St. Maarten--12 days in.

We’ve been on the island now almost 2 weeks.  We came so Josh could go to medical school here; St. Maarten for two years then 2 years doing clinical rotations in the states.  We live in a little studio apartment that is just big enough for two people, in a wonderful building that our Spouses Organization sponsor recommended.  Thank goodness for her because a lot of the apartments we were considering look much better in the pictures than in real life, and as far as I’m concerned we got the best place that was in our price range.  Our landlords are the sweetest people you could ever imagine being your landlord.  They fully stocked our place and insist on me supplying then with a list of additional items they can buy to make the place more homely.  They also took us out to a very nice rib dinner our first night, which we thought was a nice touch.  I think taking care of your tenants is a wonderful business plan, in return we want to do nothing but take good care of the place and be excellent tenants back.

We have met lots of wonderful people, come to think of it I don’t think I’ve met one person who wasn’t extremely friendly….locals, students and spouses, all of them!  There is a Spouses Organization that provides us with events, guidance, and job opportunities.  My sponsor happens to be the President of the S.O., Jackie, and she is wonderful. I definitely hit the jackpot getting assigned to her!  She picked us up from the airport, gives me the skinny on job opportunities, showed us the ins and outs of island life and introduces us to everyone.  There are lots of girlfriends, wifes, mothers, husbands even...it’s a great support network.

Even though it is beautiful here it is a poor island and it is an adjustment.  People might think, it’s so beautiful, you’re living in paradise, what is there to miss?  But there is nothing like home.  And this doesn’t feel like home yet.  I feel a little homesick at times.  I feel a little bored at times.  I miss having my full time job and feeling like there were a work-related purpose to life every day, instead of just feeling like I’m floating around trying to find stuff to keep me busy doing things that don’t really utilize what I went to school for (and doesn’t pay much).  Don’t get me wrong I love doing coffee cart in the mornings, talking to all the students and meeting some of the staff.  I’m very grateful that UCLA kept me on as a consultant and has sent me some stuff to work on, I’ll be an author on a datapoint article I’m writing for a journal.  Also Jackie tutors this very cute and sweet 3 year old Indian boy named Shiva, his parents work at Josh’s school and in a month I might take over for her while she takes on a full time teaching position at the local private school.  So it’s nice to have those things but still not the same as before where I was at home working under my license at a job that I loved.

Here’s what I’ve learned about the island so far…

There are a lot of mosquitoes and nothing quite works to keep them away from me...I’ve tried the deet sprays, the citronella anklettes (that make me look like I’m on housearrest), the tennis racket zapper, and I’ve read about the lantern zapper, none of it works!  I am always hot outside and then freezing at the school.  We eat healthier because eating heavy foods just doesn’t feel right on an island.  Beer is extremely cheap, soda is expensive.  I will pay too much for bad wine, and now that I left California I don’t know if that will ever change.  Fruits and vegetables are expensive, don’t look as good and don’t last long.  Actually all food is expensive, whether you cook for yourself or go out, except for pizza and the Thai place in the casino.  Nobody wears makeup or cares what you look like.  Everyone is friendly.  If you say Good Morning it’d better be morning not the afternoon, they are specific here.  All the island cars look like they’ve been transplanted from Mexico.  The roads have major pot holes, I don’t know how our car makes it a week without needing new tires.  Hot water only lasts 3 minutes in the shower, and there is no water pressure.