Abandon ship whenever possible

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Did I mention that when a ship goes into dry dock that females become a scarce minority. There are about twleve women on the ship and about 900 contractors. Suddenly, one has never felt so self conscious than when walking into any room and having all eyes on you. And they aren't just staring, they're ogling. So far I've been called "deary", "baby doll" and "angel", and none of those terms seem very endearing when they are preceded by whistles or leers.

So I've been spending some time off the ship considering all the guys I'm working with are staying at a hotel off the ship because they aren't regular shipboard personnel. So come 6pm, I don't even have drinking buddies or too many people to hang out with on the ship, which makes the female to male ratio even more uncomfortable.

I caught a movie a couple nights ago at a local multiplex. I went out to a nearby pub with the guys after work the other night and last night I made it out to Downtown Charleston

They started offering a free shuttle for employees that goes to the mall, WalMart, and downtown in the evenings. Last night I opted for the less crowded shuttle to downtown. It's actually a pretty cute little area. It reminds me of Old Sacramento, but much more modern. The buildings are great, and half the streets are cobblestoned. It was a great place to walk around, although I wish I could've been there during the day. I'm hoping I get another day off so I can do an extended walking tour of the historical areas. At any rate, I need to go back there with a camera and with a few daylight hours available, because there are some great pictures to take.

On the way downtown, we drove past a Piggly Wiggly. I've heard of them before and I know they're a major chain in the south, but the name always conjured images of some dinky little qwik-e-mart or something. So the image of a giant grocery store with the name Piggly Wiggly on the front of it was an amusing sight to me. But maybe it's just me that finds that amusing in my sheltered west coast ways.

I swear I'll put pictures on here eventually. I haven't been spending too much time on these updates, because I've been trying to be as active as possible in Charleston while we're here. Once we leave for Freeport, Bahamas, from what I've heard, there's absolutely nothing to do there. So I'm living it up in Charleston while I can.

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