Here's a little bit about St. Maarten for all of my family and friends. The island is split up into two sides: the French and the Dutch. I live on the Dutch side of the island near the cruise port. The island survives off of tourists and when there are no cruise ships in it's like a ghost town. It's so funny because when cruise ships are in it is the funnest place on earth. There are islanders playing the steel drum and singing along the boardwalk (I work on the boardwalk), people are walking up and down selling their handmade goods, locals are offering to braid the tourists hair, not to mention the loads of people on the main public beach. When there isn't a boat in none of that is happening, there aren't even people on the beach.
Come to find out the main public beach is actually one of the "worst" beaches on the island and if you go there you are just such a tourist. I think it's really nice, but in comparison to the other beaches here it is a little bit trashier. The beaches are amazing. On a clear day at the beach you can see at least 8 feet below you with perfect clarity. And on a really wild wavy day you can only see six :) We just did a boat and snorkeling excursion on our day off and I saw two sting rays, and two barracuda, as well as a slew of different kinds of fish. I love my days off!
The culture is really different here. When you hear about how islanders are go with the flow, slow paced, that is dead on. It's been a stuggle trying to get the girls in my store to understand why they can't fall asleep on the job. They are hilarious, things that are not appropriate to say to someone in the states are nothing here. They tell each other how fat they are all of the time. But when Katherine asked how old one of their boyfriends was it was the biggest deal, they couldn't stop talking about how awkward it was. We always laugh at the things they think are appropriate to say. The entire street I work on is now aware that I am a virgin, thanks to my girls telling everyone I see, "she hasn't lossed it." I am still trying to explain to them why it's not ok to talk about that, ha ha. They always keep you on your toes.
Our apartment is really nice. We have an amazing view of the ocean that we can see from our covered porch, just that would be enough to keep me happy. We share a room but we have a big living room and kitchen area with a fair sized bathroom. We are about 5 minutes from work and 15 away from my favorite beach.
Work is a little bit more than I though it would be, we work at least 50 hours a week. I am in charge of cruise relations, I "take care" of the Port Lecturers that promote our product on the ships. I mostly write them emails to tell them how they did in port, offer to help them with anything they need, take them out to lunch, and come up with promotions we can run in our port for each cruise ship. It can get stressful doing that as well as the day to day in store routine but I'd rather be busy than bored.
That's kind of a brief look into my St. Maarten life for everyone. I miss you all and I love you so much!!
Come to find out the main public beach is actually one of the "worst" beaches on the island and if you go there you are just such a tourist. I think it's really nice, but in comparison to the other beaches here it is a little bit trashier. The beaches are amazing. On a clear day at the beach you can see at least 8 feet below you with perfect clarity. And on a really wild wavy day you can only see six :) We just did a boat and snorkeling excursion on our day off and I saw two sting rays, and two barracuda, as well as a slew of different kinds of fish. I love my days off!
The culture is really different here. When you hear about how islanders are go with the flow, slow paced, that is dead on. It's been a stuggle trying to get the girls in my store to understand why they can't fall asleep on the job. They are hilarious, things that are not appropriate to say to someone in the states are nothing here. They tell each other how fat they are all of the time. But when Katherine asked how old one of their boyfriends was it was the biggest deal, they couldn't stop talking about how awkward it was. We always laugh at the things they think are appropriate to say. The entire street I work on is now aware that I am a virgin, thanks to my girls telling everyone I see, "she hasn't lossed it." I am still trying to explain to them why it's not ok to talk about that, ha ha. They always keep you on your toes.
Our apartment is really nice. We have an amazing view of the ocean that we can see from our covered porch, just that would be enough to keep me happy. We share a room but we have a big living room and kitchen area with a fair sized bathroom. We are about 5 minutes from work and 15 away from my favorite beach.
Work is a little bit more than I though it would be, we work at least 50 hours a week. I am in charge of cruise relations, I "take care" of the Port Lecturers that promote our product on the ships. I mostly write them emails to tell them how they did in port, offer to help them with anything they need, take them out to lunch, and come up with promotions we can run in our port for each cruise ship. It can get stressful doing that as well as the day to day in store routine but I'd rather be busy than bored.
That's kind of a brief look into my St. Maarten life for everyone. I miss you all and I love you so much!!
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5 comments:
Yeay Katie, a blog! I'm so excited. You know this means you have to post often, right?! I'm going to be checking everyday. And just imagine Wesley's disappointment when he doesn't get to see new pictures of his Aunt... :)
Look at you and your amazing blog.... Your back ground is amazing, you should tell me how you got such a cute one :) You look/sound like your having a blast. We miss you back here! And cant wait for more post.
Good work, Katie! I can't believe you started a blog. That is so awesome. Tucker and I were just checking it out...it looks so fun! Can you believe you have a view of the beach from your house? Embrace it, because there is no such thing in SLC!! Love you!
AAAHHHH!!! I'm so freakin' excited. You had better be good at doing this or I'm going to be super sad. What an awesome way to keep journal (sort-of) of your experiences. Now we just need Emily to start one. You look adorable. I can't even tell you how much we miss you. The boys are ask.."Where Katie?"
Kate, Wow we're so impressed and grateful to see this delightful description of life in St. Maarten. It's also impressive to see that you have created the blog, you're amazing. We look forward to more of life in St. Maarten.
We love you.
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