Living like a Crucian

Day 14.

" The mission of the United States Marine Corps is to go to exotic places, meet interesting and stimulating people, and kill them."

Really? I'm sorry to see that you've written this, and I'm containing my total disdain for what you've posted. Please pardon my potty mouth while I tell you to go FUCK OFF. I know this won't pass the potty-mouth rules, but you have stepped way over bounds. Shame on you! Marines keep us safe 24/7, you are out of order.

Edited to add quotes

 

the food is making me hungry

Day 14.

" The mission of the United States Marine Corps is to go to exotic places, meet interesting and stimulating people, and kill them."

Really? I'm sorry to see that you've written this, and I'm containing my total disdain for what you've posted. Please pardon my potty mouth while I tell you to go FUCK OFF. I know this won't pass the potty-mouth rules, but you have stepped way over bounds. Shame on you! Marines keep us safe 24/7, you are out of order.

Edited to add quotes

Woah... W O A H....

to those of us that are more "pop culture" literate, what he did there was a clever "call back" (a term from comedy) or movie reference (which in itself is a form of comedy) you see. that is not his original words.

a pretty commonly known and referenced movie also... Full Metal Jacket.

if you haven't seen it, you should at least for the cultural reference point.

Danish addresses not Dutch.

Danish addresses not Dutch.

Right, Danish addresses.

I am up past my bedtime reading this feed. THE most entertaining I have read in some time.....Keep it comin' wanderer!

Yeah. I'm breathlessly awaiting your next chapter...

Day 16.

My wife is visiting me on the island, and we had a productive day, exploring the most southwestern part of the island, and the most eastern part.

To get to the most beaches in Frederiksted, you just pull off the road, and you are on the beach. There is no "traditional" parking. The beach is the parking lot. That's how I got stuck in the sand the other day.

The famous Sandy Point beach near Frederiksted is different. It's open only on Sundays, and it takes good 10 minutes of driving on a narrow gravel road to get there. STXers take turtles very seriously. The entire beach is a turtles' refuge.

The graffiti on the Sandy Point beach, by my wife:

The best way to describe Sandy Point beach is this: "it's fu**ing beautiful":

And now the most eastern part. The graffiti by uncle Sam, marking his territory:

The graffiti by the local gangs, on top of the graffiti by uncle Sam, in the same location. I think this particular one says "bahn ya", which in the Crucian dialect means "born here". Bahn ya is a very special status on STX. It's a complicated topic, so I'll discuss it some other day.

We wrapped a long day in the "Lost Dog" pub in Frederiksted. The price of the thin crust pizza includes the right to leave a graffiti on the ceiling. Here is the one by yours truly:

Two more interior shots of the "Lost Dog" pub. I think the idea of the decor was to make it "intentionally over the top":

Day 16 (continued).

I had a dream last night. I am visiting some sort of exhibition, called "The Way of Christianity", or something like that. I pay for the ticket, and approach the entrance. A well-dressed, well-mannered guard stops me. "Are you a Christian?", he asks me in an even, plain tone of voice. I am puzzled, and don't know what to say. "How do you feel about the crusades and the inquisition?", he presses on. I am thinking about why he is asking me these questions. Then I remember something. About 15 years ago, I attended the "Sensation" exhibition in New York. I had to wait for 2 hours in line to get there. The exhibition was so controversial that Rudy Giuliani, who was the mayor back then, brought a law suite against the museum that hosted the exhibition. One of the art pieces on display was the image of black virgin Mary covered with elephant dung. The spot near that particular piece of art in the museum became the spot of infuriated protesters. The security there had to be beefed up to the level of Plaza Extra in Frederiksted. I understand now. The profiler at the "Way of Christianity" wants to see if I am fit to see the exposition, and if I might become vandalistic when exposed to the truth. End of dream.

Sigmund Freud is known for saying, “Dreams are often most profound when they seem the most crazy.” In his "Interpretation of Dreams", Freud argued that the unconscious communicates through the data of consciousness similarly to how the external world is communicated through the sensory organs.

I know what my "Way of Christianity" dream means. The place of the exhibition represents STX. The "way of Christianity" represents the life on the island in the way that Christ represents the island paradise (i.e. the heaven), and the crusades and the inquisition represent WAPA, hurricanes, the criminals, and the roosters. The security guard is my own subconscious, testing me to see if I am psychologically fit to make a permanent move to the island, and to live like a Crucian.

the crusades and the inquisition represent WAPA, hurricanes, the criminals, and the roosters.

🙂

As I opined before, Plaza Extra is just like any supermarket on the mainland. There is one thing that makes you stop and think, though. The floors are swept non-stop. It seems like Plaza Extra hires a dozen of people just to do a single thing full time: to sweep the floors. The sweepers use an apparatus which looks similar to the curling broom, and it's not unusual to see two sweepers close to each other. The effect is that the supermarket isle looks like a curling lane. Why are these people so diligent? As it turned out, the answer is: "Cockroaches!". The curling-like sweeping is meant to keep the floor pristine clean, free of any food particles. What looks like a curling match is a never ending battle with the roaches.

As a former attorney for Plaza I can assure you that the multitudes of floor sweepers have nothing to do with cockroaches but, rather, with Lee Rohn and fake slip-n-falls.

IT

It is good to see that they FINALLY re-installed the white letters identifying Point Udall...

Day 18.

I think I have been infected with the island fever.

"Island fever", also known as "rock fever", is a tropical disease caused by Hafnia Insula, a nasty bacteria that affects the central nervous system and the brain.

The symptoms include the following:

-- Extreme laziness: inability to do anything except limin'. STX provides outrageous incentives for the companies to establish business on the island: no federal or state taxes, and up to 90% reduction in the corporate tax rates. Despite of the incentives, the businesses do not come, because it would be very difficult to motivate the local employees to be competitive. On the island, by the local hiring standards, you are considered a good employee if you show up for work. My productivity dropped by about 85% here.

-- Anopheliphobia: the hatred of mosquitoes. These mo*kers have no respe'k for human life.

-- Intolerance for the "sameness": living in a tropical paradise can be compared to living with a constantly erected penis. It may seem like an exotic and appealing proposition at first, but after day 17, the excitement and the novelty of the sensation is gradually replaced by the feeling of dread. To get the full appreciation of the island, one must live off island. It's a matter of perspective and the contrast. In the world of constant bliss, the concept of the "bliss" becomes meaningless, because there is no misery for a side-by-side comparison.

-- Claustrophobia. It is a very small world in here, on the island. In a cafe by the Rainbow Beach, I was served by a waitress. Later on the same day, I met her again at Plaza Extra. The population of Frederiksted is 732. I think I know half the residents already. In Frederiksted, you can be one of two things: a waiter, or a gangster. There ain't nothing else for the locals. Both the waiters and the gangsters just love it when you say "Good Morning!" to them. After this little moment of pleasure, they dive back into their thoughts about how to get the hell out of the island so that they can become astronauts, writers, musicians, software engineers, and art teachers. The vast majority of the waiters and the gangsters would never get off the island. They are dirt poor, to the extend that can't save enough money for a one way ticket to Miami.

-- Lilapsophobia: the fear of hurricanes. I am not afraid of dying. In fact, I think it would be quite glorious to die in a hurricane, compared to dying of cancer in the hospital on the mainland. Instead, what troubles me is the prospect of living 6 months without electricity. No electricity means that you can't flush your own waste, can't cook, can't take showers, can't read, can't watch TV, can't browse the 'net, can't work, can't use A/C, can't store food. You can do limin', but that's pretty much it.

-- Scelerophobia: the fear that the good citizens of St Croix elect Adelbert Bryan as the chief of the Frederiksted Police Department, and that he would go after you and your property.

All in all, the "island fever" is a great equalizer. It's estimated that about 80% of the "transplants" from the continent get so sick with the island fever, that they go back to the states within one year after their relocation to STX. If not for this disease, STX would quickly become overpopulated and infested with the ills of the continental society. It would become the "Babylon", as they say in the local colorful lingo.

"No electricity means that you can't flush your own waste, can't cook, can't take showers, can't read, can't watch TV, can't browse the 'net, can't work, can't use A/C, can't store food. You can do limin', but that's pretty much it."

Having lived through 2 major hurricanes and numerous power outages I offer these suggestions:
1 - Pour a bucket of water directly into the toilet bowl
2 - use propane stove or gas BBQ or even charcoal grille
3 - fill solar shower bags, hang in the sun and attach to the shower head in the bathroom, probably add cold water as it gets very hot
4 - use daylight to read
5 - not easy but if necessary, use a generator and satellite receiver - or use taped programs
6 - same as 5
7 - quite a bit of work available rebuilding
8 - get a bigger generator if really a requisite
9 - use ice and shop more frequently
10 - finding cold beverages is a problem and a treat when available.
11 - the birth rate on the island is very high 9-12 mo. post hurricane

11 - the birth rate on the island is very high 9-12 mo. post hurricane

In Alaska the birth rate was very high 9-12 months post winter, every winter.....

I hate to say it and *jinx* myself, but we haven't lost power for more than a hour or so in a L O N G time..... new WAPA management?

Day 18 (continued).

There is an awful lot of barbed wire on the tropical island. I have not seen so much of barbed wire since the time when I guarded the maximum security prisons in Siberia, and that was 30 years ago.

Here is one of the condominium complexes in Frederiksted, affectionately known as the "prison condo":

You can't escape the view of the barbed wire even when you are inside the unit. Here is how it looks like:

The Frederiksted public library impressed me. It's fairly large for a town of less than 1000 residents, and occupies two floors of a historic building. It's cool, clean, and airy. It has a dozen of computers for public access.

There are two librarians inside, and no visitors. I am the only one. The two librarians appear to be chilling out, and somewhat disturbed by my presence. I pretend to be a local by saying "Good afternoon". They detect my Russian accent and remain cautious. I ask if they carry "Annals of the Big Island: St. Croix, US Virgin Islands" by Robert Hoffman (2008). One of the librarians says, "Never heard of this one". I ask if it would be possible to look it up in their library catalog. She obliges, with a spark of curiosity. The system returns no hits. "That's all right", I say, and pick up Dean Koontz' "Odd Thomas" instead. I think I've read and this one once, and liked it, so might as well enjoy it again. I am ready to check it out, expecting a long verification process on the "island time". I am in no hurry. I wait patiently by the check-out counter while the two librarians are outside. Finally, one of them comes inside, and the following conversation takes place:

Me: I'd like to check this book out.
Librarian: [silent]
Me: Do I need a membership here?
Librarian: No.
Me: Do you want to record my driver's license? [reaching to my wallet]
Librarian: No.
Me: Okay, how do I check out the book?
Librarian: You don't. It's paperback.
Me: So, I just take it and go home?
Librarian: Yes.
Me: How would you track me if I don't return the book?
Second Librarian: You don't have to return it.
Me: [making an upward motion with my eyebrows, signaling the surprise]
Second Librarian: You don't have to return it, but it would be nice if you do.

I leave the library, thinking about the wonders of living in a small town. There is no barbed wire inside or outside the library, and no one ever robs this place. When I relocate here, I'll become a librarian.

I leave the library and walk to the next block. The VI lottery signs are frequent and prominent:

When I was in the Dominican Republic, it was explained to me that playing the lottery is the favorite thing to do among the locals. The more poor you are, the more likely that you'd be a lottery buyer.

Frederiksted deteriorates quickly, as you explore just a few streets away from the main street. Here is a typical view:

I keep walking, and see the "Meat Market" sign. I come inside. There are three customers inside. All three appear to be drunk. The first one is having a good time, laughing. The other two are arguing. The topic of their argument appears to be the superiority of Puerto Ricans and the Caribbeans relative to each other. I walk around the isles, looking for meat. There is no meat. The argument heats up. I listen intently, since I'd like to know which ethnic group is superior. The Puerto Rican guy says to the Carbibean guy, "well, then get the f*ck out of here". The Caribbean guy looks up, and appears to be thinking it over, as if the Puerto Rican guy said something very profound, and doesn't say anything. The argument is settled. Puerto Rico wins. I feel relief: there is one less question to ponder about. I leave the store, meatless.

I take a pedestrian walk by the street. There is a residential property, and a little girl, maybe 8 years old, on the porch. As I approach, her eyes widen, and she says to me, with a sense of urgency, "Go that way", and points to the opposite side of the street. I stop and ask "Why?" At that moment, a huge pit bull jumps at me from the porch. His intentions are unmistakable. He is ferocious, and there is white foam around his jaws. He is reaching for my throat. When he is within 1 foot from my face, a heavy chain stops him, and jerks him back. I feel the wetness of his saliva on my t-shirt. I see the little girl's mother, also on the porch. She looks at me, but doesn't say anything. I clearly do not belong here. I retreat to the "touristy" zone, find my Ford, and go home.

The wide eyes of a little girl are still on my mind. There is a sad, sad story in those eyes. It reminded me of this famous photograph:

This is such an interesting thread. Over 9 thousand views. Why? Wanderer has been compared to trw who had the longest running thread on this message board. Trw was intelligent, kind and funny. He had a very dark side and when that came out his thread went "viral". He could say and do just about anything he wanted and posted the most outrageous things. People loved it. However, trw lived here, was part of the community and loved this island.

So, what do these two threads have in common that attract so much attention? AandA2VI wrote a wonderful thread on their pmv. Beautiful pictures and an honest account of their experiences. It is always wonderful to see our islands from the eyes of a newcomer. Makes us fall in love again with our island and also reminds of our downfalls.

The majority of the readers here are people who live here. Some of the readers are people who want to move here.

What do you guys think? Why is this thread so popular? As for me, having lived here for a while, already know the lay of the land on St. Croix. I know what the grocery stores are like, the beaches, the library, the people, the politics, the trash, the crime ect.........

I would really like for wanderer to start a new thread under the coconut vine and tell us what it was like to be a prison guard in Siberia, how long he has been living in North Carolina, why does he want to live on St. Croix and does he still want to relocate to St. Croix, has he read Strangers by Dean Koontz,(much better than Odd Thomas in my opinion), does he have any children, what beach does he like best, and a host of other questions.

Wanderer, go to VI Solar Depot. The owners wife is from Siberia. She would love to hear and be able to speak with a fellow Russian.

Day 18 (continued).

They detect my Russian accent and remain cautious. I ask if they carry "Annals of the Big Island: St. Croix, US Virgin Islands" by Robert Hoffman (2008).

Russian !
It's you, Doroshenko
It's been a long time, Doroshenko but I am glad you are well

The woods are lovely, dark and deep
But I have promises to keep
And miles to go before I sleep
And miles to go before I sleep

Wake up now Doroshenko aka wanderer and do what you have to do for the motherland

Remember Dooshenko,
Miles to go before I sleep
Miles to go before I sleep

 

SurferDude, there is a very large Bus parked at Point Udall. Enjoy the ride.

It's you, Doroshenko
It's been a long time, Doroshenko but I am glad you are well

Your liberal use of alliteration and Newtonian hypothesis furthers your plan to confuse and misdirect these poor souls who are left standing like deer in headlights. They don't know whether to be amused, infuriated or indifferent. Good job, you have left them in a perpetuated state of sterile stupor.

Good to see you too, Surfer. I think you are looking for conspiracy where there is none. I very much enjoyed your commentary, nevertheless.

the library down town christiansted had to lock the parking lot because the book drop would get vandalized. what i was told. the library in frederiksted looks nice

the library in frederiksted looks nice

Yes, it does. I didn't mention that it also has a nice gallery, some sort of lunch break room (perhaps for employees only?), and a wonderful feel of space. It's very quiet inside, too (because no one is there). You know how I felt inside? Like smiling. I don't smile that much. I think I'll do my next liming session in there.

I enjoy Robert Frost but who is Doroshenco? I don't know if I am just tired or in a state of sterile stupor.

Day 18 (continued)

I drink so much of Merlot here that I have to make a trip to Plaza Extra on a regular basis. I finally bought a fat bottle, 1.5 liters, and it's running out, too:

In 18 days, the island softened me. Coupled with Merlot, that made my soft side pop out naked. I didn't know that I had a soft side. I must have suppressed it for a long, long time. Sometimes I cry like a 5 year old girl. I have not cried for 25 years. There is an ocean of tears that have accumulated over the 25 years. I must let them out. I remember now: a long time ago, I bought an audio cassette, with a recorded series of small pearls of wisdom. One of them was "Live on the East coast -- it would make you harder. Live on the West coast -- it would make it softer." I understand what it means now.

As a former attorney for Plaza I can assure you that the multitudes of floor sweepers have nothing to do with cockroaches but, rather, with Lee Rohn and fake slip-n-falls.
IT

I did a little bit of research, and I see what you mean. Thanks for the clarification, Iris.