Moving house....again!

I'm moving to here...... so it's not all bad! This is the view from my balcony, lovely vegetation and the pool. So it will be a busy week packing and moving in between working, sigh. At least it will be clean out time, 13 months of stuff I may not need. The apartment has a TV, my first for a number of years so it will be interesting how that goes. I won't have the internet for a while so I may be quiet for a week or so. 

Amazing dancers

I had the choice of two treats last night, a wonderful display of local talent and the National Dance Theatre of Jamaica. We sailed later in the afternoon, a shake down for today's big race, so I had to take the later show. Wow, what fantastic dancing. Annie, I thought of you as I watched and how much your would have enjoyed this. There were some lovely young dancer, very young some of them, who were really entertaining. Some talented young ones who are learning to dance to the crowd.

It's hard to find something on YouTube to share here and this was possibly the best one. There was a lot of Pacifica rhythms in the dance, with the drums, tiaha and beats reminding me of home.

Expats

I felt inspired this morning. Two things that don't usually go together, I felt inspired and it was morning! I'd worked late, not slept well despite a small helping of Forrest Gump and had woken really early. I was checking out some travel blogs, this one inspired me to write. As much the comments as the blog really. Here is my comment:

As a New Zealand traveler who has made 3 other countries home, living, working, socialising and generally enjoying all these countries have to offer, I found this post and the comments interesting. Enclaving is what expats do all over the world. This is especially so in countries where there is a major difference in culture, for example in the Middle East. It may not be so common for countries where there are cultural and religious similarities. Locals there are more likely to include expats so long as they are not fatigued by the number of them settling in their place. 


Every place I've been has had a rugby club run and frequented by New Zealanders and Australians with the odd South African included. Not really being a rugby club person, I only go there for special events, such as the World Cup games, to be with others cheering for the same team. While I enjoy a catch up with my New Zealand friends overseas, I certainly don't mix exclusively with them or other expats. That's how I have enjoyed my travels, experiencing other cultural norms, languages and opportunities to share. 


I laughed when I read the piece on cricket. It brought back some lovely memories of watching games in other places, street games with excited youngsters. There is nothing more likely to cause heated discussion with any of our Indian sub continent or Caribbean neighbours. I just say I'm from New Zealand and the Black Caps are mentioned. The fact I'm a big cricket fan and can talk relatively knowledgeably about this means I'm a hit with those I talk with. I was close to Sri Lanka during the last world cup and am going to Jamaica soon to watch as many matches on the Black Caps tour as I can. The luxury of being close by.

Funny, I've been thinking about this stuff lately. People think that because you're from New Zealand that you know everyone there and that you give other New Zealanders in your orbit an easy ride. Not so, we are often harder on each other than we are on others. The tall poppy syndrome is alive and well. In Cayman that's called crabs in a bucket, very apt if you've seen crabs in a bucket. 

Anyhow, felt like I needed to add my 2 cents worth. Funny how close minded some people are, and that applies to the people who are locals as well as expats. Harmony and goodwill, that's what makes the world go around.

It's raining, it's pouring.....

What a downpour today! I woke to rain coming through my open window in the small hours and it's continues all day. I went for a drive earlier in the day on Charlene's advice as I'm looking to move soon. always best to check the lay of the land in this weather it seems. I drove through massive surface flooding with minimal visibility and decided that my place was okay, shame I have to move. I've got dead cockroaches in my front porch and big frogs croaking out the back door. Interesting.

Schools are closed for tomorrow, too much flooding and a poor forecast. The photo in the article is close to my place. More of the same all week and rainy season has not officially begun yet. Seem like those hurricane frogs may be right to go to higher ground. For me it's been some nice downtime. I would not have seen anyone today, except Didge got driven out of her place by a non stopping alarm. A nice interlude and friendly chat. Didge is off home to her son's wedding on Wednesday so fingers crossed all is well so she gets there on time.

So a much needed rest day for me to lose my sore throat and achey bits. Tomorrow will be work as usual although possibly a little quieter with the schools closed. I've read a book this weekend, had heaps of couch time and slept much more than is normal for me. Guess I needed a quiet home weekend. I suspect I should have started packing, not my most favourite job but needs must. Procrastination and last minute things are my modus so it would be a shame to change that now. 

Should do that more often.....

There's quite a few things where I think, I should do that more often. Walking on the beach is definitely one of those. I've just got back, it's almost dark, from a late afternoon splash along the South Sound beach. This evening the sea was calmer than in the photos, gently washing against the rocks with an even swell. Hurricane season begins at the end of this month, the tourist season usually ends about then too.

There's been talk of the hurricane season. There have been crabs coming ashore in the Brac, apparently this means there will be a big one this season. The locals call them hurricane crabs, one of my colleagues asked April, the Brac-er on my team, if it was true that the crabs had come ashore. The last time they did this was during the 2004 season, when the infamous Ivan decimated the island. Where I move to may be dictated by this piece of local knowledge.

I have to move soon and I'm looking at places on the Internet. It's a lot easier now I know the lay of the land a bit better. Tempting is the one bed and loft of 7 Mile Beach, the condo at Spotts, the condo near North Sound and the sail club. I need to keep bad weather in mind and I must look in earnest next week. This weekend, and it's a long one, I'm getting some much needed rest and catching up on those things I should do more often. 

A quiet week

Well blog wise anyway. I've been so busy at work that I'm exhausted when I finally get home. Writing is not the restful break it used to be, it's more of the work day. It will balance soon I hope. Today I had a nice day, visiting a school first thing then attending a new school classroom block opening in the evening. The piece in between in the office was also productive. I've just finished a proposal and so I'm stopping for the night, a bit brain dead. 

It's a long weekend this weekend, I'm not going anywhere for a change. I plan to spend time on the lounger or couch reading, sorting photos, house hunting and getting some good down time. Just a busy Friday to go, lots of meetings and not much time in between to get the work done. There may just be a very happy hour. I do have travel plans, a trip to Jamaica to watch the Black Caps play the West Indies at cricket in July and a trip to Panama and one to North America to go shopping in June. Weather will decide our destination, I fancy New York or Chicago. 

I've also got a week of extra leave to spend so I hope to join Jane for a South America adventure, Machu Picchu here I come. For now my travel is upstairs to bed, tomorrow is another day. Dress down Friday, what to wear, what to wear..... maybe I need that shopping trip!

Crabbing

Walking in a sidewise, in a crab like manner or harvesting land crabs in Cayman. Last night Jane and I got to experience Cayman style crabbing. Tonight the first crabbing may happen, it is Friday after all. Jane got invited to join some friends, I tagged along, armed with long clothing, running shoes and a torch. A woeful torch as it turned out.

Chris and Yammi and their 3 year old son Nathan led the expedition. I just stuck with the person who had the brightest torch, wise it seems as this is a night time venture. The crabs are the large land crabs I see on the road when driving in the rainy season. There's a crab season, it's just begun, hence the expedition. Crabbing entails finding places where the crabs have burrows and catching them when they are hanging out outside their holes in the ground.

Then you put your foot on them and pick them up carefully, as you do with anything that has giant claws. Into the sack and into the holding bucket they go. I got one, one of my companions came with the grabbing stick, stilled the crab and into the bag it went. Scrabbling around in the bushes was interesting, a bit scary with my small torch especially with thoughts of the snakes and scorpions that lurk in the area.

We got 15 altogether, enough for a good taste. And we had that this evening, followed by chocolate brownie and ice cream. Crab, boiled then fried with chili served on rice with baked bread fruit. Island cuisine at  it's best, eaten outside under the stars with a cold beer and good friends.