Category Archives: Saint Martin/ Sint Maarten

One Year Down

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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.

Johnsons

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?

rainbow

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.

reading

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.

girls group

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.
flag lady

Taco Macho

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And another big block test over for Ben, and other date night for us! Gebe, the power company, is having struggles lately, so the power has been spotty. Think every day for two hours. Today it was six hours. When it went out 30 minutes before dinner and ruined my cooking plans, I suprised Ben and took him out to Taco Macho!

  

Taco Macho is located in Maho, past the airport beach. Parking in the Alegria complex, where the restaurant it located, costs $4, but you can park for free outside the gate on the airport side of the road.

I had heard a lot of good things about Taco Macho, expecislly about their $2.50 tacos! The place reminded me of home and places in Mexico that I love. Arizona has the best Mexican food in the U.S. (Sorry, Texas). It’s hard to find tacos on St. Martin, so I need my taxo fix sometimes.

  
So if you’re looking for a good Mexican place on this island, try Taco Macho. My suggestion is to stay away from the combos with their tablespoon-sized sides and go for the delicious tacos. Yum! We will be back.

Emancipation Day!

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Today is a huge national holiday on the island. It is Emancipation Day! On July 1, Sint Maarten celebrates the official end of slavery in the Dutch Caribbean.

Ironically, this is not the date of the true end of slavery. Slavery on the island ended in sometime in 1848, while the date we celebrate is July 1, 1863. Why is this? It’s actually a pretty interesting story.

Cane_cutters_in_Jamaica

In 1863, the French government abolished slavery. This meant that the northern half of Saint Martin gave freedom to their slaves, but the slaves on the southern Dutch side were still in bondage. Naturally, this caused the Dutch slaves to run across the border for freedom. Because this caused a massive disruption in the Dutch side’s productions, the Dutch slaveholders all agreed to release their slaves and pay them wages. Fifteen years later, the Dutch government officially decreed emancipation for all slaves in the Dutch Caribbean, which is what we celebrate today.

Tropenmuseum_Royal_Tropical_Institute_Objectnumber_3581-33h_Ingekleurde_litho_voorstellende_de_oo

There is a lot of fascinating history about slaves on Sint Maarten that is, unfortunately, not widely known or taught in history books. I only know bits and snatches about brave people making a break for freedom, maroons living in caves and eluding detection for years, and secret conversations in the very salt pond I drive past every day. If you have a chance, it’s worth looking up. I’d love to write historical fiction on some of these people someday, or read somebody else’s. If you any  good sources, please let me know in the comments.
Caribbean on Sale

Zika. We Have It Here.

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Yes, we have Zika. Our little island has joined the rest of the West Indies and is now home to this nasty virus. How common is it? Not too common. How bad is it? Depends.

The most obvious thing that effects our community is that some people have contracted Zika. There have even been a few students at American University of the Caribbean who have had it. You hear a lot of horror stories about how awful it is, but honestly, it varies from person to person. Some people have hardly felt a thing and didn’t know they had it until they were tested. Others have had severe flu-like symptoms that put them behind in their studies for a week or so. Ben and I may have had it and not known it.

mosquito

Zika is known to cause birth defects in unborn children. The World Health Organization has recommended that women carefully consider delaying pregnancy. This really stinks for the families in our community who were trying to have children. It’s been hard on a lot of people.

Zika is scaring some of our visitors away. Many of us had friends who planned to visit, and some of them cancelled their plans because of pregnancy or fear.

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I’m not particularly worried about it. I did take a few pregnancy tests to make sure I’m not pregnant, and they were negative. So we’re just going about our business as usual and being sure to wear bug spray and keep the door closed after dark.

So just in case you were curious or worried, we’re OK. Like any other epidemic, Zika is a little scary, and the media makes it sound much scarier than it is! But life goes on here and we battle the mosquitoes the same way we always have to for more familiar viruses like dengue.

Dogs in the Dugout

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My favorite breed of dog is rescued. There is no shortage of rescue dogs on the island of Saint Martin! Meet Kito, Rosie, and Herald, three island mutts who joined the Daily Herald Little League team in the dugout today.

Dugout Dogs

Kito is my puppy. She’s eight months old, and we got her from a shelter on the French side of the island. She knows how to sit, stay, come, and roll over, among other things. She is also learning yoga moves. So far we have “downward dog” and that’s about it. She gives high-fives to the kids in return for cookies.

kito

 

Rosie is the team mascot. She belongs to Coach Tom and Lisa. Some of the boys on the team found Rosie on the field a couple years ago. Lisa wrote a book about it and is trying to get it published. Rosie’s special trick is standing on her back legs and spinning around. She’s the kids’ favorite!

Dog on a bench

Herald is the newest member of the team. He’s a six-week old puppy that one our families found near the stadium. He has five or six siblings living in the dump, so if you really like this little guy, you could probably find one just like him in the Philipsburg dump. Jaeda’s family named him “Matti,” which is Dutch for “friend.” Coach renamed him Herald after the team, which is sponsored by The Daily Herald. Coach also has Herald’s brother Tommy, who Aloyel found. Tommy is available for adoption.

Matti

On Saturdays, we always bring our dogs to baseball practice. Today was the day of the all-star game, and a lot of our team were selected for the game! We coaches expected to watch this one from the stands, but we were needed to run the game. So Coach Tom umpired and the rest of us packed in the dugout with the kids and the dogs to take care of stats.

baseball team

The dugout is always a pretty loud and hectic, and the presence of three dogs only added to the craziness! We always have fun, though, and the dogs added to that, too.

dugout dogs

Our kids team actually ended up winning the all-star game! They were pretty thrilled. It made up for not making it into the championship game. You seem, our kids are mostly ten and under, and they play in the ten-to-twelve-year-old league. After all those games playing against big kids, they were more than ready to take on kids their own age. Our best pitcher is nine and regularly strikes out twelve-year-olds.

baseball on sxm

The kids said that Herald was their good-luck charm.

jaeda puppy

Do you love rescue dogs, too? Anywhere you go, puppies need homes. In Saint Martin, there are many dogs who need families! Adopt your own good luck charm from one of the shelters, or rescue a puppy from the dump. You won’t regret saving your little buddy!

Sint Maarten Book Fair

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Sint Maarten’s Book Fair is probably the coolest book fair on the planet. Not only does it showcase local authors, it also features many activities and seminars. I was so glad to be able to go to one of the days!

My friend Lisa knows about all the cool stuff to do on the island. She writes the Weekender section of The Daily Herald, so she knows all the events and goes to experience them and take photos. She sometimes invites me to go along with her, and I always have a great time!

There were several local authors who set up booths at the fair. I got to meet a couple of them:

This is Montague Kobbe. He writes historical fiction novels that are set in St. Martin and the surrounding Caribbean islands. I really wanted to buy one, but that will have to wait for a season of life when I have a real job. The books have good reviews, and I’m looking forward to reading them someday.

Montage Kobbe

This is Heddrick McBride. He writes children’s books with main characters who look like Caribbean kids. If you’ve ever looked at the children’s section at the library, you may have noticed that most of the kids in the books are white. Very few feature black families or Caribbean culture. Mr. McBride saw that need and filled it. It’s awesome for the kids on the island to have good books about kids who look like them!  You can find his books online here.

Heddrick McBride

We use some of his books at Player Development SXM as reading material for the kids we tutor. As you can see, they enjoy them!

reading

Roland and Laura Richardson were also there, selling the cookbook from Temptations Cafe that Roland illustrated with his paintings. Some of Laura’s poems are in there, too!

Laura Richardson

After visiting with the authors, I followed Lisa to a poetry reading under the gazebo. It was actually more like spoken word, and I had a great time! I wished that I had planned ahead and brought a poem to read, too. Lisa read a poem in public for the first time ever! It was really good.

Lisa Burnett

We managed to catch the last seminar of the event. It was about how science fiction drives science fact. The panel discussed topics like technology, the mind, and how today’s ideas shape the destiny of the future. It made me a little sad that my master’s degree is online. I forgot how much I miss listening to and discussing academic lectures. It was a privilege to hear ideas from some of Sint Maarten’s great minds.

If you’re in Sint Maarten next June, be sure to check out the book fair! I’m sad that we’ll be gone before then, but I’m so glad I could be a part of it this year.

book fair pin
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