9.4

Dear Diary, 

It's hard to believe but it's already been more than a month since we started this adventure together. Where has the the time gone? It seems like just yesterday I was stuffing my shoes with sox and packing my life into one small duffle bag. 

But seriously, I have been working at my new job for over a month and it's hard for me to grasp the fact that an entire month has already passed. I work in a world where it is either Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6 or Day 7. Essentially, I'm back in middle school with "cycle days." That is really my only reference of time. I didn't even know it was Labor Day until my sister mentioned it. Oh yeah, it's September too. I guess this is a good thing as I'm not counting calendar days in a month, just counting on my own calendar that only has one page with one week. I'm told that the last two months of the contract are the slowest because you actually begin to try to keep track of how close you are to the end, but I haven't started the countdown yet so things are good. 

Today I got off the ship in San Juan and took a taxi to this MEGA MALL. I actually wasn't sure I was going to make it to the mall because no one in my taxi spoke English and I wasn't confident that the man who told me to get in "this one" correctly told the driver where I needed to go, but after a short 10 minute driver I was kicked to the curb outside a massive shopping mall. Think King of Prussa but bigger. It was 3 stories and PACKED. I needed to get a pair of pants, a lock for my safe and maybe a haircut, but before I set out to shop I just wandered around to try to get my bearings. They had a ton of stores that I didn't recognize, but also had a bunch of brands I was familiar with like Macys, Sears, Bose, Sony, Apple (can you tell I pay more attention to the stores that sell electronics?).

With my little knowledge of Spanish I was able to make sense of the store signs and find a pair of pants and lock. I was unclear what "haircut" was in Spanish and had trouble finding out how much one would cost, but luckily my translators in Etters were able to assist me. I actually didn't end up getting a haircut because I was running out of time before I had to return to the ship, but hopefully I can try to get one next week.