Tropical Storm Isaac

Living in Buffalo I had snow days, cold days and living in Ithaca I learned that school could close for flooding.  Here, in Dominica, I learned school closes for hurricanes/tropical storms.  I was supposed to spend Wednesday doing all of my random errands around campus (going to the bank, going to the IT department and seeing people I met during my last visit).  Needless to say Tropical Storm Isaac put a damper in my plans.  After getting an email saying the school was closed for the day and a text message from Lime (one of the two phone providers down here) that advised everyone to stay inside for the day,  the three of us spent the day in my apartment.

We got cabin fever around 1pm and decided we would venture to the James store which is located just down the street.   We made it there safe and sound and discovered the store is a crazy mix of Walmart, the Dollar Store, and a store from China town.  One of my favorite things from the store was the only notebook they had.....a notebook whose cover consisted of Obama's face hovering over the White House.  I am really glad I shipped all my school supplies down in my barrel (anyone who knows me knows how persnickety I am about my school supplies/highlighters, etc).

After the James store, we ventured into the IGA which is right across the street from me.  When we got there, the entire building was locked and there was a big crowd standing outside pushing to get inside.  I followed three local people who decided to sneak in the exit of the store.  This worked out well and I was able to buy some hurricane "essentials"--more water, some Rum mixers, and a chocolate bar.  While waiting for me outside, Amelia and Carter started talking to people.  The main take-away from their conversation was that we "HAD" to fill the tub up with water because the island's water might be shut off due to the storm.  So we had a bathtub filled with water for the next two days because we weren't sure if/when the water would be shut off.

The funniest part of this entire storm was that we never, ever got good weather.  The entire day was gorgeous! No major rain and only small clouds in the sky.  I was kind of bummed because I wanted a really good thunderstorm.  O well.  At least the next time I will know what I need to do to survive a Dominica tropical storm/hurricane. The main thing I will remember is that the weather stations are always a day off...the weather hits the island generally a day ahead of schedule (I swear the storms might be the only thing that runs on time on the island though).

Eventually I will post a picture of our filled washtub along with some pictures of my apartment.  Still getting things settled.