water & electricity

I recently noticed that we have interruptions in the delivery of both much more frequently than before. What really bothers the most is that power cuts mean no internet:(
I realise these polls test more your feelings and subjective perceptions than reality but the impression you have is often not that much exaggerated and a fair reflection of the true situation. So although no one marks down how often they couldn't shower or use any electricity run devices, most of you have an idea of how much/frequently these occurrences annoy you. Therefore I trust everyone's replies will paint an honest picture of utilities' delivery on the island:) Don't let me down, vote!
And yes, if among the readers there are the unfortunate ones who have power cuts and water supply stops more frequently than 3-5 a week...just mark that answer. Although it must be much more annoying to have that happen more than 5 times in a single week, for the sake of this poll let's just assume that that is the extreme.

prince charming

even if frogs are not bugs....no comment

centipede

[edit 17 Nov.] Finally found the 2 of them together. This makes the distinguishing process easier:) So the arthropod on the left is a centipede (poisonous and dangerous), the one on the right is a millipede (just annoying but apparently not dangerous). Until someone corrects me.

Not that jogging is boring for me or needs to be enriched by other activities, but yesterday as I jogged I decided to count the centipedes I find on my way. We see them so frequently in and around the house that I was curious to figure out if it was our house alone that was a favourite hang out for these deadly worms, or were they uniformly invading the larger terrain. Not sure how many of the ones which were actually on my way I spotted, but I usually find all the coins others walk by, so my eye sight is rather good:) Counted 37 centipedes and jogged for 35 minutes, out of which about 8 minutes was along the beach where they either don't enter - I at least fully believe that and lay on the sand carefree - or I have never seen any there. This gives roughly 37 centipedes in 27 minutes, that's 1.3 centipedes per minute. Is that scary? or is it just me being difficult? According to Wikipedia "Centipede densities have been recorded as high as 600/m²" so I guess I live in a safe environment...
Wikipedia also shows many pictues of centipedes but none quite like the ones we always see, although we were told to watch out by having the precise bug pointed to us. So I am pretty confident what we see are centipedes, but as soon I spot one today I'm posting a picture of it and waiting for the readers to verify whether the red worms are in deed the poisonous ones. I have a hesitation whether waht we're seeing are not millipedes but I'm a city dweller from the north and have very little experience with any bugs other than ants, so for the sake of safety all red worms we see cause a red alert and immediate killing with no direct touching taking place.

ziplock bags, cake covers, etc

Since we have moved into our new home, we have discovered that there is plenty of products we can't live without, or new habits we need to strictly observe. Our home was not well kept by previous tenants and when we arrived it was a tropical zoo, lizards, cockroaches, an every now and then mouse, grasshoppers, and all sorts of insects I have not seen before, suddenly were part of our household. We soon discovered that cleanliness is only partly a method of keeping our home just to ourselves. Closed windows help as well. Nevertheless, we are below the tropic of cancer so certain living beings are inevitable. But we have implemented a few rules which help reduce the occurrence of our little friends;)
Since insects and roaches easily enter cupboards and drawers, at first we would wash everything (plates, cutlery, cups) right before using it, even if it was just washed recently and put in place. Soon we realised this habit is cumbersome and difficult to follow a l w a y s . But we do keep our utensils in zip lock bags, a few cups and plates for daily use are stored in a plastic cake cover and basic pots and pans ended up in a large see through click close storage box.
Other habits we had to take on involve never leaving any sort of food out in the open, including unbegun fruit - I personally really dislike eating straight out of the fridge - so fruit I foresee to eat in the next day or 2 are kept in a clay bowl with a lid. Dishes with any food remains (even if it's just bread crumbs) should never be left in the sink. And although I have never liked a full sink, now it's not about aesthetics, now it's a bit of paranoia that any minute food might invite little hungry insects.
The most difficult habit to follow is the closed windows:( we have AC, but a part from it being unhealthy, apparently electricity is very expensive here on the island. Plus it seems so illogical to sit in a closed room, when we live in the Caribbean on a hill with plenty of nice cool wind. In fact, when the windows are open, as they're are on opposite ends of the living room, we can get the house perfectly breezed through with no effort, never feeling the above 30 degree weather outdoors. The minus is, this is how all the little living beings enter. We plan to find out if there's a provider of net doors on the island. As it seems the most logical solution, yet it's a solution I have only seen applied in 1 of the many houses we visited during the house hunt.

But I still like the turquoise views...

Finally we have a place to live....

View from the entrance..... with St Barthes in background

about Cap d'Ail

I want to also say a few things about Cap d'Ail...
If any one ever gets to go, a MUST is Plage Mala, and its 2 restaurants, Eden and La Reserve (open only July and August though).
here's a sneak...plus the view we had from our window in Cap d'Ail:)

our trip to the island begun 5 months AGO!!!

After many hassles, uncertainties and delays, we finally made it to the island of St. Martin, our new 'home'.

As many of you know, we did not know our exact move date till late September, and living out of a suitcase, even if in beautiful Monaco, was becoming painful. Hardest was the not knowing, when we need to pack, what we still have time for and what not, how many more visits home we could squeeze in and which would be the final see you later with family and friends.

Monaco and Cap d'Ail (the actual town our temporary apt was in) were fantastic. I wish there was a way of sharing smells over internet, because that was what I most loved about the south of France... it's indescribable for an amature blogger...so I won't even try. But I can share the zykzykzyk...
The views were spectacular. The blue of Costa Azul (and of the sky!), and the sandy grey of the mountains that literally reached the beaches. Plus the very green and all the shades of pink from the endless bougainvillea and oleanders.
I still remember my first impressions when we were approaching the coast, the first glimpse of the sea...and just 24 hours earlier we had left a very typical Amsterdam June day...partly cloudy...cold...rain hanging in the air...It seemed like a different planet. Below are some pics of our arriving to Monaco. This was, wow the27th of June!

as you can see, there were clouds the day we arrived! but they were so different then the ones we left behind in NL...:)

And just for the record, Amsterdam was not only bad. Now after a while of being away we can look back more calmly and I think most of the sorrow is gone. Everyone knows what made our stay most difficult was the job situation. Both for me and Fili the great opportunities NL was supposed to offer...did not turn up. This was not only hard on our professional egos...which both of us have extremely high..; most of all this turned the whole NLexperience into a disillusion. We had so much hope for that move. We really believed leaving Spain for the Netherlands was going to open so many doors for us, which we felt were either closed, non-existent, or reserved for the Catalans in Barcelona. So it was double painful to learn that the great life we had given up in Spain (great friends, weather, prices, lifestyle) were all sacrificed for no reason...as the one thing we thought NL was better at than Spain (i.e. career opportunities), NL was not better at at all:( or at least not in our particular case.
What we obviously miss the most from Amsterdam, are the people we met there:) Thanks to all of you guys the 2 years there were not only bearable, but fun:) Towards the end of our stay we really felt we had finally gained back a social life! hahah! We hope you are all doing well in the lowlands, thankGod for facebook &co., I feel like we're much more in touch, and I can still peak into your lives:)