Long Time, No Post!

First of all - I apologize for not updating this more in the past 10 days!  Brayton and I have been really busy and its been hard to find the time to sit down and actually do it!  I am going to attempt a quick recap of our lives in the past ten days!

1) Completely disregard the last post I made about the perfect apartment - yes, it was perfect...until we found out the 2nd story apartment above it was broke into in August of last year at 2am when the girl was home sleeping...and the landlord won't put burglar bars on the windows or doors...so we decided to keep looking and if we didn't find anything, we were going to go talk to the landlord about safety and such - but ended up finding a place equally, if not better, than that one.  Over the past ten days, we have looked at 20, yes TWENTY, different apartments on the island.  We looked at some that I walked into and, if it weren't for being polite to the person showing me, I would have walked right back out the door.  We looked at some that were brand new and had never been lived in and were quite nice - but had NO view (we had a REALLY hard time with this one...were we willing to sacrifice a view for a nicer apartment or not...).  We looked at some that were far too expensive for their size/niceness...and so the story goes on!  Then we met Jo, who showed us three VERY nice apartments, all at reasonable prices, with views and all the things we wanted.  One was a nice one bedroom on the first floor of a house in Fort Tyson rise with a spectacular view, and a pool at the owners level (which we may have been able to use), a nice, large, one bedroom at St. Christopher's Club - right on the ocean - with two community pools...and then she showed us the Villa at Half Moon Bay Villas.  The Villa was a bit more money than we wanted to spend - but we looked at our budget, decided we could do it and the amenities made it soooo worth it!  The villa is set right on the edge of the golf course across from the Marriott, has a decent view (not spectacular - but decent), has two floors (bedroom downstairs with bathroom - jacuzzi tub - and laundry (washer AND dryer) room.  There is a patio off of the bedroom which one get onto by passing through two beautiful glass doors with windows on each side.  The first(or second or top, or floor you enter in on) has a decent size kitchen (with a dishwasher and electric stove(negative but its ok!), a big living room with high ceilings, two AC's, a nice round glass dining room table, another full bathroom, a pull out couch - and the best part...2 sets of double glass doors, with windows on each side.  The front door enters out onto the 2nd floor patio and the other set opens up over our PRIVATE POOL!!!!!!!!!  Literally, you step from the living room - into the pool!  So, we are really excited to get moved in and settled!  Check out some pictures!  The best part is - the only place there is glass on the windows is the doors and above the doors.  Those brown 'shutter' looking things are in place of the glass.  They open like blinds rather than opening glass.  You will see some open ones in other pictures below!

Bedroom - patio doors!  Hurricane shutters are closed which is why you see the white

Living Room and Dining Room with two sets of double glass doors - one on the right opens up over the pool.  Again, hurricane shutters are closed!

Kitchen

Pooooool!!!!  Behind those Hurricane Shutters are the double doors into the living room!  AWESOME!

View - it doesn't really do justice.  Thats the golf course and marriott - ocean behind all that! 

pool again - its small, but private and OURS!

bedroom again

Living Room/Dining room with patio doors open

again

kitchen and entry door

the front side...its the one in the center and its the villa on the (looking at it) left side!

2) Brayton has taken an exam in all 4 of his main classes and passed them all with flying colors!  He got an A, 2 B's and a C.  (which is great for vet school...C's = DVM's =)) Those have consumed him greatly in the past couple weeks, he has a small break for another week now, then he has another round - then finals! I am hoping to be moved into the Villa before finals so he can study in the dorm room and I can go HOME (finally a place to call HOME!) and not have to be around!

3) I have also been so busy with work!  Teaching two grades at once = never a dull moment or a break!  

4) I made Brayton homemade banana bread tonight (his favorite) finally as he has been begging me for it!  

5) SCUBA diving has begun!  We completed our classroom session, our pool session and our first ocean session.  Brayton LOVESSSS it and I am not convinced I do yet...eeek!  I was EXTREMELY nervous both times (you go down twice in one boat trip out).  The first time was ok - but I was really nervous and had a hard time relaxing - Brayton was off loving it!  My mask also fogged up really bad and I couldn't see anything and my air got low - and I was nervous - but it really wasn't that bad!  The second dive I had a bit of a panic moment and my heart starting racing wicked bad (at 40 ft deep) and I had to stand on the bottom and try to slow my breathing.  I thought for sure I was going to have to have an instructor take me up to the surface but I caught my breath and made it.  We did have to go up early though because I used up a lot of air in my panic!!  We have to do dives 3 and 4 still (and that is where we have to take our Mask all the way off and put it back on - the scariest, most nerve racking thing for me!) and then we will be certified (well Brayton will be - we will see if I make it!!)

Here are some pics from our first dives:

Cool Puffer Fish one of the instructors pulled out to show us! 

Puffer Fish!

"Green" sea turtle we saw! (well I didn't cause I was too fogged and probably lost panicking!) 

Good Husband helping me stay calm! 

Brayton hanging out 40 feet below!

Some bubble blowing!


Well - I can't think of too much more excitement that has gone on in our lives.  We have not talked to anyone from home, or done anything super fun.  I think we may have gone to the beach once and done some stuff on island...OH I KNOW!!! I GOT MY LICENSE!!! I AM OFFICALLY DRIVING IN ST KITTS!  You wouldn't think that is a big deal - but its so weird and I feel like a 16 year old learning how to drive again and Brayton is always yelling at me because I'm 'too close to the ditch!)  Its like I'm scared of the center line!

We also got our engagement photos - there were some really nice ones!  Brief preview below!

I hope this catches everyone up a little!  I will try to be better at updating!  Hope all is well at home as summer turns to fall, and fall to winter - we are thinking of you when its 85 and sunny here everyday - and the coldest its going to get is 70 (maybe!) 

Much love to you all <3 

Apartment Hunting was a HUGEEEEEEEEEE Success!

To begin, thank god this week is over!  Two exams in one week was not fun for poor Brayton, or me!!! (I can't imagine what finals week is going to be like with 4!)  

The Missoula Children's Theatre production of Jungle Book with the Prep School this past week was beyond amazing, beyond words, completely breathtaking!  The entire school (about 60 kids) learned the songs, lines, moves, everything for the one hour production of Jungle Book in 4 DAYS!!!  4 days - I don't think adults/teens could have done this! My 1st and 2nd graders were Monkeys and had 3 songs, and 3 dances, and when they weren't on stage were sitting back stage silently and were PERFECT.  I could not have been MORE proud of them and their hard work!

Friday night was another great night of beach volleyball!  I am loving that I was asked to play with a team of people who are GOOD at volleyball and welcomed me to their team!  It is such a great stress relief and a great end of the week break!  Brayton and I were both exhausted from our long week of theatre productions and exams and were home and in bed by 10 PM (I'll note that is about 2-4 hours earlier than any night the past week!) and were so excited to wake up and begin our apartment search and our first SCUBA class.

So apartment hunting in St Kitts.....Where to start.....

1) Ross University has many apartments on the island that are 'Ross Approved'.  That means they meet tons and tons and tons of security regulations and are 'as safe as they can be' according to them.  Some of their standards and requirements are over the top (glad they want us to be safe!) but because of them, many apartments are NOT Ross approved and you have to find them through realtors on the island.

2) Many areas on the island are not the safest places to live and/or are a potential 'unsafe' area.  Truthfully, I feel like if you are smart and use common sense and are smart about where you live, you will be fine.

3) Many apartments are not all that nice... and they are extremeeeellllyyy expensive! When I say not nice I would say that is comparative to a place in the US most of us wouldn't live in (if you ever saw my Potsdam apartment - it'd say its close to that!).  They are all furnished, but most have lawn furniture/futon style furniture in the living rooms(not so comfy to sit on), and are just old and dirty-ish.

4) We are busy and don't really have all the time in the world to apartment hunt!

5) We found an AWESOME realtor who I told what I wanted and she hooked us up with 4 showings today and we didn't have to do anything (THANK YOU CARLA!!!!!!!!!!)

6) Carla took us to some great apartments, all 4 of which were very nice and very possible living spaces for us.  But the 4th one she took us to was, well let's just say, beyond amazing (especially for St Kitts!!!!!).  It is located in Fort Tyson Rise, in Frigate Bay(up the mountain side from the Marriott) and when you stand in the yard you can see the entire perimeter of St Kitts (AMAZING, BREATHTAKING, AHHH!).   That was just the beginning!  When you walked inside, you felt like you had just entered into the home of some really rich person who has some house you wish you could live in!  It had amazing tile floors, REALLLLLLL furniture (that you sink into and don't ever want to get out of!) and big, open, kitchen with nice cupboards and countertops, a nice glass dining room table, a HUGE bedroom with  a 4 post queen size pillowtype, soft, comfy, bed.  Two huge beautiful dressers, a big closet that opened into a humongous bathroom.  It also has a nice laundry room with washer AND dryer(most places don't have dryers).  He has a 'gym' in his house we can use, he is thinking of putting in a pool AND it was in our price range!!!!  We talked about it and decided we were SOLD!  We will be moving in in December!

Since we got this amazing apartment, and have been looking at money and time and such - we have decided not to come home in December anymore.  It was going to be expensive for us, someone was going to have to drive us to and pick us up from NYC in December (and drive down on the 31st-yikes).  It was winter and blizzards and cold and we live in paradise now and just don't want to see snow!!!!  So - we will be coming home for a week in April instead (apx. April 22 - April 29).  If anyone wants an awesome break from winter - come visit us for Christmas instead!

We also had our first in water SCUBA class today.  It was in the pool at Ocean Terrace Inn and was really cool.  At first it was really scary to go underwater and take a breath and have air come in through this 'thing' in your mouth and then breath out and have bubbles surround you and for everything to just be ok and underwater!  There were many skills that we practiced and learned and most of it is exciting and some of it still makes me nervous (that I have to do it again at 40 feet deep, in the ocean and not 8 feet deep in a pool!).  I think we are doing our first and second ocean dives next Saturday - yay!  Hopefully I make it up alive =)  just kidding!

Oh, and, we ate at KFC today!!  And it was actually really good!  I am not sure I have ever eaten at a KFC at home, so I am not sure if it was as good or not!

I think that is about all the excitement we have for one day!  We are hoping for a relaxing beach morning, early afternoon tomorrow and then get to studying (for Brayton) for the evening!  He has another exam on Wednesday this week!!!  Luckily - he got an A on his first Physiology exam and a B on his first Microanatomy exam!  GO BRAYTON!  He is pretty much amazing =)  


Well - I need to get to bed - I can't be too tired tomorrow, I have a long day of going to the beach!

How can the weekends go so fast?!

Well, it is Sunday night AGAIN!  I feel like it is not possible that we are going into our 5th week of classes/school and that we have been here for 6 weeks already!!

Luckily, Friday ended the illnesses of the week and I was able to go play in my beach volleyball game.  I was still moving slow though and only played one of the two games!  Brayton and I continued our Friday night with a great couples night.  Our friends Rob and Stephanie and Kate and Trevor and us went to dinner at Ciao's.  It was so nice to sit around with other couples, talk about things other than work and school and relax and enjoy ourselves!  I am so glad we have friends like them here <3.  We left Ciao's and met up with some other friends at the Marriott Casino.  We tried playing some machine - couldn't even tell you what it was or what we did...but we put $5 in and won $0.40.  ha!  Great Friday night here in Paradise!

Saturday morning came way to fast as well rolled out of bed and headed to Key's Beach on the Atlantic side of the island for a Beach Clean-up.  Key's beach is a beach that many turtles nest at, so keeping it clean is a priority.  There was so much garbage and it really felt great to help out and remove as much as we did.  In total, we had to have removed hundreds of pounds!!   Our car has stilllll been malfunctioning, and had no alternator fuse, which meant no power and nothing to charge the battery - so we werent sure we would make it home...and we didnt!  We had to jump the car to leave and about 3 minutes from campus, it started sputtering and we died!!  We had to call Kate to come pick up people we had driven there with us, Ross security to come sit with us and help us with locals, and then our mechanic who brought us a charged battery (he took it from his running car HA!) and had us follow him to his house.  Luckily, he was able to find the short in the line and fix the fuse problem!  So far our car has been running 'island great' (that means awful, but good enough for here!  OISK!).  We came home and found ourselves taking a 3 hour nap!  The heat was exhausting!!  Saturday afternoon Stephanie, Rob and myself went to the Royal St Kitts Golf Course and participated in a 5k/2k run/walk to benefit the St Christopher's Children Home.  It was a great effort!  Stephanie and I walked and Rob ran - he got second place in the men's division and hadn't run at all GO ROB!!!!  He was recognized and won a trophy.  Super exciting!!  Poor Brayton stayed home and studied!  We grilled steaks Saturday night and hung out with Trevor and Stephanie and Rob outside and played Black Jack ( so we could gamble next time we go to the casino...maybe!) and ate dinner!  Again, I am so glad to have such great friends here!!

Sunday was a work day...we woke up and studied/lesson planned allll day!  We did manage to find time this weekend to get in touch with a realtor who is hooking us up with some apartment viewings next weekend!  We also start our SCUBA certification this week - we have class Wednesday for 3 hours and our first 'pool' dive for 4 hours on Saturday!  I am really nervous, but super excited!!!  We took a small break this evening and did some 'exploratory driving' around the island and found some cool areas we would really like to live in!  Hopefully our apartment hunting takes us in all good directions!!

We have a crazy week ahead - Brayton has a Physiology exam and an Anatomy exam this week and the Prep School has a Mizzoula Children's Theatre here and we are putting on the musical Jungle Book Thursday - that means in 5 days, the entire school (apx 55 kids) are learning lines, moves, song, acting, etc. to put on a play Thursday!  I'd like to see any HS musical team beat these kids!  I am so excited to witness it all for the first time and see the kids perform on Thursday!!! SCUBA Wed and Sat, apartment hunting Sat, work and rest Sunday!

Everyone's Fall facebook statues are making me jealous - but I must say i LOVE sitting on my bed in shorts and a t-shirt, in October, with the windows open and it STILL being a good 80 degrees outside!  This place is amazing!  <3