St Croix journey

Have been in St Croix for two days and am finding it very different from the Pacific culture. Everything seems very 'western'. Driving around the vegetation and building seem similar to Samoa except then I find out that the best place to buy fruit is the grocery store and no open market. No one uses the bus system but you can get most places for 2.50. The 'cruzians' have their own accent and dialect that will take some getting used to. I'm impressed with the base, the staff are few but there seems to be great teamwork. I found out that the Ironman triathalon is being held here in a week, around the same time our people are coming in for a district conference. Here is a quick overview of my actual trip here (no one warned me of a nine passenger plane being a part of the package!).
My friend Greg dropped me off at OHare early in the morning and was glad to find out my bags should go straight through to St Croix. First flight was very short to Atlanta. There was a little girl with her mom sitting behind me and I overhead they were also making the connecting flight to Puerto Rice. I thought 'how fun' only to realize twenty minutes later that the young girl was a sing at the top of your lungs kinda gal. Fortunatly they were in the front of the next plane. I sat down on my four hour flight to Puerto Rice, next to an elderly lady who was a native of P Rico. I asked if she had been on holiday and she said her husband had passed. I had not even fastened my seatbelt when she started talking about how we all die but its important to know where we are going. She was Catholic and we had a good conversation on the afterlife. God wasn't even going to give me a few minutes to settle in before an opportunity to share His love was in my face ! Bought the cheese and fruit tray (for 6 bucks!) because my meals were all off. Finally decided to use the bathroom (dont usual partake in the 'plane bathroom' experience) and just my luck, the seatbelt sign comes on when its my turn. Turbulance and potties don't mix. I just had to laugh. The ride over the ocean was beautiful. The plane was low enough to see the different shades and islands along the way. I wouldn't even be able to say the water was blue because it's closer to green (maybe a teal, no not even, so hard to put into words). I checked into my next flight right away after arriving in Puerto Rice and was glad because they had me on an earlier flight. They made sure my bags would be on this one, called my base director, grabbed a snack and had a few minutes before they loaded. I talked to two men. The second was a supervisor for the department of homeland security in St Croix so he had a lot of information to give me and was able to answer most of my questions. There is crime here and occasionally we can even hear gun shots (we are tucked away down the street from a major shopping area). He suggested snorkeling and diving and 'must dos' while I am here and also encouraged me to visit St Johns. He (not so politely) laughed at my shock at seeing the plane. I felt like a true missionary, risking life and limb to get to my remote island. Ha! Apparently the small plane route is common. When the lady (who turned out to be from here) plugged her ears I knew I would be in for a ride. It was plenty noisy and quite bumpy but again the view was spectacular. My island has mountains on it and a few beaches. They seem rockier than Samoa (although Ive only been to one). The downtown area has a 'historical' feel to it and can't wait to spend more time there. Some of the Ywamers were there to meet me so I said goodbye to my now close friends from the plane ride and headed 'home'. The base is a former plantation (the city is actually doing a historical tour here on Sunday) and has a pool and a basketball court (the local boys come almost every day for bball). I live in a trailer. It is small :) But i feel blessed with running water, hot water, electricity, a kitchen area AND a living room area. Who could ask for more? Right now I am sharing the space with three other short term missions workers (ladies) but I have my own room (hmmm about the size of a large closet). No worries because all I own fits into two bags so there was room for everything. Ill try to upload some pictures. Last night we went to the pier in Frederiksted and saw a couple sea turtles . The water is so incredibly clear. There were some guys fishing and they didn't have poles, only big spools of string. We could hear jazz music coming off the ocean front. Another place to come back to. Today, Saturday we tried to sleep in (I keep waking up at 630 , maybe its cause of the rooster we have on base!) It started to rain so ran around closing windows so we wouldn't soak our 'trash trailer'. Ha its all said in love. We left for the beach around 1030 and headed back towards Frederiksted (we live close to Christiansted downtown). It takes about twenty minutes or so. The beach was nice, clear water again, very few people. I walked down the beach quite aways until a 'preserve' and the beach was even better there (are some rocks for the first thirty feet). It did rain but God blessed us and the rain staid near the pier and missed us. Our taxi driver named Guadalupe came back for us at three (not usual for taxi drivers) and we all just paid 2.50. I didn't get burned (although I did have sport block sunscreen on....smart). Came back and took a shower to get the salt and sand off. Tomorrow will go to church with the rest of the group. Am getting to know some of the staff Ill be working with, a couple of them will be my staff for Equip (leadership) and then will be my fellow staff when i start working with DTS. Ill be working in the kitchen and housekeeping in a week for the conference time and my days with be PACKED. With little staff we often will have to multitask and there is a lot to be done. Enough for now ! Im liking being back in the warm weather (I have a fan in my room for sanity purposes cause no air conditioning). Miss friends and family back home!