Category Archives: American University of the Caribbean

Indigo

January 22, 2016American University of the Caribbean, Caribbean, Expats, Expats and TCKs, International Travel, Nature, Saint Martin/ Sint Maarten, Spouses Organization, Uncategorizedatlantic ocean, beahc, Caribbean, caribbean sea, cay bay, dutch caribbean, friends, indigo, indigo bay, ocean, puppy, Saint Martin, shells, Sint Maarten, spouses org, st martin, St. Maarten, SXMbreanamjohnson@gmail.com

One thing that I love about the ocean is the line of indigo at the horizon. This is my favorite part of painting ocean scenes. I love the way that turquoise becomes aquamarine becomes indigo. On sunny days in Dutch Sint Maarten, the indigo line stands out sharply against the clear blue sky, creating the perfect picture of paradise. Indigo Bay is aptly named for its lovely view of this deep blue phenomenon.

If you look at a map of Sint Maarten, you won’t find Indigo Bay on it. If you drive the entire circumference, you’ll never catch sight of it. Indigo Bay is actually the name of a luxury housing development located on Cay Bay. To find this area and the beach that belongs to it, you have to find the billboard advertising Indigo, turn right, and follow a terrifying road down to the water. The road is actually not as terrifying as it looks, once you start driving. In fact, as you go, you’ll be amazed at the gorgeous landscaping and layout that is invisible from the road above.

This morning, some of the other med school spouses, kids, and I visited Indigo for the first time. It’s a great place for both kids and puppies. The waves are soft here, even when the rest of the island is dragging out their surfboards to ride big breakers. Here, it is calm and peaceful. Little boys splashed in the gentle surf while little girls ran through the sand to fill little buckets with perfect little shells. My puppy, Kito, contented herself with digging deep holes in the sand and biting any ankles who entered the circumference of her anchored leash.

I usually am the first to grab a board or snorkel mask and jump into the sea. Today, though, it was a morning for relaxing and chatting. There will be many more days of beachgoing for us in the next 15 months, and more than enough time to dive into the sparkling waters. Twelve beaches down, 25 to go!

Med School Block Week

January 21, 2016American University of the Caribbean, AUC, Cooking, Expats, Expats and TCKs, Spouses Organization, UncategorizedAmerican University of the Caribbean, AUC, bake sale, block week, blocks, food, friends, fundraiser, Med school, medical school, nachos, sale, spouses org, spouses organizationbreanamjohnson@gmail.com

Well, it’s here again.

Block week is the week before blocks, which are a set of important tests that happen four times per semester at American University of the Caribbean. It’s the time when many pizzas are consumed, many blank stares are met with, and many Netflix shows are ignored.

I am always glad to not be a student during block week, but I admit that it’s a little rough on the spouses, too, especially the first time around. I last semester, when we were experiencing our very first block week ever, I wasn’t sure I was going to survive. I can’t go to sleep unless Ben is there, so I stayed up late every night waiting for him to get home. There was a night he never came back from the study rooms, and I finally fell asleep at 2:00 AM. Those of you who know me well will understand what a struggle it was to go to bed that late! Now, I’m more used to it and it’s a lot less stressful to Ben. It’s just a part of life.

But block week isn’t all bad– at least for us spouses! One thing we all look forward to is bake sale. During the weekend before block, the AUC spouses organization holds a bake sale in the main building of campus to feed hungry students and spend time with each other. We sell nachos, drinks, and desserts to make money for our group activities. Last semester, we made enough for us to go to the zoo, do craft nights, and spend a day at an all-inclusive resort.

Bake sale is great because we get to meet and encourage hundreds of students. I love talking to them as they pass through the line. Another great thing about bake sale is eating the dregs of the chocolate frosting out of the container with a spatula and not being judged. And of course, getting free nachos is always awesome. But the best part is spending time with friends and making new ones!

Carousel

January 17, 2016American University of the Caribbean, Caribbean, Expats, Expats and TCKs, International Travel, Saint Martin/ Sint Maarten, Spouses Organization, Uncategorizedboats, carousel, cotton candy, food, gelato, global, horeses, ice cream, ice cream shop, ice cream shoppe, kiwi, ponies, Saint Martin, shop, shoppe, Sint Maarten, sorbet, st martin, St. Maarten, sundaybreanamjohnson@gmail.com

Some of the best places in the world are the little tucked-away gems that you’d never expect to find. Carousel is like that. This gelato shop in Simpson Bay, Sint Maarten is not your average ice cream stop.

My friend Stacey suggested a spontaneous trip to Carousel this afternoon. I’d never been, and I was more than happy to make an ice cream run on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

The theme of the shop is, of course, carousels. The building is round, and so it the counter. We entered through the revolving glass door and viewed our options.

We bypassed the cotton candy bar– tempting as it was– for the ice cream. There were so many flavors! I’m slightly lactose intolerant, so I was happy to see a dozen sorbet flavors. I chose kiwi. Yum.

Stacey showed me around– inside are monochromatic murals of carousels, and outside are famous historic photos of people eating ice cream– everyone from U.S presidents to British actors to iraqi school children. Iced treats are a universal delight!

The best part of all was the giant, real-life carousel in the back, just waiting to be ridden by children!

Even the gift shop was adorable. Stacey said that when she has a daughter, she’ll give her a ballerina music box like the ones in the shop. I liked the porceline carousels best.

We took our ice cream outside and watched the boats in the lagoon. I can’t think of a better way to spend a warm, slow Sunday afternoon in the tropics.

Foodie Tuesdays: Persian in an Hour

January 12, 2016American University of the Caribbean, AUC, Cooking, Expats and TCKs, Uncategorizedchicken, cooking, cumin, easy, Eating, exotic, fast, food, foodie tuesdays, foreign, garlic, neighbor, paprika, persian, recipe, rice, seeds, spices, yogurtbreanamjohnson@gmail.com

Today’s recipe is one of one my most successful food attempts of all time. It is close-your-eyes-and-enjoy-the-moment delicious. My husband told me that this is the best way I’ve ever made chicken and that I have to make it again.

Now, that’s what I like to hear.

I have honestly never thought of trying Persian food before yesterday. Our neighbor down the hall is leaving the island in a few months, and he offered us the spices, food, and first aid stuff he doesn’t plan to use before he leaves. Do we have the most awesome neighbors ever, or what? Some of the spices he gave us are used in Persian food. He explained their uses enough to me to be able to Google intelligently and find some yummy recipes.

Behold, zeerah polow and chicken.

Zeerah polow is rice with cumin seeds. This and the chicken should take about four hours to make the right way, but I only had an hour before dinner time, so I sped things up a bit. Here’s Zeerah Polow in cut-time.

Gather your ingredients:

Brown rice, 3 cups
Cumin seeds, 3 tablespoons
One chicken quarter or two breasts
Olive oil
Plain yogurt, one cup
Dried mint, 1 tablespoon
Garlic powder, 1/2 tablespoon
Black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon
Paprika, 1 teaspoon
Salt, 1/2 tablespoon
Flour, one cup

Rinse rice until the water is clear. Boil six cups of water and add rice. Simmer. Scoop rice from the bottom of the pan to the top every few minutes.

Toast the cumin seeds in a pan. Set aside.

When the rice is done, drain rice and mix with cumin seeds.

Meanwhile, prepare the chicken. Cut into strips.

Mix garlic powder and yogurt. Let chicken marinate in the mixture for ten minutes.

Mix flour and rest of spices in another bowl.

Heat oil 1/4 inch deep in a skillet. Coat chicken in flour/spice mixture and fry in oil until the chicken is cooked and the batter is crispy.

Serve with limes. Enjoy!

Yo Hablo un Poco Español

January 11, 2016Arizona, Caribbean, Expats, Expats and TCKs, International Travel, Saint Martin/ Sint Maarten, Spouses Organization, Uncategorized, United Statesadventures, bilingual, Caribbean, duolingo, espanol, flight, flying, language, learning, lingual, mexico, movies, plane, polyglot, Saint Martin, Sint Maarten, spanglish, spanish, st martin, St. Maarten, trilingualbreanamjohnson@gmail.com

Yo hablo un poco Español. Imagine me saying that in a very bad Mexican/American accent, and you will hear the best of my Spanish. Actually, I’m not sure if the grammar is even correct (perhaps someone can enlighten me in the comments). Sometimes I try “Yo hablo poquito Español,” but either way I am met with chuckles and amused smiles. Not sure if it’s the white girl accent or if I’m just saying everything wrong.

You’d think that I would have learned Spanish just by living near the Arizona-Mexico border, working with Spanish-speaking people, and going to Mexico a dozen times. Nope. Living in Phoenix taught me enough Spanish to pronounce “gila,” “agua,” and “cholla” correctly and navigate my way through Food City. Unfortunately, the people I asked to help me learn mostly liked to teach me insults and laugh when I asked someone to “give me the hooker” when I wanted lettuce. Thanks, guys. Muchas Gracias.

Me in 2007 with my dad and friends in Mexico, not knowing Spanish

Fortunately, my Spanish has been steadily improving since I moved to the island. On the plane ride here, I set next to a Puerto Rican lady for a few hours. I used all the power of my jet-lagged brain to recall the words I learned in Spanish 101. Her English was even worse than my Spanish, and we got along just fine. Through Spanglish plus hand gestures, we had a conversation about how to avoid pickpockets in San Juan. I understood enough to be glad I was catching a connection to Sint Maarten!

Since I’ve been here, I’ve been practicing on the Duo Lingo app and watching lots of Spanish movies. There are a few Spanish-speaking kids in the group I tutor, so while I teach them English, they teach me Spanish. They learn a lot faster than I do. Some of them learned conversational English in a month, and I’m just over here struggling with Spanish adverbs. I told them they must just be smarter than me. They laugh. And then they correct my Mexican accent.

There comes a moment in language learning when you realize that you’ve made a major breakthrough. Those moments are some of the best moments of life. It’s kind of like the moment you find out you’re hired or that you won the scholarship. That moment came for me a few days before Christmas when Ben turned the radio to a Christian Spanish station. We were tired, and we just listen to it in silence as we drove. Suddenly it hit me: I could totally understand everything the speaker was saying. I almost jumped right out of my seat, I was so excited. I could understand!

Don’t ever, ever, ever give up on the things that you want to do. Even if they don’t come easily to you.

I’m still struggling with adverbs, and I still don’t know whether I should pronounce “ll” the Mexican way or the Caribbean way. I still can’t speak or hear it as well as I read it. But I’m making progress, and it’s encouraging. Trilingualism, here I come!

Coconut Retrievers

January 8, 2016American University of the Caribbean, Caribbean, Expats, Expats and TCKs, International Travel, Saint Martin/ Sint Maarten, Spouses Organization, Uncategorizedanimal, animals, Caribbean, cat, Christmas, coconut retriever, creole, dog, gift, Kito, kitten, puppy, rescue, Saint Martin, shelter, Sint Maarten, straybreanamjohnson@gmail.com

This island is absolutely covered with free-running cats and dogs! They call island mutts Creoles on the French side of the island and coconut retrievers on the Dutch side. Some are not so nice– like the scroungy mutt who nips at the heels of runners– and some are generally loved and just hang around. There’s a yellow dog who lives on the sidewalk of the small shopping district of Maho. He is just a regular fixture, and nobody minds him.

Many of the students at American University of the Caribbean have adopted a stray or shelter animal. Our neighbor had a cat for a while– she was the sweetest. She used to sit on the window sill and wait for me to walk by and scratch her head through the cracked window. My friend Stacey has two cats from a shelter here. Several students foster animals. I know of at least one who takes puppies home every trip back to the States and finds families for them. Other expats and locals take care of the strays, too. The little league team I help out with adopted a dog who wandered on the field one day. She lives with their coaches, who have two other rescues.

I had been begging Ben for a puppy all last semester, but as far as I could tell, he wasn’t too interested in that idea. I had pretty much given up on the idea by the time Christmas break rolled around.

Two days before Christmas, while my family was visiting us, Ben slipped off to “run some errands” and didn’t get back until dinner time. He came back with something in a bag. I opened it, and there was a sweet little puppy face looking back at me! We named her Kito, which means “precious gem” in Swahili.

Kito has been busy keeping us up at night, peeing on the floor, and eating rocks. We’re a little more tired and a little less tidy than usual, but she’s more than worth it. There’s something nice about having something warm and fuzzy to cuddle with. As Lucy Van Pelt would say, “Happiness is a warm puppy.” I’m glad that God made puppies; they certainly are nice to have around.

Breana's Blog

A writer's adventures around the world