dear Nevis,

thank you for the very warm (and humid) welcome to the island. i also appreciate the lack of hurricane-style weather so far. September has been a great month for cycling to school and not getting too drenched. well, there was that one day… but overall, i find your temperatures quite bearable. i think i’ve managed to acclimatize rather quickly and no longer have the office a/c on full blast.

as my first month on this island paradise, it has — not surprisingly — been a very full one. perhaps the most full month i will ever have here. new people, new school, new classes, new home, new commute, new meals, new alarm time, new puppies, new everything. i even had my 30th birthday here and started counting my age in a new decade! i think one of the only things that has remained the same is my extremely conservative bedtime. and that just happens to fit perfectly with the “new alarm” time.

i know a few people in the cruise ship industry and others that have traveled up and down the Caribbean extensively. pretty much every person i know that has been here to visit you, claims you are the best island in the whole bunch. i can see that your small size and relative privacy, combined with amazing beaches and beautiful water would be tough to beat. if i’m going to be stuck on an island for 20 months, it’s really comforting to know i picked the best one.

BUT, we both know our relationship hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows so far… you reminded me so much of someone i met earlier in the summer that i figured we were bound to get off on a bad start. and it was tough at first — to leave everything and everyone i love behind. you’re like a first-cousin i have to be friends with because we’re related, not because we have anything in common. some things are still tough and i know we have a few relationship kinks to work out at our weekly session with the therapist, but i’m trying hard to accept the bad with the good. i appreciate the fact that you no longer leave your dirty socks lying around and that the cockroaches have vacated my living quarters. you scratch my back, i’ll scratch yours.

in turn, i have learned to be infinitely patient and cheerful. i know that according to Island Time, being in a rush will get me nowhere fast. and failing to start a conversation with “how are you today?” can have disastrous results. power outages are no big deal. neither are water outages if you have a few 2L bottles stashed under the sink to rinse your dishes and flush the toilets. earplugs take care of obnoxiously loud tree frogs. and there is certainly something to be said for never having to wear a sweater in the house.

here’s to October… may the rain stay wet and the sun stay warm. i hope to eventually have a bit more time to explore your neat nooks and crannies, but in the meantime, you’ll have to be content honking at me via taxi and bus drivers on the way to and from school each day.

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