It's always sunny in St. Croix

 

About ten years ago when Hans was at medical school in Philadelphia, we thought long and hard about what we wanted our life to look like. In five years, ten, twenty. Even though we were living on a poorly insulated, old, small boat in winter in the northeast/mid-Atlantic, we knew that we'd always find ourselves on the water, one way or another. We also knew that it was unlikely that we'd ever land in a "home town." For better or worse, we're both travelers and nomads; we are always looking toward what is around the next bend in the road. (Or over the horizon in our case.) It was clear that the best specialty for Hans would be the one that provided the most flexibility, which is how he landed in Emergency Medicine. (And likely for a host of other professional and personal career reasons that he can explain better than I can.)

Choosing flexibility has certainly paid off over the past five weeks. A big consideration when we had to leave Sweden was how the emergency travel would affect our budget. I'll be the first to say that we are very privileged and fortunate. But we still have a budget. Suddenly having to buy plane tickets, rental cars, health insurance, and housing threw a wrench in our budget. Either we have to dip into savings or Hans has to pick up some extra shifts. Extra shifts it is! But where? And how?

While he is a licensed EM doctor, every hospital and state has its own requirements. And their own schedules, which are almost always full on such short notice. So he kept looking and landed on the hospital in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands. Yes please! Due to the pandemic and the overall shortage of doctors on the island, Hans was able to sign on for a couple weeks of shifts here in March, which will take a big dent out of all the unexpected expenses from this trip across the pond. And we get to spend a few months living the island life, including hang-out time with our friend Renee who we met cruising in the Bahamas years ago. Win-win!

We're getting pretty good at this "traveling during a pandemic" thing. KN95s FTW.

We made it to St. Croix!

Freja and I contemplating our temporary home. Will we like it here? Will we be happy for two months? ...YES!

Island living

We're staying in a two bedroom villa on a golf course up in the mountains. It feels palatial compared to the boat. It has massive french doors in every room and big opening windows so we constantly have cool breezes flowing through. I'm sure it gets stifling here in August without a/c, but it's perfect in March. 

Matilda FINALLY figured out how to put her head underwater. Swimming is so much more fun for her now, thank goodness!

The maiden voyage of s/v Grandio.

Rainbow Beach, on the west coast of the island. Perfect for taking in the sunset, and apparently for smoking some herb as well. "The youth these days!"

A classic beach activity.

Our closest beach, and Freja and Matilda using bags as kites.

The kids are being champs. Ever since we left the boat in January, we have bounced around from place to place, including staying with two different families. It was fun, but hectic. They have slept in so many different beds and traveled between different time zones and spent days in airports. But they are displaying the wonderful flexibility and resilience of young kids. 

Matilda giving the cat some love, even though she still insists that she likes dogs more than cats.

Our friends' exceedingly patient and tolerant cat.

We've been trying to keep to our routines and tight schedules, including school every Monday-Friday, starting at 9AM sharp! We still have Saturday morning screen time and pannkakor and of course Saturday movie night. If one thing goes wrong, it's easy for them to knock down all the dominoes, and instead of being upset about only the acute problem, additional tears are shed over missing Positive Waves and missing pappa (currently in WI at work); but, on average, we're having happy days exploring a new place. An added bonus is a family with similar age kids in a villa few doors down. They are also homeschooled so the kids often meet up in the afternoons and disappear for hours.

The view from our villa, and Freja in the foreground going to collect some star fruit (carambola).

The main room in our villa, featuring french doors, plantation shades with screens, and ceiling fans.

Dance party!

It didn't take Freja long to rope in the neighbors to have a lemonade stand with her!

Exploring the ruins of the sugar plantation near our villa. During our first week of school here we researched the history of the island including the sugar industry and slave history.

Our villa is fully furnished, but unfortunately didn't have a blender. Freja improvised her daily peanut butter & banana smoothie until we got a blender from Renee.

Positive Waves boatschool, spring semester 2021

I spent hours in Florida thinking about our homeschool curriculum and gleaning as much information as I could from my friend Khyra who was Freja's kindergarten teacher. We're not using a single curriculum (which I am thankful for since we have had quite a few interruptions this year), rather we're using different sources for different topics. I'm looking at Oak Meadow for Freja for 5th grade so I've been researching Waldorf methods and am trying to incorporate those into our weekly work to smooth the transition to next year. Broad ideas like narration, using story telling as a resource, adding art to each subject, and having the kids create their own resources. (For example, Matilda is currently learning how to tell time, so instead of giving her a pre-made clock to practice with, she made her own clock. Freja and Hans worked together to make a multiplication chart, instead of just printing one out.)

We're trying to do as little workbook teaching as possible (with the exception of math), but still expect 2-3 hours of schoolwork each day. We read together, they write and draw about what we read, I play math games with Matilda, we practice cursive handwriting, they do math problems in their math books and on their tablets, an art or STEM challenge on Fridays, and we've been learning about St. Croix. There is a  chocolate farm and factory on the island so this week we'll learn about chocolate and visit the farm next weekend. Reading, writing, math, and drawing; and lots of outdoor exploration and free play. 

And at least three times a week I panic and think, "they aren't learning enough! They need to build stamina! They should be writing in paragraphs! Cursive all the time!" And then I take a deep breath and trust the process, trust them, and trust ourselves. And I'm also looking forward to the time that I settle in, know that we're doing the right thing, and stop obsessively researching curriculum! (Will that day ever come? Probably wishful thinking!)

In general, we're trying to stick to some big tenets: we want the kids to be excited about learning. They need to know how to read critically; how to express their ideas in written form; how and what questions to ask; and how to solve math problems as they come up in the real world. Most importantly, we need them to learn how to be good humans--how to play nicely with others, how to care about the earth, and how to care about themselves. Lessons we all need, really.

New Years resolutions, in March

 I'm a little late on the typical New Years resolutions this year. (Actually, I know I set a couple resolutions on Jan. 1 but for the life of me I can't remember what they are!) When we arrived in St. Croix, it was the perfect time to set some health goals for myself. We're here for a finite time, so big goals seem easy. Everything is easier with an end in sight, even the good things! 

I've been running about 3x a week for the past couple years. In flat Florida, I was averaging 4 mile runs, at about 9mph. So I was feeling pretty good about myself! Then I tried to go for a run here. Straight up, straight down. Then up again. On a gravelly, uneven road with the constant worry of a car running me down. (They drive on the left. What side should I run on? Where are the cars coming from??) A two-mile run seemed like a marathon. So I've gone back to walking until I can get in island-shape. 

I've made a personal commitment to a daily yoga practice. Sometimes that is a 45 minute video, other times it's simply a few down dogs and sun salutations poolside while the kids swim. 

I'm only drinking on the weekends. This seems like absolute torture since we're in a tropical climate with white sand beaches and beach bars serving Painkillers and rum punches, but there will always be a reason for alcohol so I'm mustering up all my self-control and sticking to La Croix's on the weekdays. Those rum punches taste even better on Sunday afternoons!

Shot #1 in the books!

Positive Waves

Poor Positive Waves! Literally iced-in in Sweden, where they had something like the coldest winter in over 20 years. Hans set-up a virtual battery monitoring system so he's been able to check on the temperature the whole time we've been gone. Our wonderful, amazing, superlative friends Joel & Malin have been babying her like she's theirs, and we are eternally grateful. They send us pictures every few days and assure us that all is fine. We know it is, but it will feel SO GOOD to be back aboard. We have tickets back to Sweden in the beginning of May, hopefully the ice will be thawed by then.

That's some mighty thick ice!

Brrr...

I've seen these types of signs all around the island. This one was in the airport, 

and this one is tacked on a telephone pole on my running/walking route.