STUPID ATM!!!!

Sunday night, I picked Phillip up at school and drove to the casino so he could run in to the ATM. (I won’t go after dark by myself.) Well…bad luck! The ATM shut itself off after he had requested $500 from it. The security guy said it does that when it’s out of money. He said not to worry, it wouldn’t take it from out account. Well, of course it did! That's right, when I looked online, it showed a $500 withdrawal from our account. We didn’t get any money (no receipt either) from the ATM! Just great!

Monday morning, I went on the walk and then called Old National Bank. They said the bank here has to handle it. (I was afraid of that!) I called the bank here and they kept putting me on hold over and over and insisted they could not fix the problem! They kept saying my bank at home had to do it! So I called Old National again and they were able to file an ATM dispute. We’ll find out in 10 days if we get our money back or not! What a pain!!!!

Then I attempted to study the rest of the day. We have 3 textbooks for this class and one of them is sooooo boring! Gosh, it’s awful. I can barely make myself read it! I didn’t get very far that day.

Tuesday, I got called in to sub! I had a 5th grade class, which included the daughter of one of my friends! It was a really fun class. I didn’t get to study like I do when I have high school, but it sure was more fun! The day even went by fast since I stayed so busy! As soon as school was over, I went to the ATM (a different one!!!!) and waited forever for a guy who was in front of me. I swear he was in there for over 10 minutes! I finally knocked on the door, opened it just a little, and asked if he needed help. (definitely a tourist, or I wouldn’t have done that!!!!) He was very glad though because he couldn’t figure out how to work it. They are different than the ones at home. You have to choose your language, put in your pin number, choose withdrawal, choose current account (checking) or savings account, choose if you want US dollars or “funny money” as we call it, and then you can finally choose your amount. He was confused on the current account step. So after all that, I finally got my money and drove to the bank in Simpson Bay. Well of course, traffic was super slow! I got there at 3:35…they had closed at 3:30!!!! Just my luck! Who would have thought a bank would close at 3:30? UGH! Frustrating, but honestly I wasn’t even surprised by it. That’s just how everything works out around here.

Yesterday morning, I turned down a sub job so I could go back to the bank and then study the rest of the day!! I went to the bank first thing that morning and then went to a new grocery store in Simpson Bay. We saw it on Saturday on our way to the ICAN beach event. I had been looking forward to going ever since then! Is it sad that I was seriously looking forward to going to a new grocery store??? Hehehe! I studied that afternoon, but took a break at 4:30 and met the AUC professor to play tennis!!! It was fun!!! I really enjoyed it…and he’s good. It’s a great work out! He beat me 6-5. Fun!

I finally finished all of the first reading assignment today (there was a ton!) and wrote my first paper for this class. I am glad to have the first one finished! I’m anxious to see if this new prof grades fast or slow!

Julia and I finally bought our plane tickets to Miami!!! We will fly there on February 27th and back to St. Maarten on March 27th. We will have to take a Greyhound Bus from Miami to Key Largo. It will drop us off at a grocery store, and then we’ll call a taxi to take us to our apartment. I have a feeling that will be the first of many crazy adventures that month!!! So glad that Julia is going also! Can’t wait!!!!

Phillip’s Aunt Vicki (who visited here with his parents in July) is coming back on February 16th! She took a leave of absence from teaching and is moving here for awhile! She will be staying just down the road in an apartment in Palm Court for the first 2 weeks and then gets to move into the studio right underneath us! It will be great to have her so close! She is staying through the month of May! We are really looking forward to spending time with her!! We’re going to have tons of fun! And I’m excited that she’ll be here in March when I’m gone!!! (I know Phillip could manage on his own! It’s just that I know he studies all the time so I like taking care of things so he doesn’t have to waste time doing little things like cooking/dishes/laundry/etc. Vicki is going to help him out while I’m gone and I’m soooo glad!!!)

Phillip has been studying lots like usual! This semester is going fast so far! Hope it keeps going fast!

I just read my chapter in the Bible for today. I couldn't believe it when I noticed that I finished page 999! Tomorrow I will read page 1000!!!! Awesome!