St. Johns, Tickles, and Fiesta!

Saturday, Kimberly (Costumer and Cast in 3Penny), Bethany, and I took the ferry over to St. John. It’s pretty cheap: $5 each way. Compared to St. Thomas, St. John is much more quaint and island-like. That’s because most of it is marked as a federal park, so development is small and tucked away. Getting off the ferry in Cruz Bay, we walked over the cobblestones, bought smoothies and headed to the dance studio up the hill.

Bethany was to teach a Master Class on Stage Combat at the St. John School of the Arts. The dance studio (that’s all it was) is adorable. Run by Kim from Georgia, the school makes barely any money, but they offer every class imaginable: tango, karate, ballet, yoga, tap, etc.

So Bethany taught her class to four boys, with Kimberly and me as her demonstrators. We learned lots of balance and reaction games, how to be slapped, hit, choked, pushed, tugged by the hair and ear, and lots of other fun and violent things.

Then we walked down the hill to Margarita Phil’s and had lunch with Bethany’s teaching money. This open-air restaurant is famous for their “grande” margaritas, which are ridiculously huge and alcoholic. While we were there, Shanna, the production manager and Polly in 3penny texted us, inviting us to go out to a bar, Tickles, that night. She and her friends, Ellie and Beth, were going over with their hubbies to hear Beth’s boyfriend Mike play guitar and sing at the bar. So we all drove over, and I met Shanna’s boyfriend Kyle and his little 2 year old, Kaiden.

Kaiden is adorable. She has red hair, a round nose and the cutest grin. I was at first shocked at first to see her out with everyone while they drank and ate at the bar, but then I felt surprisingly refreshed to see a father so relaxed and friends so comfortable around her, and so attentive to her. It was as if everyone parented her. I spent a lot more time with her this week, and I am in love, too.

Tickles Dockside Pub is in Crown Bay Marina in Frenchtown, a neighborhood of waterfront St. Thomas. It’s a nice place,

Shanna’s friend Joe told me a great piece of celebrity gossip:

“Did you hear about that movie star that caught her hubby cheating so she gouged out one of this eyes with her knife?”
“No, oh my goodness, who was it?”
“Yeah, it’s horrible, just took it right out with her knife. It was that girl…you know, Reese something.”
“Witherspoon?”
“No, with her knife.”
HA HA HA. I must be everyone’s favorite joke hearer. I’m so ready to be entertained.

At the table, Shanna decreed that the following night (Sunday), she and Kyle would host a dinner party, a fiesta, with Mexican food and margaritas, care of Ellie’s bartending boyfriend, JB.

So Sunday was a mighty fiesta indeed. I brought shrimp fajitas and coconut-drenched fried plantains, yumm. So that was divertido, of course. Kaiden has a “See and Touch!” book called, “Los Perritos,” that tells the story of little puppies: “Los perritos olisquean, pero esté no.” and none of us know what “olisquean” meant, but with the help of freetranslation.com, we got it, TO SMELL! Haha. Ok, so little things entertain me…