Horse Heaven

Besides her Nintendo DSI (with horse game), Ava's favorite birthday loot was the toy horses and barn.  She plays with them all the time.  She is loving her riding lessons and manages to make extra trips to the barn with mangoes for the horses and treats for the tortoises that live there.  Since Ava's instructor doesn't have a work visa (she's a spouse of a student) we can't pay her for the lessons.  So in trade, Bob takes a couple bags of sweet feed to the barn and does some maintenance out there like weed-eating or fence-mending every week.  He's also getting used to being around and on horses. 

 

One day they came back from being gone for several hours and Bob said he'd spent that time "desensitizing himself."  To what? I asked, thinking maybe getting used to some kind of plant or weed out there.  No, he meant desensitizing himself to HORSES.  Only a shrink would put it that way.  I guess he was kind of nervous around them due to their size and general unfamiliarity.  He was shocked that there is a bone inside the horse tail.  But he went on his first and second ride recently, and next week for Ava's last lesson, we are going on a trail ride.  And Bob (I find out) has pretty much promised Ava one of these horses for Christmas.   So here is Ava on Fabiola.  Ava looks at her and sees hearts and sparkles shooting out of lucky horseshoes.  I see dollar signs!!!  Heck, Alden starts his senior year at NCSU in the fall, so soon enough we'll be looking for somewhere else to throw our money, right?

 

 

Lucky Seven

We took the car ferry over to Nevis Saturday and carpooled with our friend Tracey and her son, Neil.   Tracey teaches genetics at the school and is Canadian --used to be a competitive synchronized swimmer so my dream of learning some underwater dance moves is coming true!  One mustn't ever give up on one's dreams!  :-P  Turns out it is HARD!  And I was scorned when I said I needed some noseplugs so as not to drown.  But anyway, I am also learning to end interrogatory sentences with AY? since that is the way all the Canadians do it. 

 

Did you know that the people who live on the Isle of Man are called Manx?  And informally known as Yessirs because they end most sentences with "yessir."  This we got from an Irishman man in the hotel swimming pool, so it must be true.

The Seabridge ferry costs $56 round trip per car plus a little more for extra adults and is a 15 minute trip--much shorter than the regular ferry because it just chugs straight across, the shortest distance.  The other ferries take almost an hour but they go back and forth from downtown Nevis to downtown St. Kitts. 

 

As I mentioned, Sunday Ava woke up to find herself covered in balloons--she loved that.  She found a present buried in there--a camera.  Too bad mom didn't know it needed a memory card.  Oh well, more time in the pool, and then we were off to see the new Shrek movie.  I had only heard about the new cinema on St. Kitts but it exceeded every expectation.  Stadium seating, huge screens, new movies, good popcorn...and an adult ticket costs only $4.47!  And the snacks weren't the huge ripoff we are used to...makes me wonder why we put up with such highway robbery in the US.  Dominoes pizza for dinner, some fun playing with the birthday loot and we said goodbye to Tracey and Neil.  Then back to the pool for night swim!  Bob had to leave Monday morning, but Ava and I got to stay a third night and got another day of R&R before taking the ferry back to Nevis on Tuesday...just in time for soccer practice. 

Lucky Seven

For Ava's birthday we decided to spend the weekend on St. Kitts at the Marriott.  She could barely remember last time we were there but as soon as she saw the lobby with its fountains and sculptures it all came back.  We were teasing her on the way over that on her first trip to this hotel she draink out of the bidet in our room (imagine me flying across the room in slow motion yelling "nooooooooo" but too late) and she laughed it off--she's a worldly almost-7 and isn't going to drink out of the bidet, whatever that is.

 

So we got checked in and Ava and her buddy Neil changed into their swimsuits and hit the pool.  On the way out of the bathroom I noticed Ava drying her hands...but the sink is on the outside of the bathroom.  No prob! She had washed her hands ..in the bidet.  You have to be very specific with Ava. 

 

There's a pic of her in the pool.  The next day was her birthday, and she woke up in a bed filled with balloons, and was presented with a disgusting icing and sprinkled covered donut as big as her head.  It's gonna be a good day!

 

 

 

Hermit Crabs and Tadpoles

We have picked up a few pets--imagine me lying in the road with a spaghetti strainer taped to the broomstick, reaching through the cattle grate to catch tadpoles.  The cattle grate was FRICKING HOT having baked in the sun all morning so I got grill marks in addition to 18 new little lives to care for.  Ava was thrilled.  And then we got no rain for a while and the nasty water under the cattle grate dried up, so Ava knows we saved them from doom.  She dutifully fed them algae-covered weeds yanked from a very special part of our back yard until they started to sprout back legs.  And last week we got front legs, and then a FROG!  So predictable.  We had a special early morning release of the first frog and then she promptly lost interest in the whole venture, but it's not like I can just put them back.  Or flush them. 
(right?)

This weekend we had a wonderful sunset pitcher of beer at Oualie Beach, (see pic of Ava at Oualie) and as we were getting ready to leave, Ava and her buddy, Neal, found five tiny hermit crabs- which was perfect timing since Andy II had disappeared.  Now we have Andy III, IV, V etc.  They are so fun to watch in their crabitat as they LOVE trying on new shells.  It's like reality TV.  Even the cat is mesmerized.  (...maybe that is what happened to Andy II?) 

So I was hoping that all these little critters would distract Ava from the sad fact that we are goat-and sheepless right now.  A dog came in the yard and killed Gypsy and Pip (while we were in NC, thank goodness) so the yard is kind of empty.  And free of poop, which is nice.  We (Bob) may not be cut out to be goat/sheep owners; as they were full grown and still drinking milk from the bottle.  Bob never could figure out how to cut them off.  And he criticized me for taking too long to wean our DAUGHTER!!  Yeh, I am loving that.  Anyway, so today we had a riding lesson for Ava at the barn.  It's kind of a sad little barn that the owner doesn't want to own.  We find out that the owner of the horse Ava rode is leaving the island in December and wants to basically give the horse away.  Bob who is insane decides that the price is right!  And makes horse-buying sounds within hearing distance of Ava, like his brain just fell out of his head.  Oh, my fingers just locked up as I revisited his ...boyish enthusiasm, let's call it....locked up in the shape of his neck!

Erg, have to go and whisper into Ava's ear as she sleeps, "Why own a horse when you can just pay for the lessons?" over and over...

Jaws of Life Yoga

Well, we've been here a week!  Ava has resigned herself to the resumption of studies, and Bob is stepping up with recorder lessons, computer class and some pinch hitting on the maths.  Bob has also taken Ava snorkeling twice since our boat trip, and we are amazed at how she has just taken off with it.  She can even dive down to get shells.  Clearing her snorkel ain't pretty, but she gets it done.

Bugs: lots.  We've had lots of rain, and the mosquitoes are starting to work together in coordinated maneuvers --any day now I expect to see them airlift the cat right out of here.   We sleep under those billowy white mosquito nets you've seen on TV.  My bedtime routine involves some serious tucking in around the entire perimeter, and I have LEARNED that the TV remote, my book and reading light have to all be under the net before the perimeter is sealed.  Once in I feel like a cupcake under a cake dome.  But the nets WORK. 

I was talking to some fellas in the yard and stood right in a humongous ant nest.  So cool.  Looked down and my shoes (thank goodness I was wearing real shoes) were SWARMING with biting ants.  I did a great little dance while kicking my shoes off and wiping the ants off my legs.  One of the guys came over to have a look (after he was quite finished laughing) and asked me if I had any sevin.  I thought he was asking about my shoe size and it took awhile to sort that out.  The ant bites are UG-LY.  I won't describe them.  There is pus.

Enough about bugs--there's more, mind you, but tonight I took a yoga class!  One of the faculty women (and Bob's friend,) Stacy, picked me up and took me to the gym downtown for the class, which started at 5:30, cost a ridiculous $7.50 and is taught by a local woman who is a grandmother.  I was wearing new yoga pants and had the hot pink yoga mat Bob gave me for Christmas.  The class started off with eye rolling!  Really!  I can totally do that.  Obviously, I needed to be taken down a peg.  The instructor cut the air conditioning off while I was busy rolling my eyes, and proceeded to lead us through TWO HOURS of the most advanced class I have ever had.  No relaxing meditation.  Extreme positions I don't even know the names for!  Poses named after some pretty darn obscure animals and states of mind.  Shoulder Stand with Windmill Legs?   Disemboweled Crab Seeking Enlightenment?   Trying Not to Pee Pants While Waiting for Bus with Head on Backwards? I was gushing sweat and praying for it to END.  Finally it did end.  I pulled off my best corpse pose EVER.  Slunk out to parking lot and ate my emergency half a candy bar.  Somehow, I need to come up with a believable conflict for Monday evenings for the foreseeable future.  And an alternate use for my new hot pink yoga mat.  Help?








 

Photos

Yesterday we accompanied Bob on a boat tour run out of the scuba shop he works for as a dive flunky.  He doesn't get paid, but he is getting free instructor training and free dives. The boat is called Monkey Business...some of the tourists go on it for a scuba dive or class, some to snorkel, others just to cruise around and drink rum punch and listen to music.  Ava and I were glad to be onboard.  Ryan led the snorkel group, and gave Ava first class treatment, towing her around on a life ring so she could just fishgaze and relax.  She had a blast.  That girl loves a party.

So here are a few pictures of our first few days.  My view from the back of the plane into Nevis.
Bob on the boat on the way to the dive site with his first scuba students (looking all bow-flex buff)
and Ava with a fruit punch and her snorkel buddy, Ryan. 

Graduation and Goodbye

I can't believe it has been almost a year since we were last in Nevis.  That really is too long.  My first full day here was a whirlwind of unpacking and shopping and then graduation ceremonies and festivities at the med school. We stopped in the Chinese store for a broom.  That is a fun store to poke around in--everything you could want including shoes, groceries, office supplies, rice cookers and human hair.  Really: human hair.  It was market day downtown so we bought lots of fruits and veggies, and Bob and Ava got ice cream cones on the way out of downtown.  We stopped by the home improvement store for two toilet repair kits.  Despite the fact that, according to Bob, throwing a bucket of water down the toilet "works great!!!" Ava and I prefer to flush.  Bob has gone native, apparently, in our absence. 

Thanks to Mary Jo, who went shopping with me, I had a dress to wear to graduation this year, and I am so glad I didn't miss it. The studends had planned to hold the ceremony on the beach but we got an amazing amount of rain today (so of course we lost power and internet at the house) so we were relocated to one of the huge classrooms on campus.  I love watching the kids get their white coats and take the Oath of Maimonides. I always get a little misty-eyed!  Dinner afterwards was wonderful.  The graduating class does fundraising to pay for the reception after graduation, and this year they broke all records and threw a dinner on the beach at Nisbet Plantation with open bar and a band.  It was spectacular.  I was still tired from travel and unpacking and almost didn't go, but it was worth it.  A wonderful buffet by the pool with four chefs at the end grilling mahi mahi, snapper, shrimp, and on another grill, steak and chicken.  Lots of island salsa and local hot sauce...and a dessert buffet that Ava swooned over.  When it was time to go Ava was still dancing in front of the band under a tent. 

It was also a sad day because we learned that a friend of ours, Jim Johnson, had died the night before in a house fire on the island.  I had mentioned him before on the blog--he came over when we thought Ava had gotten mixed up with a poisonous frog, and he is the one who led the rainforest hike I blogged about.  Just unbelievable and we don't have the details, but he was such a treasure to the island.  We are thinking of his family.  I always pack a smoke detector in my suitcase because I am afraid of a housefire.  Huge tanks of propane outside the kitchen, the wiring is probably not up to US code, and it's not like we can just dial 9-1-1.  I don't know what the circumstances are with Jim's death, but we have stayed in two homes that have only one door, and the windows all have metal louvres that would prevent egress.  For the cost of a cheap plastic smoke detector, you buy yourselves a few extra minutes to get out.  Check your batteries, my friends!

I have to run--we are getting on a boat to go snorkeling while Bob gives a scuba "resort course" to three tourists!  These are his first victims...I'm taking my camera!