First Letter Home

Hey all,

Just thought I would send an update on how things are going so far on Martha's Vineyard! We had a wonderful stay with my Godmamma Ida and Michael on Cape Cod on Weds. night after a grueling drive in 95+ heat with no AC in the car (AHH!). We went for a walk around the neighborhood, ate a delicious meal (with pie!), and watched a storm roll through from the screened-in porch overlooking the water. We woke up the next morning at 6:30 to make the 8:15 ferry from Woods Hole. We were concerned about our bike rack on the ferry because we were told it would not be allowed on. We were planning on taking the bikes off, putting the rack in the passenger seat, having one of us drive the car and one of us walk 2 bikes onto the ferry. Fortunately, we both kept quiet about our lack of planning ahead for the bike rack and we were just let on to the boat with no trouble!

We had a great morning ferry ride over to the island (although I didn't spot any whales or dolphins, and not for lack of looking.) On our way down to Edgartown we drove through Oak Bluffs to look at the gingerbread cottages. As we were driving I received an amazing text from our landlord:

"See you soon. Do you have directions? Coming from Vineyard Haven, tenth street north will be on your left. You will know if you are on the correct street if it looks impassable. Your next thought will be "omg." But don't fret, just go slow..."

We arrived at our basement studio-walkout and were greeted by a slobbering dog named Sage and a 17 month old boy named Griffin. Soon after, we met the parents Beth and Chris and their 9 year old Noah. We also met Megan, who is our age and is taking care of the kids for the summer. She is living upstairs, so we have a built in friend. The apartment is great! It is brand new, clean, and more spacious than we were expecting. We have lots of counter space in the kitchen, a love seat sofa, a futon to sleep on, a sizable closet and chest of drawers, a TV with cable, great light, and a really nice bathroom. Although there is a good amount of storage, for some reason I ended up putting all of my pants and shorts in one of the kitchen cabinets. Oh well, I guess I just brought too much clothing! We spent the day yesterday setting up our space, grocery shopping, and exploring the town. We went to the beach and touched the ocean! We found the farm where we will be working! After a slight problem with the stove (aka it didn't work) we cooked dinner, watched an episode of Glee (not Daniel's idea), and crashed.

Today, we had a delicious breakfast and then biked down towards town. We stopped at a hardware store and a thrift store and bought some household items, most importantly CURTAINS! Our bed faces french doors and when we woke up this morning we felt very exposed. After lunch, we went back out and found a pharmacy, a "Trader Fred's Trading Post" where we bought a frying pan, and the liquor store where we bought wine. We feel great that there is a grocery store and liquor store all within a mile and a half of our house! We also found out that our landlords have access to a public "beach/boatlaunch" on Sengekontacket Pond and that we are able to use their kayaks whenever we wish! Currently, we are doing some trouble shooting with our microwave, which is not microwaving, and getting ready to cook up some enchiladas. We might go out on the town tonight with Megan and her friend, but we are pretty exhausted and want to have a full day tomorrow. We have the weekend to explore, and then we start at the FARM Institute on Monday morning.

Hope things are well with everyone, please send updates! Also, come visit!

Love,

Sarah