A few facts about the island:
The island is controlled by two European Countries. The Dutch and the French.
If you are on the French side, which is the North side, the island name is spelled Saint Martin. Their currency is Euros, but they accept dollars too, luckily.
If you are on the dutch side, which is the South side, the island name is spelled Sint Maarten. They use the Antilles Guilder as their currency, and they too accept dollars.
Our first day on the island, Marcie Edwards, another spouse to a student on the island, picked us up from the airport and took us to the grocery store. She told us before hand that they would ring us up in Guilders, but I had forgotten so when I saw 260 come up I about had a hard attack. We had only bought a few things that normally would have cost around 60 bucks in the US. Luckily it came out a lot less than 260. It was more than we would have paid in the states, but a lot less then 260.
If you chose to go between borders there is no border checks.
The island is located approximately 190 miles from Porto Rico. Its even closer than Los Angeles and Phoenix, or Phoenix and Salt Lake City.
The Island is roughly 37 sq miles.
There are 37 beaches. (We've been to 3 so far. Mullet Bay, Orient Bay, and Indigo)
Its really hot and humid here. Its usually about 80 degrees. I hear it gets even worse come August to October/November.
Tourist season is at a High between November- April/May.
Low season for tourists is usually May to November.
We have hurricane preparedness pamphlets. So yes there are hurricanes here. They haven't had a bad one since 1995. So lets hope that we aren't on the island when the next bad one comes. In 1995 though when the hurricane hit, it hit so bad that the island was not ready for it, and it destroyed most of the island.
It is known as the "friendly island." Side story about this, when we first got here I managed to make EVERY person in the air port mad. I was feeling very overwhelmed after we walked out and wasn't sure if I was going to like living in such a angry place. I heard it was the "Friendly Island" and thought, that must be a joke. Turns out I was wrong, people here can and are very friendly. It must have just been a bad day for those air port workers.
There are a few "American" fast food restaurants here, McDonalds (of course), Burger King, KFC, Pizza Hut, and Dominoes.
It costs quite a bit of money for utilities. So we really don't run our AC here, but I guess we will find out here soon when we get our utilities bill and I can update this a little bit.
We live really close to the school, its about a 5 mins walk. The school has a gym, and its fairly nice. Its not LA fitness, but its better than the gym we went to in Buckeye ;). We also have an AUC spouses organization that has been wonderful. The spouses get together for lunches, play groups with the kids, going to the beach. I think I'm super social around here because of it. The wives are awesome around here, they take you places, give you things you need because, we all need things when we get here. Its an awesome organization and I've already met some awesome wonderful people through it. We have a couple, James and Jillian, that have taken us to church each week. We love and appreciate the people that are here.
The view from Aarons school. That is Mullet Bay with Saba Island in the background.
The front of Aarons school, with the statue of the founder.
There is an Asian market right around the corner from us. When we first heard that we thought it would be a little outside market that sold lots of fish, and seafood and Asian things. Turns out, its just a regular little Grocery store, run by Asians, with an Asian name. They do sale Asian merchandise though. Everything there is a little pricier, but if you need something quick its not a bad place to go.
(Asian supermarket)
We've really come to love this little Island so far. Aaron wishes he could spend more time at the beach, but unfortunately because he is in school we don't get as many chances to go as a family. Addison and I are getting a lot more tan. I'm getting a lot bigger due to pregnancy. Aaron's getting smarter haha.
He finished his first block exams today! That was exciting. So we went out to dinner with some friends Stephanie and Austin Wride. We went to the restaurant Boca Marina. Its out in the lagoon. If you look down you can see the Carp swimming in the ocean. Dinner was delicious and we really enjoyed the company! :)
Dinner view.
The Caribbean Lobster. This one is upside down. They run about 18.95 (at least these ones did) per pound.
The Island is roughly 37 sq miles.
There are 37 beaches. (We've been to 3 so far. Mullet Bay, Orient Bay, and Indigo)
Its really hot and humid here. Its usually about 80 degrees. I hear it gets even worse come August to October/November.
Tourist season is at a High between November- April/May.
Low season for tourists is usually May to November.
We have hurricane preparedness pamphlets. So yes there are hurricanes here. They haven't had a bad one since 1995. So lets hope that we aren't on the island when the next bad one comes. In 1995 though when the hurricane hit, it hit so bad that the island was not ready for it, and it destroyed most of the island.
It is known as the "friendly island." Side story about this, when we first got here I managed to make EVERY person in the air port mad. I was feeling very overwhelmed after we walked out and wasn't sure if I was going to like living in such a angry place. I heard it was the "Friendly Island" and thought, that must be a joke. Turns out I was wrong, people here can and are very friendly. It must have just been a bad day for those air port workers.
There are a few "American" fast food restaurants here, McDonalds (of course), Burger King, KFC, Pizza Hut, and Dominoes.
It costs quite a bit of money for utilities. So we really don't run our AC here, but I guess we will find out here soon when we get our utilities bill and I can update this a little bit.
We live really close to the school, its about a 5 mins walk. The school has a gym, and its fairly nice. Its not LA fitness, but its better than the gym we went to in Buckeye ;). We also have an AUC spouses organization that has been wonderful. The spouses get together for lunches, play groups with the kids, going to the beach. I think I'm super social around here because of it. The wives are awesome around here, they take you places, give you things you need because, we all need things when we get here. Its an awesome organization and I've already met some awesome wonderful people through it. We have a couple, James and Jillian, that have taken us to church each week. We love and appreciate the people that are here.
The view from Aarons school. That is Mullet Bay with Saba Island in the background.
The front of Aarons school, with the statue of the founder.
There is an Asian market right around the corner from us. When we first heard that we thought it would be a little outside market that sold lots of fish, and seafood and Asian things. Turns out, its just a regular little Grocery store, run by Asians, with an Asian name. They do sale Asian merchandise though. Everything there is a little pricier, but if you need something quick its not a bad place to go.
(Asian supermarket)
We've really come to love this little Island so far. Aaron wishes he could spend more time at the beach, but unfortunately because he is in school we don't get as many chances to go as a family. Addison and I are getting a lot more tan. I'm getting a lot bigger due to pregnancy. Aaron's getting smarter haha.
He finished his first block exams today! That was exciting. So we went out to dinner with some friends Stephanie and Austin Wride. We went to the restaurant Boca Marina. Its out in the lagoon. If you look down you can see the Carp swimming in the ocean. Dinner was delicious and we really enjoyed the company! :)
Dinner view.
The Caribbean Lobster. This one is upside down. They run about 18.95 (at least these ones did) per pound.
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