Friday, December 28, 2007

Merry Christmas! (a little late) and Happy New Year!


Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas here was very quiet, which was nice. I went with the other intern and one staff member to my boss' house. She has two kids, one 3-year old (Leon) and one 9-month old (Chloe). So each would cry when one was receiving more attention than the other. The kids kept us busy all night between random games and feeding them, it was quite the time. We had a proper English Christmas, which means you take these long, skinny tubes that they call 'crackers' and pull on either end and a paper hat and a toy pop out. They were really funny and everyone was wearing these hats all through dinner. Leon informed me that I looked very funny in my hat and that he wanted it because it would fit his head better.

We also had boxing day off, which was really nice. Arturo and I went looking for blue beads down by the bay as a way to pass time. The island is pretty quiet right now because the med students have left for break and many of the locals have left to visit family elsewhere or just go on vacation. Wednesday night a lot of people were out around town because there was live music at the old Gin House. People were out dancing and having a great time. It was so much fun to watch the older women dance because they seemed to have such rhythm oozing out of their pores. I wondered what I would look like to others when I dance!

Last night Julia and I babysat for Nicole, which was great because we had free reign over the fridge. She and her husband were so glad to get out of the house that they stocked the fridge with beer, left a ton of veggies, and let us use their washer. It was a great Thursday night! They also had a ton of new movies that they had burned onto DVD as data files. I was absolutely amazed that there were 4 or 5 movies on one DVD. It's seems like anything goes in Statia, but in the States that would be very illegal to download those movies.

Plans are still up in the air for New Year's. I'm hoping to go to St. Kitts because they have a Carnival celebration, but may end up staying here instead. I wish you all a very safe, fun-filled New Years!

(And like my mother always says, drive safe because all the crazies are out on New Years!)

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Visit from my Parents!

Visit from My Parents

My parents came to visit me last weekend and stayed for a couple of days in Statia. It was great to see them and show them around my little island! We hiked the Quill (the dormant volcano), ate breakfast at Intermezzo, went snorkeling, walked around time, limed by the pool (statia slang for chilling), and just generally caught up.

My Mom and I went for a ride on my scooter, while my Dad filmed it from the car behind! It was quite an adventure trying to avoid the huge pools of water leftover from the rain.

Since they've left the island, the week has gone by very quickly! It's amazing that they only left last Monday. The volunteers and one of the interns left on Friday leaving a very quiet Botanical Garden. The one benefit is: no daily headache trying to coordinate the usage of one truck for 8 people! It's amazing how quickly you get home at the end of the day without so many people staying to take showers, etc.

Next week hoepfully I'll be working with the new Marine Park intern. She'll be working with me in the garden 2 days a week and I'll be doing some work in the marine park including line cleans, replacing buoys, etc. I'm looking forward to it, because it will be a nice change of pace in the week.