Almost One Month

Well, it’s been some crazy few weeks for us in St. Kitts! But we are here, we are settled in and adjusting to a new way of life.

Our family has been able to make some friends from America! One family is from Alabama and has a three-year-old boy… they work with the Vet school (Ross University). Another family we have become great friends with is from Indiana and they are here as missionaries. They have a three-year-old daughter who Maddy just loves! Both of them really enjoy playing together (mostly princess stuff) and they get a chance to be together a few times each week!

Life in St. Kitts

It’s definitely “harder” here than back home… but it’s not like we are living in huts either. We are trying to remember all of the good things about St. Kitts when we get frustrated with things that are… well… different.

Some Challenges:

It’s hot… and I’m from the South and I still think it’s hot. I mean, it’s not unbearably hot but I can’t exactly go inside my nice air conditioned house either.

We do have air conditioners in both of our bedrooms but it’s really too expensive to run them all the time and it’s not enough to cool the house off anyways.

The power costs about three times what we would pay back home (and even higher for some other people we know). 

Speaking of the power…. it goes out at least once a week… it wouldn’t be uncommon for it to go out three times in a week.

I was super excited to have a dryer so I wouldn’t need to line dry all of our clothes. It broke. And it doesn’t look like it will be fixed anytime soon. Which is probably a good thing because we were told the dryer will make our power bill sky rocket.

To get everything on my grocery list we usually need to shop at two different stores… sometimes three. (And even then I sometimes give up).

When a Kittian says, “We’ll send someone out to fix it this week”… they really mean it will be two weeks.

When a Kittian says, “We are working on some options to get it fixed”… they really mean they aren’t worried about it.

Americans on cruise ships drink A LOT.

Potholes (really big ones too) are just part of life… they may or may not ever get fixed.

Centipedes. Yuck.

Fruits and vegetables spoil MUCH faster because of the humidity.

The “sea air” will ruin lots of stuff.

Packages from the US can take a month to get here.

 

The Good Things:

It’s gorgeous here! I can see the ocean every single day.

We can swim and go to the beach all year long.

The water is bright blue and yet crystal clear!

Snorkeling.

Most everyone is warm and friendly.

Our family is learning to “relax” more.

One of my favorite things to do is sit on our porch and watch the monkeys play in our yard.

It doesn’t take long to get anywhere.

Fresh fruits and vegetables… we have a coconut tree in our own yard!

We have decent internet.

It doesn’t cost much to get here from the U.S.

Being used by God to reach an entire nation with the Gospel.

“Welcome to St. Kitts, Port Zante” where the cruise ships port.

St. Kitts averages at least one cruise ship a day. This time of year there are usually two in the port… we’ve seen up to four ships!

There is so much fruit here I’ve never even heard about! This is called a “Custard Apple”. It seriously tastes like custard… there is no apple-taste.

For Valentine’s Day my husband and I ate at the Spice Mill in Cockelshell Beach. The mountain you see is Nevis! This was the view from our table.

The groceries are very expensive here because almost everything is imported… granted this is in Eastern Caribbean Dollars… however, we still pay twice as much as we do back home.

I’ll be trying to post more regularly now that we are really settled in! We are so glad to be here and to be used by the Lord is such an amazing way!