6 Months in St. Kitts

In a few days Jeanann will have been a Vet student for 6 months. If all goes according to plan she only has another 660 days to go or so. That may sound like a lot of time, but we're about 20% finished with our time down here. It will not be easy, it seems only 2/3rds of the students make it all the way through, and of that 2/3rds a big portion have to repeat at least 1 semester. Almost 20% of her first semester class has failed or is repeating first semester already.

The island has it's challenges. It can be a tropical paradise. It can also be a tropical pain in your 'pair of dice' if you know what I mean. I've done a crappy job logging our adventure down here, so here goes a little list of things that has changed in our lives.

Infrastructure. The roads are either made of some less durable mixture, or haphazardly poured onto sand in some drunken attempt to build roads. I'm exaggerating some, but the wide, clearly marked, lighted streets of the 'old world' seem awesome. Some roads barely fit two cars... which can be fun when you add in some hills and blind curves, pedestrians, and speeding locals... or worse, speeding ross students who probably couldn't drive well on U.S. roads.

Parties. The gas station is the spot. They have a DJ on fridays, and we hear the party from our house. It's the only place I've been where you can fill up your car at the bar.

Theft. Lets face it, poor people that have not, will sometimes be tempted to take stuff from people that have it. Unfortunately there are plenty of people here that just don't have much. Since we've been here there have been a number of Ross student related incidents. A staff member dealt with a home invasion, while they were home a few weeks ago. A students sons bike was stolen just the other day. Luckily I'm often home and I pay attention to who is walking up and down our road. And we don't live in a neighborhood that is considered touristy I don't think, so maybe that helps.

Politics.. or theft continued. Man I hope that the U.S. political process is better than this one. I want to puke when I hear some of these politicians speak on the radio and tv, trying to tell people the dumbest things. And these people are voted into office! The last one I saw was a politician who was trying to blame the increase of food prices on something other than the recent 20% tax they imposed... on everything. "It's not the 20% tax we passed on everything that is making life more expensive... it's because the cost of business has been increasing!" Utter bull puckey from vomitland. Poor suckers that live here man... No wonder they rob white people.

Kids. The kids are growing up. The impact of spending their first few years here will be hard to valuate until we make it back to the U.S. and get to see how different they've become. I hope it's a good thing, but I'm sure it will come with a few challenges. They will be in 'daycare' for another year. Even Bradyn, even though he turns 4 in November. The daycare is a great daycare, but they suck compared to the $1200 a month per kid schools we've paid for in the past. Here they don't spend much time learning numbers and letters, not until they reach the next class anyways. It's sad, but that's how it'll be. Bradyn and Brylee will probably be shocked to see American life when we finally get back to it. The land of plenty, where so much is always available.

Food. Speaking of kids, they will forget what fast food is for sure. No McD's drive through or kids meals on this island. If you don't feel like cooking, it's a bag of chips or can of whatever for dinner. No convenience store here. It's good and bad. Good since the kids are probably eating less preservatives and hydrogenated oils and stuff. Bad cuz they're probably overdosing on Mac N Cheese and Hotdogs since Dad is the main cook. Their future eating habits are being set by me, and I suck pretty much. I don't give them enough fruit and vegetables... but they get vitamins and are definitely not starving, so good enough I guess. I'll work on it.

Dishes and clothes. No clothes dryer. No dishwasher. Add to that no drive thru's, and intermittent electricity and it just takes more time to keep life going here. The clothes sometimes just don't dry well enough. Sometimes a load of laundry just stinks. The humidity keeps it from drying and funk grows. Dishes suck... and the more effort you put into cooking, the more dishes you have to wash. It's a never ending cycle of suck. One most U.S. people don't have to deal with regularly. Even if you hang dry clothes or wash dishes by hand, most people have a dryer they can choose to use, and a dishwasher they can choose to use if they want to, or have other things in life to accomplish.

Internet/power. Well, it can be fast, but it's often slow. And sometimes the power goes out. If the power goes out in some other section of the island, sometimes it knocks the cable tv and internet out. Also, the power seems to surge or fluctuate almost constantly, which seems to cause the internet and computer to 'timeout' all the time. For websites like UF's online learning system, each time you 'timeout' it kicks you out of the website. It can make online learning difficult, or online anything not worth the trouble. I've heard of a few people who have worked online here, and have had to quit due to the unreliable connections. I'm crossing my fingers school will keep going well enough for me. Although it does suck knowing I'm sure to miss out on some of the information due to the troubles of accessing certain web pages. Some of those tuition dollars are going to waste probably. Also our internet phone. I keep my computer off so if the power goes out, my computer doesn't die. That's one reason we are hard to get ahold of. Anyone can call my island phone. I'll be sure not to answer, but I'll check the messages eventually and call back when I can!

Vet School. Jeanann loves what she's learning. I'm glad for her. Hopefully we can make it through this. It can be difficult. She studies all the time and has a good group of friends with her all the time. The kids are doing well with me, and know mommy goes to school all the time. I still don't particularly like animal hair all over the house and in my food. It's a fact of life I've had to accept. It's ironic that some of these poorer locals are living their lives in worse situations than many U.S. pets, and we're here for vet school. I remember Afghanistan where people would throw rocks (big ones) at little kids in the streets to keep them away from their storefronts, when the kids were just trying to beg for whatever. If Jeanann makes it to her goal of research, she'll be helping innovate new medicines and medical technologies that may impact the world. That's the difference between being born in the U.S. and being born in Afghanistan, or in many cases being born on St. Kitts. (unless you're a politicians kids probably)

Work. I have a job selling dog and cat food at the vet school. It's a cool 7-10 hours a week starting in August. It'll be good to be doing something I can call 'work' I guess.

Well, other than that, I still haven't figured out how to take advantage of this opportunity here. I'm growing my hair out. Why not, this is my only chance I guess. I've been close to cutting it since it's hot and spend most days sweating without A/C and with hair blowing in my eyes.. but I'm committed. Jeanann wants me to write a book. That thought doesn't sound awesome, but maybe I'll start trying to write more. It can't hurt, although my end goal will probably not be to write a book.

-I've thought of trying to rebuild a local park. It seems that idea hasn't gone over well with certain people. It may piss off the neighbors and bring some unwanted negative attention to us. F me for thinking of doing something like that. -I've hiked a bit, but not much. -I've made some awful music and music videos, so being a professional rapper is likely... out of the question
I could probably start some sort of business.. but I don't know what to do or where to begin.
I could try to work on some sort of shipping boat or oil rig... but I have to be here to raise the kids and continue on in school.

If you're still reading, you get a high five. I'm open to ideas on what else I can try while here. I do have time, but not unlimited time. Sometimes I feel like a single parent and it can be exhausting. The kids are doing well, and Jeanann is making progress towards her goal. The bottom line is, this is our life, and it's moving along as well is it can be at the moment. If you want to come visit, this place is pretty awesome to visit. It's a little more challenging to try to live here.

Fixed Picture Show

Well, I tried to mess with some settings and fix this picture show....

Bi-Winning!

Man does it suck to think about everything going on in Japan. The Middle East is melting, and Japan will be also quite literally. I haven't updated this in awhile, so despite some of these crazy times, here's what new!

The first semester for Jeanann is going well. Ross is Accredited! This means more opportunities and maybe scholarships may open up for her. There will probably be quite a few more applicants to try to come down here now. We got in just in time!

I'm studying online still. The latest class is pharmaceutical policy and regulations.

Ivan Carrasquillo, a friend from the military hopped a flight over with his girlfriend Carla the other day, and man was it pretty sweet! Winning! It was awesome to see them even though it was quite literally a 22 hour visit!

I applied to be Charlie Sheens intern! It's a paid position over next summer. If by chance I somehow manage to best 70k other applicants, I'd finally get to experience some Tiger Blood living winning! Dude is smart, and that would be the opportunity of a lifetime to learn how Warlock rockstars from mars win all over peoples melted faces.

I don't speak with many people from the states these days, and you know what... that's cool. Call if theres news, and come visit if you can! We'll be here!
Above, my car
Below, the kids in one of the tourist gardens.

Videos

You can search me on youtube by username, ndevans1212 for these and previous videos. This is just a few recent clips, unedited.

Living on a small, exotic islands isn't alway all perfect. Brylee is turning into a little girl and misses her mommy. Sometimes it's because she's in a little trouble, but it sucks all the time. I'm glad Jeanann is always off studying, but this is a huge sacrifice for all of us.

I spent a day trying to fish (unsuccessfully) at the beach below our house. Next time I'll probably just drive to where I know people fish. But at any rate, here's the video, with some rain.

Double Rainbow!



Pretty beach below our house. Need to video some of the nicer beaches. Too bad this weekend I have midterms and Jeanann has 2 tests coming up.

Sea Glasses

There is a stretch of beach down the hill by my house that consists of nothing but broken, worn down, sea glass. I guess lots of women like it, and use it in jewelry and stuff. I find it interesting to think how some of these bottles may have come from pirate booze bottles. I was hoping I was sitting on some sort of treasure, but come to find out even rare colors of sea glass are cheap to purchase. I guess I wont be spending too much time collecting it until I figure out something to do with it myself.

Jeanann is spending a ton of time studying, but I figure if she's willing and motivated to spend that much time studying I won't stop her. The daily routine has been sinking in, which is good for the kids. The seem to be doing much better than the first 2 weeks or so. Hopefully in time they'll feel completely at home. Bradyn has made new friends at school, and Brylee gets to be in Bradyns class until next August.

We found a beach on Sunday that is awesome. It's on the atlantic side, which means there're waves and currents. This little portion though is protected by rocks and reef and is super calm. The kids had a blast wading in it. It's really clear, and look forward to snorkeling once I get confident in my swimming abilities. We even had a little fish swim by us when we were in the shallows on the beach. It was pretty cool, and a nice change of beach scenery after spending a few days walking garbage strewn glassy beaches.

School for me is going well. Turns out most of the people in my class are pharmacists and working professionals. I'm trying to keep up with class. I find the economic lessons are easy to understand since I've spent the last two years studying them. The other pharmacy related presentations from other classmates are a bit of another language. I figure I'll give it a good shot, and worst case scenario I can fall back on an MBA or Masters of Biz Administration.

We're doing fine, although our picture camera broke. Don't hope too much for too many new pictures for a few weeks until we figure that one out. I think a new camera here is over $300 for even a cheaper one. Most of that is probably due to taxes. They have no income tax, but they tax the hell out of everything else, unless of course you're a tourist. Screw the local people, and give the tourists a break. That's a strategy that can be debated, but I find it annoying. Maybe I can find a tourist shop with digital cameras, but that seems unlikely. If I could take pictures with rum bottles I'd be in business.

Till next time.

The first Semester

Vet school is going well, as far as I can tell. Jeanann is pretty much stressed out all week, always in a rush, staying out studying all night, and probably learning something. As for the rest of us, I guess it could be worse. We could be doing the same thing we're doing here, only without an ocean view.

I'm a pretty crappy housewife, and my online MS program has began. So far so good. A part of me would like to get to work, but realistically the job market back home still sucks so working on an MS is a good idea. That and I would have a hard time finding work that would compensate more than the cost of both kids daycare... and I'd still be home with them every night all week long while Jeanann was studying vet school somewhere else.

It will be a long couple of years, but in the meantime, there is plenty to take advantage of. It may be difficult considering we're poor!!!, but I'm going to try. I just discovered a path down to the shoreline about 3 houses down from where I live and can't wait to try to fish something out of the ocean tomorrow. That and snorkel. I haven't really really 'snorkeled' yet, but I guess lots of people enjoy it so I will be figuring it out and learning to swim better. It's not as difficult since it's salt water and it's easier to float in.

We lost a bag on the way down here with visa paperwork in it. It's been a pain trying to find ways to accumulate some of these things while worrying about jose lopez travelling back to the states to try to max out our already maxed out credit cards. I figure there'll be a small period of time I'll probably be an illegal alien... I guess that's one thing I can add, and cross off my bucket list. I never expected that! Short of being found out and deported, everything else should be well! Hope some visitors will begin thinking of visiting!

Happy New Year!

We still have no internet, but I thought I'd take time begin the log of St. Kitts.

We finally arrived in St. Kitts! The plane descended down... and then... back up. It re-routed to St. Maarten due to weather. After awhile, we finally arrived in St. Kitts! The plane descended down, and then... back up to St. Maarten. After going through customs there, we got back on the plane and Finally Arrived!!! the plane descended, and then went to Puerto Rico for the night...

And then the next day.... We FINALLY ARRIVED in St Kitts! But we were missing one of our bags which happens to have all of our visa documents, birth certs and other essential information. Which we are still missing at the time I write this. Figuring out how to fix that, if the bag doesn't turn up, will be quite a headache.

Our house here is awesome. It has plenty of room and a nice view. The kids are a bit crazy since they've been spoiled and traveling without any structure all month.. but I think they'll calm down once school starts next week. Jeanann has been spending a lot of time with her fellow new class mates. A few live just around the block, and most seem pretty nice and interesting. It really takes a unique and interesting person to travel across the ocean to attend vet school, and the people we're meeting are pretty cool as far as we can tell.

Thank you to everyone who gave us any help, money, christmas cash... We've used it all up, and are damn near broke. But we have almost everything worked out, and financial aid will be available in a few short days. We couldn't have made it without the help, or may have been considerably more hungry. This experience is truly taxing us to the max, and we appreciate those who have helped us get here, financially and otherwise.

Ross has a few stateside inspectors coming in a week or so to check the school out. If they approve Ross, the foreign entrance exams Jeanann would have had to take will be eliminated. Ross is will be the first foreign vet school to get US approval for this. As the only vet school which is supported by US federal loans, anyone who has any doubt to the quality of her education should take a second look. I can tell you, she's going to be busy...

We'll we should have internet up soon. I'll post some videos and stuff then. Life is picking back up again and we are both keeping busy already. School starts for me online tomorrow... and for Jeanann officially next week. Her 'white coat' ceremony will be broadcast online. I'm not sure the time, but if you google ross university maybe you can find it.