Three Years On Statia: Uncle Ishmael's birthday, Sushi, Venus Bay & More

The first year we were on the island we missed the lights parade because the kids and I went to Canada for a holiday. The light parade is similar to the day parade except there are glowing lights over the costumes; the parade is in the evening when its dark and I’ve heard it is more kids friendly. The second year we really should have gone but I wasn’t really on the ball so we didn’t end up going and I heard it was really nice. I saw some footage of last years parade on the Statia channel and I was determined to go and see it this year. We made arrangements to go and hang out at Marta and Leons house which is right on the path of the parade right on one of the main roads ‘downtown’. They live in a cute historical home – very little!

We were waiting and waiting – we figured it would be a little bit of a wait because that’s the way everything is around here. The kids played with their pet chicken. One of the wild chicks roaming the island turned into a pet! Nice Chicken! I think this guy is Rocky.

So we waited and waited and finally started to hear the loud music get closer and closer and we saw the first truck come around the bend and quickly discovered that it was the only truck that will come around the bend. There were tons of people waiting around for this fantastic lights parade and that was it! We aren’t sure what happened there but it was kind of funny!

Our dear friend Uncle Ishmael invited us to his 80^th birthday party! I’m sure he had been planning this for months! His birthday is on July 22^nd but we partied on July 21^st! It was an honour to be invited at such a special occasion. He had family flying in from many different places to be with him this day. Some people came from different Caribbean islands and some from the United States! It was so wonderful to see the love and support his lovely family extended to him. Never being married I’m sure it meant a lot to have so many family members there to celebrate with him.

He had a wonderful dinner and program planned out for everyone to enjoy. He walked in, to start the program, with some of the little ones from his family and friends invited to the party.

There were lots of people there to celebrate with him!

The program was very thoughtful and focused on Uncle Ishmael and all the good he has accomplished in his life for the sake of others. Lots of music and stories and oh my the food was amazing! I love the Caribbean food and the different tasty hors d’oeuvres, snacks and treats they make on the island. They were practically giving us truckloads of food to eat and then to take home. And the juices they have there – soooooo yummy! Ginger juice, sorrel, sour sop, ummmmm those are the ones I remember from the party.

There was one tragic moment, which unfortunately involved me. I was helping with the kids part of the program. I took half of the kids that Tr. Deborah gave me to line up at opposite end of the tent to get them ready to walk up to the front where the children stood up in front of Uncle Ismael and sang to him. Well I was lining up the kids and had them stand in a line and not long after standing a few of the girls, including Katie and Mae-Rubya, start dancing around and crying a bit and grabbing at their legs. Well I had placed them right on a fire ant hill hidden in the grass. I start slapping the ants off of their legs all the while trying to watch Deborah for the cue to send the kids in! And you can imagine the commotion. So anyway I sent the kids in when asked, making Katie go, but Mae-Rubya went with her mom to get the stings cleaned. Katie joined them after to get her legs cleaned. Boy I tell ya… crazy things happen! But of course all in all it was a wonderful celebration of a fantastic good-hearted man.

Mike and Marieke came by the house one night after work. Sad thing is I can’t remember why. I know Todd had been helping them with some of their computer stuff so maybe that was it. But they have been so wonderful and sweet to our family ever since we both came to the island. They came back after a few years away at about the same time we arrived. Marieke is so amazing with the kids and they just love her! – Signing their books!

We had to get one more hike in! We hiked with hiking buddies Miss Debbie and Sarah early in the morning – I guess it was about 7 am but during summer break that’s early. We were hiking on the north side of the island where it’s more like a desert with a lot of kasha, cacti, jackies, HEAT, but a lot of beauty. We just hiked to Venus bay, which wasn’t a terribly long hike at all. That was probably a good thing because it started getting pretty hot.

Venus Bay.

And then back! It was so much fun having Debbie and Sarah with us – we had to get as much as we could from these guys before we left!!

You can’t get enough of the diverse beauty of this island!

Marta wanted to make us a HUGE surprise! And she did! She had been working as a waitress at the Gin House and maked friends with an amazing chef there. Marta found out that our family loves sushi! Even the kids! So she got together with the chef from her restaurant and spend hours making sushi for us as a gift for us leaving the island. It was so thoughtful and so sweet – you can’t get sushi on the island! This was something extra-ordinare! We had a wonderful time visiting eating sushi and enjoying having them over to our house! They truly are a wonderful couple.

Courntey really wanted to give Marta this little penguin that Courtney and her teacher, Tr. Anna, made in school. Courtney couldn’t take it home and thought of Marta to give it to.

Leontine has been giving us some lovely Dutch snacks throughout our time on the island. We were really spoiled! I need to tell a funny story. Sometimes as merchandise in Leontines store gets closer to being out of date she will put it on a super sale and it usually gets sold fairly well. If we are in there we will buy some and sometimes Leontine, being so kind, will give us a deal on the deal! However there are times when things just don’t sell, the expiry date come and goes and you can’t sell out of date product. One time Leontine had half a dozen or so bags of peanuts go beyond the due date and to throw them out she put them in the back of the dump truck at our house to get rid of them. The girls like to climb the mango tree that towers above the truck and saw these peanuts in there. So they open them up for a snack. Todd seeing them eating these peanuts and asked where they got them. The girls showed him the packages in the truck so Todd brings them in and we try them out. They were good. So we put them in the freezer seeing the expiry date was up and we eventually used them all up. We told Leontine about it and she thought it was hilarious – and it was. So from then on if she had something close to the expiry date not selling fast enough and she thought we might enjoy she would offer it to us first before throwing it out! We love, love, love, the Dutch treats, snacks and food!

Here is a picture of Katie and her school Teacher of the last two years, Tr. Hilda! During the school year, as Katie took her diving courses, Tr. Hilda was so proud of her accomplishment! Tr. Hilda herself working on her diving masters loves to dive and promised Katie that she would take her on a special dive with her before Katie has to leave the island. And that is just what Tr. Hilda did! She arranged for her a Katie to go on a dive with Scubaqua. Katie had a marvelous time diving with her teacher and I know that she felt so special to Tr. Hilda! Thank you so much!