Bar Hoppin' and Island Tour

Ok, so I think we left off on Saturday evening, before a night on the town with the orientation group. We went to Timothy beach Saturday night, after an awesome Lasagna dinner and salad made from all Island veggies (compliments of Hathaway), and met up with many more orientation groups. (What A Night!)....Then on Sunday, Uncle Millie picked us up for a seven hour island tour (kinda reminding us of Gilligan's Island). Unfortunately, due to ill-being, I had to skip out on the tour. But Eric made the trek in Millie's hot bus, and took many great pics.



Uncle Millie's van!



This is our orientation group after a night out at Ziggy's! The guy on the ground is Chris, a fellow Texan!



One of the many remains of sugar plantations on the island. Sugar cane was once the main crop here, until the evolution of beet sugar, so now these plantations are scenic sites or have been converted into resorts, but the sugar cane still grows wild everywhere. The northern end of the island is completely covered with amazing fields of sugar cane.



This is one of the ancient water transportation systems that took the water running off the mountains into the processing plant to power the machine that crushed the sugar cane.




An amazing view of the north western point of the island from Brimstone Hill Fortess. More pics of Brimstone to follow.

Today (Monday) we started orientation where Eric was able to take care of VISA, driver's license, cell phone, etc. Then Hathaway took us on a campus tour. After that we headed to Timothy Beach for snorkeling, beach volleyball and burgers! Now we are back in the dorm resting up for another day of a new beach to explore (Shipwreck Beach) and more orientation in the afternoon. Tomorrow evening they have us scheduled to see a movie at the Caribbean cinemas! We will post more pics at a later date. Such an exhausting, but fantastic day...until next time...

We Are HERE!

YAY! We are officially here on the Island of St. Kitts. Eric and I arrived on Friday, Aug. 28th around 2:00 pm Eastern time. We were welcomed by the friendliest orientation leader EVER, Hathaway, a crew of new vet students in Eric's class, and 2 missing bags of ours that were left in Miami. But no worries, we picked them up today once the next shipment of Ross students made it to the island. There is sooo much to tell, and little time to write, considering that we have been on the go since arriving to the island. On Friday we were Taxi'd to the University where we received the keys to our dorm. We had a few hours to unpack, and then it was off to a beach bar/restaurant for a nice lobster dinner. Today, we packed into Uncle Millie's taxi and headed to the stores where we purchased needed items/groceries for our dorm rooms... Back to the university for lunch, and then we hit Reggae beach for some sun, snorkeling and Carib (the island beer). We are currently back at the dorms to rest up for a night of dinner at Hathaway's house and then bar hoppin' on da island. We are super excited, soo pleased with the Ross hospitality, and spectacular scenery of our new home. We will post more pics when we get settled in and have time! Miss everyone! XOXOXO, Kori & Eric

First night at Sunset Cafe with our orientation group for the Lobster dinner. MMM MMM Good.

Pictures of the Southern Peninsula. The Atlantic Ocean is to the left and the Caribbean Sea is to the right. B-E-A-U-tiful!

Maximus, Max-i-Motoe, Max-A-Million

Ok, so the "surreal-ness" of this move has finally set in. We were sad to say ADIOS to our Max as we handed him over to my parents today. He will stay with them until December, since we are not allowed to take him to the island while living on campus. Our hopes are to take him back to Kitts with us in January, once we have found a house/apt. off campus. We will miss our little "cowdog" while we are gone...don't go chasin' those cows while we are away Max!

BYE SHEA!

We have five more days until take-off. We handed over our red heeler, Shea, to Eric's parents. They will be keeping her while we are on the island. We are going to miss her so much!

Countdown Continues

14 DAYS

We fly out TWO weeks from today! Gettin' down to the nitty gritty. Does anyone have any travelling/packing tips they would like to share?! They would be gladly appreciated. No one is stressing here (ha!).

Goodbye Automobiles

Eric and I have 16 more days left in the states. We have been scrambling to tie up loose ends and get everything ready before the big move. Eric sold his truck to his good buddy about 2 weeks ago. (It was a sad day in the Metteauer household, let me tell you!) I am about to hand over my vehicle in about 2 weeks to Eric's Mom! We are so fortunate that she will be "taking" it off of our hands. Eric and I will officially be on foot pretty soon. We have thoroughly enjoyed our vehicles and will miss them (especially when we come home to visit!) We plan to purchase a vehicle on the island once we have settled down there and are tired of paying the expensive taxi fees.

Here are a few pics of "The Great Whites". So long, Farewell...

A Temporary Goodbye to my Profession

So my last day of work was Friday, July 31. I am sad because I love my job, I love the patients that I have had the opportunity to work with, and I love all my co-workers (OTs, PTs, SLPs, Techs, Secretaries, Nurses, etc.). I will not be able to practice occupational therapy on St. Kitts, as they currently do not have therapy services (PT, OT, or Speech) on the island. St. Joseph's in Bryan is a GREAT place to work, and I will truly miss everyone. While at St. Joseph's, I have had the opportunity to work in various settings including inpatient rehab, outpatient, long-term care and acute care, with a few pediatrics thrown in there. It has been a great learning experience for me as a new grad. My great co-workers threw me a pot-luck lunch party on my last day. They also pitched in and supplied me with a beach bag full of island survival gifts. Thanks everyone for making my last day so memorable!