Sorry! :)

I don't even know where to begin.  Life has been busy and challenging to say the least lately.  Things between Javin and I are really great.  We are a great team and we work together in all that we do.  I'm really happy!  I've also been busy working on my photography hobby.  I take so many pictures all the time, I'm just inspired by the scenery around me here.  I'm sorry for not having updated my blog sooner.  OK - let me at least give you a quick update on the last several months.

September - The last week of August I returned to school after a lovely summer.  The first week of September the children reported back from their summer vacations.  We had a great start.  My class is 16 students, 8 in each grade.  They are a great bunch of students.  A combination of new students to the school and returning students.  Being that it is my second year here now (TIME FLIES!) I definitely felt much better starting up this year.  We have several enhancements to our curriculum including an active living component where we do more physical activity as well as have more time scheduled for our anti-bullying program, Social Decision Making & Problem Solving and other topics.  

This year I'm also teaching some new courses.  This year I'm also responsible for the delivery of the Social Studies curriculum.  I'm having a blast with it developing PowerPoints and also great on-line games with a new website I'm using called Quia (all you teachers out there, check out quia.com).  I'm also teaching a high school Information Technology course for our grades 7 - 9 students.  This is a CXC (Caribbean Examination Council) course which can earn 'subjects' toward graduation.  

My parents came down mid-August for 7 weeks to house/dog sit for some people we know down here while they went back to England to have their first child.  It was nice having my parents here, kinda strange that for a time they had their 'own' house here.  I could pop over after work just like when i was in NJ.  It was nice to be able to see them for such an extended period of time.

October:  October came and went quickly as well.  My birthday passed - the big 32!!  I had a great day with my sweetie, Javin.  He made my day very special.   My students also floored me by bringing the most beautiful home-made cards, flowers, jewelry & more.  It was unexpected but nice.  

Toward the end of October the St. Kitts Hashers Club had an anniversary hash weekend with 4 days/nights of events, all with a PIRATE THEME!  On Thursday evening they had dinner and drinks at Shipwreck Beach Bar.  This night we got assigned to our 'team' for the weekend.  

I was a Scurvey Dog!   

Friday  night after work we met at the TDC field all told to wear red dresses for the Bearded Lady, Red Dress, Rum Run.  We walked all over the city of Basseterre from bar to bar for a drink or soda.  It was a fun night - but everyone else was staring at the MEN and women in red dresses.  Afterward there was a great dinner for all to enjoy!  Saturday I missed the days festivities as I needed a break. Sunday however, was a blast!  We went to Nevis on the Shiggidy Express, Mr. X's powered catamaran.  Once on Nevis we took a hike and then came back for lunch and games on the beach.  It was over all a very fun weekend.

October at school also brought our school's first ever school dance.  It was for grades 5 - 9 and they loved it.  We converted my classroom into the dance floor and pumped up the music.  The decorations came in from Georgia, complete with disco ball!  It was really fun and already we have another planned for November.

Also in October was Halloween.  We had a fun Halloween Party at school.  On Saturday evening we had trick-or-treating in Calypso Bay where we were dog sitting for Herbert (the best dog EVER!).  It was so fun because they don't really trick-or-treat here, so the ex-pat families arrange this for the children.  The kids knew I was staying up there so they all came to the house!  It was a lot of fun.

While over in Calypso, we also took the opportunity to get Javin's family together for a gathering of  food, fun and pool time.  It was great to get everyone together and just relax and unwind having a nice Sunday together.

November:  Well on a personal note we finally got an offer on our house.  However, it has been the most horrible experience.  There have been so many errors made in the appraisal and other things.  We are just holding out and waiting but HOPEFULLY we'll close on the house this month and be free to move on with our lives. 

My parents also decided while they were here that they'd like to send my mom's car down to me here on the island.  The way it works here is that you have to pay a high duty to bring vehicles in.  They charge you 84% of the purchase price & the shipping costs.  Then depending on the age of your car you pay an environmental levy.  Because my car that is coming is a 2003 I have to pay $5K EC toward that.  The car has had quite a journey in getting here.  First it went from NJ to Florida on a truck.  Once it got to Florida Tropical Shipping took over.  It then went to US Customs to be searched for drugs and weapons and then back to Tropical Shipping for its voyage to St. Kitts.It will be on the open seas for about 1 week and then it will arrive here.  Once it arrives here I've hired a broker to get it out of the customs lock-up for me.  Then i have to do the running from Traffic Department, to SNIC (my insurance co), then to Hanley's to get it inspected and then finally to Inland Revenue where I can finally register it.  Never dull.....  But I'm excited to get a new car down here (well new to me).  I sold my car in October.  It had been very good to me and I was sad to see it go!

At school this year we have our first ever sport team.  The SKI Academy STRIKERS are our soccer/football team.  They are competing in the Private Primary Schools Football Competition.  It is a month long competition where we play against the other private schools on the island.  They take place on Monday afternoons so we all go down as a school to cheer on the team.  It is so fun to have a sports team to root for.

There have been lots of friends down from my travel forum.  It is so nice to be able to see everyone when they come down for their yearly or twice yearly visits. I really enjoy the time with them all.

HMMM..... I guess that is all for now.  I promise to not stay too long in writing again.  I do hope this blog entry finds everyone well.  Write when you have time!

Love

Krista

New Jersey Visit

Hi All-

I know this blog update is LONG overdue.  For that I apologize.  Things get mighty hectic in life.  The end of the school year was busy and fun.  I can't believe I've been living in St. Kitts for over a year now.  Time sure does fly.  

In June, Javin went to Barbados to once again try to get a US Visa.  We tend to forget as Americans how lucky we are that we are free to travel pretty much where ever and whenever we want.  Other people are not so lucky in this world.  If you live in St. Kitts and want to travel to the US, you must first apply for an appointment at the US Embassy in Bridgetown, Barbados.  Once you are granted a date you must book your flight and hotel.  In the meantime, you must prepare the necessary paperwork (Embassy forms, job letters, bank statements, background checks, and any other paperwork to help your cause).  Most people are turned down several times before getting a Visa, some never are granted a chance.  They are given no reason, just a "no".  It is so sad, good people try spend hard earned money to try and get a chance just to VISIT the USA.  For Javin, it turned out that the third time is the charm.  He was granted a US Visa for a period of 10 years!  Yippeee.... planning for our summer trip began the night he returned from Barbados with his Visa!

After school let out for the summer, Javin and I ran a summer "Adventure Camp".  Camp was two weeks long, Monday - Friday, 9am - 3pm.  We had anywhere from 12 - 22 kids each day.  We had to hire an additional counselor & a bus driver.  Our campers & I had a blast.  We did all sorts of different things each day.  Our top adventure was zip-lining 200 feet about the canopy of the rainforest.  We also spent the day on a beautiful catamaran.  We did lots of hiking, took a Caribbean cooking class, spent afternoons at the beach on water trampolines... the whole nine yards.  It was a great two weeks and all of the campers had a blast.  The parents said it was the best camp to date and already started booking slots for next summer.

When camp ended we had a few down days then off to Jersey.  Things always go smoothly right?  Of course not... the day before we left Javin had to have a tooth pulled on an emergency basis.  So our trip started out with Javin in discomfort and I felt horrible about that.  Once on our trip he continued to have some discomfort but was a trooper for the most part.  The week after we arrived I took ill, and wound up with a nasty case of sinusitis and on antibiotics.  NO FUN!  It also turns out that Javin is allergic to shellfish and had a horrible reaction to shrimp and calamari (yea calamari is shellfish, who knew?).  Anyhow - those were the unexpected quirky things.

We had a great time in NJ visiting with family & friends.  Of course, the time went too quickly so I didn't get all the time I'd hoped for with everyone.  However I'm so grateful for the time that we did get with them.  Here are some of the highlights of our trip.

• Statute of Liberty

• Dorney Park with Eileen, Gabi, Melody & Emma

• Canoeing on Kamphee Lake in Bloomingdale - so pretty

• NYC for the day (Top of the Rock, Central Park, Times Square, Rockefellar Plaza, FAO Schwartz, Toys R Us,  Hard Rock Cafe and more).  Our excellent tour guides were Diana & Steve.  It was a great day!

• The Great Falls of Paterson & Lambert Castle (did you know the falls are now a NATIONAL PARK?)

• Canoeing 8 miles down the Delaware River with the Moran crew

• Many trips to Ritas with Meg C.

• A family BBQ

• A friends BBQ

• A great party at J Mo's house with my former Riverdale co-workers... thanks Eileen & Jen

• Mini golf with Eileen

• Eating everywhere (as these places are new for Javin) Wendys, McDonalds, Burger King, Taco Bell, Nathans, Outback, even Hibatichi, NJ pizza & bagels too

•  Whole day with the Moeller crew at the pool laughing and having fun.

• Going to Harley Davidson & other bikes stores for Javin

Javin and I really enjoyed our trip - the great quality time with friends and family, and all of our sight-seeing.  It was really great.

Now we are back in SK.  My parents arrive here next week for 7 weeks in paradise.  Just about when my parents arrive a hurricane MIGHT be coming our way - so please say your prayers that it spares us here in the Caribbean.  

I hope you are all having a great summer... I can't believe it is almost over.  I go back to work August 27th.  

Write/e-mail when you get a chance!

Love,

Krista/Ms. Vics

PS - pics to come soon!

I guess I missed April!

There are no words to express how fast time really does go by.  I find myself staring at the calendar as of late saying how on God’s green earth is it already the middle of May.  What makes it even more mind-boggling is the fact that I’ve been living in St. Kitts for nearly 10 months when in actuality it seems more like 10 minutes.  I wish I could actually account for all of my time and tell you detail for detail all of the fun things I’ve been up to, but I’ll do my best to fill you in on my adventures.

           

Let’s go back to April.  April was a busy time at school.  We were preparing for End of Term Tests as well as Sports Day (Field Day), and our class trip.  Sports Day was a great afternoon of fun. There were races and obstacle courses.  Parents were involved in several of the days events as well.  The afternoon started off with something called a “March Pass”. During the March Pass the teams walked onto the field following a drum core of about 10 drummers and a drill sergeant from the local military.  The teams were each presented for inspection and then the events began.  It was a ton of fun. 

            

For our class trip, with the help of one of my great parents, we arranged a lovely island tour.  The kids toured all 9 parishes of St. Kitts getting out to see and explore along the way.  We hit historic points as well as many of the beautiful places to see on the island of St. Kitts. 

April also found me with two heavenly weeks off for Spring Break.  In all the years past I dreamt of spending my Spring Breaks in St. Kitts and that was seldom possible.  But there year I was already here, and I was more than ready to make the most of it.  I spent time doing all sorts of things.  I was busy enjoying the beach, spending quality time with Javin and my friends, and found plenty of time for rest and relaxation.  That was much needed. 

During Spring Break I’d heard from a friend in NJ that one of her friends was coming to St. Kitts.  She asked if I’d like to meet up with them and I said sure.  So Javin and I met Danielle and Kathy from NJ.  Danielle works with  my friend Suzanne, and we started e-mailing back and forth about their trip.  When they arrived we met up with them for drinks and then the following day took them on a brief tour of the Southeast Peninsula of St. Kitts.  In conversation it turned out that Kathy works with my friend Diana at Morristown Memorial Hospital.  It is truly such a small world.  But it was fun having the NJ connection and making new friends.

Spring Break also brought with it the launch of a small side business related to my St. Kitts travel forum.  Javin and I have been working in conjunction with Drew who is our mastermind web programmer.  What we’ve done is go “commercial” selling advertising space on the forum.  Drew did all the coding and Javin and I hit the streets selling ad space to local business owners turning the forum into something that will actually generate money for us all. It has been a slow start but we’ve had some great advertisers purchase space and it continues to grow daily.

Javin and I also launched the start of a small hiking business for him as a sideline to his regular job. This business will take visitors and locals on hikes up the “ghauts” or rivers of St. Kitts.  The beautiful part about these hikes is when there is rain in the mountains.  It causes the ghauts to flow creating pools of ice-cold mountain fed water for you to swim in.  It is one of the most exotic places I’ve ever experienced.  The ghauts are nestled in the rainforest and there are amazing plants, and trees as well as monkeys and other animals.  There are also bamboo plants that tower into the blue sky, growing taller then I ever knew bamboo could get.  Javin and I created some beautiful walking sticks for our future hikers out of bamboo stalks – not only are they strong they are also soft as silk for holding onto while walking. 

School has kept me busy too.  The day-to-day routine is fun.  My kids are energetic and fun and keep me on my toes.  They know how to be serious and fun which are great qualities.  We just finished reading the novel Sounder, one of my favorite novels of all time.  We are gearing up for the Test of Standards (which are like the NJ ASK tests), which takes place the week of June 9-12.  The kids have tests in language, math, science and social studies.  We are also preparing for our end of the year concert, which will take place June 24^th.  We are doing a Disney theme and my students and I are working on two songs currently: Under the Sea & A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes.  It is fun getting ready and singing together.

Outside of school finds me very busy as well.  I currently have 5 students that I’m tutoring 1 or 2 times weekly.  In addition my Photography Club wrapped up with a luncheon at one of our new upscale beach bars called Spice Mill.  The kids worked hard and became really great photographers.  After the kids Photography Club was done there was some discussion amongst the parents about them wanting a club too.  So I have 7 adults taking my 4-week class – this Wednesday being the conclusion.  It too has been great fun.

Once Photography Club ended I started a Technology Club.  I have 10 students.  We meet twice weekly, Wednesdays for 1 hour and Saturdays for 2-3 hours.  We are learning to blog, create newspapers, manage pictures on-line and do video editing.  On Saturdays we go on various adventures: hiking, exploring sugar cane fields and farms, etc.  Wednesday afternoons we will blog about our activities.  It promises to be great fun.  The class will run all of May & June for a total of 8 weeks.

Aside from work, work, work there has been some time for fun too.  I took a fun hike in an area called Bloody Point.  Bloody Point is an area that is said by legend to have been the site of a brutal battle between the Europeans and the Carib Indians.  It is said that the Europeans wiped out the Carib population on the island and that there was so much bloodshed that the earth was colored red.  In either case, today in modern times there is a great hiking spot where you can see petroglyphs, which are ancient drawings of the Carib people.  I hiked this with my friend Sharon and her family.  One of the really cool things were the exposed roots of this huge tree.  I put Sharon and her family in the tree and took some cool pictures!
            I’ve also spent a good deal of time swimming, snorkeling and enjoying some time at some local beach bars with friends.  I still find myself taken by the beauty of St. Kitts.  I don’t go anywhere without my camera and find myself taking tons of pictures.  I will share some of them on the blog with you for your enjoyment. 

Coming up, I will be housesitting for a friend for 4 months.  I will have a lovely condo in the area called Frigate Bay. I will be there through September and will enjoy having a pool a few steps away and the beach within walking distance.  Ahhhh… should be a lovely way to spend the summer months.  I’m also planning a summer camp for the first two weeks of summer.  It will be an adventure camp full of lots of exciting events.  Upon completion of the camp, I plan to return to New Jersey for a couple of weeks for a visit. 

I hope this blog entry finds you all well.  I know time flies and I apologize for not keeping up with the blog as often as I planned to.  Please write to me and tell me how you are doing.  I’d love to hear from you all!  I hope all is well… summer is coming!!!

It's Only March for 2 More Days! What?

Hi Everyone!

I really must apologize for taking so long to write to everyone here on my blog.  I can’t even believe that it is almost the end of March.  I’m shocked at how quickly times seems to fly.  Right now I have one week to go and then I’m on Spring Break for 2 weeks.  If I was still in New Jersey, I’d be complaining that I can’t go to St. Kitts for Spring Break because the ticket price is so high and now I’m already here.  So I can just kick back and relax!  Nice!

Well let me at least give a quick recap of what I’ve been up to:

In early March my dad had a hip replacement surgery.  At first everything went smoothly, then there were some complications with his incision.  He had to go back to the doctor to have it looked at and they wound up replacing his hip AGAIN and putting him on strong antibiotics to keep infections away.  He is now slowly getting back to normal but it has been a long road for both he and my mother.

March kept me busy with my 7 student Photography Club.  We’ve been all over the island photographing everything in our site!  We hit several beaches, went to Romney Manor, Brimstone Hill, went out on a fishing boat.. man it has just been fun.  

Each week we’d meet on a Wednesday afternoon for an hour, and talk about cameras and different functions & download our pictures from the previous weekend trip.  

Each Saturday we’d travel for 2 - 3 hours to a different spot on the island.  It has been great fun!  My students have really learned a lot and turned into really great photographers.  So much so that now I have their parents and other adults asking me to run a course in the evenings for them.  So I’ll be starting that after Spring Break!  Should be fun!

One Saturday in March, I took the ferry over to Nevis. My friend Amelia and her husband Chevy we having the grand reopening of their beach bar, “Chevy’s Calypso Bar & Grille”. I went over to lend support and assistance to my Nevisian friends.  I was picked up at the ferry terminal by two of their friends, Paul & Jahlive.  We ran a few errands picking up last minute items for the days/nights events.  Once over to Chevy’s I was able to see the beauty of their new restaurant/bar.  Their original bar was totally destroyed during Hurricane Omar.  They rebuilt a bigger and better Chevy’s over the next several months.  I had a great night with friends old and new.  The topper was that Amelia told me she’d have a place for me to stay, well that was an understatement.  She put me in a three bedroom private villa with a plunge pool - just for myself for the night.  Man was that great.  I was planning to go back to St. Kitts via ferry on Sunday afternoon.  We were hanging out at Chevy’s and the Irie Lime catamaran pulled up with a bunch of my friends on board.  They invited me go back with them on the boat and it was nice.  I got to sit up front on the nets watching the sun set over St. Kitts.  It was the perfect end to a great weekend.

Javin and I have also had some fun.  We spent one Sunday morning at our new favorite beach, Whitehouse Bay.  They recently built a lovely dock into the water. We spent the morning snorkeling, and swimming around and really just enjoying each other’s company.  I took a ton a pictures of Javin doing flips off the dock and just being a monkey.  It was great fun!  Javin and I also went to a pajama party that his cousin had.  It was a fun night too.  There is always something fun or silly to do on this island!

Things at school have been really great.  My students are a lot of fun.  We’ve had two behavioral challenges:  The Valentine’s Day Challenge, and the Shamrock Challenge.  After earning their cotton balls they earned parties.  One was a movie party and the other was a board game party.  It was great.  Coming up this week we have Sports Day (which is like Field Day) and a field trip around the island, visiting all nine parishes on the island.  I’m really looking forward to both events, it should be a really nice week - and then TWO WEEKS OFF!!!

One more thing before I go... I just wanted to tell everyone that on April 24th the triplets will be turning 5!  How is that possible?  Where does the time go?  I can’t even see how those little babies are almost 5 year old boys.  It seems impossible.  I’m just sorry I won’t be able to be there to celebrate with them on such a special day!  Happy early birthday guys!  I love you!

Well I guess that is it.  I’m trying to plan some fun activities for my Spring Break, so I’ll be sure to check in as often as possible and keep you up to date!  I hope everyone is doing well and that you all have a Happy Easter when it comes!

Be well!

Love,

Ms. Vics/Krista

February is Flying By..

Hi everyone-Is it me or does time just fly by?  I've been very busy here in St. Kitts.  Since my last post I've done some fun things that I'd like to report in on.  I went on my next hash early in the month.  The Hashers Club is a group of people who get together every 3 weeks on a Saturday to go on a run/walk through really pretty spots on the island.  It is a nice way to spend some time on a Saturday afternoon.  I went Tina and some friends.  We had a really nice time.  Tina and I stop way to much to take photographs of everything we see around us.  I took a great picture of a sugar mill that I then edited and turned black and white that I'll be posting.

After returning from the hash, Tina and her friends dropped me back off to my house.  As we were standing on the street one of the girls notice that something was trying to break into my bedroom window.  That something was a centipede.  Centipedes on the island are HUGE.  They  grow to be 6 or more inches long, have nasty antennas on their head, and a bite so painful that it discolors and swells your body.  Well I'd never had to deal with one and didn't know what to do.  So I ran to my neighbors house who instructed me on how to "deal with it."  He watched from his window laughing at me as I tried to take the enemy down.  Before attempting to end this centipedes life - I did pause to take a picture of him which, of course, I'm attaching.

I've also been spending some Sunday afternoons at the beach with my friend TG and his children.  I've known them for years and they've included me in their weekly fun of beach time and football (soccer) games, although I'm always picked last... ha ha!  It is fun to hang out with the boys because they are well behaved and very respectful and just really enjoy having fun!

My Photography Club started this past week.  I have a total of 7 students signed up which is a perfect number.  

We met at Frigate Bay near the Shiggidy Shack.  We had several things we were working on, framing, leveling the horizon, getting on the level of your subject, fast action settings, macro settings and other great lessons.  The kids were instructed to come in their bathing suits and to be ready to get wet and be the subject of some pictures and the taker of others.  

We had a wonderful time.  We staged boogie boarding pictures, shots jumping off tables and other such objects, and sword fight pictures with nerf swords.  The highlight was me getting my friend to take the whole class on a 15 minute boat ride on the Shiggidy Express.  The kids loved the treat and we put our cameras on fast action and this time practiced with us being the moving object and taking pictures of still things.  It was a great day!

Well, I guess that is all for now.  My calendar is getting filled up.  I'm currently tutoring Monday, Tuesday & Thursday afternoons.  I walk or hike on Monday, Wednesday & Thursday afternoons, I have Photography Club Wednesday & Saturdays, and I have a computer class that I'm taking on Tuesday & Thursday evenings.  It is a busy schedule but it is very rewarding.  

I am also working to start a library in the village that I live in. This is in the works with one of the government ministers and it is quite exciting.  I'm currently sorting and making a master list of the thousands of books we have in storage on the island.  We also have 8 - 10 new computers secured for the library once completed.  The building will be about 40 foot square and should be a great space.  The library will be run by volunteers but we are planning to run one week afternoon/night day and a Saturday session.  We will host story hours for the younger children and I will be running free computer courses in the evenings.  One of the younger, high school, volunteers will be running computer courses free for younger students. It should be really great when it is all up and running.  I know we will be looking for newer book titles when we get closer, so anyone who has books that might be good, let me know and we'll try to figure something out.

Well, I guess that is all for now.  I hope everyone is doing well.  Please write and let me know what you've been up to!  Miss you all!

Love,

Krista/Ms. Vics

2009....

Hi everyone-

Sorry that so much time has passed since my last posting.  I've been trying to post two blogs per month, but sometimes I can't keep up with how fast the days go by.  So this will just serve as a quick update on what has happened so far in 2009, in St. Kitts.

2009 rang in quite differently for me than all my past New Years.  In St. Kitts the party does not start until after midnight.  Javin and I went to a New Years ball at one of the hotels.  All of the hotels hold balls from 10 until whenever.  It was well done and there 

was great food, decorations and music.  Being that we have are an hour ahead of you all in the NY/NJ area we could not even watch the ball drop... again an odd experience for me.  However, 

my first New Years Eve in St. Kitts was memorable.  There were many parents from my school at the celebration as well as my friend Tina & her friend John.  We all enjoyed our night and bought in 2009 without a hitch!

Carnival/J'Ourvet was a great experience.  It was a time full of street parades and colorful costumes.  I got to go to the street parades where there were children through adults dressed in great costumes.  Groups formed Carnival Troupes and marched to music in costumes specific to their troupe.  Bands played on huge flat bed trucks with 20-30 huge speakers on each making the whole town literally feel like it would bounce off its foundation.  There were Mack Jumbie, stilt walkers who towered about the crowd nearly 10 feet or more in the air.  The feeling in the air was of excitement and joy.  Everyone was there to have fun and take in the sights and sounds associated with this festive time of year here in St. Kitts.

Back at work things have been busy but good.  I find myself getting more into the routine and feeling better overall with what I'm doing.  Everything takes time and patience, so I finally feel as if I'm settling in here.  I'm running a photography club starting next week for 8 weeks meeting for 3 hours a week.  I have 6 children enrolled and I think it is going to be a blast.  We will be doing one hour a week at the school and 2 hours at a location with great vistas to practice what we are learning.  I'm really excited about it.  I'll also be taking a computer course 2 nights weekly for 5 weeks brushing up on the Microsoft Office suite.  Although the more I'm reading the more I think I could likely teach the course...lol!  

On an interesting note.  Last week we had FOUR cruise ships in port at once.  I've never seen that before.  You'll see in my photo that that there is one in the foreground. That one is at our cargo dock.  Then you'll see one in the ocean - they brought people to shore in small boats, tenders, to get onto the island. Then you'll see (if you look carefully) two ships off to the right at our actual cruise ship port, Port Zante.  It is amazing how many ships can come to this island at once, I never knew that was possible!

Well I guess that is all for now.  I do promise to write more soon.  Time moves so quickly and even with the best of intentions I don't always get to post as faithfully as I had hoped.

I hope that 2009 is treating you all well!  Please write or comment when you get a chance.  Looking forward to hearing from you all!

Love

Krista/Ms. Vics

A sad end to 2008....

Hi everyone.  I thought that I was only going to use this blog to share the good and fun aspects of my new life in St. Kitts.  I will tell you that my first Christmas here was a new experience.  Javin and I cooked up the ham and “Sam, the Christmas Snapper” (warning the photo is of a body double as Javin had already ‘dismembered’ the real Sam before I was able to take a picture of him.  I do have a photo of his head – but that somehow seemed too morbid for my blog…lol!) 

 

Javin and I cooked for hours on Christmas morning for our expected guests.  The menu was a mix of traditional foods from both of our cultures.  I prepared an 11-pound spiral ham, garlic mashed potatoes, asparagus, potato salad, stuffing and I baked a cake and made jello.  Javin was in charge of preparing Sam, and also made a pot of rice & peas, stewed peas, macaroni pie and a wonderful gravy in which Sam was served. 

 

The preparations were fun – but time consuming.  So at about 1:30 I decided I needed a short break.  So I put on my bathing suit and headed to the pool.  Timidly walked in as the water was COLD and took about a 20-minute swim.  That was all I needed to feel revived and good.  I came back in, finished cooking and then got ready for our guests.  The meal was delicious.  We all had fun while enjoying the food and company.

 

The next day was J’ourvet Morning.  J’ourvet is the kickoff even for Carnival season.  Carnival is a week and a half (ish) long celebration of parades, shows and colorful activities featuring great music, food and amazing costumes.  J’ourvet is a street party that starts around midnight and goes straight into the next afternoon, ending around noon.  

All of the big bands from the island: Nu-Vybes, Grand Masters, Collision, etc get on huge flat bed trucks each equipped with an enormous generator and about 25 giant speakers and blast their music on the streets of town while troupes of people dance behind the truck.  The atmosphere is festive and fun, but above all safe.  There is lots of security and police presence to make sure that everyone has a fun and safe time.  I joined the festivities around 8:30 in the morning and left at noon when it was done.  I don’t know how some of these people party for 12 hours.  There is NO WAY I could do that.  There was even a wet down (pictured) where they turned a fire house on the crowd.  I stayed clear of that - minus taking a few pictures.

The fun part about J'ourvet is that you can expect the unexpected.  People are dressed in weird costumes, spooky masks, goofy animal costumes, feather masks, you name it they have it.  Paint covering their entire head  and hair.  Things you'd just never expect. So part of the fun for me was photographing some of the interesting things I was seeing.  

Anyhow, after J’ourvet was over, and Christmas behind me I decided to spend a few days of quiet time getting some much needed rest and relaxation.  So that was what I’ve been doing when I got some very sad news today.  The news being that Boomer, my beloved dog, that I’d left with my parents had to be put to sleep today.  She’d been very sick, not eating, not enjoying the company of people, losing lots of weight, and her back legs which she’d had surgery on years ago were starting to ail her again.  My parents have been taking her to the vet and getting all sorts of medicine for her, but Boomer has stopped taking the medications and there was very little left to do for her and it was felt by all that it was best to put her to sleep while she still had some dignity left.  I’m heart broken over it all.  That is where I had the tough choice of deciding to share other parts of my life here on the blog. 

 

About a month and a half ago, Drew had called to tell me that Sasha, one of our three cats, had not been doing well.  She had not been acting herself.  Within a matter of days, while I was on the phone with him, Drew found Sasha dead on the floor in our old house.  I didn’t post this on the blog – but now feel a sense of guilt because there should have been a tribute to her.  She was a loving pet, a cat who overcame a lot in her short life.  We believe she had been abused by her previous owner and it took a long time for Sasha to warm up and come around.  She did however, turn into one of the most loving cats to ever walk the earth.  The same could be said about Boomer.  

Boomer had a tough life, she’d moved in with us after the Moeller’s (the family with the triplets) could not care for her due to the medical needs of the boys.  The one thing Boomer did have was a lot of people who loved her, my parents, me, Drew, Dawn & Mike (her first parents).  Boomer bounced back and became a loving member of our household.  Our biggest fear at the time was getting Boomer and the cats to be friends, and we thought Sasha, because she was so timid, was going to be the hardest sell.  As it turns out, Sasha was the first to become Boomer’s friend and it gives me great comfort to know that they are together somewhere, playing together.  Ya see, by moving Boomer into a house with all cats she sort of started thinking she was a cat too.  Boomer always wanted to play when they played but didn’t realize her size.  It was actually kind of cute.

 So in either case, I dedicate this blog entry to Sasha and Boomer!  They were both excellent pets and friends.  Sasha used to sleep in bed with me every night and Boomer would sleep at the side of my bed.  If she had her way, she would have joined Sasha and I, but let’s face it, Boomer needs her own bed she is so big!  I love them both and miss them both terribly.  I never thought I’d move to St. Kitts and not see two of my beloved “fur-babies” again.  It is truly hard to swallow. 

 Just use this as an opportunity to love the people and animals in your life.  Time is short and you never know when your time on this earth will be up.  So remember to show your love and express your love on a daily basis.  That way you will not live with the regret of not having told someone that you love them!  Remember that this holiday season!

 Until next time….

 Krista (Ms. Vics)