Tag Archives: Caribbean

Moving to American University of the Carribbean To-Do List

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BEN

Preparing for American University of the Caribbean has been a long process. Here’s  look into our to-do list since applying to AUC:

  1. Fill out application paperwork and write essays
  2. Pay application fee
  3. Receive interview invitation
  4. Celebrate!
  5. Plan interview date
  6. Be thankful you spent months studying and preparing for interviews
  7. Drive to Los Angeles. Go to Disneyland.
  8. Dress sharp and be sharp during interview
  9. Receive acceptance call
  10. Celebrate again!
  11. Send various completed forms to the school
  12. Research St. Maarten
  13. Get vaccinations
  14. Apply for scholarships
  15. Find housing
  16. Book flight
  17. Turn in notice of vacancy to apartment complex
  18. Find baggage
  19. Get rid of anything we don’t need
  20. Pack up the rest
  21. Get international insurance
  22. Dentist and doctor appointments
  23. Arrange for student loans
  24. Receive scholarship offer
  25. Accept scholarship offer
  26. Celebrate!
  27. Clean apartment
  28. Move out
  29. Move in with my parents
  30. Get rid of more stuff
  31. Make trips to donation centers
  32. Sell stuff
  33. Finish projects and tie up loose ends
  34. Explore as much of Arizona as possible
  35. Babysit, house sit, and freelance when opportunities arise
  36. Find online work for me
  37. Go shopping for anything we need
  38. Buy medical equipment
  39. Buy used things from AUC students on the online classifieds so we can set up house on the island
  40. Set up bank account we can use internationally
  41. Download digital textbooks
  42. Say goodbye to friends
  43. Have goodbye parties
  44. Decide finally what we are actually taking
  45. Pack bags
  46. Sell car
  47. Say goodbye to family
  48. Drive to the airport
  49. Fly away

A New Home

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We’re about a month from our move to St. Maarten! We already have an apartment ready for us to move into when we land. We’ll be living in Rising Sun Apartments, a two minute walk from Ben’s medical school and a five minute walk from the beach. It is a one-bedroom and is 490 square feet, bigger than our current apartment, which is nice! It’s also almost twice as expensive, which you have to expect from a touristy island where nearly all the area’s apartments are owned by one single company. I’m planning to fix it up like a beach cottage and get crafty with shells and rocks that I find on the beach. Our place is close to the airport and also conveniently near to two or three shopping centers. We don’t plan to have a car– shipping our Kia would not be worth it, so we’re selling it to my sister. Public transport on the island is supposed to be pretty good, anyway. We don’t use public transport in Phoenix– the city is so spread out that the bus system is not as effective as it is in other big cities. Getting used to using buses will be a new adventure! We liked using buses when we were in the Bahamas last summer. I wonder if it will be similar.

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Here is a video that shows the sights of St. Maarten. You can get a feel for where we’ll be living if you watch this. We will NOT, however, be sandblasted by jets landing and taking off near Maho Beach! Not our idea of fun… we’ll be surfing.

Creatively Finding Work

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The consequence for working for pay as a foreigner in St. Maarten is immediate deportation. However, I can apparently work online through American-based employers. While a two-year vacation on a Caribbean islands sounds lovely, a two-year vacation on a Caribbean island with a job to pay some of the bills sounds even better.

I hoped to get a full-time job this summer, but somehow or other nothing I tried worked out. I think it was by the grace of God, actually. It’s been lovely to spend these days with Ben, since it’s the last time we’ll be able to spend quantity time together for what seems like forever. Also, we’ve had a lot of moving preparations to do. We’ve actually been blessed with quite a lot of paid work, anyway.  We drive two awesome kids home from camp a couple times each week. I babysit two or three times a week, and sometimes Ben comes with me. Ben has a job as a tutor, also. We get to housesit twice this summer. The biggest blessing, though, is the work that will last during our time in St. Maarten. Ben suggested that I try freelance illustrating again. I did it a little before and during college, but he thought I could try to work into a full-time job. So, I bought Adobe Illustrator and started a Cafepress store and put myself out there on a few websites. I was discouraged at first, but not long after we prayed for a design job for me, I got an offer for a part-time job with a printing company. So, I am working for a printing company designing T-shirts. I just finished my first batch of sixty-four and my client loved them. Praise God! Looks like we’ll have a little income while we’re on the island.

Check out my Fiverr gigs and my Cafepress store:

https://www.fiverr.com/brejay

http://www.cafepress.com/thirdculture

africa5

Above is one of my designs on Cafepress. I did the face with digital oil paints and added text with Adobe Illustrator.

Preparing to Move

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Three weeks ago we got the news… Ben was accepted to medical school at American University of the Caribbean! AUC is located on the Dutch side of St. Maarten, a tiny island in the Caribbean. It’s beautiful.

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     The past couple of the weeks have been a flurry of activity. Ben’s teaching job ended a week ago, and immediately after we flew to Indiana for our friends’ wedding. Since we’ve been back, we have spent the last four days doing almost nothing but prepare for the trip. We have a small one-bedroom apartment, but the amount the random needless stuff we have found so far is enough to furnish a mansion! At least that’s what it feels like as we take our nightly trip to the dumpster. This morning, it looked like a wild chimpanzee broke in and had a disco party in our living room. After we get rid of all the trash, we still have to sort through the stuff to store, sell, and pack. It looks like we won’t be able to take much; whatever we bring will have to fit into two suitcases each. Fortunately, I’ve read that the island has just about anything you can find on the mainland, just not much variety.

We found a place to live today, a one-bedroom in an apartment that is a short walk from campus and just a few minutes to the beach. I can’t complain– I’ll have Ben home for lunch every day and the ocean within sight! The only downside is that it is going to cost us $1,100 per month, plus utilities. Believe it or not, that is actually in the inexpensive side for island living! Despite the cost, it will be nice to have a little more space and the ability to walk where we need to go.

As an aside, I started a CafePress shop this week! My products are inspired by the third culture and cultures around the world. Come see my artwork and designs: http://www.cafepress.com/thirdculture

Keep us in your prayers as we make this transition… it still hasn’t completely sunk in yet that we’re leaving, but it’s coming soon.

Ubarikiwe!