Thanksgiving, Saba, and more

Thanksgiving
Last week we had an American Thanksgiving in Statia! It was a lot of fun because everyone joined in the festivities. The non-American individuals were quite skeptical of the baked yams with marshmellows. They didn't know whether or not they were supposed to be eaten with the turkey or afterwards with the pie. So it was quite entertaining to have 3 different British people come up to me and ask me the same question. Then they also started asking me whether or not this was a once a year thing, or not. So all in all, they really liked it, but they were skeptical and decided in the end that it should really be eaten with the pie instead of with everything else. C'est la vie. The turkey turned out wonderful, Shizu cooked it. And I made three pies, along with various other sides so we had plenty to eat. It was a really nice time!

Saba:
Saba is a neighboring island that is a litle bit smaller than Statia. It holds the worlds smallest airport runway, and the pilots have to take special training lessons every couple of months to make sure that they are up to speed with the taking off and landing procedures. Saba looks like a little rock that juts out of the ocean. It is very rocky and very hilly and has little to no coast line for beaches. However, there is some excellent hiking. There is a lot of culture in Saba including hand-made lace and molas created by indigenous people. However, there are also a lot of people from Scottish descent. The town itself is very interesting because it looks like a scene out of Pleasantville. All the houses look alike. They have red roofs, white sides, and green shutters.
The place that we stayed is called the El-Momo which is run by a ex-pat German man and his family. The place was georgeous with each little room being it's own stand-alone house/bungalow set into the hillside. The vegetation on Saba was extremely lush because they get quite a bit more rain than Statia. A small group of us climed to the top of Mt. Scenery on Sunday and it was absolutely georgeous! It looked similar in vegetation to a rainforest and there wer a ton of orchids and bromeliads growing everywhere. Unfortunately, when we left the hotel it was raining, so I didn't bring my camera and I have nothing to show for this amazing hike. However, hopefully I'll be going back to Saba in a couple of months and I'll be able to get some pictures then.
There was a really beautiful shop in Saba run by this woman who made all her own glass. It was awesome! She had spent 10 years perfecting her glass mermaids, and they were absolutely beautiful! I was chatting with her for a while and I told her I basically knew how to make beads, etc. and she was really nice and let me make one! As it turns out, she was originally from Grafton, MA which is right around the corner from
The food was also much better on Saba and they had a couple more grocery shops than in Statia, so all in all it was a really good trip.


Johan Cruyff:
The famous Dutch soccer player, Johan Cruyff came to Statia to dedicate the soccer pitch on Monday. It was awesome! (He's the guy wearing pink- and yes, he's an old man now). Everyone in town seemed to be out for the dedication. Statians don't really like rain, and they even stayed out in the rain. All of the schools have a soccer team and all the little kids were running around for ten minute games with an official referee. They were loving it! Some of the schools are going to be in the "international" league and go play on different islands. There are two really really good players and they are so excited to travel and play. They're also great team players so they're a lot of fun to play with in general.

That's all for now, I'll have to post about my diving adventures later. I hope everyone is doing well and best wishes from the Caribbean!

Adventures in Nevis

Nevis:

This past weekend in Nevis was a great time. We pulled into port to Caribbean tunes and people fishing off the dock. It was a short boat ride totaling 1& 1/2 hours from Statia. It just felt Caribbean, which Statia doesn't always. Immigration took a bit of time, but other than that, it was good to be there. After stopping through customs, we went via boat to find our accomodations. They were lovely! Our 8 person Villa was set in the hillside, and a gleaming vision after living at the botanical gardens. We were just agape at all the different appliances that the house had: microwave, hot pot, toaster oven, blender, dishwasher! It was like being transported back to civilization for the weekend! However, unlike "civilization," the shops were not open on Saturday or Sunday. So, there you go: another real tropical paradise. The picture above is the view from our villa.

I saw the birthplace of Alexander Hamilton, which looks kind of like a fort. Unfortunately, it wasn't open for the weekend- so I'd love to go back and see it when it is open.

We also went to the botanical gardens on Nevis and they were absolutely beautiful. They had many different types of orchids. They also had palms from various parts of the world. They were incredible! The gardens were perfectly manicured with ponds and a georgeous building where they apparently sell food and drink during the week. We got there on a Saturday so it was closed and at the end of our visit, we ran into the caretaker who encouraged us to gather seeds from all over the garden and take them back to Statia with us. He was from NY, which made me feel right at home.

Coming back to Statia was also nice because Statia week started last week. They've had week-long celebrations in the street. It's a great tourist draw and there are many yachts currently moored in the harbor for the week-long sailing regattas. We all went on Tuesday night to celebrate one of the volunteer's birthdays and they had bands playing all night and people were dancing in the street. It actually was quite crowded, making me think that the whole population of Statia was in the street that night. I'm looking forward to going again tonight because it's supposed to be "talent night" tonight. I really can't wait to see what that means!

Foreign Dignitaries on Statia

Botanical Garden Update:

Foreign dignitaries from Holland came to visit on Wednesday of last week. So all week, the volunteers and I were working longer hours in order to prepare the phase I gardens for the foreign ministers. On Wednesday, machete in hand, one of the volunteers comes up to me to inform me that the garden phone had been ringing. So I went to call back the office and found that the foreign dignitaries had canceled because their flight had been delayed, etc. Although it was a lot of hard work, the gardens look the best that they have since I've arrived, so it was really rewarding work. But needless to say, I didn't really have time to write in my blog.

I celebrated Halloween Statia style last week, which was a lot of fun. Statia style meaning there weren't any stores to get costumes at, so I had to make my own. I was a bag of Jelly Belly Jelly Beans, which was a lot of fun. I got a very interesting reaction- there was one local woman who was laughing her head off, and then the med students couldn't figure out what I was (and most of them are American). So I've decided that most of the med students can't read.

Anyway, the new group of volunteers is really awesome. Everyone gets along very well. They are all a bit older so they have a great work ethic and they work very hard. Needless to say, the garden looks great.

While I'm here I'm also in charge of helping to develop two new gardens; the Children's Garden and the Fruit Garden. Today the bulldozer finally came to level out the Children's Garden. I can't wait to see what it looks like at the end of the day. The Fruit Garden is also slowly being cleared of the dreaded Corallita, but it's slow going. We were in there on Thursday of last week and it's already growing back.

Friday night we were all worn out from the week and we all fell asleep in the hammocks. Friday night is the big going out night in Statia. So we were all working on getting enough energy to go out and have a few beers, but we couldn't quite get moving in time. So, we decided to stay in and listen to 90's music instead, which was awesome! Then we ended up telling ghost stories and scaring ourselves silly.

Saturday night we had a bonfire on the beach in honor of Emily's birthday. There is a long winding path down to the beach from the garden and we went all the way down to the beach and gathered drift wood for a fire. I built a campfire Camp Turner style, and needless to say it could have been a one match fire, but Skyler doused it in gasoline instead and by the time anyone got to the top of the hill to tell him that you could light it easily with a match, it was already a nice orange glow. After sitting at the campfire for a while, we went to the community dance. We'd been hearing a lot about it and thought it would be a nice time. We got there and it turned out to be a high school dance! It was really awkward to be there because a lot of the kids are actually snorkelers and junior rangers.

This weekend I'm going to a neighboring island, Nevis which is a little bit larger and possibly easier to find on a map. Apparently, it has a really nice botanical garden, so I can't wait to check it out. One of the staff members is going to take us, which should be really nice. It should only be a couple hours by boat and it's a lot cheaper than flying there. Nevis is a part of Holland, but they are heavily taxed on items, whereas Statia is not. Statia voted to be a Dutch protectorate as of next year, which may change the prices on goods here. The price of land is also very cheap, and that is also probably going to change.

I hope everyone is well and I'd love to hear about what's going on in your lives, so feel free to shoot me an email so I can catch up!