November Wrap-Up!

Hi Everyone!

I hope this blog post finds you all doing well.  Things here in St. Kitts have been good.  I'm going to share with you all that I've been busy doing since my last post.

My school had a Family Fun Day, fundraiser.  It was a great day full of games, food, and fun!  We even had a giant bouncy castle. The event was organized by one of our parents and my boss, and then other parents and staff members were recruited to assist in 

the day's events.  A great time was had by all, and we just about reached our goal to pay off 

the 10 new laptops that were purchased for the school.  The highlight of Family Fun Day was the "pitch-n-soak" - which is a metal contraption that has a target.  When the target it struck a pin enters a water balloon suspended over the head of a teacher and then showers them with water.  It was a huge hit with the 

kids and we all had fun participating.

My Uncle Carl and Aunt Lisa from Arizona, came to St. Kitts aboard the Queen Mary 2.  The world's largest ocean liner (cruise ship).  St. Kitts was their first port of call after departing from New York City.  I was able to take the day off to tour them around the island.  Javin came along to assist with the tour.  We met them at Port Zante at 8:45 am.  From there we went to Brimstone Hill & Black Rocks.  Then we took them up into the mountains, through cane fields, and rainforests to 

a beautiful spot called Beerford.  From there we went down the 

Southeast Peninsula where we had lunch at  Lion Rock.  Then back over the peninsula to the Shiggity Shack for a drink with Paula.  Then back to the ship.  It was a whirlwind tour, but I can assure you that they saw nearly the entire island on their short stay here.  They also got to quickly meet Dominic before getting back on board.

I also celebrated my first Thanksgiving away from New Jersey.  My friend & neighbor Paula, invited me for dinner.  Thanksgiving is not a holiday here, so it is hard to figure a way to cook a turkey which usually takes 4 or 5 hours when you have to work.  Luckily Paula was not scheduled to work. So she cooked dinner for Javin, Pat & I.  It was delicious.  Turkey, mashed potatoes, yams,

 squash, peas, gravy, cranberry sauce!  The whole nine yards!

That brings us up to this weekend.  This weekend was a fun one.  I spent Saturday in search of a fake Christmas tree.  I have some of my ornaments from NJ here, so I really wanted to find a tree and

decorate it, as I usually do on the weekend after Thanksgiving.  Well... there are trees here, but not like what I'm used to.  But that's OK.  I found a tree, bought some trimmings, bows, garland, and a few extra ornaments to fill it in.  I brought it back to the condo, and assembled the tree and decorated it while wearing my bathing suit and cover-up!  I've never done that before in November in NJ.  Then last night I went to a surprise 50th birthday party for my co-worker Shabbie's mom, Sandra, who I live next to in Keys.  (small world!).  I went with my other co-worker Nicole.  We had a great time eating and dancing.  

Today I went over to Nevis on the Seabridge (a car ferry).  

Javin and I went to check out the new Nevis Drag Racing Strip.  There were all sorts of crazy cars and motorcycles there!  It was really cool. We got there early and got to go see his friend Malaki who works for and lives on the grounds of the Hermitage Plantation Inn.  It is beautiful up there!  Then over to the drag strip.  It is built right alongside the water.  It truly is a beautiful setting.  It was a fun day!

Well... I guess that brings you up to speed on my life.  I promise to write more soon.  The next two weeks mark the end of the term.  I have lots of end of term tests to give and grade. Then December 12th we have a half day and then we are off until January 5th.  My friends Jen and Diana are arriving on December 14th and stay until the 21st!  It should be a blast.  Then after they leave it is Christmas followed by Carnival.  It will be my first Carnival so I'm very excited and promise to take lots of pictures!

I hope you are all well.  I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving and are enjoying getting ready for Christmas.  Write when you get a chance!

Love,

Krista/ Ms. Vics

November Update!

Hi Everyone-

I hope this blog entry finds you all doing well.  This post will be an update for the past few weeks.  The power situation on the island still remains a challenge from time to time, but my bigger issue has been the internet at the house.  It works for 5 minutes then cuts out for a few hours.  So finding time to post has been a challenge.  I'll try to catch you up on what I've been doing though.

An old friend of mine from growing up happened to be coming to St. Kitts with her

 husband.  So I got to meet up with Kristy and her husband Quan twice during their stay.  I didn't get to hang out as much as I wanted, but I was able to visit which was nice!

My parents arrived after their long flight ordeal.  They were here for about 3.5 weeks and had a nice time visiting.  Upon their arrival we had a dinner at the condo in which Tina, Danielle, Javin, Mary & Dominic came together for a lovely dinner.  We've  also spent a lot of time pool side which Dominic enjoys more than anyone I know.  At the same time my parents were here there were several other people here from my travel forum.  We all had a nice time hanging out,

 visiting with old friends and getting to know new ones!  A bunch of us had a pot-luck dinner at the condo where we had delicious food and great company with lots of forum members!  We had many fun nights at the Shiggity Shack too!

At school we've had some fun times.  We had friends from my forum bring down a bunch of books and school supplies for my students.  It was really great!  My students loved the books, they are reading junkies.  It is really wonderful how much they love to read.  We also had a great Halloween celebration.  Students brought in all sorts of goodies and we have an afternoon full of reading spooky stories and eating!  It was great!

Since my last post, we also attended our second hash.  It was a lot of fun.  We went on a great hike up and over the mountains near Turtle Beach.  The views were wonderful and we had a great time.  Tina had her friend Danielle there from South Africa and Javin brought his friends Shaddy & Apo.  We all had a lot of fun!

Now that my parents are gone, they left me in the possession of

 a beautiful condo here in Frigate Bay.  I have beautiful breezes by day, and can hear and see the ocean crashing from inside.  There are also beautiful views of the 

pool and ocean from here.  I'll be here until mid-January.  The good news is that I am "borrowing" internet from my neighbor who has wireless but I don't have the US phone here.  So I'll mostly be available through e-mail, IM and Skype!

I hope that you are all doing well.  Please stay in touch!

Love,

Ms. Vics