When moving to another country, sometimes there are big things that are different, and sometimes it is little things that are different. For example, I have some paperwork I have to send to our financial planner. Dan has noticed mail taking more than two weeks to get from here to the US. Sadly, my paper needs to be at its destination next week. Our backup, then is UPS or FedEx. Their offices are in the capital city, which requires taking university bus to campus, then transfer to Grand Anse beach campus, then transferring to city bus/taxi to get to capital, then walk remainder of way because the bus isn't allowed to stop anywhere in town except the one bus stop. By bus, I mean big passenger van in most cases, BTW. It took a little doing, but I did finally find phone numbers for each (online through their company websites because they weren't listed in the online or printed phone books) and did discover they do pickup. Pickup is challenging, though, since we don't have a street address. We're "on the road behind Kudos...the apartment building labeled 'Flats for Rent.'" Shipping cost for a letter is more than $100 Eastern Caribbean Dollars (EC), which is somewhere in the range of $40-60 USD because they only do overnight service here. I'm currently waiting for a pickup and made sure to give them my cell in case they get lost.
Another fun difference is water. When did you last think how much water you use in a day? We have cold running water in the apartment. I think I was told that it is usually drinkable, but that changes without warning, so it is best to use bottled, boiled, or water from campus for drinking. So Dan bought several 3L jugs of bottled water to start with and he occasionally refills them on campus (because they have their own water filtration system there). Whenever I boil bottles in tap water, which has been less frequent of late since my milk is doing better, I keep the water and run it through a water filter in the frige for drinking later. Still, it is tough to keep up with the amount of water two or three people are supposed to drink in a day. The water comes cold for most of the day. Pipes run along the roof, so we do get some pretty warm stuff in the afternoon. We also have an electric wire running along our showerhead, which warms the water when you throw the switch. Sounds incredibly safe, right?
I had some fun this morning photographing the Caribbean Crab Grass and various flowers in the two blocks to the field where they live. Just thought I'd share some of the exotic and vaguely familiar. The top picture is a vine that reminded me of
wild cucumber with it's spiky/furry fruits. The bottom picture looks an awful lot like the
Carolina Dayflower we used to have at the side of the house at 31 Richmond. I'm very proud to have captured the little wasp there, though he is somewhat out of focus.
When moving to another country, sometimes there are big things that are different, and sometimes it is little things that are different. For example, I have some paperwork I have to send to our financial planner. Dan has noticed mail taking more than two weeks to get from here to the US. Sadly, my paper needs to be at its destination next week. Our backup, then is UPS or FedEx. Their offices are in the capital city, which requires taking university bus to campus, then transfer to Grand Anse beach campus, then transferring to city bus/taxi to get to capital, then walk remainder of way because the bus isn't allowed to stop anywhere in town except the one bus stop. By bus, I mean big passenger van in most cases, BTW. It took a little doing, but I did finally find phone numbers for each (online through their company websites because they weren't listed in the online or printed phone books) and did discover they do pickup. Pickup is challenging, though, since we don't have a street address. We're "on the road behind Kudos...the apartment building labeled 'Flats for Rent.'" Shipping cost for a letter is more than $100 Eastern Caribbean Dollars (EC), which is somewhere in the range of $40-60 USD because they only do overnight service here. I'm currently waiting for a pickup and made sure to give them my cell in case they get lost.
Another fun difference is water. When did you last think how much water you use in a day? We have cold running water in the apartment. I think I was told that it is usually drinkable, but that changes without warning, so it is best to use bottled, boiled, or water from campus for drinking. So Dan bought several 3L jugs of bottled water to start with and he occasionally refills them on campus (because they have their own water filtration system there). Whenever I boil bottles in tap water, which has been less frequent of late since my milk is doing better, I keep the water and run it through a water filter in the frige for drinking later. Still, it is tough to keep up with the amount of water two or three people are supposed to drink in a day. The water comes cold for most of the day. Pipes run along the roof, so we do get some pretty warm stuff in the afternoon. We also have an electric wire running along our showerhead, which warms the water when you throw the switch. Sounds incredibly safe, right?
I had some fun this morning photographing the Caribbean Crab Grass and various flowers in the two blocks to the field where they live. Just thought I'd share some of the exotic and vaguely familiar. The top picture is a vine that reminded me of wild cucumber with it's spiky/furry fruits. The bottom picture looks an awful lot like the Carolina Dayflower we used to have at the side of the house at 31 Richmond. I'm very proud to have captured the little wasp there, though he is somewhat out of focus.
1 comment:
Well thank God they will do a pick-up! I think it's worth the $40 just to not have to board 50 different vehicles :P
I'm glad your milk is doing better. Looks like a pain in the butt to get water. The shower sounds scary, as you said. Yeah electricity + water = "just fine" dang.
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