Tag Archives: st. martin

God Save the King!

A city flooded with orange…. food and drink…. bartering and bargaining. Why? King’s Day, or, as it is called in Dutch, “Koningsdag!”

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Source: RLT Nieuws

Koningsdag is celebrated on April 27, the birthday of King Willem-Alexander, the monarch of the Netherlands. Since Sint Maarten is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, it is also celebrated here. It’s not quite as a big a deal here as it is in Europe’s territories. Sint Maarten’s Carnival falls during Koningsdag, so it is someone overshadowed by that event. Still, I did see a few photos of friends’ children wearing orange for an early celebration of King’s Day at school.

I asked a few of the local kids what they do during Koningsdag. Big King, one of the teens who volunteers with our little league team, told me that they eat Dutch bread and cheese. I should have bought some. Instead, we ate chocolate on bread for breakfast, which is pretty Dutch thing to do!

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Wearing literally the only orange thing I own for Kongingsdag
It’s funny to think that because we live here, we have a king and queen. It’s certainly different than the U.S., but you have to admit that it’s pretty cool to be able to take a day off to celebrate your king’s birthday!

Stuff Dutch People Like has a bit more on Konigsdag, if you’re interested.

Saying Goodbye, Caribbean Style

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American University of the Caribbean knows how to say goodbye in style. Dr. Testa, the senior associate dean, is moving on to a new place and a new position. So, the school threw him a tropical party for the staff and students to enjoy!

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The funniest part of the celebration was the Dean Testa bobble-heads that faculty members auctioned off. The best part was the yummy food. There were so many things to taste! Fruit juice, ice cream from Carousel, fresh fruit, coconuts… yes please!

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One of the tables was made to look like a traditional Caribbean dress, complete with someone wearing it.

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We managed to get one of the last coconuts from the coconut man.

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To top it off, a local youth drumming group came and played a few songs. It doesn’t get better than tropical fruit and steel drums! Happy trails, Dr. Testa.

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Caribbean Zoo with Kids

One bird.

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Two birds.

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Red bird.

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Blue bird.

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These colorful birds are just a sample of the animals at Sint Maarten’s zoo. Although the zoo is small, it has more than enough animals to delight anyone. There is a lot that makes this place special. One of those special things is that much of the zoo consists of endemic animals.

Endemic [en-dem-ik]  (Adjective):

“Belonging exclusively or confined to a particular place.”

This morning, Les Fruits de Mer, an organization dedicated to preserving and educating about the islands natural environment, hosted the Endemic Animal Festival at the zoo! The zoo was open to the public for free for three hours. I’ve been wanting to take some of the kids from our little league team to the zoo for a while now, so I was happy when Coach Tom asked for volunteers to drive the kids from the baseball field to the event.

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There is nothing quite like exploring the zoo through the eyes of a child. I love to see toucans, but even more, I love seeing little eyes light up when they see toucans.

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The Endemic Animal Festival was awesome. There were several activities for the kids: little jars of shrimp to examine, a checklist of animals separated in endemic and non-endemic categories, sidewalk chalk, and coloring. Anilda loved the coloring and crafts! I was impressed with the volunteers. They were so sweet with the kids, attentive to them, and made learning about the animals fun.

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The boys explored the zoo while Anilda colored. We caught up with them later, and here are a few of the things we saw:

Some of the boys were particularly interested in the snakes. Sint Maarten doesn’t have any snakes in wild, because European settlers released mongooses to kill them off. I tried to get a picture of the zoo’s mongoose, but it made a wicked fang face at me and hid in the shadows. Although the wild has no snakes, the zoo has a nice collection. Gabby was fascinated by a small snake that some of the volunteers and zoo staff were holding. They even let Gabby hold it for a minute!

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A few hours after the event, Ben and I went exploring on Green Cay. We saw an Anguilla bank anole lizard, and Ben pointed it out to me. “That’s an endemic animal,” he informed me. I guess everyone learned something new today! What wonderful memories.