Two years in Cayman

It is a strange coincidence but most of the big anniversaries for us come at the end of the month of May. We met four years ago on May 20, we married three years ago on May 27 and we moved to Cayman two years ago on May 31. Last week we met with Katie's doctor who has given us the go ahead to start trying to have kids later this summer after Katie comes off her medication. This means that year three in Cayman could be very momentous. We are dealing with some insurance issues as well so between the medication and insurance it will probably be September before we really start trying, but it has us both excited and in full on get ready for baby mode. Our personalities are very much plan out as much as we can so we are planning everything. We both know that the best laid plans always go awry but that doesn't mean we aren't trying to plan it all anyway. As we know more we will let you know. There is something exciting about the fact that Scott was born in the Caribbean and hopefully our first born will also be born in the Caribbean, a sort of symmetry.

Last night we went out to the Grand Old House for our delayed Wedding Anniversary dinner and watched the sun set while we ate our meal. This week is final exams and our comprehensive exams. After that, we have a week of no classes before the start of the Summer quarter so our quick cruise up to the Bahamas takes advantage of that. Scott's father is on Island for his quarterly visit as Interim President of the college this Thursday. The weather here gets miserably hot by 9 a.m. and stays muggy until 5 or 6 in the evening. Hurricane season starts officially tomorrow though we already saw the first tropical depression of the season last week. This week we will do a Cost U Less run that will include stocking up our hurricane kit.

Third Anniversary

It hardly seems possible but three years ago today we were married in a Pecan Orchard in Aurora, Texas. So much has happened since then but it still feels like it cant have been three years. We aren't getting much of a chance to celebrate today since it is the middle of the week and a work day. We will have our anniversary dinner this Friday at Grand Old House and the cruise to the Bahamas in two weeks is our anniversary present to each other. We reminisced last night about the events of the evening before our wedding and the morning of the event. We have such great memories of the family and friends who helped us celebrate that special day and all those who have been a part of our married life the past three years. We have had a great first three years and cannot wait to see what the future brings. We are very hopeful that by our fourth wedding anniversary our family may have grown or be about to grow (and not with more cats).

Election Day

Update: The referendum on the new constitution has passed with over 62% in favor, a somewhat stunning result given that just a few weeks ago it seemed destined to go down in defeat. It seems the voters here realized that the alternative was worse than voting for this version. Meanwhile taking their cue form the US, court battles appear to be imminent over two of the Legislative Assembly seats in Bodden Town where two of the top three candidates failed to file a required disclosure on time and are having their election challenged. They are both UDP candidates but with a 10-5 majority even if the court ordered a new election, UDP would still have enough seats and support from the independent to form a new government. Unlike the US where there is two months from election to inauguration, the new government will be sworn in next week.

Original Post: Yesterday was National Election Day here in the Cayman Islands. After being bombarded for 30 days with billboards, TV advertisements, public meetings and people flying the party flags from their car windows, we woke up yesterday to all of it being gone. In Cayman it is against the law to have any kind of campaigning on election day. Campaigning is broadly defined here s0 all the road signs and billboards had to come down, all the flags put away and people even had to go vote wearing neutral colors so there would be no charge that by wearing red or wearing blue and green that they were supporting one of the two major parties. Over 80% of the eligible voters participated (around 12,000 total on the three Islands). It is strange that in a country of 50-60,000 only 14,000 or so have the right to vote but that shows you the number of ex-pats living in these Islands. As expected there was a change in government with the ruling PPM party losing 5 seats and the opposition UDP gaining 4. The fifth seat went to an independent who has said he will caucus with the UDP so the legislative assembly effectively went from 10-5 PPM to 10-5 UDP. The new Leader of Government Business has an honorary degree from ICCI and two members of the new Legislative Assembly attended ICCI so hopefully the change wont affect the college much or if it does hopefully it will be for the better as we will be asking for more government recognition and more government funding.

With both national holidays for the week out of the way we are finishing up week nine of the quarter tomorrow. Final exams are in two weeks and then we have a week between quarters with the Summer quarter not starting until the 16th after the holiday for the Queen's Birthday which falls on June 15. We are taking advantage of that week between quarters by popping up to Florida for a three day cruise to the Bahamas from the 12th to the 15th out of the Port of Miami. We have a stop in Nassau and another stop at a private Island. We have talked a lot about an Alaska cruise some day but Katie gets sea sick and we want to see how she will do on a short cruise before we spend the money on a long one so this is both a quickie vacation and a test.

A Week of National Holidays

We got back from Miami late last night after the spring seminar. It was once again held at the Courtyard by Marriott at Dolphin Mall and that has become our usual site. We are fast learning the streets and short cuts around the area and driving in Miami is now much easier than it used to be. Scott had one of his veneers pop off before leaving for Miami and was able to get an appointment in Miami with a dentist to re-attach it. The seminar went well and we did some much needed shopping for items way too expensive here in Cayman. There were no classes yesterday since yesterday was Discovery Day. That is the day Cayman celebrates the discovery of the Islands by Christopher Columbus. Tomorrow is the national election and that is also a holiday on the Island. That makes for a strange week as we come back for one day of work today, then take a holiday, then have to work the last two days of the week. The Island is really ready for the election and both major parties had huge rallies yesterday with competing motorcades of supporters that apparently crossed at one point and almost caused a riot. The evening news normally only comes on at 6 p.m. with the 10 O'clock newscast being a repeat of the 6 p.m. show. Tomorrow they have to work like real journalists and actually stay on the air until the election results are in. We will know the new legislative assembly tomorrow night but not the results of the Constitutional election. They wont start counting those ballots until Thursday. Amazingly enough the Cayman Ministers Association came out in favor of the new Constitution so now it looks like maybe it will pass after all. We shall see.

Happy Mother's Day

Wishing a Happy Mother's Day to our Mom's Gail Loski and Maryanna Cummings. Also to Scott's sister Johanna and our sister in law Kristy. All the best to Mom's everywhere today.

Star Trek

We went to the matinee showing of the new Star Trek movie yesterday over at Camana Bay to feed Scott's trekkie inner nerd. The movie was "awesome" and is a fantastic reboot of the whole Star Trek story. While changing dramatically the Star Trek story the explanation for the change is very credible and gives them an opportunity to do more movies etc. based on the new storyline. We seem to have fallen into the habit of Friday afternoon movies the past three weeks as we have now seen Monsters vs. Aliens, Wolverine and Star Trek on consecutive Friday afternoons. The Friday afternoons off from work really help to balance the late nights Monday through Thursday and the weekend work.

Elections in Cayman Islands

The Cayman Islands are hot and heavy into the national election cycle. Things are done so much better down here than the US. The candidates declare for the election about 60 days before it occurs and they are limited to $50,000 in campaign spending. As a result we don't have to deal with the nonstop political campaigning and commercials for a year and half before the actual election. Instead the campaign is very intense for the month, month and a half before the national election, we have the election and it is over. This year the election is on May 20 and that date is a National Holiday. The government is based on the British system with an elected legislative assembly. There are 15 seats in the legislative assembly with 4 seats from the District of West Bay, four from the District of George Town (which we live in); three from the District of Bodden Town (in which the college is located); two for the sister Islands of Cayman Brac and Little Cayman; and 1 each for the Districts of East End and Northside.

The majority of the assembly forms the government which consists of a Leader of Government Business (essentially the Prime Minister or Premier) and a cabinet with various Ministers. There are two political parties and lots of independent candidates contesting the 15 legislative assembly seats. The party currently in power is the People's Progressive Movement (PPM) which holds 1o seats in the legislature and is only contesting those ten seats in this election. The minority party is the United Democratic Party (UDP) which holds 5 seats and is contesting 11 seats in this election. The UDP's seat of power is West Bay where they have all four seats and PPM isn't even contesting them in the upcoming election. PPM's power is George Town and Bodden Town where they hold all 7 seats but UDP is running 4 candidates in George Town and two in Bodden Town. There are several independent candidates running in West Bay and George Town as well as some independents in each of the other Districts and the real excitement here is if a few independents can win seats and prevent either party from having a majority in the Assembly.

ICCI graduates and former students are running for both political parties and as Independents so hopefully the next Legislative Assembly will have several ICCI exes in it which should help the college. There isn't any real polling down here so no one knows for sure who is ahead. We are told that typically they have a shift in power every few years and that it is about time for the opposition to take over but who knows. Its hard to see what the real difference is between the two parties (unlike the US where cultural differences define the two major political parties) both are conservative on social issues and if anything the differences are minor on matters of economic policy. Interestingly enough, also being held on May 20 is the referendum on the new Constitution and it certainly looks like it is going to be defeated. Most Caymanians wont say it but the real reason it will be defeated is because the Ministers Association is against it because they fear that the Bill of Rights in it will lead to Gay Marriage. Since we don't have a vote we are just watching from the sidelines and basically cheering for whoever has ties to ICCI regardless of their political affiliation.