired men watching Star Trek clips on their phones.  I'm like, what happened??  Jen, you're gonna have to make some calls.  Keep that bar stocked for us.  Needless to say, I don't think we'll be spending too much time going out around here.

Luckily, there are some amazing places that aren't too far.  Saturday we went to the outer banks for some beach time.  Here's a pic for you:

Pictures can't even do this beach justice.  It goes on for miles. We parked ourselves in Kill Devil Hills which was beautiful.  Hurricane Igor (sp?) kept it pretty interesting as well.  The waves were huge and constant.  There was a no swimming advisory but I'm like, whatever I'm gonna go swimming anyways.  Such a silly girl I am.  I walked in no higher than my knees and I felt like I could have gotten swept out to sea at any second.  I've never felt an undertow so strong.  It actually knocked me over a couple of times.  So I fall, as graceful as I am, and I'm like, ok I gotta get out of here.  So I walk out and I'm like, why are my bathing suit bottoms so saggy?  I reach back there and my bottoms are full of sand!  So I screech and run back in the water but a wave knocks me over again!  And again and again which turned into an awful cycle of me trying to get sand out of my bottoms and the waves just filling them up again and again. Felt like a toddler with a loaded diaper. Not cute.

We spent today at Busch Gardens.  It was soooo much fun.  It wasn't crowded at all and we went on all the rides at least 3 times each.  Stupidly I wore my favorite earrings (you know the ones - the shells) on the roller coaster and lost one!  Tear.  That's what I get for wearing big earrings on a roller coaster.  Hopefully it did't take anyone's eye out behind me. I had to say goodbye to the other one.  But let me get off my earring tangent.  The park is divided into different European countries which was fun.  We spent most of the day in Germany.  It was vunderbar!! (that's wonderful for you non-german speaking folks).  Here's a pic of me in Ireland:

What can I say.  Irish flags bring out the leprechaun in me.

All in all it was a great weekend.  Can't wait to see what the next one brings.  I'll send out my pics in a web album.  Much love!!

not in boston anymore

Hello loved ones!!!  As strongly recommended by my favorite new cousin and mama, Krishna, I've decided to do a blog to keep you update on my new adventures traveling around the country.  This will just be a short one since I haven't done a whole lot yet.  I've made it down south though!  After 10 hours of driving, I landed in Chesapeake, VA.  It's close to Virginia Beach but somehow I haven't made it to the beach yet.  Hopefully this weekend I'll be there.  It was funny because on my drive down I saw the sun setting and I tried to rush and get to the beach to see it but then I realized I had no idea how to get to the beach or what it's even called.  It felt a little like vaca at Breakwater Village - rushing to see the sunset.  But then it got dark out and I was like, maybe I should go home now...

I checked out the town where I'll be working today - Elizabeth City, NC.  It's a small town but luckily Kylie got a job in the same area so we'll be living together in a really nice apartment complex.  The town might not have a whole lot to offer but we're within an hour of Virginia Beach, the outer banks, and Bush Gardens (that's right!).

So I'll start the job tomorrow.  I'll keep you posted on how things go.  Here are just a few realizations, however, on how I know I'm not in Boston anymore:

1. On my drive to Starbucks, I had to stop short for a toothless old man riding a bike wearing white leather gloves in 90 degree weather

2. The drive to work is no longer a 10 minute commute on a crowded train but a 40 minute cruise controlled drive looking at nothing but corn fields

3. Instead of "share the road with bikers" signs there are "watch out for bears" signs - yikes!

4. At the grocery store I saw at least 3 men wearing camo hats - your kind of town Erik!

5. Along with my grocery receipt, they give you scratch tickets - is that normal??

I think it will be an interesting few months.  Hopefully a lot of new adventure to come.  I miss you all more than you know!  Stay tuned...