We're Back!! (page 3)

ozziepost

Nah, couldn't be Mega, there were roads in them pics!

Ozzie

Joyzabel

wow SFJ, how did you ever leave?

Gawd to be a jw on St Thomas! how could you ever go out in service with that scenery distracting you all the time?

Thanks Jade, of course I pick the conferences I go to, hehe, and you think I'm going to pick a big city in the USA??? NOT! lol

Thank you Ozzie, didn't think we would be missed. You'll have to put the Virgin Islands on your list of places to go.

hehe Dude, thankfully those memories of silly pics in the WTBT's literature is fading fast! The WTBT is so far off my radar screen, that their way of life doesn't even come to mind anymore!

hmmmmmm, now the family is trying to think of how we can have a freedomfest in the VI or on a cruise ship next year and do nothing but island hop. I'll get back to everyone on that idea.

j2bf

calamityjane

Looks like you had a wonderful time, welcome back.

cj

Joyzabel

TY calamityjane, its hard to believe we were enjoying ourselves just a few days ago!!

*trying to mentally get back home and back to work* hehe

cruzanheart

Well, if any of us wins the lottery, we could rent Necker Island, which is off the coast of St. John, and have a really great party! Just us and the staff . . . .

Going out in service in the islands was quite an adventure! Big Tex has been chased by a literal goat. You see gorgeous scenery, talk to interesting and mostly nice people, and it is very laid back and nothing like the mainland U.S. When we lived there, the custom was to call out "Inside?" as you're going up to the house. As we had recently moved from California, Dad insisted on going right up to the doorway, though Mom and I told him to yell out first. (This was a shack out by itself, surrounded by lush vegetation and quite a few chickens.) He whipped around the corner of the house to the front door and surprised two women who were taking in the morning sunshine, naked from the waist up. They dissolved into giggles, Dad turned bright red and . . . disappeared. Mom and I were laughing too, but managed to talk to the ladies after we all wiped the tears away.

Great memories!

Nina

Joyzabel

WOW, what fun!!

we didn't make it to the "clothing optional" beach this time! But I'm sure our youngest son doesn't want to miss it next time!!

There is a Cay for sale, just N of St. Thomas. I think it was Thatch Cay, for about 18 million!!!!! go for it! hehe

j2bf

SanFranciscoJim

wow SFJ, how did you ever leave?
Gawd to be a jw on St Thomas! how could you ever go out in service with that scenery distracting you all the time?

j2bf, I left St. Thomas in 1989 after Hurricane Hugo. I lost my job and many of my possessions overnight in the storm. After the hurricane, I spent the next two months living with no electricity, no running water, and no telephone before I finally made the decision to leave.

Visiting the island is very different from living there. When you are surrounded by the beauty of the tropics every day, one begins to take it for granted very quickly. Going to the beach gets real old, real fast! Believe it or not, St. Thomas is actually a very boring place to live. I lived there for work, not to live the life of a "beach bum". I saw so many people move there from the States with intentions of spending the rest of their lives in "Paradise", only to become bored or annoyed with island life, and pack up their things and leave six months later. Living on an island that is 13 miles long and 3 miles wide is like living in a small town surrounded by water. You have to learn to be very creative to avoid going out of your mind.

The islands did get into my blood, though. I've been gone 14 years, and I still get very homesick for St. Thomas. I may retire there one day in the not too distant future.

SanFranciscoJim

When we lived there, the custom was to call out "Inside?" as you're going up to the house.

OMG Nina! I completely forgot about calling out "Inside!"!! You could always tell when the JWs were working your territory, because you could always hear them calling "Inside!" throughout the neighborhood.

Thanks for the memory!

cruzanheart

And now you know why we did it! I also remember conducting a Bible study on Saturday morning in one of the government projects, and there was a guy who would drive around selling meat out of the trunk of his car. Yes, TRUNK and, no, it wasn't refrigerated. And Big Tex wondered why I didn't get Montezuma's Revenge on our honeymoon in Cancun -- I think I have all those nice little organisms already!

For any of you starry-eyed people out there who want to move to the islands, listen to SFJ -- the islands close in on you real fast. Read "Don't Stop the Carnival," an old book by Herman Wouk (supposedly set in Hotel on the Cay in St. Croix, BTW). If you read it and laugh, you'll survive the island living. If you read it and cry, don't bother going. You have absolutely no idea how many things can go wrong in an instant and take a millenium to fix. NOTHING in that book is exaggerated!!! Someday I'll start a thread and SFJ and I can swap stories . . . .

Nina

Joyzabel

LOL at you two! (sfj & nina) I know what you mean about closing in on you. We had only stopped there before while on cruise ships. But to be there a week, well....... I was ready to get on a cruise ship and move on to another island!

Yes life in small places gets very interesting.

I could only see ourselves going back for any length of time on a sailboat, to stay in bays, dive and wonder around all the islands of the Carribean. Yeah, yeah, I know about those pirates, but hooking up with other sailors helps cut down on piracy. (I hope)

Thanks for taking us with you down memory lane.

This trip was the first time I didn't look at houses and wonder what it was like going in service there. hehe, did anyone ever do that??

j2bf

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