Beautiful Goodbye

Well, the time has finally come to say good-bye! I can't believe that I have kept this blog up for two years, and I hope that if anything, it was at least semi interesting to read! We are now "settling" back into life in Canada. The adjustment has actually been anything but easy. Lots of frustration, transitioning and tears, and I still feel pretty lost at times. Our summer travelling Europe helped us detach a little, but we did return to Cayman for one last week on the beach. What a difference it was to finally feel like a tourist, to get to sip sweet rum punch in the sun during a week day! Boy did we really miss out by working so much. We celebrated our second anniversary on our last night in Cayman. After the island presented us with one last gift; a sunset that felt appropriate in its beauty and moodiness, we dined at Hemingways on the beach. A beach walk under the dark starry sky topped off the wonderful night. It was just as hard as I had imagined to say good-bye to our little paradise. So many amazing memories, laughs, friends and experiences. It feels like we both lived a short lifetime during those 20 months, and that we are coming back to Canada changed from the experience. Not only did we grow, but our marriage did too. I still hold a hope that we will one day make it back to Cayman, maybe with our children, and re-live the glory days. Our wonderful life can really be attributed to the strong friendships we made while we were there, and the kind, generous and welcoming people we met. I will look back at the experience with such a bittersweet feeling, because for all of the joy we had living there, it made leaving so difficult. Like a wise man once said "The past should be a guide post, not a hitching post," and so it is onto the new chapter, which I am confident will be just as exciting and adventurous as the last one. Thank you all for sharing in our adventures, and keep in touch!!! Love Blake and Natalie

Croatian Fun

Our last country on our trip was Croatia. We both didn’t know what to expect, but were pleasantly surprised when we stepped off the overnight ferry in Dubrovnik to a beautiful port city. We found our villa without a problem and were greeted with fresh plums and melon from the garden and the friendliest hosts we had met yet. We spent our day in Dubrovnik exploring the old city where most of the bombings took place several years ago. It is surprising how fast they have recovered, at least on the surface. There was not a bullet hole or derelict building in site. The old city is surrounded by a thick wall which you can walk around, with gorgeous views of the Adriatic Sea and town. The rest of the afternoon we spent at an awesome beach, complete with swim in cave and rock jumping!

After Dubrovnik we took a bus up to Split, passing through Bosnia for breakfast and a brief stop. Unfortunately for us, the bus broke down on the top of a rather remote Croatian mountaintop, so we were left for two hours to explore and admire the views of the valley below. Once we finally arrived in Split we were disappointed to find our grungiest overnight spot yet. Our room, painted bubblegum pink and green had a dirty old mattress in the corner, stains all around the sink, and an irregular shaped sofa- which they called a bed. We tried to spend all of our time away from the room, and checked out Diocletian’s Palace instead.

The following day we were off to Plitvice Lakes, which turned out to be one of the highlights of our trip. Sixteen different coloured lakes flow into one another with thousands of cascades and waterfalls, and even some caves and rock formations. We spent two days hiking around the magnificent area, taking way too many pictures and uttering threats of never returning home. However, time wore down and it was finally our last day in Croatia, so we caught a bus for the capital city of Zagreb, near Budapest, where we spent an lovely evening wandering the Eastern European city and enjoying the far less touristy part of the Slavic region. Before we knew it, we had to say good-bye and return to England for the last days of our trip!

La Bella Italia

Pasta, lemons, pastries, narrow roads, espresso on the piazza and cigarettes are the words I would use to describe Italy. I could go on for hours about our 2 weeks in Italy, but I would still not do it justice. So I have decided that I will just regale you with the highlights… which to be fair was the entire time… uh oh.

After what felt like a brush with death, but most would just consider ample turbulence, we landed in Milan. Much to our disappointment we didn’t get much time to explore it. A fantastic Ravioli will forever be my Milan reminder. In the morning we headed down to La Spezia where we overnighted before our Cinque Terre walk. Cinque Terre has some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen, and walking inches away from sheer cliffs provides a nice adrenalin rush as well. We hiked for two days and ate pasta and drank wine in the evenings. Pretty much a perfect life.

We headed to Pisa (which was a total let down) and on to Florence. Spending two nights in a Tuscan Villa cleverly disguised as a hostel, we drank chianti, climbed to the top of the colourful Duomo and sat under the replica David statue with gelatos.

Rome itself was a pleasant surprise, with lovely weather and a simple transit system, we had a great time checking out all of the must-sees, like the coliseum, Roman Forum, Vatican, Tiber River and general atmosphere of Rome. One afternoon we climbed up Giancolo to get a view of Rome. At the top we grabbed some cold coolers from a vendor and soaked up the view. Later that evening we gorged ourselves at a little pasta restaurant while watching the ancient owner greet his friends as they walked down the narrow alleyway.

The Amalfi coast was our last stop. Pompeii was interesting and a lot larger than I had originally thought. It is scary to see how an entire town can be buried under ash. In Sorrento we booked a boat trip to Capri, complete with stops to swim in a waterfall, and two grottos and a swim through! Amazing!!!! In the little town of Amalfi, getting sick of the tourist track, we walked up through the narrow streets and found ourselves on an Indiana Jones style trek through a thick forest with ruins of old aquaducts and a million mosquitos and not a tourist in site! We also hiked up 1000 stairs to…. Nowhere! That was a little bit of a disappointment, but the workout probably wore off a few pounds!

I could have spent another week in Italy, but in 12 days we did see an amazing amount. If any of you have been thinking about doing a trip down the boot- DO IT.

Gaudi Glory

If I could sum up Barcelona in a word it would be “funky.” From the unique and eye catching Gaudi art to La Rambla- the famous green strip down the centre of the road - Barcelona is most definitely a modern and exciting city. The night we arrived we spent some time wandering down La Rambla watching the interesting street performers and hawkers along the side lines. Despite being a huge city, we ran into our friend Jan-Sarel (from Cayman) on the street! Since we were planning on meeting up the next day, it was pretty convenient to catch up with him early. He is traveling alone, doing France, Spain, Italy and Switzerland.
On our second day, the three of us took the metro to visit the world renowned La Sagrada Familia cathedral. Gaudi began building it in 1880, and when he died in 1920 it was still only a tenth finished. They are still working on it today, and estimate it will be completed by 2020! From outside it looks like something off of the Flintstone’s Bedrock, but inside it is breath-taking. Soaring arches, columns and wavy designs make you feel like you are in a dream. After the cathedral we headed up to view some of Gaudi’s other buildings, all of them resembling something from Alice in Wonderland. Afterwards, Blake and JS were itching to go to the Barcelona FC Soccer Stadium. I opted out, but the boys went on an amazing tour inside, seeing the entire stadium including locker rooms, President’s box, and much more. Apparently it is a must-see for any “footie” fan. At the end of the day I wanted to check out the Guell Park, high on the hillside. It was originally planned by Guadi to be a housing coop, but fell flat. Now it is a wonderful park, with great views of the city. We were blown away by the aquaducts, houses and plaza. Definitely a recommendation for anyone visiting. Over paella and sangria we said a sad goodbye to JS that night.
The following day we headed to Mont Juic and climbed the hillside for more amazing views of the city. We stumbled upon the Olympic stadium and had a great time wandering all of the sites. In the afternoon we headed to the beach. Cayman has spoiled all future beaches as we found this one dirty and sketchy, but it was still neat to sit on the sand and watch the naked men and women and the Mediterranean waves roll in.
Our final day we just chilled out, did some laundry and wandered some of the side streets, finding cute jewellery stores, a colourful market where we had mojito popsicles, and sidewalk cafes. We returned to the beach to watch the sun set and then wandered back to our hostel to get ready for Milan the next day!

France Fun

When we arrived in Paris the weather was overcast and windy. We were able to take the train to our hostel just north of the downtown centre without a problem. I was at once fascinated with the language and excited to start using my French. It’s been over a year since I last got to speak it! We spent the majority of our time in Paris walking everywhere. One would assume this would be a great weight loss program, but since the French seem to exist solely on carbs in the solitary form of bread it was a blessing that we did have to walk! We feasted on crepes, galettes, baguettes, French bread, pastries, tartelettes, croissants and every single form of bread known to the French man. In order to wear off some of the carby goodness we walked to Notre Dame, Arc de Triumph, Champs Elysees, Ile de la cite, Eiffel Tower, La Seine and the Louvre. I was most blown away with the Louvre and could have spent two days wandering through the old palaces looking at artifacts and art from ancient and medieval times. I also enjoyed the Eiffel Tower with its gorgeous view of the city, but more importantly I enjoyed the bottle of wine, brie and crackers that we enjoyed at the park in the shadow of magnificent “tour.” With the weather being windy and chilly, three days in Paris was more than enough. The third day we actually caught a day train out to Versailles where I was blown away with the bed chambers of Marie Antoinette and the King of France. We toured inside of the palace and admired the lavish décor while feeling like paupers.

After Paris we caught the train to Normandy where we spent two amazing days. The first we spent basking in the magical and surreal glow of Mont St. Michel, climbing the steep stairs and streets to the Benedictine monastery on the top of this miniature island in the sea. It is surrounded by quicksand when the tide is low, and water at high tide, and in the medieval days was a place for monks to come and work uninterrupted. During World War II it managed to escape German occupation for quite some time, but finally fell towards the end of the war. Now it is a living museum, where shops and restaurants still crowd the narrow cobblestone streets, and the old abbey perches on the top of the hill with a watchful eye. We stayed the night in the charming village of Beauvoir where a local actually picked us up from the train station and drove us the 6 kms to our hotel!
Our second day in Normandy we visited the D-Day beaches, American Cemetery, Aramanches and Point du Hoc. It was sobering to see the German trenches and huge craters in the land where bombs were dropped. Perhaps the saddest was the cemetery, where only 40% of the Americans killed rest, with 10,000 white crosses arranged in lines. The cemetery goes on and on and on, overlooking Omaha Beach below. Unfortunately the tour we booked did not go to Juno Beach or the Canadian cemetery, but it doesn’t matter what nationality you are, seeing the carnage and left over results from a battle only 67 years ago really hits home. We spent that night in Bayeux, another beautiful town.

Although we were sad to say goodbye to France, we are excited to move on to Barcelona and hopefully find some heat!

Pictured above: Notre Dame Cathedral, View from Eiffel Tower, Mont St. Michel at night, American Cemetery at D-Day beaches

London Adventures

In typical style, we arrived to London early, but minus our luggage! At this point, this was the least of our travel woes, but nevertheless an annoyance. Having slept less than four hours, we were both exhausted. I fell asleep on the tube into London, but luckily we didn’t miss our stop. As soon as we were out of the tube London hit me hard. It felt like the stone buildings, corner pubs and double decker buses had worked their way out of my imagination and onto the streets! I hate to say it, but all of the stereotypes are real. One of the perks of staying in London is that we get to crash at Blake’s old friend Tyler’s flat. We found his work easily and got the key to his place. Once we had stowed our stuff we were on a mission to find some extra clothes so we didn’t have to wear the same clothes four days in a row. Upon our clothing hunt we stumbled upon St. Paul’s Cathedral, and then meandered beside the Thames, eventually catching a tube to Picadilly Circus, where we met some success at a bargain clothes store. After we blew 75 Pounds on British Airways’ tab we saw the National Geographic’s Headquarters. Inside there was some sort of art exhibition, and free wine was flowing. We perused African animal pictures and downed some free vino, until we realized that somehow we had been mistaken as actual guests to a closed event! Oops, we snuck out the door!
The following day we hit the streets a little later than intended due to some much needed sleep. We checked out Westminster Abby, Buckingham Palace (the Queen was in, but didn’t invite us over for tea???), St. James’ Park, Green Park and a few other stops along the way. We returned to Tyler and his girlfriend Liv’s place in time for some truly English fish & chips. That night Tyler and Liv wanted to take us out for a night on the town so we walked to the trendy Hoxton district and I sampled some English Lemonade and vodka. At 10pm, when things we starting to wind down and I thought we would head back to the flat, we took a cab to the Hoxton Hotel. It was a modern boutique hotel filled with sophisticated types. We ended up staying on until 1am!
The next morning was a later one, for obvious reasons. Since the weather was gray and rainy (much like the previous two days) we decided to start the morning at the Museum of London. Some neat displays included fashion through the ages and a history of London from the dawn of time. After two hours I was more than saturated with English knowledge and in need of some retail therapy, so we hopped on a tube to Harrod’s. There are no words to describe that place. I don’t find it remotely odd that it was the beginning of Christian the Lion, and that other strange and fabulous things have happened there. A room devoted entirely to chocolate and tea had me enthralled for a half hour. Blake took to the ice cream parlour and deli. I was also humbled by the fashion on the upper floors. Labels I had only dreamt of and seen in movies were right in front of my eyes. A whole year’s salary could be spent on a pair of pants! After the opulence got to us, we returned to the street and strolled through Hyde Park to Kensington Palace, and then back again. An ambitious walk which left me with some seriously sore feet! On our last night we went out for a delicious curry at a local Indian house, a great way to end three nights in London.

Travel hiccups

So with summer coming, and Blake having 2 months off for the first time ever, we decided we had better go big, or go home (which we are doing anyways... but still). We settled on doing a 6 week European adventure, since I have never been to Europe, and since we have met so many wonderful people from Europe during our time in Cayman. We planned to leave at the beginning of July, and were actually excited when we realized that we could make my cousin Heather's wedding in Toronto if we left on July 1st. Rather than tell my parents that we will be meeting them in Toronto, we decided to surprise them by showing up the night before the wedding. I spent weeks planning this surprise and was so excited. Once I had bid farewell to my students, moved out of our flat and sold our car I was ready to go. July 1st arrived and we headed to the airport for our flight to Miami and then onward to Toronto. The boarding of the plane went smoothly and it was not time until we were on the tarmac ready for take-off. However, after a few minutes of waiting, the pilot told us the left engine wouldn't start. We returned to the gate and tried two more times to start the engine, both times were successful. Then we returned to the tarmac for take-off. After a 5 minute delay, the pilot mentioned he was having problems with the fuel actuator valve, and we returned to the gate again. Upon contact with their head office the plane was taken out of commission until a part was flown in on another flight that afternoon. So we had to return to the lobby and wait while a single attendant called out the names of every single passenger on the airline, and one by one we had to shuffle up and retrieve our entry card and return to the ticket booths to try and reschedule a flight off the island. As time passed, I managed to get Blake and I onto the only other flight off the island that weekend, which was on Saturday at 1:00p.m. Once our tickets were booked we learned that there was going to be a flight out that afternoon, they anticipated that they could fix the fuel actuator valve and have everyone out by 3:00. I had to return to the desk and cancel the flight out the next day and rebook a ticket on our original flight. By the time I got this done it was time to re check in our luggage, go through security a second time and wait for the flight to board. By 4:00 we were on the plane, however, it turned out that there was a slight problem and the mechanic who had fixed the part on the plane had forgotten to use a silicone seal, so we had to wait for that to be applied and dry. Once dry, we were ready for take-off, but this time a ticketing agent from inside forgot to count the people on the plane, so she had to come up and re-do that. When we were finally ready to go we headed out to the tarmac. Once there we waited and waited. I noticed that the plane was beginning to roll backwards. After 12 hours in the airport without anything to eat, I was going to lose it if we returned to the gate. The pilot came on the speaker and told us that once again, the left engine wouldn't start and the plane was unfit to fly. An angry group of us trudged back to the lobby, waited through the excruciating process of receiving our entry cards and returning our duty-free items and then returning to the main ticket booth. By 6:00 we were still waiting to hear if there would be another plane sent from Miami to take us over. At 6:30 we found out there wouldn't be, so Blake and I booked another flight out the next morning on Delta. By 7:00 we learned that American Airlines was going to charter a plane for us first thing in the morning, so we had to go back and cancel our Delta tickets and rebook on the AA flight out in the morning. We then had to wait another hour for hotel and food vouchers, as we hadn't eaten anything all, and we had given up possession of our flat.

The next morning, at 5:30a.m. we headed back to the airport AGAIN. Luckily this time we got to Miami, where we had to catch a connector through Air Canada. Needless to say, when the Air Canada flight was delayed by and hour and then the pilot told us there were computer problems I just about screamed. Thankfully the problems were fixable and we got to Toronto at 6:00p.m. We raced to the hotel, threw on our party clothes and grabbed a cab to my cousin's beautiful reception venue. We snuck in just in time, as dinner hadn't been served and everyone was sitting at their tables. Mom and Dad did still get the surprise of their lives when I snuck up behind them! I'll never forget the looks on their faces!

The rest of the Toronto trip went well. It was so nice being able to have some vacation time with both my parents, aunt and uncle and Melinda and Mat. We spent most of our time walking around downtown Toronto. We did make it to the top of the CN Tower, where Melinda shocked us all by lounging on the glass floor, and Blake managed to get both feet (or rather heels) on it too! At the end of the weekend we were sad to leave, but super excited to start the next leg of our trip to London!!!!

Fast Forward

Many days I feel that I am living life in fast forward. There just seems like there are so many changes and events going on. The end of our Cayman Adventure is only a few weeks away. We will officially return home on August 12th, but we leave the island in early July for a much needed and anticipated Europe trip. We'll come back to Cayman in August for a few days to ensure we have everything packed up and ready to go- then off we are... back home. Back to reality.

With the end of the KPMG contracts many of our friends are also getting ready to leave. Last Thursday was one of the hardest good-byes, as my best girlfriend Kate, and Lachie left for Australia. It was difficult to see them leave, not knowing when we will see them again. She is also 6 months pregnant, so I am a little disappointed that I won't get to see their baby! Blake and I often talk about moving to Australia, but at this time it just isn't in the cards. We're hoping to look back into it in a few years, but I am realistic when I think that we may have "settled" by that point and it would be much harder to move. So, last Thursday we all gathered at the best Pasta place on island; Grand Old House and had a great night of laughs and over the top Pasta servings. Although there were a few tears at the end, I am so thankful to have met such amazing friends through this experience.

Saturday night was another goodbye party, but of a slightly different variety. My staff had their year end party at the residence of the private hospital's owner. Lavish is one word to describe the mansion, which had its very own roundabout, manicured shrubs, a games building on the property, an outdoor kitchen the size of our flat and a staircase all the way to the roof, which could arguably be the highest point on island (you know you're in the big leagues when you get to have your own airplane lights affixed to your roof). The party planning committee had the event catered Caymanian style- which means that we all put on at least 2 pounds eating oil drenched pasta salad, 1000 calorie Jamaican patties, chicken wings, conch fritters with cream sauce and Swedish meatballs followed by three triple chocolate cakes and cupcakes. Smart Blake had worn his lovely white shirt too- so it wasn't long until barbecue sauce accented the front of it. I sure can dress him up, but perhaps should think twice about bringing him out?! Being a mainly Caribbean staff, the drinking was at a minimum, but that didn't stop Blake and I from uncorking our wine and watching the party unfold. There were no real speeches, but a nice grace before dinner. After dinner the reggae and soca started up and the principal was on the dance floor grooving away by himself. He was soon joined by some other teachers, all of them twirling and shaking their behinds seemingly unaware of the other dancers. The principal (apparently also a bit of a wine drinker) was downing his cups of red wine and his moves became increasingly funkier with each sip. The real show stealer, however, was when the extremely large and generally cranky year 4 teacher sashayed her way over to the tall and quite Year 6 teacher seated on his chair and proceeded to give him a clothed version of an x-rated lap dance! There were hoots and hollers from all over the pool area as we were scandalized by such a show! Only in Cayman...

Anyways, with the plethora of going away parties and Year-end dos we have been keeping ourselves busy, so busy infact that we really didn't realize how fast time is flying! I guess the old saying "time flies when you are having fun," really is true.

Pictured above: The boys and the girls, The venue for my staff party

Ecay Fever

The disadvantages to living on a desolate isle in the middle of nowhere can sometimes be numerous. High travel costs, no protection from hurricanes, higher expenses for goods and a less than healthy interest in other's business, just to name a few. However, sometimes you can work them to your advantage. Take the hurricane warnings for example. There are plenty of full and half days off work when hurricane season is at its peak. High travel costs may make us moan, but they do keep away the average tourist. As discussed in earlier blogs, one of the clear disadvantages, in my opinion, is the lack of materialistic goods. I like a good shop, just like every other girl, but it is close to impossible to find a good bargain on the island, and most of the items here center around gaudy patterns, beach themes and floral prints... hardly worth getting excited about. This cloud does have a silver lining though, in the form of a website called Ecay. This site is modelled after Ebay (hopefully you picked up that connection!) and is similar to Kijiji, but a million times better than both. When living on a tiny island with no access to mainland goods without paying exorbitant prices, Ecay provides some relief with its buy and sell feature. No shipping, and the ability to track down the bastard who sells you something crappy, make this site a favourite for all islanders. We got an amazing bargain on our dive gear last year, from a woman seeking a divorce because her husband made her scuba dive. We also have bought both of our cars off of Ecay (okay, to be fair, the first car was a bit of a lemon). So when it came time to start getting rid of our items we turned to this website. We didn't actually think we would sell some of the stuff we were offering. They seemed like random items; a blow up mattress, a floor lamp, a drying rack and a red Igloo cooler. The beauty of inflated costs soon became glaringly evident when only an hour after we posted the cooler we had 4 emails, three calls and many texts. No matter that the average person can head across to Cost-U-Less and buy their own cooler for $10 more, everyone here wants the bargain! Although the cooler was gone in less than 12 hours, we also managed to sell the drying rack and mattress the next day. The lamp was slightly less coveted, but sold on the third day. After the initial cooler frenzy Blake and I got Ecay Fever. We started posting everything. Our dive gear went up, including the smallest accessory, like the dive knife. Then the car. It was a free-for-all! The calls started pouring in, and if someone did not know better, Blake could have been taken for the busiest drug dealer in town; cell phone ringing constantly while we frantically made drop-off and pick-up appointments. Through the fervour we even debated selling our landlords possessions. Cooler Lady actually perused our living room with a greedy eye, asking what else we were selling. It was so highly addictive that we were late for our dates with friends, and spent the entirety of last Saturday on the phone and computer.

Aside from one fall through on a BCD from Blake's dive kit, we managed to sell all of our dive gear last weekend. Blake the accountant whipped out the calculator and discovered we did this with a 225% profit! The car is still up though, and only time will tell. We don't actually want to sell it until the end of the month, so I'm not too worried. I can't say that I didn't feel a little guilty at first, about preying on the Caymanian's with my second hand wares, but it seems this is the culture. Gone are the days of garage sales (Hope yours goes well this weekend Reita! Send us whatever you can't sell!) and here are the days of virtual sales. Piqued by the sale of our goods, I did a thorough search of Ecay and discovered that much weirder items have been sold. Like the 33rd edition of an unknown book, gold grillz- you know, the denture like gold teeth that rappers wear, and an obviously free-in-a-beer-box Coors Light laptop bag. So with that knowledge I no longer feel like such a vulture. But enough of this babble, it is nearly bedtime and I must be off for one final check of our hits on Ecay. Have a great night!

Pictured above: Aforementioned Coors Light Laptop bag, some old rapper's gold teeth, our dive gear

Everyone had a story that can break you heart....

As I enter my sun filled classroom every morning, followed by several of my students, I am often surprised to see it so empty and tidy. The state that it is left in, on most days, closely resembles the post Hurricane Ivan houses. I've received many compliments on my neat classroom, as well as my organization, but I have come to the realization that what makes my classroom seem continually messy, untidy and unpredictable to me, are my students. Once they are removed, the room really is a different place. Every morning, my students arrive with a caseload of luggage. I am not speaking of actual suitcases, but of the baggage that weighs down their lives. Never have I seen so many burdens and hardships carried on such young shoulders. I am going to share just a few of the stories from my students that have been getting me down lately. Some I may have mentioned in earlier blogs, some are new, but the one thing I can say about my kids are that they do grow up fast, and they grow up tough, but they also have the most resilience I have ever seen, and their spirit and liveliness is enough to make me laugh on even the most upsetting of days.

(of course, all names have been changed!)
On Tuesday morning of last week Marcus walked into class, came up to my desk and said, "Boy Mrs Schneider, I saw an incident last night." I was busy shuffling through my paperwork and getting the day's lunch orders sorted, but this student's use of the word "incident" caught my attention. Always a sucker for great vocabulary used by the young, I was intrigued. Could I possibly prompt more three syllable words out of this boy? Not really listening for the story, but for the adjectives, I continued to half-heartedly listen; until I realized what he was saying. The previous night he had been at the Barber Shop, in the chair when outside two men got into an altercation and guns were brandished. One thing led to another, and one of the men pulled out a knife as well, stepped forward and stabbed the other man. He ran off before the police arrived. The bloody victim entered the barbershop where he then waited for the ambulance. My poor ten year old Marcus had witnessed the entire thing. He told the story so matter of factly that I had to prompt him for more details and inquire into how he felt. The part that broke my heart was when he told me "I was so scared, my knees were a-knockin'." By mid day the story was old news... maybe kids had similar experiences, or maybe it wasn't that abnormal, but I was still shocked when the story showed up headline in the news the next day- with the whole incident exactly as Marcus had dictated.

Jose is a prankster in my class. The best natured child I have ever met. He laughs at anything and I had never seen him lose his cool. He is one of those boys that likes to stay after school and either help me out in the class, or finish up his homework. Lately he has been displaying some unusual behaviours, like mock tantrums, persistent calling out and a few little fights with classmates. I called home three weeks ago, when the behaviour first started, and he returned the next day with a huge blue bruise the length of my forearm on his thigh, that he showed me. When I asked him if that was the only place he had been struck, he responded with "no, but it was where I got it the worst." Spankings and what the kids call "beatings" are as normal here as time out is in Canada. But this instance I was worried. I decided not to call home again, and deal with it in class. The other day I sat down again with Jose and asked him why is was acting out lately. He told me a bitterly sad story about how his mom had made him go into the gas station to put minutes on her cell phone account, but when he was entering her number, he accidentally entered the last digit incorrectly. He told his mom who then, in his words "smacked me this away and that a-way until I didn't remember my name!" (told while he is laughing at the memory). Appalled, but thinking perhaps his mom was upset about losing a lot of money, I asked how many minutes he had purchased. It was $5 worth.

Taniyah jumped enthusiastically over to my desk last Thursday. "Guess what Mrs. Schneider," my top reader and excellent speller asked. "We just found out yesterday that my Daddy got 18 years in prison. I'm sad. Thats long. I'll visit... I guess."

When reminding my students that their parents will have to come in to pick up their reports next month, Jason comes over and reminds me that it will be his mother coming in. His father was recently sent to prison for trying to light her on fire, along with the office of a touristy condominium on 7 mile Beach. He also recently divulged that this was his father's second trip back, as he had previously tried to kill his aunt (his own sister) by stabbing her in the head.

Danya always meets me at the my car door each morning, eager to help carry in my supplies. Last Friday she was eager to be let in the classroom so she could put down her heavy pack. Knowing, for a fact, that Danya NEVER does her homework and doesn't bring lunch, I asked what could possibly be in her backpack that was that heavy. "Well," she rolled her eyes breathlessly "Its because...." she lowers her voice to a whisper, " I've been wearing it since 6:00 when I got to school." Her mother was out of town and her sister made her walk to school that early so that she could catch the bus into the highschool in town.

Two of my students have been buddy-buddy since the beginning of the year. One day, Cariah tells me that it is because they are cousins. A few weeks later, her buddy Dayton's father comes in. I mentioned something about the two of them being close cousins, but received an odd look from the father. The next day I pulled Cariah aside and asked if they were really cousins. She explained that because her real dad was perpetually driving drunk and getting abusive with her mother, her mother had in turn fallen in love with Dayton's dad. The whole ordeal was hush hush though, since Dayton's dad was just getting out of a marriage too.

These are just a few of the more recent stories that have arisen from home, but it is mentally and emotionally exhausting to listen to these stories every day. To see students sent to school 2 hours early and picked up three hours late. To come with no food and be told that the only thing left in their house that morning was beer and ice cream. To watch 7 reports lie in my cabinet for months because the parents don't care enough to collect them, or are embarrassed because they can't read. Of course, I have repeated only the sad stories. The highlights will be another entry. The one thing I would like to emphasize though, is that despite all of the obstacles, most of these children still care so deeply for one another, and have amazing senses of humour and show a maturity that the kids back home don't and heaven forbid ever will have.

That time of year

It's that time again...Last night we were woken up from a peaceful slumber to the deafeningly loud crash of thunder, right above our heads. At first thought I was certain there was an intruder who just fired a rifle beside my ear, but once I managed to remember where I was, and take a quick look around the room, I realized it was just a thunderstorm... or rather, a very lonely thunderclap, since there was only the one. The night before, Blake and I had fallen asleep to the strobe light effect of lightning. I know I've mentioned it before, but there is really nothing like a Caribbean thunderstorm. I have never seen lightning this intense, or heard thunder this loud. It was at the precise time when the huge raindrops started falling on our roof, creating a constant drumroll, that I remembered our car window. When the boys were here, we managed to get the backside window stuck in the down position, which really wouldn't be that big of a deal if the other side wasn't permanently stuck in the up position. Anyways, with such dry winters, we paid the back window no thoughts, until now. Rainy season is looming right around the corner. This past weekend we saw the first of the cloudy days, and with the last two nights being punctuated with little storms here and there, I know it won't be long until the tropical storms and flooding begin. In a frantic effort to save the already decrepit upholstery of our backseat, Blake duct taped a white kitchen garbage bag over the window. It did prevent most of the water from entering, but it gave us a distinctive "white trash" look on our drive to work this morning. We knew it was time to call in Alando (pronounced Orlando). We used to have our Jamaican connection Marvin, but something has happened to him, and he has quite literally disappeared without a trace, so we are on to our second guy. Alando happens to be a Jack of Many Trades, and is also happy to pick up your mail, run your errands and get your passport stamped at Immigration while he has your car at the mechanics, but it turns out he is not to good with a key. It wasn't long until Blake got a call that the key to the car was locked inside of the car, only after they had managed to stick the window in the "up" position. Despite many attempts to break and enter (and break our car handle he actually did), they were forced to drive all the way out to my school and interrupt me in the middle of an assembly that I was leading, to get the spare key. Luckily by the end of the day, the window was still stuck up. However, it turns out the brakes needed repair, and of course, the front door handle was broken. Sigh. We never learn our lesson when it comes to strange men and our cars.

Anyways, the point of this entry is that rainy season is back, which means more indoor days, less sun, massive land crab domination of South Sound Road, nightly nightmares induced by said land crabs, intense thunderstorms and a few minuscule reasons to make us look forward to..... moving home in August.

Pictured above: Cloudy days

New York with a side of Miami

Blake and I recently jetted off to New York for a much needed weekend of shopping and sightseeing. It had been 6 months since we had been off island, so we were in desperate need of some serious civilization. Unfortunately it was going to be a quick trip. We decided to leave on Thursday morning, and return on Sunday. In our excitement, we had overlooked the fact that we had promised we would never fly American Airlines again. They had ruined our Costa Rica trip by grounding our first flight of the day in Cayman due to "Crew Rest," thus making us miss our connection to San Jose, our 3 hour bus into the interior of Costa Rica, and our first night in a hotel. As compensation, they had sent us two $200 vouchers for travel anywhere they fly. Despite our intuition, we decided to use these towards our New York trip.

Of course, we got to Miami, and were mere moments away from boarding our New York connector when it flashed "cancelled." There was noone behind the ticket counter either! After much confusion and waiting, we found out that there were no more outbound flights to NYC that day! We would have to sacrifice a day of our already short vacation to stay in Miami. Also- we were told we wouldn't be able to get our luggage back! Making the best of a bad situation, we headed to the mall. What had started as a pesky delay turned into a wonderful shopping night. Although the whole missing toothbrush thing did put a damper on my overall state of hygiene.

The next morning we returned to the airport for our 6:00 am flight. Another positive turn of events was that the Royal Wedding was just beginning. Talk about a captive audience. The wedding was being broadcast from all corners of the airport, and I nearly missed our connector for a second time as I ogled Kate's beautiful dress (and Pippa's).

Due to the delay, we had to hit the ground running in New York. We arrived at our amazing hotel and found out that our room was on the 39th floor! So high that our ears popped on the way up the elevator. With the Cayman dump being only a few metres above sea level, anything with more than four floors is exciting. We had a view of the gorgeous Chrysler building and the Empire State Building. We stowed our stuff and headed down to Wall Street to watch the Friday morning unfold. I was surprised by the security carrying automatic rifles, but anything goes in the states I guess. We then headed to Battery Park to see the statue of Liberty and then to Ground Zero to look at the new buildings. We then headed up Manhattan to Broadway to look at the shops. That evening came the highlight of Blake's year thus far; the Blue Jays and Yankees game at Yankee Stadium. I nearly lost him once we entered the stadium. He was drawn like a magnet to the field- he reminded me of a kid on Christmas morning. Our seats were amazing, being only one up from the field. We had the delight of sitting in front of a very Italian resident whose wisecracks and Noo-Yowk accent kept us laughing the entire time. One Blue Jays victory later (and numerous beers and a very mustardy hot dog) we were on our way back to the hotel.
The next day we set out early for an authentic Big Apple breakfast diner experience. We found the perfect B-grade restaurant located on the corner of our street and Blake proceeded to have a marvellous American breakfast. Full of calories and a lifetime's worth of grease, we walked over to see Bryant Park and the library, then we headed over to Rockefeller Centre where we ascended the 60+ floors to reach the look out. From there you can see clear from the statue of Liberty to Harlem in one gaze! Afterwards we walked up to Central Park where we rented bikes and cycled the entirety of the park in 2 hours. We checked out the Plaza hotel and saw the tail end of a very wealthy wedding, then worked our way back down to Times Square and sat in awe of the lights, people and sights. I have NEVER seen anything like it in my life! There was so much going on that I don't know how any of it can possibly register in one's brain. We headed back to our hotel and got ready to go out for dinner at a small local hide-out recommended by friends. Going by the name Panna II, this Indian restaurant is known for its overwhelming display of Christmas lights and chili pepper lights year round. It is also known for offering towering plates of food for a small fee. I have no words to actually explain this restaurant, other than You Must Go!
The five course meal cost us $13 each, and the atmosphere was out of this world. In a room that many would use to store shoes, there are ten or so tables, each huddled under a massive display of lights. To stand up, you must first duck under the strings of bulbs and disentangle your arms, coat and purse in order to even move. After giving gluttony a whole new meaning, we decided to walk most of the way back to the hotel, but temptation got the better of me, and in classic NYC style I wanted to try hailing a cab. I am proud to say I got one on my first try!
The next morning we had to fly out, but first we decided to venture off to see the Flatiron building and the Empire State building. We were sad to see the end of our New York trip, but lucky for us, our flights home happened to be on time (except a minor delay in Miami... of course).

I never thought that I would have my heart captured by a city, but New York was magical. I would never want to live there, but just to see the sights and sounds of one of the most famous cities in the world was surreal. It is one of those places all should visit in their lifetime!

Pictured above: Panna II, Times Square, Yankee Stadium, The view from our hotel room, Blake at the top of the Rock!

Visitors from Canada

To help ease the stress of decision making, we were fortunate to have Blake's brother Joel and friend Darcy come down from the crazy cold Canadian spring to join us! We haven't had many visitors since we came down, and they have all been mine, so it was a nice change to have Blake's side of the family come! We knew we were in for trouble when only minutes off the plane, Joel and Darcy were gulping down rum punches and beers by the pool. It sure doesn't take long to unwind in this kind of a climate. For two boys, Darcy and Joel were sure easy visitors. Joel's gym obsession had him buying a weekly membership the very next day, and Darcy found Blake's Theo Fleury book and had his nose stuck in that for the rest of the week! The best part about having visitors is getting to participate in all of the touristy things that we so often forget about. I still get giddy every time I get in the water with the stingrays, and Pasta Thursday on the ocean front patio at Grand Old House is to die for. We did a trip around the island with our friends, and wound up meeting a crazy Caymanian with one hand, named Allen who gives free tours of the free blowholes, doling out free information while taking up thirty minutes of your free time at a site that usually takes about 3 minutes! Allen also informed Joel that he must be of Asian decent, although we could never really figure out why.
The main priority for these Canadian boys were the hockey playoffs, and alcohol of any shape, form or strength. It was not unusual for Blake and I to turn in early, only to hear the boys sneak in after midnight, rowdy off of some unknown concoction of coconut, rum, punch and pineapples. During the day, the pool was generally where we found them ( I think they really only ever made it to the beach twice)! It only took Darcy three days to burn his shins to a lobster-esque red, but Joel fared slightly better due to the fact that he arrived freshly fake-and-baked.
The highlight for the boys was the Sunday brunch. We warned Joel to approach with caution. He was just off a crazy cutting program and had less body fat than any human being on the planet should ever have. However, they dove head first into the yorkshire puddings, sushi, crab, potatoes, omelettes, bacon, pancakes, potstickers, fish, cadbury cream eggs and chocolate cake. In a surprising show of sobriety, both of them actually passed on the bottomless champagne so that they could gorge themselves even further! That takes self-discipline!
Needless to say, we sent them back a little heavier on the scale, a lot lighter in the wallet and sporting a lovely shade of sunburn. I am hoping they had an equally great time visiting!

Down to the wire: Decision Time

It is nearing the end of April. A painful deadline is zooming closer to us daily. You will have to excuse me for not writing for a few weeks, but both Blake and I have been going through some major life decisions. No, don't hold your breath, we have nothing amazing or new to share with you, since, as a Libra and Scorpio-on-the-cusp of Libra we have literally no chance of ever making a decision about anything.

Our lack of decision-making ability became glaringly apparent when we were wedding planning. If not for the input of my mother, sister and bridesmaids, I am not sure there would have been a wedding! I am so lousy at figuring out what I want that I often simmer in a state of denial and wait until the last minute possible at which point I am forced to make a split second choice. To my defence, the few times that I am able to make up my mind, I am very well informed and support fully the choice I make. You see, I got as a gift a large Pros and Cons chart that has been my lifesaver. I can often be found curled up on the sofa with my lists in hand. Each decision carefully outlined into two neat categories. With the aid of this chart I am able to make a few more decisions, but sometimes I still find myself yo-yoing back and forth after the list clearly indicates one path. Anyways, I digress. Some of you may not know this, but when Blake was offered a promotion last fall he was also offered an open-ended contract. This now meant that we no longer had to leave the island in June, which was supposed to be the end of our Cayman Islands Adventure. With this new option in mind, we were fully leaning towards staying on in Grand Cayman. I mean, who wouldn't want to live in paradise? He also found out the he will be able to be a manager in his group this fall. However, I am only on a leave of absence from my job back in Canada. My school division graciously provided me with a two year leave, but this September they expect me back. No exceptions. Still, we knew that Paradise doesn't come knocking on everyone's doors, and we are lucky to be here, why not extend the lifestyle for a few more years? Of course, right when we think we have made a decision we are smacked in the face with more reality. I began hearing how difficult it was in Alberta to find a teaching job. Many lay-offs were happening in my district and it was very difficult even to find a substitute position. Being uncertain as to whether or not I would be offered a position here in the fall, returning home looked like the best option. Blake began to look into it as well, and may be able to be a manager back in Edmonton too. Right when we were beginning to settle with that option I was interviewed and basically told that I will have a position here in Cayman this September at a private school. Switch of our plans again!

Each time we feel we have made progress we find out more facts. Rather than bore you with all of the minute details, I will admit that we are still receiving information daily that makes us want to stay, or feel the need to leave. What I can say is this: either decision will leave us excited for new possibilities yet devastated about leaving something behind. Should we return home my heart will ache for this special island, for my amazing lifestyle, for the diving, for the friends I have made, for the 365 (almost!) days of sun a year, for the travel opportunities and cultural experiences, but I will be excited to feel like a valued staff member again, to be able to use my French daily, to buy a house and get a puppy and drive a car that doesn't break or need repair every 14 days. If we chose to stay I will be so upset about selling our cars, leaving behind my sister and family for a few more years, not being able to use all the amazing gifts we got for our wedding, not being able to inhale fresh clean crisp air, not being able to see my friends from home and most of all, losing my career for who knows how long. I would look forward to continued travel to Caribbean islands, meeting more new people, starting a job in a small private school with a great reputation, having more visitors come and see us, and of course, continuing to live the most amazing life ever!!!! So, as you can hopefully see, we are stuck in limbo! We know that family and friends have the best intentions on trying to help us decide, but we know that this is only a decision the two of us can make. Do we follow our hearts or heads? Stability or Live-for-the-moment freedom?

It is down the wire. Only a few more days before our decision must be made. Please feel free to weigh in on the biggest decision of our life! What would you do? Leave a comment, send us an email or lend us some words of wisdom, because at this point we are both stress cases and our nerves are nearly shot!!! HELP!!!!!!

Pictured above: Cayman or Canada?

Drinking and Driving

Driving on this islands can pose some life threatening consequences at the best of times. The curvy roads, accumulation of oil on slick pavement, blind corners, bad drivers and tropical storms are normal occurrences. Once drinking is thrown in to the mix, the odds of survival become less. Since we have been on island there have been numerous crashes and deaths caused by drivers over the limit. There seems to be little enforcement and few consequences for those that do drink and drive. We hadn't been on island for more than a few days when we were warned that most people do it, it isn't a huge deal. Thankfully we were raised well (and it appears most of our friends were too) and we know better than to get into our crappy cars after more than a couple of cocktails. Some high profile cases have been brought to our attention since our arrival. This past summer a young 18 year old girl, a daughter of a local celebrity singer, was driving on the bypass after a night at the bar. She drove head first into an oncoming car, instantly killing the 20 something Filipino girl in the passenger seat, and injuring her fiance in the driver's. They were to have been married a few short weeks later. Luckily the 18 year old will be serving some time, but how much time is a life worth? Another tragedy happened over Christmas break, and this one really hit home. A young accountant who had arrived on the island only a month earlier was leaving the bar after way too many drinks. Rather than drive, he decided to make the right decision and walk home, but he failed to look in the right direction before he crossed the road and was hit full speed by a taxi driver. It was determined that alcohol was involved... the taxi driver had been drinking too.

It is sad to hear these stories, but one often listens with a sort of detachment. This past week it became glaringly clear that drinking and driving affects more than just "other" people. Two of our acquaintances are notorious for drinking hard and sneaking out to drive home. They have basically been driving drunk every weekend since their arrival a few years ago. This weekend was to be one of the guy's last day on island, and his best friend will be leaving in another two weeks. They were out drinking on Thursday night and one decided to drive home. The other, most likely equally as drunk, jumped in the passenger seat. They didn't even make it around the first roundabout. They flipped their vehicle, pinning one of them inside. Luckily they were both able to make their way out eventually. The passenger escaped by sheer chance, but the driver has been in the hospital for the past 3 days having reconstructive surgery on his arm. He will be getting a skin graft from his rear end later this month to cover the loss of skin. Apparently the doctor told them both that had they not been drunk, they may not have survived. At their alcohol level, their reflexes were slow enough that it actually made the impact less harmful. Now how they managed to flip their car in a roundabout when you can't go more than 60kms on this island is a mystery, but it just goes to show how dangerous it is to be driving without your full faculties. The good news is that no one else was involved, thankfully, because they may not have been as lucky. It is hard to look at these two without criticism now. We ran into the driver yesterday. He had just gotten out of the hospital that morning and looked a little worse for the wear. I found it hard to even look at him, or be nice to him, because all I could think about was his reckless behaviour and how he had endangered everyone on the island's life that night, since any of us could have been on the road. It is a strange feeling when you want to feel pity and sympathy, but you just can't. We are not really sure what the legal repercussions will be, but it already sounds like he will get away with a slap on the hand, since he is leaving island in a week. The passenger left island the very next day! It is exactly this sort of situation that makes it clear there are little consequences for driving under the influence. In the same sentence, I can't say that I want him to be charged, because we know him, but if I had been on the road, or anyone I knew was in an accident due to his negligence I would be plotting his demise as I speak.

This accident has made it clear to me that even some of your friends can't be trusted when it comes to drinking and driving. I know I'll be watching every sip of my appletini next time to make sure that I am nowhere near the limit when I get in the driver's seat.

Star-bucks struck

Everyone has obsessions. For some it is a certain celebrity, or reality show. Others obsess over clothes, cars, games, sports teams... For my father, I would say it is airplanes. Ever since we were young, my dad would drop everything and stare into the great blue sky every time he heard the roar of a plane overhead. I'm pretty certain that from the age of four onwards, I believed that every object above my head was a twin engine beaver. I'm not sure if my mom had any real obsessions, but perhaps cleaning conch shells will be her new love. I digress, the point of this blog is to discuss my husband's loyal love and obsession for Starbucks and how he has coped without it for the past 15 months.

Blake's love for Starbucks began well before I met him. If you ask him straight out when he began to fall for the wavy haired little siren in the green circle, he is unsure. He guesstimates it was in 2005. In an effort to stay awake during long study sessions he became more and more dependant on his cup of Italian dark roast. By the time we met, he was frequenting Starbucks on a near daily basis. I am convinced that is why we are still paying off some student loans! He tried so desperately to initiate me into his Starbucks cult with luring cups of Caramel Macchiatos and Mochas, but he had not yet discovered my deep dark secret. When trying to convert me failed, he moved on. Joel became his next target, which he is proud to say was a success. He moved onwards, converting those he worked with, and even trying to entice my parents in to Starbucks Stops when they visited.

As a result of Blake's dependance on a grande cup of coffee, we have visited Starbucks all over the world. I know many people who collect Hard Rock Cafe T-shirts from vacation destinations, well we collect photos from Starbucks worldwide. Having effortlessly covered all cities and many towns in western Canada- one on our very own wedding day (with me in my massive gown!), our first international Starbucks venture had us visiting the Kuta location in Bali while on our honeymoon. Known for Australian surfers and a laid back vibe, four cafes were scattered around the beaches. After nearly 2 days in transit from home, the relief in Blake's eyes was palpable when he first entered the Kuta Starbucks. Our next stop was Tokyo. Although the menus were written in Japanese, the coffee still tasted the same. Our third and fourth international stops were in Denver and Miami (with Miami actually becoming our "local" cafe, since I am certain we know the exact location of every Starbucks in the Miami International Airport as well as all those on South Beach). We have also spent some time in a Costa Rican Starbucks and nearly 10 hours camped out beside the Lima Starbucks waiting for our flight. With our recent trip to New York booked, Blake has already planned our outings around Starbucks runs.

Moving to the Cayman Islands saw a new challenge for Blake. There are no Starbucks on island, so instead he suffers with the local blend, or the odd tin of Tim Horton's that gets imported to the supermarket. Each time we head off island he dreams about placing his first order of the day in Miami, and then following up with whichever destination we have chosen. We stock up on Starbucks VIA when the opportunity arises, and both Cheryl and Dave have sent up care packages from Canada. We aren't entirely sure that Dave didn't go bankrupt sending us nearly 5 pounds of VIA with a shipping cost upwards of $50 for Christmas. We are still drinking it!

The only downside to Blake's addiction is me. Since I can remember my dad always used to jokingly ask me if I wanted a cup of coffee every morning. As the years flew by, I think he anticipated that one day I would say yes, like Melinda did. That day has still not come. It is not that I don't find the smell alluring (because I do!) and it isn't because I don't like the taste (because it has grown on me), but there is something far worse that keeps me passing on the coffee. My caffeine sensitivity is out of this world, and just a cup of coke or some chocolate can keep me up for hours. I have grown to enjoy lattes, and Blake has taken to making me some, but I pay the price of sleepless nights, heart palpitations, nausea, extreme giddiness, painful headaches and twitchy eyeballs every time I succumb to the temptation. Sometimes the sensations I get from just one cup makes me nervous that it has been riddled with speed or some other drug. Blake can always tell when I am on a high, because he can't get a word in edgewise and I begin a full scale cleaning of the house. Anyways, despite my "disability" when it comes to coffee, I enjoy the odd Cinnamon Dolce Latte (decaf, of course) and look forward to more worldwide Starbucks visits.

Above: Dave's starbucks xmas present; me in Miami Starbucks, Blake in South Beach Starbucks where we saw David Caruso from CSI, Blake outside Kuta, Bali Starbucks, Blake waiting for flight to Tokyo with Starbucks in hand.

A Dirty Mess!

I have come to the conclusion that my cleaning habits are not conducive to living on a tropical island. I am the first to admit that I am a clutterbug. Blake is so patient and kind, picking up after my daily whirlwind, or more often than not, leaving every item where it has been deposited, lest I not forget where I have left something. Although I am a bit messy, I am a firm believer that cluttered and dirty are two very different things. I do not enjoy living in a dirty house, or working in a dirty atmosphere. Messy I can deal with, but not dirty. However, since our move, I have been fighting an uphill battle with dirt. In Canada, we had carpet. What a marvellous invention! Not only does it trap the dirt, but it also has a great way of hiding it! The vacuum cleaner was also wonderful, sucking up all the little things that you can't see. The year round cooler temperatures also helped with infestations and insect life. Cleaning back home was a cake-walk compared to here. First off, everything is white tile. This means that an hour after I have swept, swiffered and mopped (you have to do all three to make any difference at all), I can literally walk around the house and find whatever room Blake has visited based on curly brown hairs on the floor (don't get sick people!) This hairy situation can actually be beneficial should our house ever get broken into. I would have instant evidence! It is also useful for remembering which guests we have had throughout the week. Ah! A long curly blonde hair and a brown wavy strand means the Cornwell's have visited. Orangey ringlets and blonde lengthy hairs mean that Brett and Sarah have come over. I am also able to gage the recession of Blake's hairline based on the collection I can accrue by the week's end. If hair was the only battle then I would be content, but with white tile that is impossible to keep clean, and a habit of hanging out on the porch with wet pool feet we often find dirty foot prints in all corners of the flat. Should we happen to get some water on the floor from the kitchen sink, sweating water glasses or a shower then our floor will reflect our every move, footprint by footprint. Since our arrival over a year ago, I have probably also amassed enough sand in this place to make a considerable dent in the filling of a child's sand box.
The floors are not the only issue I have. The garbage is also a nasty situation. Since there is no recycling on island, we are forced to throw out everything (or come up with some creative re-usable ideas, like my Planter's peanut jar Iced Tea pitcher.) This means that we are constantly having to walk the garbage nearly a block to our massive bin. The problem with this though, is when we forget to take out the garbage each morning. In an effort to go green and save money, we leave the air conditioner off when we are out and about, unfortunately it can heat up to nearly 30 degrees inside. This means, at the end of a long work day, we come home to the haunting smells of juicy cantaloupe gone rancid mixed with old eggs, sour milk and last night's fish. An odiferous experience awaits us most days. As such, I have become quite adept at deciphering mouldy, musty decaying smells. I can pinpoint most any scent and name it's original source; now if only there were a game show for this!
The final contender is our sugar ant infestation. I am please to announce that the thousands strong ant colony has actually migrated from our kitchen counters to our bathroom. What wonderful attraction they have found there, I know not, but I am glad that we are no longer having to bleach our counters on a tri-daily basis. The sugar ants have actually become a morbid fascination for us. When having a relaxing bath it is rather interesting to watch them crawl dizzily about the tiles with no apparent purpose. In fact, I realize now that I have passed more time than I would like to admit pondering the lives and habits of these miniature creatures. Sometimes we play a game, where we follow the ants to try and track their food source or home lair, but let me warn you, this generally ends with a feeling of nauseousness and the sad reality that you have just wasted the better part of an hour watching one of life's simplest forms (what does that say about us??? yikes). I will never forget the successful ant-hunting fest we had a few months back. The ants were out in a full army formation, and we were able to follow them all along the walls of the bathroom, up to the roof, down the side of the door and around the corner into our supply closet, where we discovered our old stash of aluminum pop tins (the ONLY recyclable thing on island). It was like Pay Day. Out came the bleach and an ant genocide ensued. All hope of eradicating the entire population for good was dismally dashed the following day when the remainder of the colony mocked us by zig zagging across our floor, never leading us anywhere. Anyways, I would welcome a sugar ant infestation any day, especially compared to the insects I find in my classroom on a daily basis, but I will save that delightful thought for another entry. We are having guests over tonight and I must begin my war on hair and odour!

Please note!!!! The sugar ant photo is NOT from our place! Give me a break, I don't let it get that bad!