2 months in...

Well it's been exactly 2 months since we got here and we are still loving it! Harris is half way done his first semester and I am working full time for this wonderful Canadian couple who own a store that is half a hardware store and half a mini Walmart. You can come to us to get some new undies and a replacement blade for your reciprocating saw. I have no idea what a reciprocating saw is nor what it does but I can show you where it is in the store! I never thought I'd be working at a hardware/Walmart but I also never thought I'd live on a remote island where I can't get my monthly pedicures! That's honestly the only thing I can't get here. Oh and of course there aren't really any stores for buying clothes. There are 2 but it's not like I have any extra money to buy any clothes so it's probably better that there isn't a good selection!

We are settling in very nicely... we now have 2 pets!! We are borrowing some turtles from this very nice couple who have about 14 of them aged 6 months to 35 years. The ones we have are around 4 years old. We haven't named them yet so if you have any ideas let me know! My other mom (Harris' mom) suggested Sam and Ella (say it quickly) hahaha She used to have 2 goldfish and that were their names! I was playing with one today and my friend Matt said touch it's tail and see what happens. Well, I did and the thing peed so long and so hard!!! Thankfully, none got on me but it was the funniest thing ever!!! Harris and I built them a little home and they live on our patio. They are so cute but they don't really do much. Harris keeps thinking they're dead so he keeps feeding them! And they perk right up!

Our turtles exploring their new home

Harris and I were snorkeling a couple weeks ago at this place called "The Cove". Its right beside the airport and there are 3 tidal pools that have lots of beautiful fish. We had so much fun so we've decided to learn to dive this next break coming up. Saba is known as the most beautiful place to dive in the Caribbean so we must learn here!! The Cove has volcanic ash but the government bought white sand from St. Maarten to dump there so we will soon have a white sand beach!! I think they are waiting for hurricane season to finish otherwise it will all blow away! Hurricane season just started so it might be a while before we get it done but I'll make sure to post before and after pictures of it. One of the girls, Anne, that is part of the SOS group is leaving this Sunday so we had a going away party there for her on Friday. It was such a fun day! We had a potluck and went swimming and just hung out. Anne is the first girl that I met here and she is the best! She taught me everything I need to know in order to survive on the island! She will be sadly missed :(

Anne's going away party! She's the one on my left

So, I signed up for sewing classes every Wednesday night. I've only had 1 class so far but I'm loving it! We made pillow cases. I unfortunately did not finish mine but I will next class. Who would have thought a pillow case could take 2 hours to sew!!! I sewed something wrong so I had to unstitch it and redo it! I had straight lines though haha I have also been looking through diy blogs online and have made a couple bracelets (one with a washer from the hardware store) and a bag made from one of H's old t-shirts!! No sewing required! There is an artisan store here where you can buy fabric that they silk screen on so I will hopefully get some material to make a dress with. I will definatly post pictures of it when I order the material and get it in. I've heard it can take a while to get your material and the hours that they are open are when I work but I will prevail!


The bag I made! It took 5 minutes! Notice the I heart Saba pin!!

Another fun night here on the island is Open Mic night at Swinging Doors. Anybody who can play an instrument and sing is welcome to perform. It's not like a karoke night. A couple of our friends are very talented so it was a lot of fun to watch them jam (I think that's what they call it!) It kinda felt like a frat party! I requested Britney Spears so when they played it I went up to do back up singing!!

Harris hates this picture of himself but I love it so don't tell him I put it up!

Me singing Britney Spears with Matt, Ryan and Amy

 Well, I'm sorry it has been a month since the last time I wrote. I have been getting nasty messages from friends! I didn't have anything exciting to write about so I was waiting. I hope everyone is doing great! Thank you for reading my nonsense. Miss everyone back home! I will be home soon though for Chris and Nigel's wedding!!! Can't wait!!! xoxo

Our favourite place to have coffee on Sunday morning

Saturday Night

Well, it's Saturday night at 10:30pm and I'm sitting alone at home! Haven't done that in a while. H has gone to school to look at the cadavers cause he has two exams on Monday and Tuesday. The weather here is so weird! We woke up to a beautiful sunny day. So hot that we had all the fans on full blast and we were still sweating! Then this afternoon it was cloudy but still quite hot and humid and now it's torrential downpour with thunder and lightning! I tried to get some pictures of the lightening but I wasn't quick enough and then the battery died on my (Rehman's) camera. Oh well, it is supposed to be like this for the whole month so I'll keep trying. I can only imagine how creepy it must be for H to be in a room with 7 cadavers listening to the thunder and lightning. Seems like the perfect setting for a scary movie. Well, I'm gonna stop thinking about that before I scare myself! Everyone seems to go home very quickly once the rain starts. The bar downstairs is closed already and it was packed about half an hour ago. Oddly enough, there is a man that keeps yelling things somewhere down the street. I can't quite make out what he's saying but I'm pretty sure he's drunk!

I had a really relaxing day today. Went for a nice walk then read, painted and went to the glass blowing studio to clean the beads I made last time. They turned out beautifully! One looks like a little rose so I made a nice keychain with it! One of the girls from SOS stopped by today cause they were hanging out having smoothies at Saba Snack just down the road. People here just come right to your door- nobody really bothers to call! I love it! And we always have our door open so it's really fun to get visitors throughout the day. The other daily visitor we have is a lizard that hangs out at the window sill in front of H's desk. He comes right inside just past the window but hasn't ventured in further. We were feeding him some little bugs that were right by the window so I think that's why he keeps coming back! He's really cute but we should probably stop feeding him or he may tell his friends!

Lizzy the Lizard

I woke up this morning with a huge bump on half of my lower lip! I woke up in the middle of the night and it felt like I had been biting my lip while I was sleeping or something like that so I assume that's when it happened. H looked a little scared of me this morning and when we looked at it more closely you could see where I had been stung! So gross to imagine some little rodent crawling on my face and into my mouth. My lip is basically back to normal now so it wasn't anything dangerous. I was told a story about the giant caterpillars that live on the island coming through an open window and biting a tourists head. When he woke up he had a massive bump on his head and he was losing his hair on that spot! Not all of our windows have mosquito nets so ever since hearing that story we've been making sure to close those windows at night.

So, remember how I was talking about the straps on my dresses and tank tops ripping at the seams? Well I've encountered a new issue. Glue seems to lose it's adhesiveness! I have a new pair of flats that the soles are coming undone already and the bead on one of my necklaces popped off today so looks like I may need to get some superglue or a glue gun.

I think that's all I have to report. Oh yea... we finally got our phone number with MagicJack!! So this means that anyone in Vancouver can call us for FREE!! So please call us!! We would love to hear from everyone! Well, the drunk man is screaming again. I'm gonna go check it out. Hope everyone is doing wonderful! Talk soon

Oh my goodness! Harris just got home and told me that he saw an albino monkey cross the street on his way home!!! You dont understand... when we first got here H was asking the locals if there were any monkeys on the island and a girl told us that no there weren't any on the island but a local had brought one over from St. Maarten but it had escaped and she had never heard about it since. How strange is that!! And we just went to go brush our teeth to go to bed and there were 2 tiny frogs in the bathroom! Goodness so much wildlife!!! I am not used to this but I better get used to it!!

Pictures of the Week

The entrance to our new place



Our living room

  

The kitchen



Our bedroom



Harris studying hard in his office

The guest bedroom- where you could be staying!!

  

Harris's speech- this is when he did a shout out to me!!!



Shaking the Dean's hand



Harris receiving his white coat at the ceremony

 

Walking away- looking very proud!!

Harris reciting the Doctor's oath

Me and my hot husband!!

 

Can you spot Harris?
(Clue: he's on the right side)

 

Random cool car on the island

 

The men hard at work after the bull killing

I wanted to paint his toenails!

I can't believe I'm doing this!



Mom with 2 of the babies. It was so cute to watch them walk.



The babies are only 1/2 hour old!!



My New Life

Just sitting on the porch, back from a walk to see if the new ring I made in glass blowing class was ready but unfortunately the studio is closed due to Mother's Day. On my walk I realized that this is my new life and I couldn't be happier. I was walking past the little goat pen with it's 3 new babies that are 2 days old listening to the church bells ringing and it dawned on me that this isn't vacation- this is our new home.

Harris had his white coat ceremony on Friday night. It was really nice to see him in his new element and meet some of his new classmates. I gotta say, I have the sweetest husband! All the students had to introduce themselves and say where they had gone to school and what they had studied. Harris added that wanted to thank his supportive wife and that he couldn't do it without me! I swear my heart melted and there was some awwing and sighs around the room! After the ceremony we went out to a night club near the school and partied it up! It's so fun partying at outdoor clubs listening to reggae music! We made sure to get to bed early so that H could study the next day so we could wake up in time for the bi-annual bull killing. However, that started at 5:30am and neither of us could do it. I even heard gun shot but it was too early. I really wanted to see the shooting but I'm sure if I had, I would of regretted it. We did wake up around 7am, in time to see them cutting the meat and there was still half the cow hanging from a tree basically in our backyard.

Fantastic news!! I got the job that I applied for at Juliana's Hotel working at the front desk. It is a beautiful hotel with cottages, a restaurant, pool and hot tub! They play movies every Friday night outside on a 12 x 18 foot projector screen and do really good Grill Nights a couple times a week as well. I don't start there till June 1st so I've been keeping busy working at a fine dining restaurant, Eden, a couple times a week and learning glass blowing which I must say I am OBSESSED!! I am having so much fun but keep trying to get ahead of myself by doing things I wanna make before learning the basics. Like the ring I made! I should probably say tried to make but I will keep you posted. 

We moved into our new place and we couldn't be happier. I think I said this before but it's 3 bedrooms and 1 bathroom. We have turned one of the rooms into a permanent guest bedroom so please let us know when you wanna come here!! One room is H's office and then the other room is our bedroom. According to island standards, we lucked out! The restaurant down below is always playing great music and we are in the middle of all the action. There are stairs coming up to our place that I love to sit on and read or do my nails and it feels like I'm in heaven!

I've been making some friends here- locals and wives of the students. Everyone is so friendly and really make you feel welcome. I will be hanging out with a group called SOS (Spouses of Saba) tomorrow learning to quilt. I can't really say I've ever been interested in learning to quilt but it will be fun to hang out with the group and learn to sew. The group gets together frequently to do things like hikes and dinners etc and I lucked out cause the group of girls are all around my age!

So, we now have a phone line here and magic jack hooked up. Our home line is (from Vancouver) 011 599 416 2496. I haven't been able to get a Vancouver magic jack number so we are only able to call out but not receive calls. Once I figure it out I'll let you know the number.

I have been learning about the wildlife on the island and there's a lot more than I thought there was. We saw a snake the other day (they are harmless) and we had 2 tiny frogs in our place the other night! They were so cute! We were trying to get them outside but their little feet are so sticky that it was hard! We eventually led them into a water bottle and left that outside. Because we leave all the doors open all the time we get one cockroach inside every night. It's turned into a fun game of who can find him first! We also had 2 baby lizards inside our place! Those were really fun to chase outside! There are apparently scorpians, land crabs (who knew those existed) and massive caterpillars with hard shells that live on the island. Those are not common to see during the day so we will have to go hunting for those at night!
Side Note- Everytime I said we, I actually meant Harris.

One funny thing about the humidy here- The straps on some of my dresses and tank tops are ripping!! Weird but I've had it happen 5 times so I have started to carry around a little sewing kit cause I don't like wearing a bra here. Otherwise the locals may see a little too much of me!

Hope everyone back home is doing very well. Love you all. And thanks for reading!!

H in his new scrubs, lookin realll cute!

A cashew nut still connected to it's fruit yummy!

                                              

A view of diamond rock...stunning!

                                                   

Getting acquainted with the island

What a fantastic day H and I had yesterday. We picked up H's books and materials from the school and he got his scrubs! He tried them on and I dont think he wanted to take them off! They are really big on him but I couldn't help but have the biggest smile on my face everytime I looked at him. And you could tell that he was really proud to wear them! We then decided to take a hike down to the bottom of the island where the airport is. What a hike! It took us about 2 hours to get there and we saw 6 iguanas on our way down!!! Now this might sound stupid but I never really thought that they actually existed outside of zoos. They are really primitive and cool looking! There were 3 hanging out on some rocks and then we saw one that had been hit by a car on the side of the road so we got to poke it and take a good look at it. Their skin is beautiful. I wanted to take it home with me to make a wallet with it! Later on we bumped into another really big one with its tail bitten off that was hissing at H!! As we appoached the airport, we could hear really loud techno music coming from the airport bar! The whole ariport and bar is about the size of Robson Cactus Club!! We got down to the airport just 30 minutes prior to a plane landing so we had the opportunity to see it! I dont think I will ever take the plane from here! The runway looks like the game "flight control"! Anyone with an iphone will know what I'm talking about. One of the only beaches on the island is down by the airport. It has been quite windy lately so the waves were crashing into the rocks. The colours of the water are stunning! Because the island is an old volcano, the beach isn't your traditional white sand beach rather it is volcanic debris. They have built 3 little tidal pools so H went in to cool off. I was trying to impress him and check out the waves but I got a little too close and almost got wiped out by one!  He was not impressed! We hitched a ride back up and we ran out of gas about half way up!! Luckily we were able to hitch a ride with someone else after a short walk. The girl who was orginally driving us was so upset, not about her car, but about us having to walk! The worst part of the whole day is that we forgot our camera so we will have to do the same hike over again and hopefully we will see all the same things! I went in for my first day of work it was very different then the serving I am used to- much more chill and relax. I felt like I was a stress case worrying that I hadn't been to table within 2 minutes of them arriving but the Cactus standards are not the Caribbean standards!

Just finished watching the Royal wedding on TV- what a spectacle!!! Thank you for reading. Keep checking back for more Saba fun!

Saba from the boat ride over from St. Maarten

Our new neighbours! There are goats EVERYWHERE!

The red snapper we (Harris) made for dinner our first night

Our new home. The upstairs is our place and the downstairs is a sports bar!

Drinking rum punch in St. Maarten listening to steel drums

Lizards everywhere! So cute

Going for a walk around the island

H is front of his new school!

The local MAC in St. Maarten (A little different from the one I'm used to shopping at)

Waiting for a cab on Saba

More cute goats

On Saba!!

We have arrived on Saba! The island is amazing! We took a ferry over from St. Maarten which took about an hour and a half. We are at a temporary place wayyyy up on the mountain. The view is incredible- we can see all the surrounding islands from up here- St. Kitts, St. Eugustine and one other island. After we settled in, the housing agent gave us a tour of the island and dropped off some welcome baskets for us complete with food and information about the island. After that we headed over to Jobeans Glass Studio so I could meet Jo and take a look at her studio. She is fantastic and witty! What a perfect combo! haha After that we went to meet our landlord who met us with a Saban delicatessen made with pumpkin and squash and raisins. She took us to see the place we will be renting as of May 1st and its perfect! It's 3 bedrooms and one bathroom. We will turn one room into a office/painting studio and the 3rd room is free for anyone who would like to come visit!! The place is right in the middle of downtown. Now dont get too excited- downtown is about one square block with a couple restaurants and a couple stores. It does happen to be right above a sports bar so H is in heaven! When we got home our neighbour (who happens to be H's biochem prof) came by and asked if we wanted fresh red snapper from the local fisher. So we made that for dinner! It was delicious but our first time cooking a whole fish. The fish's eyes popped out and some weird jelly started to pour out of them! Poor H offered to cook it up so I made some beans to go with it! I know I probably didn't make it sound appetizing but it was delicious! There really isn't much to do here at night so we stayed home and watched some tv and that was it. 

Today, we went for a walk around the island to see what's around and discovered that the island is full of really cute wild goats, lizards, roosters and the occasional cow. Everyone waves to each other and is really helpful and friendly. Hitchhiking is the norm here so you get to meet some fun people who are excited to give you advice on making it on the island. I gotta say it's kinda weird to listen to a white person talk with a Caribbean accent! I met the owner of one of the fine dining restaurants and she offered me a serving position so looks like I got sucked back in! haha They are only open for dinner and the couple who owns it is very nice so I'm happy! I went to check out the hotel where I applied for the receptionist position but it doesn't look like that will be happening right away if it does. I'm keeping my fingers crossed! Anyways, I think that's all I have to say. I miss everyone back at home already but I am very excited to learn the way of life here. Hopefully, I will pick up some Caribbean expressions mon! haha

Still in Vancouver

Hi!! Welcome to my blog! I never thought I would have a blog but here I go! So harris and i are still in Vancouver getting ready to leave in about 6 weeks. Things are stressful but we are getting everything done. Slowly but it will be done. Well, I just wanted to get this page started. I promise to write very soon. Ps- my name myra. I go somewhere else.