Three days left and counting…… I feel bad complaining about the job so much because the people who work here are very nice. It’s not them it’s just the boredom that is killing me. I have next Monday off, and then I start at Royal Bank of Canada on Tuesday. Wednesday is a Paid holiday (Ash Wednesday) and Thursday I am driving Travis to the airport in the afternoon. So, it should be a pretty easy week.

They also celebrate Ash Wednesday with a festival on the north end of the island. They run boats from this end over there so people don’t have to drive. It’s only 45 minutes but that is VERY far when you live in a place that is only 100 square miles.
I am sure we will head over there with a few friends. They call it a Marti Gras celebration. We tried to explain to them that Marti Gras is celebrated on Fat Tuesday, not Ash Wednesday but they don’t seem to care.

Last weekend was a holiday weekend. Monday was National Heroes Day here. So we had a very busy, but very relaxing three day weekend. On Friday Travis got to go to a golf outing with his company. He said the course was really nice, but it was an executive course so most of the wholes were par 3. He was in a foursome and they managed to place last so they won a couple bottles of wine and some wine glasses. He had a good time regardless.

On Saturday we had some friends over for dinner. It was our first time attempting prime rib. It turned out great. Travis invited two Cuban guys who work for him. They are probably around 50 years old and do not speak very much English. So I had a chance to brush up on my Spanish. It was very interesting talking to them about their lives. They both left their families in Cuba to come work here. They have been here for about 3 years and will be going back for the first time in July. They send every penny they make back home. They were very happy to have prime rib, potatoes, and salad because they usually eat rice for every meal. It sure is a wake-up call when you spend an evening with people who live with so little. We also enjoyed having Tony, JoAnne, and Amelia over. Amelia is a 3 year old princess who has me wrapped around her little finger. I spent most of the evening out in the yard following her around looking for crabs and lizards. It sure makes me miss Trent!

On Sunday we went to a BBQ at a friend’s house. He lives at Treasure Island Resort, so we had access to the pools and beach. It was a lot of fun. We tried to go snorkeling on Monday, but it was very windy. So we went and saw, “No Country for Old Men” at the new movie theatre in Camana Bay (the project Travis is building). Neither of us thought the movie was that great, but the movie theatre was gorgeous. You get to put your own “butter” on your popcorn. We were quite impressed.

Travis is itchin’ to get back to Wisconsin to see Trent. Trent has a school play that he is going to video tape so I can see it too. I wanted to go back with him, but I am just starting to work so I can’t get the time off right away. I can’t wait until he comes to visit in March. We are took him to all the tourist places during his last visit, so I am looking forward to relaxing on the beach this time. We might do a few things like go to the Pirate Caves or back to the Turtle Farm since Jean and Jerry will be here too.

Travis also got online last night to check the temperatures out in Wisconsin. A small part of me is glad I’m not going back! 14 degrees below zero with 60 mile and hour winds? Is that really true? Was school cancelled today? We had to wear light jackets last night because there was a cool breeze from the ocean. Get you plane tickets now before we are all booked up! :)

Visitors!!

We just got news that my parents are coming for two weeks in February! We are very excited. I don't think I blogged about it before, but we are also very excited to have Trent and Travis's parents come for 11 days in March. Travis is also going to Janesville to see Trent for a couple days on February 7th. So it will be perfect timing with my parents coming on February 13th. He will get back on the 12th and not have time to mess up the house before they arrive! Plus I will have 5 days to clean while he is gone. I wish I could make it back with him but I decided to save my vacation and sick days for when Trent is here. Besides I think he needs a taste of his own medicine. I have already decided to remind him how warm it is here every time he calls. (Weather was the main topic of our conversation when I was freezing in Wisconsin during the whole month of December.)

Work is still going the same. Although I am sure I have managed to royally mess up their filing system. I am glad I am only here for a couple more weeks. I don't think anyone will notice how bad it is until after I am gone! It isn't difficult by any means, but no one has taught me anything about the documents I am filing. So having to sort them when you don't know what they are, doesn't lead to a positive outcome.

Today I found a project on my own. They have all of their postal stamps in a 3 ring notebook. You know the extra edge that comes around a sheet of stamps? Well I took an hour to take out each page and tear the edge off so no one has to do it in the future. I even sent a package through Fed Ex to Jamaica in the middle of my project. That's multi-tasking if you ask me! I am soooooo glad I went to college.

Other than our exciting news about visitors, we haven't been up to much. Travis has been working a ton and listening to me complain about doing nothing all day. I need to stop whining and remember that I am making money while I blog to my family and friends and do crossword puzzles online! It could be worse.

I finally started working on Monday. If I only knew what I was getting myself into! For those of you who don't know, I am starting out doing temp work. They placed me at an investment company as an administrative assistant. Supposedly if you don't have experience in the "finance world", then the best way to get a good job on the island is to go through a temp agency. If you can get your foot in the door, they will hire you on permanent for pretty good $$$. Now don't get me wrong the company they placed me with is very nice, but admin. work??? Do you all know that I can type about 4 words a minute? But typing isn't what's killing me. I have to file.

Finance companies keep every single piece of paper they receive. For example, I filed a Christmas card yesterday. The government makes them keep them to prove they aren't laundering money. Because inside that Christmas card could have been a secret code with a secret account. Give me a break! When a file is full, which happens 15 times a day, I make a new file and archive the old. By archive I mean I build a box and label it with a bar code, put the file in the box, record what box # that that file is in into the computer, and call someone to come pick it up when the box is filled. Then they take it to a storage place until the 3 years are up. Then they shred it. We have to pay a ton for storage and only 6 people work here! Our stack of mail is 2 foot tall everyday.

The work environment here is also very different from the States. On Tuesday, I went to the staff and told them they needed to give me more work or I was going to jump out our 4th floor window. I did this because on Monday I answered 7 phone calls all day (that is it for 8 hours). So one of my coworkers asked me to start a new filing project. I started working on it on Tuesday afternoon and was done with it on Wednesday around 2pm. I was sitting staring at the wall around 4pm and she asked me where all the paper went. I explained that I had completed the project. You should have seen her face. I thought I was going to have to call 911 (or whatever the # is here). She said she was hoping I could work on that project for the next 3 weeks! In general people here move extremely slow. If you move fast they are not impressed, because you make them look bad. So I really need to slow down. I am a little afraid that if I slow down too much, no one will hire me when we return to the States.

So, I am taking a break from labeling file folders to update you all with that exciting news about my new job. Really blogging was just an excuse for a break so I don't get too much work done today. On the bright side, I will start with a new company on February 5th. I will be working with two other temps on a project that does not involve filing or answering the phone! Whoopee! In the meantime, I should have plenty of time to update the blog so stop back soon!

Finally Back

Well we finally made it back to the island! My previous blog was mostly a lie. I was trying to surprise my parents for Christmas so I told them we had to fly out on Christmas. It didn't work. Like Travis warned me, my sisters and I have too big of mouths to have kept it a secret. We had a blast anyway. I flew to Denver on the 18th of December and spent my birthday in downtown Denver with my sisters, my cousin Lacey, and some of their friends. It was such a blast. I haven't had a girls night out in a long time, neither had most of them. We had dinner at a very good Mexican restaurant and then went bar hopping. It was a late and very fun night. I'll leave it at that.

I drove with Sarah, Katie, and the nephews to Rapid City on the 22nd to see our parents. Travis, Trent, and Bradley then drove out on Sunday night through a terrible snow storm to meet us. I hadn't seen Travis in 28 days, so my family didn't get much time with him. I pretty much hogged his attention the entire time we were there. Sorry fam! Trent came to my parents house dressed as an elf and didn't take the elf outfit off for a couple days. He was really in the spirit this year. I will post a photo as soon as I get my camera cord in the mail (I left it in Denver).

On the 25th we all went to the lodge in Ft. Pierre. That actually was a surprise for most of them. It was so great to see my Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, etc... And I do mean etc...!!! I don't know how many kids were running around but the Stoeser clan sure seems to be multiplying!

On the 26th, Travis, Trent, Bradley and I all drove to Albert Lee to drop Bradley off at his car. We decided to stay overnight at a hotel and have a little family night. It was pretty tame, but we had a good time swimming and relaxing. We finally made it back to Janesville on the 27th. We relaxed the next couple of days with Travis's family. When I say relaxed, I mean it. We made meals at home and watched TV. It was really nice after all the traveling we had just done.

We went to the Green Bay Packers game on Sunday the 30th with Travis's sister Kristin and her boyfriend David. It was cold, but fun. Too cold for doing high kicks in snow pants on a ramp, Dave! I have some great photos to post from that day as well.

We flew out on New Years morning at 6am. I was the genius who booked those tickets. What a great deal, they were half price. Well, that was for a reason. No buses run at that time of night and we didn't get a lot of volunteers to drive us at 2am on New Years morning, so we rented a car and drove ourselves. We had to drop the car off at a hotel near O'Hare (this is where everything started going downhill fast). Someone had pulled the fire alarm at the hotel. So the parking lot was packed with police and firemen. Therefore the shuttle couldn't get to us. We waited for about 45 minutes instead of 5. We got to O'Hare and actually got on the plane on time. But then we sat there for an hour and a half before it took off. They said they had to de-ice, but we sat by a window and didn't see a thing. We landed in Atlanta so late that we had to run from Terminal A to Terminal E in about 9 minutes. We made the flight, but our luggage did not. Did I mention that the keys to our place were in the suitcase?

But we made it and our luggage eventually did too. We won't be booking cheap flights at strange hours of the night anymore.

We are going to watch the packers at a new tiki bar on Saturday after Travis gets off work. Then hopefully go snorkeling on Sunday if the weather permits. We went out a little last weekend, but not much because Travis worked Sat and Sun.

We are also trying to find a new apartment but aren't having a lot of luck. We want a place that has a pool for Trent and our other visitors, but hey are very pricey. We will probably just stay put until we can find something we like that is affordable.

I will post more often after I get my camera cord back and get settled in with my job. Hopefully I will start on Monday. Take care!

Thanks again to Kristin, David, and Emma for loaning me your spare bedroom for most of December. I really appreciated having a comfortable place to stay.

Also, Sarah's fiance's (Sam) Dad passed away last week. My thoughts are with you Sam.