Today as I sat in my living room staring outside at the tall palm trees filtering the golden sunlight behind my backyard, with the lagoon lapping up against the boats and beams, I realized that I no longer cared for the summer weather. I didn't like the heat that beat down on me every time I stepped outside my house. Or the sun that etched tan lines on my legs and arms and feet. I miss the fall weather. The crisp, cool weather that doesn't cling to the skin. It's been well over a year since I experienced fall weather, and I never realized until now how much I miss it. The next break I get will be in December. Wintertime will be a refreshing change to the never-ending summer here. 

Labels: bengal, cat, dog, fall, pets, pharm, pharmacology, simpson bay, summer, summertime

So I turned 23 today :)
I'm not a big birthday person. I like planning things for other people's birthdays, but I don't like to make a big deal of my own. If I was home I would be with my family having a cake meant for my mother and myself (We share the same birth date) and a family dinner. We always get the same cake from the same Chinese bakery with the same candles every time. A plain white cake decorated with melon balls and strawberries and kiwi slices that is not too sweet and very light. There would always be leftover cake sitting in the fridge in the morning, upon which my brothers would finish off before noon. My mom would cook dinner (like always), probably shrimp (with the skin intact), bok choy, pork chops or short ribs, baked salmon filets, and white rice. A feast I can't wait to return to! 
So since I never have any expectations on my birthday, today was totally unexpected...

This morning before class started a girl from first semester came up to me and told me that my blog helped her in deciding to come here. When I heard that I was so happy and it really made my morning! Then in class my friend (who was also celebrating her birthday today) brought cupcakes she had baked and she gave me one. Someone else gave me a giant muffin during path class. After class was finished my friends took me to this fancy bakery in Simpson Bay called Taste Factory and bought me a macaron cake and macarons! The five of us ate macarons and talked and I really appreciated that they took time out of their day for me. 

Taste Factory pastries :)

Macarons & macaron cake!!

I was so stuffed by then! But the food didn't stop there. At around 5 PM I went out to Costco Cost-U-Less with my two friends from Toronto to stock up on groceries, and afterwards they took me out to... LOBSTER!!! I am always craving lobster. Always. There are so many places to eat lobster here in Simpson Bay but I suggested we go somewhere relatively cheap. And I found this place called Johnny B Under the Tree from this blog and it sounded like a really good place to eat. When we arrived at the location (at least I think it was the right location) I was so confused because it looked nothing like the photos/video from the blog. There was no tree, there was no grill, I didn't even see any lobsters! But the place was called Johnny B Jack Skip's Restaurant, so I think it was owned by the same guy. It turns out that they had done some rennovations on the place this year and now it's more like a open-window styled restaurant and less of an open BBQ grill place. And yes they did have lobster on the menu! So we grabbed a table and ordered lobster, ribs, and some conch fritters. The food came out in about half an hour. The side dishes were a meal in themselves. Then the lobsters came on separate plates and I have to say I was a little disappointed by their sizes. The lobster I had back on Statia was twice the size. But the meat was tender and chewy and flavourful and one lobster was enough for me. It was the first time my friends tried Caribbean lobster and both had raving reviews and said that they couldn't go back to eating Toronto lobster anymore! After we had finished eating we got a drink that's very popular in the Caribbean called Vitamalt. It tasted a little fizzy and bitter yet sweet. It's pretty much what beer would taste like without the alcohol content. After dinner we went to my place and they surprised me with a ginormous red velvet cake!! They even lit some candles, stuck them on the cake and sang happy birthday to me. The cake itself was extremely good, and I made them take half of it home with them. What a pleasantly unexpected birthday made amazing by my friends here. This is only one of the many reasons that I am so thankful to be on the island of St. Martin, and of course for my friends. :)

Labels: 23, bakery, birthday, cake, cupcakes, friends, johnny b, johnny b under the tree, lobster, macaron, macarons, muffin, muffins, red velvet, simpson bay, st martin, taste factory

So I've been doing my best to try to cope with the loss of my iPhone. All of a sudden I see everyone around me with an iPhone! I miss it so much...
Anyways on Thursday the school had an official opening ceremony followed by a white coat ceremony. It was very formal because we were expecting government officials to attend. Security guards in white gloves ushered us inside the school, the Dutch, American, and French flags were put on display at the back of the stage, and many long speeches were made by the school's executive administration. I suppose it was a rather emotional affair for them. I myself am also surprised that the school was able to relocate in such a short period of time. However, there are still many kinks to be worked out.
After the speeches had been delivered and the new students donned their white coats, there was a reception of hors d'oeuvres, which exceeded my expectations. I was expecting catering by Subway if we were lucky. But this was a special treat. There was much picture taking of all the students in white coats, and everyone looked like they enjoyed themselves. If I had my iPhone I would have taken so many pictures of the food...

On Friday after class my friend and I drove to the AUC campus to grab some Thai for lunch. I got their Pad Thai noodles to go, which was served in a white Chinese carton box. They stuffed it to the brim and I was full for the rest of the day just from those noodles! And they were so good!
On Saturday morning I decided to take myself out to the bakery next door to my place, called Zee Best Bakery. They are very well known on the island for their fresh pastries and amazing breakfast and lunch selections. It was my second time eating there (last time I had it for lunch with some friends from class). I ordered an almond croissant and a cinammon & sugar crepe. I ate the croissant while I waited for my crepe and I regretted ordering the crepe because I was already full from the croissant! And it was the best croissant I've ever had. It had a thick covering of powdered sugar on top and the crust was flaky and crispy and inside was so moist and gooey oh it was just delightful. The crepe in comparison was plain and soggy and tasteless.
(Following pictures taken with my iPad)

Basket of freshly baked pastries!

YUMMMY!!!

Lunch at Zee Best last week

The rest of the weekend I just studied pathology and pharmacology. I'm a little worried about path because we have so much material to cover in block 1. We haven't even started on respiratory disorders and the exam is like a week away!!

Labels: almond, bakery, breakfast, crepe, croissant, lunch, med 4, pastries, pastry, path II, school, white coat, white coat ceremony, zee best

Today we got out of pharm class early so my friend and I decided to take a walk along the pier where all the boats were docked and take some pictures. Excitedly, we both grabbed our phones and walked out on the boardwalk. She was taking a photo with her phone when she took a step backwards and tripped, but not before she reached out and grabbed onto my arm. I instinctively spread my hands open in preparation to fall as well. But unfortunately, I had my phone in hand, and as my friend fell and landed on the boardwalk, I saw my phone fly in an arc trajectory and land in the water with a soft plop! It immediately disappeared in the dark green opaque murky water that gave off a slightly foul smell. I think I stared in disbelief for a second or two before I started pointing and yelling. I couldn't believe my phone just fell into the water! It was always one of my worst fears! I used to think about it when walking near water and I would always clutch my phone tighter in my hand as if it was a baby. But just now my phone flew out of my hand! It was so unexpected and happened so fast.
We started asking the security guard who was standing nearby if he could do something about it. My friend asked him how deep the water was and he said something around the chest. Some students had started to gather by now and they offered suggestions on how to retrieve it but none were good and no one was willing to go down into the water to fetch it (I don't blame them for the water looked foul and disgusting and you couldn't see anything in it at all). People were saying how the phone is probably past dead by now. Not only had it been sitting in the water for 20 minutes, but it was salt water, which is many times worse than fresh water. But I couldn't just leave my phone at the bottom of the lagoon! It was like a little piece of me. I had thousands of photos, notes I had written for myself, all my contacts. It was my touchstone, something so familiar that I carried it around wherever I go. More importantly, how will I take photos of everything interesting that I see and eat! I had to get it back!
We talked to some more people, and someone said something about a diver being in the area. We waited for a bit and someone came out on the dock in a diving suit. I pointed to where I had saw my phone disappear, and he waded into the water in his full body diving suit. The water reached up to his neck, but he didn't seem to be fazed. Slowly, he felt around with his foot for my phone. It took him about five minutes before his hand came up holding my iphone, dripping wet. I was so relieved to see it again. Even though I knew it was dead, I was still happy to have it back in my possession. We thanked him and I went with my friend to her car. We drove to the nearest grocery store and I rushed inside and bought a small bag of rice. In the car, I stuffed my iphone in the bag of rice. For the rest of the day I carried the bag of rice around with me like it was my baby.

My expression watching my phone fall into the water.

So I guess that's the end of my iPhone 4. I will have to resort to using my clunky point-and-shoot camera to take photos. Which will most likely mean less picture taking in general. The iPhone 5s is coming out this month so I will be keeping an eye on it in stores... 

Labels: iphone

This past week has been so crazy busy but fun!!
Every morning at 7:30 AM I take the school bus to get to school. It is actually on time and quite convenient since it stops right outside the gates to where I live. I am very thankful for the school bus because walking on the road is just terrible. You can't walk on the main road because there are too many cars going very fast, so you are forced to walk on the side of the road where there is gravel and dirt and huge puddles. Furthermore, the drivers here are very rude and they almost never yield to pedestrians. 

On Wednesday I took the regular bus to Phillipsburgh to buy an internet box. The busses here are just minivans that have white cardboard signs in front of them to where they are going. You have to wave them down if you want to get on one, and it costs $1.50 for a ride. For lunch I went to the restaurant called Top Carrot right beside my place. They serve only healthy foods including a huge array of salads and sandwiches and fruit juices. Super delicious and super healthy!

Rainforest Salad

Menu at Top Carrot

On Thursday I tagged along with my two friends who have a car and together we went to Cost-U-Less, the Caribbean version of Costco. It was exactly like Costco except there were no food sampling events and there was an entire aisle of liquor. We took almost two hours to find everything we needed. I stocked up mainly on household supplies in bulk. I found foods that I've never even seen in Canada. There were also a ton of furniture and kitchen appliances that I was tempted to buy but I knew I could go without so I restrained myself. 

Big jar of animal crackers!! :3

On Friday I went to the gourmet supermarket across the street from where I live, called Garden Market. It reminded me of a Metro back in Toronto, with fresh produce and ready-made meals packaged in plastic containers, and even a hot buffet bar! The only difference was that there was an entire section of alcohol. For lunch I got a meal from the buffet bar of mixed salad, grilled veggies, lasagna, fried fish, berries for six dollars and it was really delicious! 



Later that night I went out for dinner with some girls from my class. The four of us made a reservation at Bamboo Bernie's (it was packed so we were glad we made a reservation) and had expensive sushi for dinner. We ordered 2 Maui Wowi Rolls to share, then I ordered a single roll of Spicy Yellowtail. The portions weren't as large as we expected. But it was satisfying. Afterwards we took a bus that took us to a nightclub called Bliss where the AUC students were having their whitecoat afterparty. Us Statia students were well outnumbered by them (there were like 10 of us and 200 of them). A lot of people kept coming up to us and asking where we're from. Somehow they recognized that we weren't AUC students (maybe it was that we weren't wearing semi formal clothing like them). Most knew about our school already. At the end of the night we ended up taxi-ing home together, which was the safest. 

Here's to a new island and a new semester!

Mauwi Wowi Roll, Philadelphia Roll, and Spicy Yellow Tail Roll

On Saturday I took a walk down the main road to look for stores and a laundromat. I found what I needed, and more. I found a sushi restaurant (I thought Bamboo was the only place that served sushi), and a bakery that had cute desserts. On my way back I bought a slice of fruit cake and ate it on their terrace-with-a-lagoon-view. It was really good. 

Lagoon side view of the Yacht Club

I live there!!

Oh and of course I've been swimming in the pool every day for about an hour. It's really great because no one ever uses the pool so I'm always by myself. The other day while I was swimming I met a cat! She was my only company at the pool!

Pool is always empty so I have it all to myself!

Phew what a long post! :P

Labels: AUC, bakery, Bamboo Bernie's, bliss, caribbean, cost-u-less, costco, garden market, groceries, med 4, pool, resort, salad, school, semester 4, simpson bay, st martin, sushi, top carrot, yacht club

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