Why do airlines hate me?
Let's recap some of my best moments over the last year:
Leaving Grenada (American Airlines): 6-8 hour delay in Grenada, missed connecting flight due to it, 2 hour delay in Puerto Rico, leading to necessity of staying in wrong state with no late meal vouchers, with fight over rechecking bag in the morning.
Returning to Grenada (Air Jamaica): Lost luggage for 5 days. Completely apathetic service personnel. Refusal to provide compensation. Told me luggage was arriving on days where AJ doesn't actually fly. Told me luggage wasn't coming in because a previous day's luggage was having to come in. Refusal to deliver bags once in, tried to refuse to give bags back at the airport until I finally snapped.
Leaving Grenada (American Airlines): After successful connections to Trinidad with Liat and JFK with Caribbean Airlines, lost luggage between JFK and Boston, American denied ever having the bag at all, had two people openly rude to me about it, found it in their care, and shipped it, so it arrived after two or so days.
Returning to Grenada (American Airlines): Left luggage in Miami due to tight turnaround from Boston to Miami because their plane arrived late (again). This time they acknowledge having it, but gave me the wrong number to contact in Trinidad, had the wrong number down for me, once corrected have never called it to update. At first, thought it was supposed to be picked up in Trinidad despite precise directions otherwise. Sent it 'right away' to Grenada last night via Liat. If you know anything about Liat, you can tell where this is going. Now, even American Airlines doesn't know where my bag is. On the plus side, unlike Air Jamaica, the baggage support personnel sound very sorry for it. Possibly due to the fact that this is the second time in a month.
Also, every time I have airline woes, I add more identifying features to my bag. I'm beginning to wonder if they're giving it less priority because it is becoming so very identifiable that they figure they can leave it behind because it'll be easy to find again. Next time, I'm sending my bag incognito. James Bond sunglasses and everything.
It's teaching me the value of just carrying everything on and never checking luggage again. Sure as hell made flying Liat easier. And Venezuela.
Third term. Bit slow so far, and I need to make sure I pay attention to statistics because I am famously bad at math, but it seems like a bit more of a "break" at this point, at least as is its reputation. Everything seems to be combined into one class, the instructors don't give me any trouble to date, so I just need to make sure I don't get complacent.
Did my main shopping today. For those keeping track, as of last viewing, IGA (local grocery store) was full up on many products but fresh out of others. Egg and American milk shortage, not nice potatoes/onions, but very well stocked in cereal, peanut butter/jelly, pasta, some of the veggies, a lot of frozen foods, frozen meats, but not fresh meats.
For incomings, when you go to IGA for the first time, particularly if you're somewhat late coming, do not be freaked out by the fact that the shelves are picked clean and they're out of everything. You will not starve to death. Egg shortages can sometimes be circumvented by seeing if D store has them (though they sometimes run out too), and there used to be an egg guy who came to campus, but I'm not sure if he still does.
Early on, as everyone either has their "won't get any food" panic or, like me, is just restocking their larder from the break, the incidence of the store running out of popular products will increase drastically. This eases a lot as people's shopping schedules space out, but Friday is still the main day that IGA restocks, so that's when most people go. If you really really want a popular product, go then. If you really really don't like being in heavily crowded areas, do what I do, and if they're out of what you need, shrug and go back another time. Plus,occasionally you will find variation, like going in on a Wednesday and find them stocked with stuff they were out of on Friday.
If you're running low on critical products, and want a way of getting a second shot, it may also be worth checking out the CK that's on the corner next to the Texaco on the Grand Anse/True Blue bus route. Just look for the Texaco station and get out there, as it's on that corner. There's a grocery store there that is seldom used. It's not as pretty, but if IGA has been picked clean by the incoming class, a lot of people either don't know about CK or don't go in there anyway.
There's Food Fairs on the Mont Tout route, in downtown St. George's near the Saturday spice market or en route to St. George's. In the latter two cases, get a reggae bus.
Most of the time, I admit, I'm lazy and go to IGA.
If anyone really wants the super fresh fish, IGA's selection of it is poor to nonexistent. Best place to go is the Fish Market in downtown St. George's, by taking a number 1 reggae bus (two and a half EC) to the bus station and it's right near there. You'll also get to see town.
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Jan 16, 2008
Oct 4, 2007
Grenadian Day
With a bad morning to start it though.
Went to my immunology lecture this morning (which is not, regrettably, on Sonic Foundry) and despite having felt *fairly* caught up in that class, thought the instructor was reading an eye chart off the back wall. So had a bit of a "I hate med school" fit but snapped out of it. I studied the summary notes (which are different from the lecture slides) and it's starting to make sense, and it only takes the amount of time of my other two classes combined, so no big deal.
But had lunch at Sugar Shack, dining on a lambie (conch) roti and a ting. This is a wonderful combination when you're feeling sorry for yourself because it's not only magically delicious (conch isn't as good as abalone, but it's pretty damn good, and ting is just... Caribbean crack, grapefruit flavored crack, and I don't even like grapefruit), but very island-y.
Went home to do the aforementioned studying and when I took a break for my evening walk (which has been doing wonders for me, and yes, it's 'parentheses' day), I decided to go off the normal, well-traveled, rush-hour, honked-at, killed-by-reggae bus routes and go back toward campus and up into the hills.
This also emphasized the really positive islandy aspects because it's stunning up there, while keeping me very much mentally ON the island because I forgot to drench myself in toxic chemicals before venturing off into the jungle at dusk and predictably got the living crap bitten out of me by mozzies. Hello, dengue! Don't worry, this island doesn't tend to produce the hemorrhagic form.
But that actually didn't bother me much. I'm used to mosquitoes. The views were pretty, the nasty dogs stayed in their yards, and I managed to somehow time being at a high vantage point overlooking one of the many inlet-seas right at sunset, so that was flat awesome. No camera though, unfortunately. Another time. It also seems to be a safer route since there's FAR less traffic. Only problem is that a lot of it isn't paved, and though I'm using a brand new ankle brace bought from the drug store (Grenada apparently, has better braces than Walmart, whose brace I responsibly bought prior to coming has done such hideous blistery things to my left foot that it looks like I have hookworm), I'm still trying to be careful with it.
Frigging thing. To catch people up, in January, approximately three days after I arrived on Grenada, I sprained my ankle for the first time in my life by the insanely bold athletic act of walking along a path at a party. Wasn't even drunk yet! Was on crutches for about a week, wore a wrap on it, seemed a fairly normal-course injury, and yet, ten months later, it still likes to periodically swell, creak, ache, and occasionally tries to turn again (unsuccessfully to date).
While exercise exacerbates this somewhat, it does this anyway, quite normally, even when I have it elevated, iced, and am watching television on the sofa, so I finally figured I'd just brace it, and since it's acting like it's going to want surgery in the distant future, I might as well have fun destroying it. I want the MRI in ten years to be definitive and *impressive*. None of this borderline stuff. I want to have an ankle like the shoulder I saw when I was doing my orthopod shadowing, where the doctor looked at the MRI, whistled and said "looks like someone set a bomb off in there." Hells yeah. On an anatomical note, the humerus isn't supposed to be attached to the clavicle, is it?
Anyway, to complete my Grenada day, I finally polished off the soursop ice cream I had in the freezer. A word of advice on that... my roommate introduced me to soursop last term as a base for smoothies, which is really nice *when you mix it with other things*. By itself in ice cream... the first bite seems like it's going to be horrible, and has an initial "ooh, do NOT like" sensation, but then kind of grows on you, but not to the extent ice cream normally should. It has a taste quality that is vaguely reminiscent of the fibrous parts of melons, despite the fact that it has the consistency of normal, creamy ice cream. Definitely not as bad as the artichoke ice cream in Castroville though, where your response is "Wow... that's far less atrocious than I thought it was going to be, yet remains bad."
Since I'm a cheapskate and don't hate the stuff, I was resolved to finish it before buying a new container of something better (Sugar & Spice's nutmeg, rum/raisin, orange pine, and strawberry swirl are all awesome), and so now that mission is accomplished. Back to T-cells.
Went to my immunology lecture this morning (which is not, regrettably, on Sonic Foundry) and despite having felt *fairly* caught up in that class, thought the instructor was reading an eye chart off the back wall. So had a bit of a "I hate med school" fit but snapped out of it. I studied the summary notes (which are different from the lecture slides) and it's starting to make sense, and it only takes the amount of time of my other two classes combined, so no big deal.
But had lunch at Sugar Shack, dining on a lambie (conch) roti and a ting. This is a wonderful combination when you're feeling sorry for yourself because it's not only magically delicious (conch isn't as good as abalone, but it's pretty damn good, and ting is just... Caribbean crack, grapefruit flavored crack, and I don't even like grapefruit), but very island-y.
Went home to do the aforementioned studying and when I took a break for my evening walk (which has been doing wonders for me, and yes, it's 'parentheses' day), I decided to go off the normal, well-traveled, rush-hour, honked-at, killed-by-reggae bus routes and go back toward campus and up into the hills.
This also emphasized the really positive islandy aspects because it's stunning up there, while keeping me very much mentally ON the island because I forgot to drench myself in toxic chemicals before venturing off into the jungle at dusk and predictably got the living crap bitten out of me by mozzies. Hello, dengue! Don't worry, this island doesn't tend to produce the hemorrhagic form.
But that actually didn't bother me much. I'm used to mosquitoes. The views were pretty, the nasty dogs stayed in their yards, and I managed to somehow time being at a high vantage point overlooking one of the many inlet-seas right at sunset, so that was flat awesome. No camera though, unfortunately. Another time. It also seems to be a safer route since there's FAR less traffic. Only problem is that a lot of it isn't paved, and though I'm using a brand new ankle brace bought from the drug store (Grenada apparently, has better braces than Walmart, whose brace I responsibly bought prior to coming has done such hideous blistery things to my left foot that it looks like I have hookworm), I'm still trying to be careful with it.
Frigging thing. To catch people up, in January, approximately three days after I arrived on Grenada, I sprained my ankle for the first time in my life by the insanely bold athletic act of walking along a path at a party. Wasn't even drunk yet! Was on crutches for about a week, wore a wrap on it, seemed a fairly normal-course injury, and yet, ten months later, it still likes to periodically swell, creak, ache, and occasionally tries to turn again (unsuccessfully to date).
While exercise exacerbates this somewhat, it does this anyway, quite normally, even when I have it elevated, iced, and am watching television on the sofa, so I finally figured I'd just brace it, and since it's acting like it's going to want surgery in the distant future, I might as well have fun destroying it. I want the MRI in ten years to be definitive and *impressive*. None of this borderline stuff. I want to have an ankle like the shoulder I saw when I was doing my orthopod shadowing, where the doctor looked at the MRI, whistled and said "looks like someone set a bomb off in there." Hells yeah. On an anatomical note, the humerus isn't supposed to be attached to the clavicle, is it?
Anyway, to complete my Grenada day, I finally polished off the soursop ice cream I had in the freezer. A word of advice on that... my roommate introduced me to soursop last term as a base for smoothies, which is really nice *when you mix it with other things*. By itself in ice cream... the first bite seems like it's going to be horrible, and has an initial "ooh, do NOT like" sensation, but then kind of grows on you, but not to the extent ice cream normally should. It has a taste quality that is vaguely reminiscent of the fibrous parts of melons, despite the fact that it has the consistency of normal, creamy ice cream. Definitely not as bad as the artichoke ice cream in Castroville though, where your response is "Wow... that's far less atrocious than I thought it was going to be, yet remains bad."
Since I'm a cheapskate and don't hate the stuff, I was resolved to finish it before buying a new container of something better (Sugar & Spice's nutmeg, rum/raisin, orange pine, and strawberry swirl are all awesome), and so now that mission is accomplished. Back to T-cells.
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