Tuesday, 23 December 2008
Tuesday, 9 December 2008
From QoW to Shark Lady to Lizard Lady?!?!
Kært barn har mange navne :D
It's one of those things........some people say that if dogs and children like you, you are a good person. Been there, done that - got that t-shirt. Some of you have watched the DVD and most of you have heard the story about me being raped by a leopard shark (one of my favourite if somewhat unfullfilling sexual escapades), actually I'm pretty sure you have all heard it at least 4 times ;))
BUT what does it mean when lizards love you?? Even Google and Wikipedia cannot answer that one :0
Saba has an endemic Anole: Anolis Sabanus. Beautiful, cute little creatures who kindly try to decimate the mosquito and bug populations of Saba. I have previously mentioned (at least I think I have) that we have a couple of pet anoles in our home: most astonishing is a sweet young female who likes to follow me around the house and who takes great pleasure in watching Jan taking a shower.
Now, the bravest (that's my interpretation anyway - they're all females) have found the anole version of an all-you-can-eat buffet: they jump onto my foot or leg, waiting for the bugs who get attracted by my various cuts and scrapes (no, not from domestic violence - just domestic work). A perfectly symbiotic relationship and very cute on top of that. Unfortunately, I have not trained them to pose for the camera yet; but I am certainly working on it. In the meantime, they just provide valuable and seemingly endless entertainment to Jan and myself. Fascinating :D
Phototechnical evidence will follow asap - in the meantime, any and all theories as to the importance and meaning of being loved by lizards are very welcome.....
Take care
xxx
It's one of those things........some people say that if dogs and children like you, you are a good person. Been there, done that - got that t-shirt. Some of you have watched the DVD and most of you have heard the story about me being raped by a leopard shark (one of my favourite if somewhat unfullfilling sexual escapades), actually I'm pretty sure you have all heard it at least 4 times ;))
BUT what does it mean when lizards love you?? Even Google and Wikipedia cannot answer that one :0
Saba has an endemic Anole: Anolis Sabanus. Beautiful, cute little creatures who kindly try to decimate the mosquito and bug populations of Saba. I have previously mentioned (at least I think I have) that we have a couple of pet anoles in our home: most astonishing is a sweet young female who likes to follow me around the house and who takes great pleasure in watching Jan taking a shower.
Now, the bravest (that's my interpretation anyway - they're all females) have found the anole version of an all-you-can-eat buffet: they jump onto my foot or leg, waiting for the bugs who get attracted by my various cuts and scrapes (no, not from domestic violence - just domestic work). A perfectly symbiotic relationship and very cute on top of that. Unfortunately, I have not trained them to pose for the camera yet; but I am certainly working on it. In the meantime, they just provide valuable and seemingly endless entertainment to Jan and myself. Fascinating :D
Phototechnical evidence will follow asap - in the meantime, any and all theories as to the importance and meaning of being loved by lizards are very welcome.....
Take care
xxx
Tuesday, 18 November 2008
Sometimes I remember my promises :D
Oh, happy people, who would have thought that I remembered to take pictures this weekend? They aren't really good - probably cause I was focusing more on my muscle ache than on the motives ;)) When it comes to pictures I don't have any professional pride though, so here they are.....
This was before my time.....In the background are the islands Statia (St. Eustatius), St. Kitts and Nevis...
Yes, there's still some work to do....
Berti laying the first tile...
The view isn't all that bad...
The porch where we'll probably spend most of the time...oh, and Jan's new truck...
That's it for now happy people - I'm a bit tired, since we had another patient in the chamber with suspected DCS until midnight yesterday.......zzzzzzzzz..........
Laters
Karin xxx
Friday, 14 November 2008
"There's a dent in the fairytale"
I like that one! A bit like "no Paradise without flies".
The Saba Soap continues, not much has changed. The longer I stay here, the more difficult it is, not to become cynical: I heard myself saying (and believing) yesterday: there is no fairness, nobody wants to hear the truth and nobody cares - people will hear what they want to hear. Does that sound like me?? I don't want to turn into a bitter, negative person!
Also, the longer I'm here, the more impressed I am with Marianne, who's been living on a tiny island more than 25 years now! And it's not even warm where she lives ;)
Jan and I obviously chose the hard way by going from not really knowing each other to living together in a very confined space. I had to leave my friends and diving in Thailand behind and of course Saba is a very, very small island - in so many ways. With Jan's history on the island, I will always be "his new woman" and there will always be speculations, as to whether I was the cause of his divorce. With the additional external stress and hostility of the last couple of months, it feels a bit like living through an emotional category 2-3 hurricane (like Omar) - except most hurricanes pass in a couple of hours and this one is permanent.
We haven't been to St. Maarten yet - I've had to be in the office every day and work full-time the last weeks and for another while yet until my new colleague star. We are planning to go for 3 days in two weeks. We'll order the kitchen cabinets, get a solar-powered hot water system and then we'll of course do some re-fueling of positive energy and romance. It'll be sooooo good to get off the rock.
Looks like things are finally happening! This time I am not going to include a time frame though ;) But at least I've charged the batteries for my camera, so that I can take a couple of pictures of the house for you....Just have to remember bringing it.....And posting them.....
My 10 boxes of winter clothes and diplomas should be in Willemstad (Curacao) by now, ready to be shipped to Saba next time a cargo ship comes this way. It's about time as well: it's getting colder here - often below 25 degr. celcius, so my long wool coat and winter boots will come in handy ;))) It's quite exciting though: it'll be like Christmas opening up the boxes after a year with a wardrobe weighing 3 kg and consisting almost entirely of bikinis, shorts and tank tops.
Oh, and before I forget: Now that I know what wrong quotes can lead to, I'll make sure to give credit where credit is due: so thanks to Lars & Jacob for their quotes (above) - even if they may not be their own inventions. Any translation mistakes are entirely mine ;)
Hi-ho, hi-ho and off to work I go........have a wonderful weekend, I'll be back very soon :D
Karin xxx
The Saba Soap continues, not much has changed. The longer I stay here, the more difficult it is, not to become cynical: I heard myself saying (and believing) yesterday: there is no fairness, nobody wants to hear the truth and nobody cares - people will hear what they want to hear. Does that sound like me?? I don't want to turn into a bitter, negative person!
Also, the longer I'm here, the more impressed I am with Marianne, who's been living on a tiny island more than 25 years now! And it's not even warm where she lives ;)
Jan and I obviously chose the hard way by going from not really knowing each other to living together in a very confined space. I had to leave my friends and diving in Thailand behind and of course Saba is a very, very small island - in so many ways. With Jan's history on the island, I will always be "his new woman" and there will always be speculations, as to whether I was the cause of his divorce. With the additional external stress and hostility of the last couple of months, it feels a bit like living through an emotional category 2-3 hurricane (like Omar) - except most hurricanes pass in a couple of hours and this one is permanent.
At least we can see that it's true that there is nothing like outside pressure to strengthen the ties of a relationship and besides, once we make it through this tough beginning together, the rest of our lives should be a walk in the park :D
Good news: project new house is starting to move after hibernating half a year :D If the forces (and Berti, they tile-laying guy) are with us, the floors will be tiled tomorrow. The electrics guy (not sure he's an electrician, but he does drive the bus for Child Focus) will come as well to see if the lights and fans we've picked out are ok. It should take 3-4 weeks to get them here.We haven't been to St. Maarten yet - I've had to be in the office every day and work full-time the last weeks and for another while yet until my new colleague star. We are planning to go for 3 days in two weeks. We'll order the kitchen cabinets, get a solar-powered hot water system and then we'll of course do some re-fueling of positive energy and romance. It'll be sooooo good to get off the rock.
Looks like things are finally happening! This time I am not going to include a time frame though ;) But at least I've charged the batteries for my camera, so that I can take a couple of pictures of the house for you....Just have to remember bringing it.....And posting them.....
My 10 boxes of winter clothes and diplomas should be in Willemstad (Curacao) by now, ready to be shipped to Saba next time a cargo ship comes this way. It's about time as well: it's getting colder here - often below 25 degr. celcius, so my long wool coat and winter boots will come in handy ;))) It's quite exciting though: it'll be like Christmas opening up the boxes after a year with a wardrobe weighing 3 kg and consisting almost entirely of bikinis, shorts and tank tops.
Oh, and before I forget: Now that I know what wrong quotes can lead to, I'll make sure to give credit where credit is due: so thanks to Lars & Jacob for their quotes (above) - even if they may not be their own inventions. Any translation mistakes are entirely mine ;)
Hi-ho, hi-ho and off to work I go........have a wonderful weekend, I'll be back very soon :D
Karin xxx
Friday, 17 October 2008
Hurricane OMAR and what we learned from it
Ooooooh, happy people :D Omar came and left us bruised and battered but alive and well. There was only minor damage on Saba (unlike St Maarten), except for the harbour area (Fort Bay, as pictured above the morning after), where a couple of diveshops were left with quite a mess. So, this is how my last few days went...
ZCZC MIATCMAT5
ALLTTAA00 KNHC DDHHMM
TROPICAL DEPRESSION FIFTEEN FORECAST/ADVISORY NUMBER 1
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL152008
1500 UTC MON OCT 13 2008
That's how it started on Monday when Omar was not Omar, but Tropical Depression Fifteen. After that, we were all glued to the internet (http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ is a great website if anyone is interested). Jan decided to pull the marine park patrol boat out of the water and the fishermen were discussing taking their boats to relative safety in St Maarten by Tuesday.
The situation changed 24 hours later, when Omar was named and the predicted direction was corrected as well. Bad news for Saba! By then it was clear that we'd be hit and a "Storm warning, hurricane watch" was issued for Saba. That means, any boats still on Saba would not be covered by insurance - so all fishermen and diveshops drove their boats to St Maarten or had them pulled on shore here on Saba. It was a lovely calm day btw.
Omar was forecasted to be a hurricane category 1 or 2 and to affect us between noontime Wednesday and Thursday early morning.
My careful suggestion to Jan Tuesday afternoon to maybe start installing shutters instead of going out for a beer was met with a "nooooo, we'll do that tomorrow after I'm done at the Marine Park". Who am I to argue? My concern was that he'd have to secure the office AND our new house (for which we didn't have shutter yet, so he'd have to get materials first) AND the place we currently live in including the big house of our landlord. But hey, who am I to argue?
So, Wednesday morning Jan went to the harbour to secure the office and hyperbaric chamber. I went to work and must admit to getting increasingly nervous, until Jan finally came back to Windwardside at 12:30-ish with loads of plywood, 2x4's and tools. By then it was raining heavily and in addition I had not eaten anything that day - expecting Jan back within "an hour or so", giving us plenty of time for the task at hand.
As it happened, we were now really in a hurry! No time for food, just enough to grab a jacket and a baseball cap. Both withstood the rain for approx. 8 minutes, guess it could have been worse. Oh wait, it got worse....
We drove down to the new house first and started carrying the wood up the steep hill. Jan was quite stressed out - understandably so - and thus I resisted the urge to say "I told you so". Matter of fact I didn't say that once during that whole ordeal. When, however, Jan tripped over a rock walking backwards as we were walking with a very heavy piece of plywood (1.50x1.50 m would be my guess), leaving the wood no other place to fall than onto my ancle after a short stop on my knee, I did say (through clenched teeth) "Now, can we pleeeease start a day earlier next time".
No time to relax though, we were running out of time. So with a bump on my knee and a gap in my ancle, blood literally running down into my (previously white) running shoes and rain-soaked through three layers of clothing, here I found myself putting up shutters. Since someone had forgotten to put all the tools in Jans truck, we did not have the right equipment and had to improvise a bit. Obviously that did not make the task at hand any faster and/or easier. Another day in Paradise, hey?
We finished with the house at 15:30.......one down, two more to go, rain getting heavier, wind getting stronger - and darkness just 2.5 hours away. At our current place, there were waterfalls on each side of the house, the amount of rain was unbelievable.
At least we had pre-made shutters for these two places, so work went faster. This is when I have to mention that despite less than ideal conditions and both of us under a considerable amount of mental and physical stress, we never argued or yelled at each other. Quite a significant indication of a good relationship I'd say ;)
Anyway, we worked on and by 18:00 there was just one more shutter to put up. Unfortunately, this was by far the most heavy one (35-40 kg) and quite awkward to carry. Jan and I were both in automatic mode I think. We were beyond cold, and probably beyond caring as well. We carried the shutter through the garden, up the stairs, through the house and managed to attach it. Yeah. Done.
We rewarded ourselves with a hot-hot shower and then went in pursuit of a beer and a meal, unaware that restaurants have to close during a hurricane, so our first attempt only brought us an hour with a couple of beers in nice company. Luckily, hotels stay open, so we had dinner and were home before the worst hit Saba. And before they had to shut down the power plant.
Of course we should have been too scared to sleep that night, but completely exhausted as we were, we slept like babies until 8 Thursday morning. A beautiful, calm day, the sun was shining. Then it was time to assess the damage: several trees were gone and the lawn was basically covered in broken-off branches, the water was running down the wall inside our flat. Apart from that, everything appeared fine.
Jan tried walking down to our new home, but after falling on the slippery path twice and doing his best to let his elbow wound compete with my ancle, he gave up...
Then the phone call: Fort Bay harbour is a mess! The power had not yet been turned on, so without coffee or breakfast we made our way towards Fort Bay. On the way, we passed big tree trunks and even bigger rocks that had fallen off the mountain sides. And yes, Fort Bay was a mess...
- yes, that's a piece of concrete there
- that used to be a pier
- I am trying to imagine the force necessary to move those boulder up into the harbour and then across to the diveshop
- the harbour office survived, but the road was burried under boulders and rocks
- this is the road to the dump; guess those things have to end up there now anyway
Fortunately, the Marine Park office was ok, so after a bit of chatting, we made our way back up to Windwardside, where we decadently decided to go out for breakfast. Yummi. And quite necessary, facing the task of taking some of the shutters down and cleaning up the garden....it took us 3 hours to clear it reasonably. By then, we both felt about 16 years older - all muscles aching after two days of pretty hard workout.
- too bad we don't have any before pictures :(
Today, our lives are pretty much back to normal. We're going to have a weekend of doing as little as possible. Must take care of that huge pile of still soaking wet clothes though ;)
Anyway, that was my week ;) Take care lovely people, I'll now walk home through the rain, taking comfort in the knowledge that it won't be as bad as Wednesday
xxx
Wednesday, 17 September 2008
No news = good news?
.........possibly............
Or maybe it's just a sign that nothing is happening; it's been a long time since the last really dramatic development in my life.
In the meantime I'm a year older (and of course much wiser) and have gotten into a certain routine with job etc. After working on the Caribbean Explorer (see last post) for a week, I am now being invited for fundive + dinner every week, when they pass Saba. GREAT. First of all, fundiving is of course one of my favourite activities. Secondly, the food is excellent. Thirdly - and most important - the crew on the boat is awesome, we have lots of fun together. Oh, and of course it's good to get off the rock once in a while, even if it's just for a couple of hours.
They would like me to work for them more often, but unfortunately I cannot combine it with my current job. Working fulltime for them is no option because I don't have the 1500 USD for a safety course I'd have to do - and more importantly, because it would mean being on the boat 24/7 for months. Not the best recipe for a happy relationship obviously ;)
In an unpleasant way I have also experienced what it can be like to live on a tiny island, where even a non-existing feather can turn into a chicken farm in no time. And there is absolutely nothing anyone can do about it. Hrmpf. This has led to a new personal record for me: I am now on my 12th day of migraine - and yes, it's driving me mad and pretty much draining me.
A spot of light at the end of the tunnel: Jan and I are planning to go to St. Maarten for a couple of days. He needs to go there for work and then we'll combine it with shopping, getting things for the new house and of course a romantic dinner in a place where nobody interrupts our time together; simply because nobody knows us.
All in all it's fair to say that my life is less than ideal or super-happy these days; but even if I didn't have the wonderful friends I do, the struggle would still be worth it as long as it enables me to be with Jan. He's intelligent, handsome, sexy, wonderful and I love him to bits!
Rather than posting pictures, there are a couple of links to my Facebook albums here:
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=51263&l=56fe2&id=703045613
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=45998&l=80cf7&id=703045613
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=46294&l=655ca&id=703045613
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=46001&l=1f630&id=703045613
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=45993&l=f5e2d&id=703045613
And for all you people, who are still not on Facebook: tsk, tsk, shame on you. It's easy, it's free and it's a great way of staying up-to-date with friends all over the world.
Here's one for those of you, who call me the QoW: did you know that Saba is called "the unspoiled Queen"? How very (in)appropriate I should say - in soooo many ways *lol*
Well, enough for now. Hopefully I'll have a more optimistic and positive update next time - but still, don't worry..........I'll be fine and everything will be O K ;))
Lotsa love and hugs
Or maybe it's just a sign that nothing is happening; it's been a long time since the last really dramatic development in my life.
In the meantime I'm a year older (and of course much wiser) and have gotten into a certain routine with job etc. After working on the Caribbean Explorer (see last post) for a week, I am now being invited for fundive + dinner every week, when they pass Saba. GREAT. First of all, fundiving is of course one of my favourite activities. Secondly, the food is excellent. Thirdly - and most important - the crew on the boat is awesome, we have lots of fun together. Oh, and of course it's good to get off the rock once in a while, even if it's just for a couple of hours.
They would like me to work for them more often, but unfortunately I cannot combine it with my current job. Working fulltime for them is no option because I don't have the 1500 USD for a safety course I'd have to do - and more importantly, because it would mean being on the boat 24/7 for months. Not the best recipe for a happy relationship obviously ;)
In an unpleasant way I have also experienced what it can be like to live on a tiny island, where even a non-existing feather can turn into a chicken farm in no time. And there is absolutely nothing anyone can do about it. Hrmpf. This has led to a new personal record for me: I am now on my 12th day of migraine - and yes, it's driving me mad and pretty much draining me.
A spot of light at the end of the tunnel: Jan and I are planning to go to St. Maarten for a couple of days. He needs to go there for work and then we'll combine it with shopping, getting things for the new house and of course a romantic dinner in a place where nobody interrupts our time together; simply because nobody knows us.
All in all it's fair to say that my life is less than ideal or super-happy these days; but even if I didn't have the wonderful friends I do, the struggle would still be worth it as long as it enables me to be with Jan. He's intelligent, handsome, sexy, wonderful and I love him to bits!
Rather than posting pictures, there are a couple of links to my Facebook albums here:
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=51263&l=56fe2&id=703045613
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=45998&l=80cf7&id=703045613
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=46294&l=655ca&id=703045613
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=46001&l=1f630&id=703045613
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=45993&l=f5e2d&id=703045613
And for all you people, who are still not on Facebook: tsk, tsk, shame on you. It's easy, it's free and it's a great way of staying up-to-date with friends all over the world.
Here's one for those of you, who call me the QoW: did you know that Saba is called "the unspoiled Queen"? How very (in)appropriate I should say - in soooo many ways *lol*
Well, enough for now. Hopefully I'll have a more optimistic and positive update next time - but still, don't worry..........I'll be fine and everything will be O K ;))
Lotsa love and hugs
Saturday, 2 August 2008
Life on the Rock
Important news first: since my last blog update I did not and do not plan to move to a different part of the world ;) I'm still on Saba and still very much in love :D
My dream of going to Denmark on holiday did not come true, but at least I have a job now: assistant project leader for www.childfocussaba.org - it's obviously an office job, and it's only part time. My contract starts 18th August, in July I've been volunteering for the summer programme of the foundation.
Next week I'll be doing my "old job": the only live-aboard operating this area has problems with staff on sick leave, so I'm doing a week of divemaster work on it. It'll be tough to be without Jan for a whole week - especially on his birthday - but I really look forward to being back in the water. I have volunteered for the marine park a couple of times, but it's more difficult now that I actually have a job.
Saba is in the middle of the week-long annual carnival, but we have not participated - we'll go to the parade tomorrow though.
Jan's house building project has moved veeeery slowly the past two months. I've been painting the walls, and the tiles will be put in soon. We need to be out of our current appartment by mid-September, but realistically the new house will not be ready before October.
Oh, and do remind me to post some pictures....
Lotsa xxx
Karin
My dream of going to Denmark on holiday did not come true, but at least I have a job now: assistant project leader for www.childfocussaba.org - it's obviously an office job, and it's only part time. My contract starts 18th August, in July I've been volunteering for the summer programme of the foundation.
Next week I'll be doing my "old job": the only live-aboard operating this area has problems with staff on sick leave, so I'm doing a week of divemaster work on it. It'll be tough to be without Jan for a whole week - especially on his birthday - but I really look forward to being back in the water. I have volunteered for the marine park a couple of times, but it's more difficult now that I actually have a job.
Saba is in the middle of the week-long annual carnival, but we have not participated - we'll go to the parade tomorrow though.
Jan's house building project has moved veeeery slowly the past two months. I've been painting the walls, and the tiles will be put in soon. We need to be out of our current appartment by mid-September, but realistically the new house will not be ready before October.
Oh, and do remind me to post some pictures....
Lotsa xxx
Karin
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