The past few days have been good. Wednesday we went out again and played at the Multicultural Center in St. Johns which is where the patients are initially seen by the docs, nurses and med techs. The line was crazy long and it seemed to never move because it remained the same length for nearly the entire time we were there. We set up early and played for a couple hours. The folks seemed to dig our music and once again, Bob Marley was a huge hit. I wish we had more ‘island music’. After our tear down we headed over to the BLZ and took off. We were back to the ship by 1500 which was great. I got in a nap and really didn’t want to get up. I, of all people, debated whether or not to eat dinner. ME! I love to eat, but I was so tired. I did end up going to dinner and I was glad I did because I had meatloaf and it was mmm good….I got in a workout and crashed early.

Yesterday was an interesting day…but a very good, long day. We left the ship at about 0730 headed for the shore (Of course. Where else would we go?). We arrived and got our gear from the Multicultural Center and headed for a SMEE (subject-matter-expert-exchange) with musicians from the Antigua-Barbuda-Defence-Force (ABDF) band. It started out with the brass quintet playing through some of their classical and dixieland music. Next, the ABDF band played some music. The played two styles of one specific song called Lucinda. They first played it in a march style and then they played it Calypso style. Both versions were great but the Calypso was amazing! They had about 20 members playing….saxes…trumpets…trombones…percussionists…It was really great. It was the type of music that makes you dance as soon as you hear it. And that’s what I did. I immediately started dancing when they busted into the groove. I love to dance. Shake it shake it….After that, the rock band got up and we played a few tunes. We did Respect, with our drummer playing and then we did Is This Love and La Tortura with one of their drummers….and I have never…EVER sang those two songs as fast as I did yesterday. I nearly bit my tongue off trying to get the lyrics out. SHEESH! It was an experience I’ll definitely say that. After the SMEE ended, we ate lunch and then headed to our performance at the military base, Camp Blizzard…how ironic a name is that for a base in the Caribbean. We had an intimate crowd for our performance and many of them were the military members stationed here and the reserve members of the band. It went well, and at the end, our band and the ABDF band jammed together. It went really well and it is a memory I am sure to store forever. While they played, I danced with two of the sweetest little girls, Elise and Dana. They were so cute…especially their little island accents. All in all, the past few days have been awesome. We are leaving Antigua pretty soon and will be getting some much need days off. Yippee! I can’t wait…I think I may come back to Antigua for a vacation in the future. The land is beyond beautiful and the people here are more than accommodating…it is a place that I must experience again…in a non-work setting.

It amazes me how life presents so many situations for us to learn from. I don’t know what my real purpose here is yet, but I am keeping my eyes open to as much as I can handle.