Acting Like A Tourist

Hey People!

It has been awhile since I have been able to write something. I'm sorry everyone! Kyle and I have been on a few adventures since he has been on his break. His parents visited for a few days, and currently a couple friends from town are here visiting. So of course we have been showing them around the island and acting like a tourist. 

I also started back at work, oh and some exciting news...my work visa got approved!! Yipee!! I am very excited to continue at this school, and hopefully help out any way possible. But that's a whole other story. For now, this post is mostly going to be pictures of the touristy things we have been up to. 

So sit back, scroll on through and enjoy :-)

Botanical Gardens
(It does cost money: Local Rate: 8 US, Non Local: 13 US)

There were a lot of exotic plants. It took about an hour to walk through the gardens. They do have a restaurant on site, however it is very expensive so we didn't eat there. 

There were a lot of statues similar to this around the garden

Most of the places we visited were recommended by some of the teachers I work with, so I trusted their opinions because they would know best being that this is their home. 

We then decided to tackle one of the hiking trails on the island. Kyle's dad found an awesome website that gives a list of all the different hiking trails around the island, from the starting points, to the level of difficulty. It's a great resource!

https://hikingnevis.wordpress.com

Golden Rock Hike

We decided to go to Golden Rock. Kyle and I had both heard great things about this place, and the hiking trail was supposed to be pretty easy. (I didn't have a chance to look at the hiking website until after we hiked...)

Anyway, at Golden Rock, which was free to walk around, it was so beautiful that we all agreed it was better than the Botanical Gardens. It had some great views of the island! The hiking trail could be either 2-4 hours depending on how far you want to go. It follows the water source, all the way up into the mountain. We made it as far as the "Ocean View Point". It was all uphill, which took over an hour to get there. Kyle and his friends might tackle the rest of the hike this week, because the second half involves ropes and vines and steep climbing or something. Could be interesting. 

So here are the picks from that hike starting at Golden Rock. 

We saw some Monkeys on our hike! Finally got some pictures!

Ocean View Point! 

Way down there is Kyle's school.

We could see our house!

We then took the guests to some beaches and had a blast riding the waves. The beach we went to was called Chrishi Beach, which is now Kyle's favourite beach. Important note:We went back there with Kyle's friends this week, and I saw a sting ray!!!! It was so close to us! It abruptly ended my swimming time though. 

 

We made a trip to St. Kitts last week to catch up on some movies. Before we left, we stopped at the Mount Nevis Hotel which is where the oldest church in all of the Caribbean is located. Pretty amazing to see that. A nice history lesson, with some gorgeous scenery. 

Cottle Church

This was the view of Mount Nevis Hotel

This was just part of the lobby of the Hotel

St. Kitts

Kyle patiently waiting for his pizza before the movie. 

It was a great week with Kyle's parents here. They brought us a bunch of stuff: screen door, some lights so now I can see when I was dishes, toilet paper, candy, chocolate, Kyle got some school supplies, and lots of sunscreen. Oh and our couch!! It works great, and it is so comfortable!!

(The essentials when living on an island ;)

We had a 3 day rest before a new round of visitors showed up. In between there wasn't much down time because we were dealing with apartment maintenance things. It was a little annoying having the interruptions, however I am glad that we were here to monitor them because the workers left a big mess in our apartment after putting up curtain rods, and changing the air conditioning filter. I am still waiting for our apartment to get sprayed again because there has been a huge increase in mosquitoes in the last week, which I am not a fan of. 

While I have been at work, this is what the guys were up to

So that's it for now. We are still hosting friends until Saturday, so I am sure I will have more photos to come. Hope you enjoyed it!

Miss you all!!

The Amazing Race: Nevis Edition

This season on the Amazing Race, teams race around the island of Nevis competing in challenges to correctly purchase a car....

One of my favourite shows is the Amazing Race. This past weekend I actually felt like I was on the show. Kyle and I bought a car...yay! Once we made the sale from another med student, there was a lot of paper work that had to be done to correctly transfer ownership and get insurance on the car.
So for anyone traveling to this lovely island and want to purchase a car listen up!!



Once the deal was made over the phone, the next day Kyle and I were up early and made our way downtown by 9:00 am. We had to get the money to pay the guy for the car. Well, first of all the bank wouldn't do a cash advance on our Visa, even though we had talked to someone on the phone from Scotia and they said it would work. The bank wouldn't even really talk to us unless we had an account. So we drove to the ATM machine that spits out US, but of course we couldn't get the amount we needed, probably because the machine has a limit, even though at the bank, the teller said they don't. So then Kyle said he needs to connect to WiFi so we can pay the guy using Paypal. We were trying to avoid this because it charges us a large fee. Anyway, back to town we went to find WiFi. Kyle manages to get a sketchy connection and on our way to pay, he told me he was about to break his number one rule of banking; never do online banking on an public Wifi connection. Well he definitely ate those words because he got locked out of his Paypal account due to suspicious activity. Bah!!

So we drove all the way back home, the drive to and from town takes a good 30 minutes each way.  After some frustrations, phone calls and some Googling, we figure out how to pay the guy, and make the transfer. He sends us paperwork which we were told that the seller and the new buyer of the vehicle have to go to a police station together and sign the documents in front of an officer. So off we went, back to town. The police station we went to was close to the seller's house. He gave us the documents and the police officer didn't say one word to us! It was so weird! We filled out the paper work to transfer the ownership, and then the police officer took the paper and signed it without a word. Luckily the seller had an idea of what to do next. We had to take this document to the police station down town to the traffic department. (Our next clue). Luckily I knew where the police station was. Parking is just an issue when going downtown, and of course it started to rain!

Anyway we found the police station, and we went to this one spot called the Magistrate Court, we walk in this room and Kyle says we are transferring the ownership of a vehicle, we had the document signed in front of a police officer and were told to come here. The guy looks at us like we just spoke a different language. He took a couple minutes to respond and then says you need the next building with the traffic department. Well of course nothing is labelled around here, so quickly we run outside and go next door to avoid the rain. There are about 4 officers sitting at computers, and the guy says oh just have a seat the traffic officer will be here in a minute. #islandtime and 15 minutes later we get called up to see the traffic officer. We show him our paper, and he looks at us and has the most confused face on. Then he passes it to another guy who takes the longest photocopy ever and then eventually stamps it. He then gives us our next clue: Go to the Inland Revenue Department. We ask him where it's located and he says its across from the main square downtown. I had an idea of the whereabouts so I told Kyle we can just walk there. It's raining more now, and I'm only in flip flops, and trying not to get our documents wet and fall on my face. Note to self: When competing in the amazing race, wear running shoes!


The reason why we were rushing a bit was because it was a Friday afternoon, and we had no clue when all of these places close.
We made it to the department, and we happen to run into our other friends who also just bought a car and were doing the same process as us. I had a party in my head when I saw them, because that was the moment I truly felt like we were in this race. It took awhile for it to be our turn, and while we were waiting I see a sign on the wall that said what you needed to have in order to transfer ownership of a vehicle. Insurance was one of those things, which we did not have. I said to Kyle, I think we are at the wrong place, but our clue told us to come here, so I was confused. Our friends ahead of us, had all there documents, and they had paid then left. It was our turn next, so we just decided to wait. There was another women waiting going through the same process, and she could tell we were confused but she assured us we were in the right spot. So we speak to the lady behind the counter, and after some fiddling on a computer she prints out a form with an amount and says we need to take this form to the insurance company and then come back here and pay the amount. Our next clue! (Although I didn't understand why we couldn't have just paid the amount right away).

Okay, off to the insurance company, luckily it was pretty much across the street. So through the rain we hustled over to the building. I was nervous it was going to be closed because it was already after 1pm. But it was open! We show our documents to the lady and she starts clicking away on her computer. After about 15 minutes she asks us when the previous owner is leaving the island, we said within a week, and she says he needs to cancel the current insurance package. Ummmmm.
So she phones him up and he basically gives permission over the phone, but no, he has to actually come down the office and sign some paperwork. The seller was really nice, and he came to the office. He lives pretty close so it wasn't to bad. I just wish we had known that before hand. Oh well, live and learn!
So he signs the papers, then leaves, and something is not working with this girls computer so we get passed off to another women to make the payment. Well they don't have a debit machine, so they have to call the St.Kitts office and then they have to fax over the receipt! You guys keeping up??!?!!
I asked them what time the Revenue Department closes at and she said 3pm. By this point it was 2:15, and I was starting to get nervous. The server in St.Kitts must have gone down, because the fax wasn't coming through, and the guy calls the office to ask if we were paying in EC or US. The amount was in EC and he almost charged us in US which would have been awful. So we are waiting...I'm checking my watch, tick tock tick tock. The nice lady apologizes, and offers a free calendar. I love free stuff! Tick tock. The printer starts going! Yay! We get our receipt and we are all set. So it's just about 2:30 and I'm praying this Revenue Department didn't decide to close early. We race back over, and the lady seemed surprised to see us. Umm of course we were coming back! We pay the fee, and then it's off to the pit stop! PICK UP OUR CAR!
We get the car from the seller, and make our way back home. What a day!!

I mean at least we know how this whole process works, so when it comes time to sell the car, it should be pretty easy. On the way back home, I was remembering what it's like to stand in the long line ups at the DMV back home. How annoyed you get, your patience runs out, it gets hot and sweaty. Babies crying. Well I actually missed that. Although this experience allowed me the chance to be outside, I think I would have preferred the DMV. It's one line, and you can get everything done at once.
Well here is the pic of our new beast. She isn't much to look at, but it drives just fine, and we got a great deal for her!

Thanks for reading, sorry for the long post. This week coming up will be busy, Kyle's parents are coming for a visit and will be here on Thursday :) Kyle has his finals this week on Wednesday and Thursday. Wish him luck!
Miss you all!

Happy Easter from Nevis

Happy Easter!

I hope everyone is enjoying the long weekend! I heard my Canadian friends got some more snow this weekend. Well it has been nice and sunny here the last few days...rather everyday ;)

Some fun adventures have happened in the last few days. Last Wednesday was this Interprimary Day. It's like track and field day for all the schools. Except it's only track haha. But I decided to check it out, I met up with the principal of the school I'm helping with and she showed me the ropes. It was so fun!!! Anyone could come and watch, and it's a very big event. The banks and the grocery stores close early so parents can come and watch their kids. You can wear school colors and the energy in the stands was insane!!!! People really get into it; so awesome to see! There was a ton of people, everyone was excited, dressed up and loud! I loved seeing the spirit of everyone. I even got into it and I didn't know anyone racing. Keep in mind it was kids running, I think the oldest was like 13. Naturally, I wore purple. So that's who I ended up cheering for, and I found out the next day, they won the whole thing!!!! Haha!
I got to meet the principal's kids, who were so sweet, and she even introduced me to the Premier of Nevis!! Wow! I grabbed a picture for sure!

It was an awesome day! I was proud of myself for going by myself, and meeting new people. Some very passionate people mind you, and I didn't feel uncomfortable at all. Of course I was thankful the principal was with me. She knew what food to get. I had some doughnuts and some popcorn which were delicious!! The track was all grass, and the lanes were separated by spray painted lines and one thing I noticed was most of the kids ran in bare feet. Which then I found out, they aren't really supposed to because if they compete with other islands, they have to wear shoes. I love running, but man these kids are fast! I need to get in better shape if I want to do the Nevis half Marathon in the fall lol. 

This is the view from the school I am at. I went there in the morning of race day and it looked like it was going to be rained out. But the weather changes on a dime here  so it was okay. 

Premier of Nevis: Hon. Vance W. Amory

The track!

Mascot for one of the schools! A chicken! 

So many people!!

Good Friday came, and poor Kyle doesn't get a break from class for holidays. So he had school on Friday and he does on Monday as well. But anyway, I was able to live stream the church service from Portico, which I am so thankful for! It's great being able to have a little piece of home with me! Technology is awesome :) 
The SLP from the school that I am at, who is from Texas she was telling me about this Kite Flying competition that happens on the island. I did some research and found out it's an Easter Tradition here. It was the 5th annual competition. She told me to check it out, so luckily Kyle finished class early so we were able to go. It was at a school that I had never been too. It was up in the mountain with quite the view. The field is called "The Flat", which when you see pics you will know why. It's more a family thing, because you bring your own kites and fly them around. They have prizes for best looking kite, largest kite and highest flying. We didn't stay the whole time because apparently the event goes all night, but I loved seeing everyone come together and it was great to meet more people and explore new areas. There was lots of food, music blasting and lots of cool kites! It was a fun afternoon! 

A great view of Mount Nevis from "The Flat"

This is the school, which looks more like a church. It's pretty big!

"The Flat"

Try to find the kites!

Alright so we have been having this issue with our fridge. It has been leaking inside randomly. We have emailed the landlord a few times, but Friday night it started leaking like crazy and I had enough. Kyle emailed again and someone came in the morning. Well it was huge ordeal! We had to clear everything out of the fridge and freezer. Well it's not exactly cold here, and everything started to melt instantly. Luckily there was an apartment that isn't being rented out, so we took all the food and put it in that fridge while ours was getting fixed. The guy had said it shouldn't take long...except he didn't really know what was wrong or how to fix it. However he figured it out, it just took awhile. He also made a big mess in our apartment. Water was all over the floor. He had even talked about having to get a new one, but I was thinking I hope we don't have too! Who knows how long that could take here :P But everything was put back together, and so far so good. At least it allowed me to clean out the fridge/freezer haha

What a mess!

This morning we streamed the service again from Portico. I seriously love being able to lay in bed and still feel like I'm there! We then went to an Easter brunch at one of the restaurants on the island. We even got a little dressed up, it was really nice! We went to Yachtsman Grill. It is expensive..ended up being around $90 CAN!! For Brunch! Haha. But Kyle got some delicious bacon, so he was happy. We even sprang for dessert, lol but Kyle was a little disappointed that his chocolate cake cost 10 US and is definitely not the size of slices like back home lol. But it was just nice to go out. Kyle hadn't been there before, and he got to see what some of the tourists are like around here bahaha. It is quite comical. These rich folk coming down here and bringing a bunch of kids who I'm sure could care less where they play in the sand, and won't even remember coming here by next year. Then you have the other tourists complaining about the service and quality of food. I mean come on! We heard some ladies talking to a server for a good 15 minutes saying how they can't believe they used the same Easter menu as last year. Oh my! What a scandal!! Sigh... oh my favourite part was hearing her say that they should put a side of tomatoes on the menu, she would much prefer that...lol. I was literally shaking my head. I didn't let it ruin my meal though. I thoroughly enjoyed my quiche, so I was happy. 

Tomorrow is the Easter Dinner provided by the school, so I am hoping I will be able to get some turkey and stuffing! 

Well I have to start some homework. I have my biggest assignment due this week. I am kinda glad the schools have a two week break here so I can focus on school and get back into running. It's been awhile since I have done that. It's hard to do it everyday with working and school. 

I hope everyone has a great Easter weekend! We wish we could have been home to celebrate with you! 

Happy Easter from the Rhinds :-)

Miss you!

Not So Exciting News

Hi Everyone!

Thanks for staying tuned. Unfortunately I don't have any exciting news... :( Here is the story...

We were renting a car with another couple on the island, and about a week ago, they decided they wanted to buy their own car. They had crunched some numbers and just thought it would be better for them. Cool. But now Kyle and I were kinda confused on what to do. Should we buy? Should we keep renting? 350 a month x 26 months...I mean that's a lot of money you don't get back, where as buying your own car at least you would get some money back. When we first came here, we didn't know what to expect in terms of transportation, but if I am going to be working it's best if I have a vehicle. So we saw an ad from a professor at the school selling his 98 Honda CR-V. We do love our Hondas :). So we thought we would try to get that car. We saw the car, went for a test drive. Considering the year, and the condition of the roads around here, it was pretty smooth. Aside from a few mechanical issues that we found out later were pretty inexpensive to fix we decided to make an offer. 
Poor Kyle, we were dealing with all this over the weekend while he was trying to study for exams. His exams were yesterday, and his chemistry one didn't go as well as he had hoped :(. He still did well, he was just hoping for a better mark considering he spent most of his time studying for that class. Anyway, after his exams we went to go make the offer. I mean the guy could have told us over the phone he already had an offer (which was higher than what we said). He then told us he just wanted to hear what our price was. ?!?!?! Seriously. I don't think that's how bartering works. Anyway, so no car for us :( We decided that it's just not the car for us, and that a better one is waiting somewhere. 
It was kind of a crappy day for Kyle, and then some of his friends backed out for dinner plans last minute, so instead we decided to pick up some Chinese Food. There are 3 Chinese restaurants here. I had been to one and didn't really like it, so we went to the one called Younge's. The prices are pretty comparable to Canada, however the portion sizes are considerably less :( So there wasn't much for left overs which I usually love! We got sweet and sour chicken and Kyle loved it, so that made up for the bad day. We then watched the final Lord of the Rings movie. I finally finished the books!! Woohoo! However the extended version of the movie is so looooong!!! Lol. 
Anyway, that's the car story. 

Work for me is going well. I am seeing some big differences in the child already. I just wish I had more resources and materials out here. I did meet the Speech Pathologist yesterday. She is from Texas and moved to the island in October. Her boyfriend is actually from Montreal and works at the Four Seasons Resort. So that was fun! She has some experience with ABA, so we are hoping to work together and figure out a way to get PECS going for some of the kiddos. I am also hoping to start a social skills group for some of the older kids at the school. There are a few boys who display your typical boy behaviors, however they take it a bit to far... haha. Hopefully I can work on that with them. I feel like I have so much to do for this school, just no time to do it!!
Just think, a few weeks ago I was saying how I don't do much around here except run and cook. Well, I haven't run in awhile, and I am up early printing out stuff for the school. I also have been writing papers for my course on top of that! I'm keeping up so far, and the special needs school has a two week break for Easter so I will be able to catch up on my coursework then. But then the in-laws are coming for a visit!! I'm excited for some company that aren't island folk haha. The change will be nice. I am trying to think of some activities to do while they are here. Hopefully we will be keeping busy. 

Kyle only has two more weeks left of his first semester! Yippee!! We are hoping to go to St.Kitts and catch up on the movies we have been missing out on! The struggle is real guys :P

So it has been 3 months of living here and I really feel like I am getting accustomed to the island life. I was just saying to Kyle the other day, we do hear a lot of negativity from some people around here, but I feel like I have been doing well with staying positive. So the car thing didn't work out this time, but we will get one. So the power goes out for 5 minutes. No big deal. So our fridge is leaking... (okay that's a little annoying). Haha, but I am pretty proud of myself for being able to find a job here, keep up with school, still manage to cook every night and work out here and there. This experience is really going to prepare me for when we come back home and I have to go to work full time. Speaking of home...June 15 I'm there!!!!!!!!!!! We found a really sweet deal, only 200 bucks!! So I will be home in June and Kyle will come back in August. That will be hard for us, and I will miss him for sure, but we have done long distance before and survived. Plus, nowadays time flies!! Can you believe April starts tomorrow!!??!?! That is crazy to me!! My method of working through this experience in chunks has really paid off. Just 3 months until I come home. 

So that's the update. You guys are lucky, 2 blog updates in one week ;) With the job now, things are busier for me, but hopefully I can still keep you informed as best as I can. Tomorrow there is a track and field day for the schools here so I am going to that. Should be fun! I am learning a lot about the life here from all the teachers at the school. I am finding out where to buy "fast food" here, who the good mechanics are, meeting new people etc. It's been great so far. I am learning you just have to ask (which is hard for me to do) but I am breaking out of my shell and making it work. :) 

Alrighty everyone, that's all for now! Sorry no pictures today :(

Miss you!!