jenniferhawke.com

Occasionally, though, I do think fondly of my ultra-modern Yaletown apartment, with its cleaning service, huge computer monitor and instant access to everything. I’ll be cured of the travel bug when those days of longing for familiar create comforts exceed the exciting days of discovery and new pleasures.

~ Darren Barefoot

i was working on a post along similar lines when i came across Darren waxing poetic about the comfort and discomfort of living abroad. okay, i’ll admit, my post was more like a whiny list of things i miss about North America, Vancouver, and home. but i’ll save that for another day. after all, i’ve only been here a week.

Darren said exactly what i wanted to say: things are different here, but it’s the “thousand subtle, little things that are trickiest.”

familiar brand names just do not taste the same. the Oreos are positively shameful. the water pressure in the kitchen sink is barely enough to rinse dishes, let alone suds them up. we’re not even going to discuss the shower. the humidity makes my hair insanely unmanageable. the clock on the microwave has managed to push itself over 20 minutes fast in less than 48 hours. i have no way of bringing frozen goods home from the grocery store without them melting. frogs smaller than the tip of your thumb are louder than most car alarms. i’m still not sure how or where to recycle things.

on the other hand, it’s also the zillions of small positive things that will make living here bearable and downright heaven on earth-ish…

in the shower i only have one knob that can go OFF or ON, but the water is never too hot and never too cold. rain here actually RAINS. and then stops. and even if you got soaked, you’re dry again in minutes. the local beer, pizza, and seafood are goooood. i never have to put on an extra sweater in the house. i will never have to shovel snow or scrape ice from my windshield. there isn’t a single traffic light on the whole island.

there. is. no. McDonald’s.

… seriously!

i had to leave the previous big corkboard filled with your beautiful postcards/stamps in storage with my mom. lots of room on the fridge now though!

Jennifer Hawke
c/o MUA
PO Box 701
Charlestown, Nevis
WEST INDIES

we headed up to the campus for the first time today and i was totally happy to see a postcard for me in the “H” box! thanks, Claire from Down Under! you rock! and the postmark says August 16th, so it only took a couple of weeks to get here. yay!

send me a postcard here and i promise you’ll get one back. i enjoy blog comments and non-spam email as much as the next girl, but i also like to support my local snail mail as much as possible. : ))

also, while we were in the admin building, i couldn’t help but notice a huge stack of boxes and packages waiting to be picked up by lucky students. looks like you can send parcels to the island in care of the university to me as well. a lot easier than writing “the white house across from the airport” on your address label, i think. ha.

[photo credit: Jonathan. click on the picture to go to more of his photos on flickr.]

each and every night we have been lulled to sleep by the sound of little frogs with big voices. they sort of sound like car alarms, but aren’t terribly annoying unless they’re RIGHT OUTSIDE your bedroom window. two nights ago, Jonathan took my headlamp on a little adventure in the dark to relocate one such frog that was wearing our sleepy nerves a little thin.

he found this guy on the way back. the obnoxiously loud frog right outside our window was smaller than the tip of his thumb. this guy was about as big as a fist.

while i don’t plan to walk around at night in bare feet or anything, i am thankful that most creepy crawly things don’t totally freak me out. there aren’t any snakes on the island*, but small lizards, spiders, ants, and other miscellaneous bugs obviously thrive in these parts. i can share my yard. i definitely can’t share my house.

just about anything is fine as long as it is outside. i’ll refer back to this post on the first occasion i am tasked with removing something from my sanctuary (aka: shower or — heaven forbid! — bed) and back into the wild.

————-
*the Four Seasons Resort imported palm trees to the island a few years ago (i guess because the ones here weren’t tall enough or something) and apparently brought boa constrictors with them. but those have been eradicated as well.

MUA orientation is held on Monday, September 3rd. this time next week, i will be actually starting classes. and the day after classes start, is my 30th birthday. then the day after that, Jonathan leaves for Vancouver.

looks like it’s going to be a full week with a few ups and one major down.

in some ways, i feel like i’m taking a long walk off a short pier. i know i’m going to be in over my head soon and am a bit nervous about what i’ve gotten myself into. on the other hand, i could argue i’ve been preparing for this moment for four years… and i know i’m ready.

sink or swim, it’s time to get in the water.

while this is much more Jonathan’s thing than mine (personally, i’m a bit freaked out seeing even small squid up close!), we have *great* gear and sort of made this joking pact to go Every Single Day while he’s here. so far we’re keeping that promise.

yesterday, Dr. D (a prof at MUA) contacted me via this site and offered to take us out with another group of students. they were meeting at Paradise Beach at 2pm and we readily jumped on the bandwagon. today, we spontaneously stopped at Pinney’s Beach on the way back from town and were glad we still had the gear in the truck (and our swimsuits on).

[note: links below are to photos hosted on external sites. BIG thanks to the hosts and/or sorry for any broken images!]

things we did not touch:
- black urchin
- fire coral

things we did touch:
- six keyhole urchins
- big conchs!
- west indian fighting conch
- heart urchin (aka: sea pussy, i think)

stuff we saw from afar:
- just about every fish you can imagine!
- several schools of squid
- pufferfish
- Jonathan even saw a huge manta ray (but was careful not to get too close!)

photos from Jonathan’s underwater camera housing (thanks, mom!) to come soon!

please take note of the goats. they are super awesome.

also, the yard is nice and big and fenced. i think Maddy would love it. er, when she’s not loving the air conditioning or cool shaded veranda.

i absolutely adore the new house. it’s fantastic and small and clean and fun and white and just so so good. there are a few ants to deal with, but i’m so happy and excited.

thanks for everyone who sent good karma vibes our way. i’m absolutely positive you helped. : ))

“All human wisdom is summed up in two words – wait and hope.
~ Alexandre Dumas Père

“The keys to patience are acceptance and faith. Accept things as they are, and look realistically at the world around you. Have faith in yourself and in the direction you have chosen.”
~ Ralph Marston

it’s almost 11am local time and Jonathan is still in bed. granted, we were up late last night with our westcoast insomnia and it’s only 8am according to his brain. i promise i’m only sitting here typing this (instead of doing something on or near the beach) because i don’t want to start the day without him and i really don’t want to wake him up. he deserves every wink of sleep he gets!

i have been up for a couple of hours drinking coffee, reading the local newspaper, doing the crossword, checking email, writing up a shopping list, talking to Tessa, drinking more coffee with ginger nut cookies, sitting on the patio watching lizards, and listening to the loudspeaker across the way playing what sounded like the same song over and over again. i later realized it was just the same opening chords and melody. an artist with little variation other than the lyrics.

when i ran into Tessa a couple of hours ago, she was on her way to meet the man who was delivering my new stove and the rest of my new furniture. i made a point of gently letting her know that we would really like to drop our stuff off at the house today instead of leaving it in the rental car again overnight. you don’t really realize how hard it is to type with your fingers crossed until you try it.

our (very) loosely planned day includes things like: stopping by Thrifty to legitimize our rental with official paperwork, checking out the MUA campus, unloading and unpacking at the new house (fingers crossed), grocery trip with the rental car to pick up necessities like toilet paper and cleaning supplies, and — of course — checking out the nearest swimming beach.

the sunshine this morning has managed to bathe all of my emotional turbulence in a lovely golden glow. i really am happy to be here and excited for the next year. i promise not to whine about being deserted on a beautiful Caribbean island too much!

it’s a few minutes before 11pm here in Nevis and i woke up in bed wide awake almost two hours ago. after tossing and turning for far too long, i padded quietly downstairs and left Jonathan to snooze in peace. i am sitting with my legs tucked under the coffee table and the laptop plugged into the nearby modem.

so, we obviously arrived safe! but we are not yet in my new home! Tessa (my landlady) met us at the airport and claimed a few things weren’t ready with the house: the phone line was being worked on and the new furniture hadn’t yet arrived. she has put us up in her “executive suite” in downtown Charlestown for the night (or two?) instead. we’re hoping the rest of the furniture will arrive by midday tomorrow and are looking forward to actually unloading the rental car then.

but let me back up a bit…

our layover in San Juan was the longest one yet. i think it also felt longer because we were ready to hurry up and BE THERE. the weather seemed a bit muggy, but not overwhelmingly hot. the tiny plane left a little to be desired in cleanliness and sturdiness, but was safe and not too wobbly. it actually reminded me a lot of the plane i took from Jo’burg to Livingstone in Africa a couple of months ago. i didn’t realize even more Zambian flashbacks were waiting in the wings.

after touching down in Nevis, we made it through the initial customs check and stood watching the luggage conveyor belt with hope and anticipation. all four of our checked suitcases made it fine and dandy (thank you, Baby Jesus!). but no bike. the porter helping us with our bags said it would probably arrive on a later flight in the next day or two. so i didn’t have much to do but file a report with American Airlines and cross my fingers.

our white Suzuki SUV rental was waiting for us in the parking lot, with keys and a temporary driving permit left at the airport counter for me. i pulled the truck around to the loading zone (being careful not to mix up the turning signals and windshield wiper on the right-hand drive) and we piled our bags inside. then we waited for Tessa to show.

and waited.

and waited.

okay, we didn’t wait that long. but we were tired and hungry (Jonathan is such a patient trooper) and it FELT long. then, when she finally arrived, we had the great news that we weren’t just hopping across the street to the house, but driving all the way around the island into town and staying at a place that is not The House. not the best news, but hey we’re flexible. no biggie, right?

and it really is no biggie. the apartment is lovely and clean. unfortunately, it is on the second (and third) storey of a large building in a rather noisy area of town. right now the frogs and crickets are competing with some sort of music DJ for our undivided attention. i think the DJ is winning. but the frogs are putting up a pretty darn good fight.

the fact that the apartment entry is narrow and at the top of a rather long flight of stairs resulted in the executive consultation (with Tessa regarding the safety of the area) and decision to leave our HEAVY overweight suitcases locked in the rental truck overnight. there was no way we wanted to lug them all the way upstairs just to bring them right back down again tomorrow morning. have i mentioned they are HEAVY? they even have bright orange stickers telling you to “USE YOUR KNEES” to prove it.

after sort of settling in a bit, wandering through town to hit the bank and grocery store, showering, downing a few local Carib beers, and having a nice meal at a waterfront restaurant, Jonathan and i fell into bed exhausted. but we obviously crashed a bit too early (around 5pm our time) and are now dealing with the consequences of being wide awake at an inconvenient time of night. i left him sleeping soundly in bed 30 minutes or so ago, but he is now next to me reading on the couch.

i mentioned earlier that there are a few things about Charlestown that remind me of Livingstone. in no particular order:
- the concept of “time” (ie: 5 mins actually means 30+)
- the less-than-warm-but-not-quite-hostile welcome from the locals (aside from Tessa, who is quite lovely)
- sticking out like a sore thumb
- the night noise (music, animals, loudspeakers, but no barking dogs yet!)
- driving on the left side of the road
- heat & humidity
- i even found the exact same ginger nut cookies i was addicted to during that month! munching on them now!

tomorrow likely promises to be another long day. i am hoping that there is at least a bed and mattress at the house so we can tell Tessa the rest doesn’t matter and are able to escape the weekend noise of town by banishing ourselves to the relatively quieter airport end of the island. i’m also just dying to unpack my overstuffed suitcases. and of course we want to dig out our flippers and hit the beach…

things don’t often work out exactly as you had pictured them in your mind, even if your pictures were very gray, grainy, and out-of-focus. i am okay with that. however, i am a little freaked out at the concept of spending 18 months on an island that evokes such strong emotional memories of Livingstone, Zambia. those who were reading in June know that wasn’t an easy time for me…

i am so SO glad Jonathan is here with me for two weeks. mini-emotional-PMS breakdowns are sometimes a bit easier to bear with a shoulder to take them out on. and i am more determined than ever to get Maddy out here. i really think i’m going to need her moral support too.

at any rate, please know that all is well. we are safe and sound, if still a bit unsettled. lots more photos to come soon, i hope!

the inside of terminal E and a Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwich are pretty much all we saw of Miami. at 5am local time, the sun was still down. i spent most of the 1 1/2 hour layover stretching and getting the blood flowing again.

the 5 hour leg from LA went surprisingly quick. luckily, i was able to sleep through almost all of it. i think Jonathan had a good snooze too, but it’s still damn early for us westcoast’ers. and airplane coffee just plain sucks.

right now my legs are taking advantage of the extra room in the bulkhead row. in an hour we should land safely in Puerto Rico. then the shortest flight on the smallest plane. landing right across the street from my new house! i’m glad we have a window seat for that leg.

i have been noting the local temperatures at each of our stops and — ironically enough — they have all been below 85F: American Airline’s max restriction for carrying animals in the cargo hold. Maddy would have been just fine to accompany us. gosh, i miss her!

speaking of special baggage… i wonder how my bike is doing? i haven’t really had the bike long enough to bond with it*, but took such care with the packing that i’ll be sad if anything is broken on the other end.

i hope everyone is waking up to a sunny Friday, wherever you are! stay tuned for pics of the new house! my fingers are crossed that it is simple and clean.

————
*i haven’t even named it for crying out loud. it’s a white Brodie Dynamo hybrid. name suggestions welcome!