Category Archives: Expats

4 Reasons Why Le Galion Beach Should Be Your Caribbean Favorite

October 8, 2016American University of the Caribbean, AUC, Caribbean, Expats, Expats and TCKs, International Travel, Nature, Saint Martin/ Sint Maarten, Spouses Organization, Third Culture Kids, Uncategorizedadventures, American University of the Caribbean, AUC, beach, Caribbean, cultural, culture, Expat, family, International, Island, kids, medical school, nature, ocean, overseas, Saint Martin, Sint Maarten, sports, st martin, St. Maarten, st. martin, surfing, SXM, TCK, travel, vacationbreanamjohnson@gmail.com

It’s a mystery to me that Le Galion Bay Beach, Saint Martin isn’t more popular. It really has everything you could ask for in a beach, minus the gigantic hotels and resorts that have commercialized so many of Saint Martin’s other nice beaches. Come with me and my friends to learn why Le Galion Beach should be your favorite!

1. It’s family friendly. Yesterday, I took four boys of varying ages to Le Galion Beach. We met up with several of our friends (some intentional meetings, others a happy happenstance), and everyone was happy and had a great time. I wasn’t the least bit concerned to watch a four-year-old in the water– it’s so shallow for so far that you can’t possibly get in over your head very fast. There’s a lot of clean, white sand that is perfect for building sand castles, too.

2. There’s no better place for water sports on the entire island. “But, wait,” you island veterans cry, “What about Orient Bay?” Well, maybe, if you want to spend a bajillion dollars for rentals. Orient Bay, just down the road from Le Galion, has dozens of vendors, while Galion only has two. However, Galion’s are far cheaper. Tropical Wave offers a larger variety of rentals (including beach chairs and umbrellas for those whose favorite water sport is napping on the beach), but SXM Surf Club (AKA Windy Reef) has better options for surfers and also offers a boat ride to the waves. Both are good options, it just depends what you want to do.

There are a lot of good options at Le Galion, including a swimming pool right in the ocean and a dive platform. We usually opt for surfing. The waves break pretty far from shore, which is nice because that means the beach is always calm. The paddle out to the waves is about 20 minutes, but you can catch the boat from SXM Surf Club that leaves twice a day. It’s only $5 per person, and board rentals aren’t too much, either. I think you can rent a board for the afternoon for about $10. Correct me if I’m wrong. We always take our own boards.

St Martin Supsquatch Surfing at Le Galion Beach – $59.00
from: Viator

You can also rent a stand-up paddleboard from Tropical Wave. A few months ago at Orient, I paid about $20 for a half hour. That’s a little on the expensive side even for Orient, but contrast that with the $20 I paid to rent two paddleboards for an hour at Le Galion. The older kids and teens got their fill of paddling around the bay. Again, I wasn’t worried about them because the water is so shallow. Even if they were prone to panic in deep water, they would be fine at Le Galion.

St Martin Stand-Up Paddleboard Lesson – $49.99
from: Viator

Kite surfing and windsurfing are both available, too. I believe the windsurfing is available from SXM Surf Club. I can’t remember the name of the man who runs the kite surfing, but I do know his wife has a little art gallery on Old Street in Philipsburg. I doubt that is helpful to you, but if you’re desperate to try it, you can go grab a business card from the gallery and give him a call. It’s probably cheaper than the cost of doing it through Viator, but I’ll include a like here in case you would rather go to a website to book than wander through downtown.

St Martin Kitesurfing Lesson – $168.19
from: Viator

There’s also a thing called canoe surfing that you can do at Le Galion. I’m not sure if you can just show up and do it, or if you have to book ahead on Viator. Obviously, I haven’t done it yet, but it looks like fun!

St Martin Canoe Surfing at Le Galion Beach – $69.99
from: Viator

Like I said, I just rented a couple of paddle boards. I managed to entertain seven people with them. Paddleboarding is probably my favorite thing to do on the water. The kids like it, too! These two little ones thought it was a pirate ship.

Ray and the Kings had a great time paddling around the bay. They took turns with the boards and a couple of snorkel masks that I brought along. Stashing a few snorkel masks is always a good idea in Saint Martin, especially with older kids and teens!

3. Cool Wildlife. When I asked Big King if he saw anything interesting while snorkeling, he replied, “girls.” Of course girls are more interesting than fish to a 14-year-year-old boy, but fortunately the kids saw some pretty cool animals, too. They even saw a sting ray! The bay is carpeted by both sand and sea grass, so there are plenty of underwater animals to observe. The birds and land animals are cool, too. Head down the beach away from all the people, and you’ll find an untamed stretch of sand and bush that is home to many species of birds, lizards, and anything else you can imagine.

4. The People. I’m not just saying this because I went to Le Galion with a bunch of people I like and ran into a bunch of other people I like. The social atmosphere of Le Galion Beach is pretty chill and friendly. It tends to be filled with local families rather than tourists or expats, so you get a whole different vibe that is pretty nice. The kids in our group made friends with kid from other groups, which was lots of fun for them. Also people generally have more clothes on here than they do at other beaches on the French side– always a plus.

So there you have it. That’s why Le Galion should be your favorite Saint Martin beach. If this article doesn’t convince you, surely a trip to the beach can! If you want to go with me, I’m always up for chilling at Le Galion. Just make sure we bring a few kids along to make it that much more fun.

Driving With Your Brights On, and Other Things That Confuse Me about Sint Maarten

September 11, 2016Caribbean, Expats, Expats and TCKs, International Travel, Saint Martin/ Sint Maartenadventures, American University of the Caribbean, Caribbean, cultural, culture, International, Island, overseas, Saint Martin, Sint Maarten, st martin, St. Maarten, SXM, travelbreanamjohnson@gmail.com

No two cultures are alike, and you will inevitably be perplexed by any new culture you visit. I’ve been on Sint Maarten for a year (that statement in and of itself deserves a post), and I still don’t really get a lot of the things that go on here.

Driving with your brights on. Headlights are cool, and they’re also perfectly sufficient for seeing where you’re going. I don’t understand why everybody uses their brights here– are they trying to blind the people in front of them? It gets hard to drive after dark without developing a migraine.
Not Swimming. I haven’t met a lot of people from here who like to swim in the ocean. Actually, a lot of them never learned to swim. I find it ironic that the most beautiful reef is within a few yards of the shore, and yet people don’t go in to look at it. I grew up in the desert, and everybody knew how to swim. We dig expensive swimming pools so we can swim in the summer, because we don’t have anywhere else to do it!
Lack of Garage Sales. In the States, we love us some garage sales. And in my old neighborhood, we’d wait all year for that one weekend that our neighborhood association would allow us to hold one. Here, nobody cares what you put out in your front yard, but people apparently don’t sell their stuff there. I think maybe the technology caught up to the island before the garage sale trend, because people list all their old stuff on Facebook classifieds groups.
Accidents. I saw an accident once where a motorcyclist was thrown over the hood of my car when it hit another car. Both of them just recovered and went on their way. I guess that’s pretty typical. Nobody wants to deal with accidents here.
Scary Motorcycling. Motorcyclists pretty much always drive on the center line. I’m really curious what happens when two bikers going opposite directions meet. How do they know if someone’s coming the other way?

If anyone has an explanation to these things, tell me in the comments!

One Year Down

September 5, 2016American University of the Caribbean, AUC, Caribbean, Expats, Expats and TCKs, International Travel, Saint Martin/ Sint Maarten, Spouses OrganizationAmerican University of the Caribbean, AUC, countries, culture, Dutch Side, Expat, Island, kids, Med school, medical school, moving, ocean, overseas, Saint Martin, Sint Maarten, st martin, St. Maarten, SXMbreanamjohnson@gmail.com

Well, we have lived on this island for a whole year now! Ben’s finished his first year of medical school and is now in the his second year, which makes him an “MS2.” With the new year comes new developments and new transitions in sight.

Over the summer, I took a five-week backpack trip to New York, Canada, and Arizona. While I was gone, our lease expired and Ben moved us to a new place about a mile and a half away from our old apartment. I can’t even describe how wonderful this change has been! Not only do I have a washing machine in the apartment, but we traded a black mold infestation for incredible views. We have views of both sides of Saint Martin as well as Anguilla, and the Caribbean Sea, the Atlantic Ocean, Simpson Bay Lagoon, and Mullet Pond. I wake up every day, open the curtains and think, what did I do to deserve this?

There are also new hopes for the coming school year. Ben has been invited to participate in a research project on zika, which is important to our island, where zika is a concern. We are in the process of becoming foster parents on the island, and we have an empty bedroom waiting for whoever God chooses to place with us. My writing business has been picking up, too, and I am hoping to get enough credibility to submit articles to more print publications. Kito just hopes to have lots of lazy afternoons watching people from the balcony, and time with her puppy friends.

Labrador and bull dog — Kito and her new friend, Beau

We only have about eight months left on Sint Maarten, and to be honest, I hope it goes slow. It’s hard to think about leaving this place forever. I’m starting to really figure this island out. I’m just learning how an American can legally work, and it doesn’t seem so impossible anymore, if only we were here for longer. Which makes me realize that staying and supporting ourselves could be realistic. I’ve made so many good friends and built a wonderful life on this island. I’ve integrated myself enough that this place really feels like home.

This is how I felt when we left Arizona, though. We had such a great thing going there: the promise of careers, great community, and a sense of just starting to figure ourselves out. And then we picked up and left. I guess that comes with a transient lifestyle. You have to keep starting over and ripping yourself out just when you begin to settle in. I could be sad about it, or I could be thankful for the eight months I have left here. I guess that all I can do it enjoy it and let my roots grow deep anyway.

I have to keep blooming where I’m transplanted.

Who knows where we’ll be for Ben’s MS3 year? I bet it will be just as wonderful as Arizona or Sint Maarten. I bet we’ll make great friends there and become a part of the community we live in. We probably won’t have ocean views, but there will be other things to love. So I’m not going to worry too much about what happens next year. I’m going to enjoy the next eight months we are here and the three months of Arizona after that. This year is going to be a great year, and I’m going to get everything I can out of it.

Safari Niagara!

August 15, 2016Canada, Expats, Expats and TCKs, Guest Posts, International Travel, Nature, Ontarioanimal park, animals, canada, kid written, niagara, niagara falls, Ontario, safari niagara, zoobreanamjohnson@gmail.com

Safari Niagara is probably the coolest zoo I’ve ever been to. The cost of entry gets you a look at hundreds of animals, interesting shows, access to the go-cart course, and even a huge ropes course. It’s a great place to take a huge group of kids. Here’s 14-year-old Theo from the island of Sint Maarten on Safari Niagara and his experience there.

Today we went to Safari Niagara which is a zoo. First we saw a bird show that had owls, hawks, and falcons.

A lady showed us different species of birds.

And then I saw more animals.

I saw tigers, bears, lions, parrots, macaws, foxes, tapirs, and camels.

When we reached, we took a train and saw flamingos.

I think at first we couldn’t look at one bird because a skunk went inside the cage.

By the rhino’s exhibit I rode a buggy whilst watching emus.

Then we ate hot dogs and hamburger and I climbed a huge jungle gym.

Thanks for sharing your journal entry here, Theo! We certainly had a fun time at the park. Be sure to share and leave an encouraging comment for Theo to read!

Read Triston’s article on Harriet Tubman

Read Adonis’ article on the Ontario Science Center

Harriet Tubman’s Canadian Hometown

August 7, 2016Canada, Expats, Expats and TCKs, International Travel, Ontariocanada, Child written, church, Civil Rights, Harriet Tubman, Harriet Tubman School, Ontario, slavery, St. Catherine's, sxm player development program, Underground Railroadbreanamjohnson@gmail.com

Harriet Tubman is an international hero. Her story continues to inspire countless around the globe, including Triston, a boy from Dutch Sint Maarten in the Caribbean. Triston and I are on the same trip to Canada with the little league group I help coach.

Hi my name is Triston and I’m a baseball player. I’m 9 years old. I’m in Canada with my team for pleasure and learning.

Today I visited the Harriet Tubman school statue. I also saw the Underground Railroad and St. Catherines Heritage Church.

The statue is located in the Harriet Tubman School. It is her in a chair. My team and I surrounded the statue and took a picture. To escape slavery she followed the North Star. She was a courageous woman. The men dressed as women and the women dressed as men to escape slavery.

At the church there are readings about how she escaped slavery. One of them shows where and when she was born. She was born in Maryland and was born in 1820. She died in 1913.

Peg Leg Joe taught them the song ‘Follow the Drinking Gourd’. In the song explained where the Big Dipper and the North Star was. They jumped from trees to trees and lakes to lakes. The reason they jumped to trees to trees is because there were tracks on them. They swam because the dogs they sent can’t sniff in water. At night they followed the North Star.

Harriet Tubman helped slavery end.

Triston wrote this all by himself– from memory. He is our resident expert on Harriet Tubman! From his reading, he has memorized many important facts about her story, including dates, names, and places. Please take a minute to show encouragement to Triston by commenting, liking and sharing! He’ll be excited to see that other people enjoy his writing.

Read Adonis’ Article on the Ontario Science Centre

Read Theo’s article on Safari Niagara

It’s Always Goodbye

July 30, 2016Expats, Expats and TCKs, Third Culture Kids, UncategorizedExpat, family, good bye, hope, in-laws, kids, missionaries, missionary, missionary kid, nephews, nieces, sadness, TCK, third culture, third culture kids, travelbreanamjohnson@gmail.com

Marrying into a missionary family is hard. It’s the most wonderful thing in almost every way, but it is so hard to always have to say goodbye. For third culture kids, who grew up in another culture and lived a life of transition and change, goodbyes have always been a part of life. Ben and his family are all third culture kids, with the exception of myself and two other in-laws. They’re so used to this goodbye thing, and they’re so good at it. They know how to leave with grace and meet up again and start right where they left off. I’m not good at good byes. They are the hardest thing in the world for me.

This last Johnson family reunion has been particularly hard, because each family left one-by-one, and I was the last to go. Every time someone left, I’d say my goodbyes and then find somewhere to be alone and cry.

The hardest people to say goodbye to are the kids, especially the littlest ones. We adults are okay at all staying in touch, despite lack of good internet. We video chat with them, and we write to them, and everybody’s on Facebook and email, but none of the nieces and nephews are old enough for that yet. We only get to see them when we actually see them. Since the Johnson family lives in six different countries, we see them only every couple of years. There’s a lot of growing up that happens during those years, and I’m missing it. I’ll meet a baby who’s crawling around on the floor, and the next time I see her, she’s running around the house and telling me all about her favorite princesses. I’m missing the little tea parties, I’m missing the end-of-school-year ice creams, I’m missing lazy Saturdays at the beach and dinners together. With every turn of the calendar is another two or three birthdays come and gone, and I wasn’t there.

It stinks that I have to spend the first day or so of every family reunion getting to know the kids all over again. I have to gently let them warm up to me, and I have to re-introduce myself to the littlest ones for the second or third time. They have no idea that I think about them and miss them every day of their lives. And then when I finally get to see them, it’s for just a few days and then we’re all off to our own corners of the world again. How am I supposed to form close relationships like this? How am I supposed to be a significant part of their lives in I can’t even see them but once every two or three years? Even when we do move to Africa, we’ll only live near one or two families at a time. And by the time we get there, the oldest ones will be in high school. Sometimes I wonder, will that be too late? Will I have missed out entirely by then? It’s not fair to love someone so much and to be so far away. I have to let my heart break over them again and again.

In my perfect world, Ben’s whole family and my whole family would all live in the same place as us. We’re so lucky that everyone on both sides gets along and genuinely likes each other, and I just wish we could take advantage of that all the time! We’d have big family dinners every week. We’d share all the holidays. I’d get one-on-one time with every kid. I’d get to hang out all the time with our parents, my sister and Ben’s siblings. And nobody would have to say goodbye.

I’ve learned something important about goodbyes from my TCK family: goodbyes are never forever. Even if my dream of being close geographically will never come true while we’re alive, Jesus’ death and resurrection has made it possible for us all to live that way forever in Heaven. I don’t know if I’ll ever stop crying about goodbyes, but focusing on eternity rather than this temporary situation will help me to cope with this ever-transient lifestyle we live. Furthermore, it will keep my eyes on Jesus and on the end goal of glorifying the Lord and enjoying him forever. When that day comes, I’ll spend all eternity worshipping the Lord with my family—and never have to say goodbye again. What a beautiful hope.

Breana's Blog

A writer's adventures around the world