Boatswain's and Sting Ray Sand Bar

One of the reasons we love to get guests is that we get to do all the things with them that make Cayman an incredible vacation spot. When you are working all week its hard to get out and do the vacation things but with Stephanie in town we are trying to hit them all. Last night we drove out to East End and stopped at the newly reopened Blow Hole site to watch the water come spurting up. We walked out to the Wreck of the Ten Sail monument and then had dinner at Portofino which overlooks the water and the wreck out on the reef. We ended the evening at the reef resort having Cayman coladas out on the beach.

This morning we got up early and headed up to West Bay. Boatswain's Beach which houses the Turtle Farm was having a free day in celebration of Constitution Day, normally it is 75 dollars for tourists to go in (only 10 dollars for us locals). Even with the locals discount we had never made it up there so today was a great day for our first visit. The turtle farm produces all of the giant green turtle meat used in the restaurants on Cayman. The giant green turtles are an endangered species so the farm produces most of the turtles for release into the wild and actually puts out more turtles than would otherwise survive. We saw the breeding pools for the turtles as well as the pools for each of the age groups. We got to pick up turtles and also swim with them later in the lagoon. There was also a pool with waterfalls and we walked the nature walk. Around 11:30 we had to leave for lunch and our sting ray snorkel tour.

We had lunch at Eats cafe which is a U.S. style diner with pictures of Marilyn Monroe on the wall and on the menus. After lunch we headed out on Captain Marvin's tour of the sandbar and snorkeling sites. The weather early in the day had been threatening but by the time our boat headed out the dark skies had moved away and the sun was even peeking out. We hit the sandbar first and got to feed the sting rays. They are so used to humans that they rub up against you and are very insistent on being fed the squid. Everyone got to kiss a stingray (which brings seven years good luck) and we got some great pictures. From there it was over to the Barrier Reef and then the Coral Gardens for snorkeling. We all had a great time and are exhausted. Stephanie has her digital camera and has already taken well over 1000 pictures in just three days.

We still have trips back to West Bay to visit Hell as well as lots of snorkeling tours planned for the rest of the week. Tonight is a dinner at the house and some DVD movies to rest up after a very active weekend.

Stephanie visiting

Katie's sister Stephanie is visiting this week for her graduation from high school present from us. She arrived on Friday and the last two days have seen us hit four different snorkeling sites, two movies (Wanted and Hancock), sushi, A la kabob and tonight a visit out to East End and the Portofino wreckview restaurant. We had planned to hit the sandbar today but overcast skies and rain caused us to reschedule for tomorrow. Also on the agenda for tomorrow is a visit out to Boatswain's Beach which includes the turtle farm and other attractions. Its free tomorrow since it is Constitution Day on the Island and they are doing a lot of Cayman heritage events. We will go to Boatswain's in the morning, the snorkel tour to the sandbar and the stingrays tomorrow afternoon then perhaps back to Boatswain's in the evening for the fireworks. We have things planned for every day this week while we are at work so that she gets the full Cayman experience before leaving next Monday.

Katie has been doing much better since her surgery though she has only been back to work for two days. Next week she will be back full time and we will see how she does. We are into storm season and have been tracking the storm that is crossing the Atlantic though it looks like it will be heading towards the east coast of the U.S. and well north of us. That will be a normal occurrence for us the next three months through the rest of the summer until the end of October. We are both teaching this quarter and with the biggest summer class in several years we are staying busy.

Katie doing great

Katie's surgery went very well and the Doctor said she is in complete health though she will be in a lot of pain for the next couple of days while she recovers. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers they definitely worked. Katie is on a mission to be completely healthy by one week from today when her sister Stephanie arrives for 10 days.

Meanwhile our thoughts and prayers are with Nick and Julia Koclanes and Maryann Walsh. We are so sorry to hear the news and will be thinking of you.

Update

So much has gone on the last three weeks and we just haven't had time to update our blog. Last week Katie felt some pain and after a visit to the emergency room we found out that she had a ruptured cyst and will need to have Laparoscopic surgery on June 25 at the George Town Hospital to remove another cyst. We have a great Doctor and are very hopeful that things will go off with no complications. Not to be outdone, the kitties both started having sneezes and droopy eyes and the vet indicated that they have kitty herpes most likely caught back at the humane society kennel so their weakened immune systems are susceptible to that type of problems. They have been on antibiotics and are doing better.

Prior to that we had Katie's concert over at the Grand Old House. We have photo's, digital clips and also a DVD that in time we will post on this site in some form or another. It was a tremendous concert and evening. The music and meal next to the water were just incredible. The choir is on hiatus now until September when they start preparing for their Christmas concert season.

Prior to that we hosted Scott's father and his wife for a long weekend and spent time showing them around the Island. They were a dry run for the family coming in the months ahead starting with Katie's sister Stephanie who comes at the beginning of July for 10 days.

We are in the first week of the summer quarter and with our business manager just having given birth and our Director of Operations now being the news director at CITN we are having to cover several jobs and that has made things a little insane at the college.

Will let everyone know about Katie as soon as we know more. Keep her in your thoughts.

Rainy Season comes in with a bang

The rainy (read Hurricane) season officially started on Sunday. From Wednesday of last week on though we got a preview as for five straight days we have gotten rain. Much of it is from the hurricane in the eastern Pacific and from the tropical storm that hit Belize. We are getting the outer bands of both of those storms. Yesterday, Katie and I went to Cost U Less the Cayman version of Costco and stocked up on bulk canned good items for our hurricane kit as well as picking up some 5 Gallon Water containers for drinking water supplies. We hope to finish out our kit over the next few weeks. Katie's concert is this Saturday at the Grand Old House and she has rehearsals for it three times this week. Next week is final exams and the end of the Spring quarter. We have a National Holiday on June 16th celebrating the Queen's birthday then jump right into the Summer quarter beginning on the 18th.

Second Anniversary

Hard to believe but today is our second anniversary. It seems so recent but two years have passed since our ceremony in Aurora. Since we have to work this afternoon and evening, our gift to each other was our trip last weekend to Little Cayman. We did celebrate this morning with a breakfast of cinnamon rolls (reminder of our wedding cake) and some early swimming and snorkeling up at Rum point. Our wedding was at 10:00 a.m. so it seemed appropriate that we celebrated our anniversary in the morning.

Little Cayman

Last weekend we headed over to the smallest of the three Islands in the chain, Little Cayman. With less than 200 people and over 2000 iguanas we were headed to a very secluded and quiet place that was still in mostly pristine condition. We went for four days of rest and relaxation at the Beach Resort on the western end of the 10 mile long Island. We did some biking on Saturday after we arrived to check out the western tip of the Island. The airport bisects the main road and you actually bike over the runway to get from one side to the other and continue on the road. On Sunday morning, we Kayaked out to Owen Island which is a couple of hundred yards off the southern coast and is small uninhabited Island. It was about a 25 minute Kayak and we were both pretty tired when we got to the Island. We spent about two hours out there exploring, swimming and snorkeling. We kayaked back to the resort and took a nap before lunch. When we got back Katie was a little pink but not bad. When we awoke she was bright red on pretty much all of the parts of her body that had been exposed to the sun. We learned later that because of the winds our sunscreen that we applied before leaving was only good for about an hour and not having taken any out with us we didn't have a chance to reapply. I was wearing a tee shirt and had a walking hat on even in the water so I only got slightly burned in a couple of places. Katie was burned bad enough that she was pretty much out of action the rest of the vacation.

We spent most of the next two days hanging out on the hammocks in the shade and reading. We had bought the full meal plan and the meals were incredible. The resort caters to divers and they need big meals since they burn so much on their dives. Katie said it reminded her of camp where everyone would get together for breakfast then go off for their morning activities, then come back for lunch and repeat in the afternoon with dinner being full of the "dive" stories. we both agreed that we need to get certified and do some diving.

Even with the unfortunate sunburning, it was a very relaxing couple of days. We plan to go back and see the rest of the Island sometime before we head back to the States. There are now just three weeks left in our Spring quarter and with no break before the Summer quarter begins things are moving fast and furious. The cats have beaten the ringworm and we havent had to deal with giving them medicine in a while. Katie is getting ready for her concert with the national choir on June 7 and we are looking forward to visits from various family members from each of our families in the next several weeks. Congrats to Stephanie, Katie's sister who will graduate shortly and is coming to visit us in july as our graduation present to her.

Little Cayman Trip this weekend

This coming weekend is Discovery Day weekend here in the Cayman Islands. It celebrates the discovery of the Islands by Christopher Columbus in 1503. He sailed along the coasts of Cayman Brac and Little Cayman claiming the Islands for Spain. Monday is a national holiday so we are taking advantage of the three day weekend and heading over to Little Cayman to spend three nights at the Beach resort on the Island. The smallest of the Cayman Islands, Little Cayman is just less than 8 miles long and has a population of about 150 people. It is about 80 miles north and east of Grand Cayman and about 5 miles west of Cayman Brac. From the western most point on the Brac you can see Little Cayman across the channel. This is our anniversary present to each other and should be a relaxing and very quiet couple of days. We will get our real taste of flying in the Caribbean as the airstrip is a dirt runway. We are also looking forward to the snorkeling at what are widely rated as some of the best dive/snorkeling sites in the world just off the coast of Little Cayman.

Batabano

On Saturday we went to Batabano, Cayman's Carnivale. Here are some pictures from the event.

Radio Commercials

Katie and I each have a favorite radio commercial that the local stations play. Mine has nothing to do with selling anything its just a funny liner... "there are three kinds of people in the world, those who can count and those who cant." Katie's is a commercial for the easy listening station for listening at work and goes..."all your friends and family think your life is a Jimmy Buffett song but your stuck at work grinding it out every day, so listen to Mix 106.1 ............". The radio here has all kinds of stations from hard rock to pop to country and reggae. The one thing we don't have is talk radio or sports radio. Even Radio Cayman is a Christian music station that will break in with the official news during important times.

Off Season Blues

Yesterday was the unofficial end of tourist season here on Cayman. The radio played a song by the barefoot man called Off Season Blues several times. The song talks about the resorts and condo's being empty, the sun tan lotion going unsold, the cars not being rented and the taxi drivers sitting around with nothing to do everyone singing the off season blues. Tourist season returns in November with Pirates week. Now of course comes what is setting up to be a very hot summer. Cayman in April/May is very reminiscent of Austin in August, hot and muggy. You also cant help but sense it is going to be a long summer before the cool "Christmas winds" return in late November and December.

Poetry at Dart Park

Havent had time to post since we got back from Texas as we have been busy catching up from work. Last Friday we took an evening off and attended a poetry reading at Dart park on South Sound road. Dart is a large corporation here on the Island and has a huge charitable arm to keep on the governments good side. The park is behind the national trust building, a building we have biked or driven past a hundred or more times, But until we went looking for it Friday we didn't even it know the park was there. The park overlooks the water and has an outdoor amphitheatre and play areas. The poetry readings were indoors since it was after dark and the mosquitos are too big a problem outside. We were able avoid the mosquitos for the most part even though we sat on a picnic table outside and listened in. The night was designed to have poets on Cayman of all ages read some of their work. We went because two of our students were having their poems read by a third student. Surprisingly several more of our students had connections as their children were reading poems. It seemed that several of the primary schools had their students do a poem for class and then many chose to read it at this event.

Katie is getting ready for her first concert with the Cayman National Choir on June 7th. They will be singing with the Cayman National Orchestra at an event to be held at the Grand Old House on Petra Plantation and the concert is called around the world in an evening. They will be singing songs from all over the world and every Monday evening she heads off to practice.

Coming back from Texas, we brought all of Katie's scrap booking supplies and her special suit case. So of course American lost our luggage and we had to sweat out 24 hours of waiting for them to arrive. This seems to be a common problem with American and its flights to Cayman. We think its because they always oversell the flight so it is always packed then everyone is bringing several suitcases since vacationers come here usually for a week. So they hit their weight restriction and have to leave luggage for the next flight. The problem is we were on the last flight of the day so our luggage didn't come in until the next day. This being Cayman we had to run to the airport to pick up our luggage once it arrived because if we waited for American to deliver it, it would be a couple of more days.

We are into week five of our quarter and things just continue to fly along. We cant even catch our breath once we finish one task its right into another.

Texas for dental work and surprise birthday present

We are back in Duncanville, Texas this weekend so Scott could get some dental work done and we could surprise Katie's Mom for her birthday on Saturday. We left Grand Cayman at around noon on Thursday getting to Miami by 2 in the afternoon. But storms in DFW delayed our flight then caused a three hour flight from Miami to DFW to become a 6 hour flight and an unscheduled stop in Lubbock to refuel when the plane couldn't land at DFW. We had hoped to surprise Gail at her school in the early evening but that turned into a 1:00 a.m. wake up surprise when we finally got to Katie's parents house. Russell knew we were coming late last week and did such a good job of keeping the secret Gail had no idea, even slipping out to pick us up at the airport when our flight finally landed at midnight.

Today Scott got his tooth fixed. He had cracked a veneer last week and since they use different bonding material in Cayman we had to get the work done in the States. We could have gone to a dentist in Miami but decided to spend the extra money and come to Texas for Gail's birthday.

We are here through Sunday morning then return to Cayman.

Spring Cleaning

The first weekend of April meant spring cleaning of our house. We have gotten into the habit of not regularly cleaning and sweeping which meant the job was longer than it should have been. But after a couple of hours we had a sparkling kitchen, bathrooms and bedrooms and a living room that looked more like a living room and less like a storage room for all the stuff we bring home. The cats were a little freaked out but seem to have adjusted.

Friday night we went to the movies at Caymana Bay and saw Vantage Point which was actually a pretty good movie. It was pretty clear many of the people in the theatre had not seen the commercials and they were surprised that it was basically a telling of the same story from several different vantage points which meant that it was jumping back and forth. The quarter is now in full swing. Katie has had two classes with her Intro to College Studies students and is about to start the on line component which we are doing as a pilot program. Its funny you finish one quarter and before you catch your breath the next one is going and we are even already working on the summer schedule and faculty since registration for the summer starts at the end of April. The wheel just keeps turning.

Cayman National Choir

Katie has joined the Cayman national choir and is attending weekly practices in preparation for some summer concerts. This is something she has been talking about for a while and we have adjusted our Monday night work schedule so she can attend the practices. We are both looking forward to her debut and will post photographs when it happens.

It is beastly hot here most days which means a very hot and sticky rainy season is just around the corner and is not good news for the approaching hurricane season which begins in less than 60 days. It is also not good news for our electric bill. Even though we keep our home temperature at 80 degrees it is running a lot and electricity does not come cheap on this Island. The spring quarter is now in full swing and we are both working long days. We are planning to go to Little Cayman for our second wedding anniversary and finally get to see the third Island in the group. We are also fast approaching our one year anniversary of moving to Cayman, it certainly doesn't feel like a whole year has almost gone by.

Home from Florida

Katie and I are both back from Florida and settling in for the start of the spring quarter Monday. Katie learned a lot at her conference and it helped both of us to get off Island for a few days. Epcot center was incredible and we got some spectacular pictures of the fireworks and laser light display that closes the evening. We did a lot of shopping as we always do when we are in the States. It was also nice to catch up with family and see our niece and nephew. Last night we went out to a sports bar to watch the Texas basketball game in the NCAA tournament and this weekend is being spent doing the pre-quarter faculty meeting and getting ready for the new quarter. Will take a break tomorrow to watch the Horns in the Elite 8.

Friday in Central Florida

Katie and I are in Orlando tonight at the hotel which has free Internet access. We flew up to Tampa today and after a bank run drove over to Orlando where this evening we have been running errands and picking up items that are too expensive on the Island. Tomorrow is another day of shopping, errands and some fun with family. We are planning on doing Epcot Sunday and then I head home Monday while Katie stays for her conference the rest for the week.

We found out something fascinating about Cayman today that we didn't know. Camping is illegal on the Island year round except for three days, Good Friday through Easter Sunday when many of the Island residents camp out on the beach. Many people asked us if we were going camping and there were ads in the paper for camping supplies. Today we asked our neighbor Randy why the camping at this time of year and he related that it is a throw back to the era of slavery when the plantation owners would let their slaves free for the Easter weekend and the slaves would go down to the beach and camp with their families. There were very few slaves on Cayman which did not have many plantations but the tradition has now come down through the years and many Caymanians will be out on the beach the next two nights.

The quarter is over and this vacation and trip away could not have come at a better time.

Last week of Winter Quarter

It seems like the quarter just started but we have just four days left. That has meant dealing with registrations for the spring and finishing up this quarter. Katie is teaching the Intro to College Studies class next quarter so she is busy getting ready for that while still holding down all her registrar duties. She is also really looking forward to her first registrar conference in Orlando after the quarter ends. We leave Friday morning and fly up to Tampa then drive over to Orlando. Good Friday and Easter Monday are both national holidays so I am heading up for the long weekend to spend some time in Orlando before Katie's conference with her. I head home Monday as her conference starts and she comes home that Thursday. We have a week between quarters so Katie being gone for a week wont bring the entire college's activities to a halt.

We are both looking forward to a fun weekend in Orlando. Between meeting family and friends from the area and getting to see some of the amusement parks it will be a full weekend. Of course any trip to the U.S. means a long list of errands. We already have trips planned to costco, best buy and target as well as a bank run. There is also the mandatory scrap booking run.

I have joined the Kiwanis and yesterday spent a couple of hours at the Savannah Fosters helping to raise money for the Buy a Kid Breakfast program. There is no government meal program at the schools and so Kiwanis sponsors the breakfast program at five of the primary schools. We meet weekly for lunch in George town at the Britannia Golf Course which might be one of the strangest golf courses I have seen. A beautiful course designed by Jack Nicholas, it is also an iguana preserve and they lay out sunning themselves on the various holes. Katie and I are both trying to get more involved in the community and this is a good place for me. Katie is looking into joining the national choir starting in April and has also been talking to some fellow scrapbookers on the island.

Welcome Sarah Elizabeth Bezemek

On Monday night Gary and Elizabeth welcomed Sarah Elizabeth Bezemek to the world. Congratulations to them, we cant wait to meet her.

Back to Central Time

Cayman does not have daylight savings time so we awoke on Sunday to a new time zone. For the last four months we have been on Eastern time and our television shows have come on starting at 8:00 p.m. We don't get to watch TV during the week but on the weekends when we do it means late nights and no news until 11 p.m. Now that we are back to Central time we get shows starting at 7:00 p.m. and and actually get to watch the late news from the states before going to bed. Just two weeks left in our Winter quarter. Next quarter Katie is teaching the EN 100 Intro to College Studies class and she is doing it with an online component so she has been spending the last couple of weekends preparing for the class. Both of us have been sick with the flu which has been going around the Island like wildfire.

Constitutional Referendum

Here on Cayman it is election season also. In May the Caymanian citizens and status holders vote in a constitutional referendum on the proposed new constitution. As work permit holders Katie and I do not vote in the election and we stay as non-political as we can because the college has to operate in whatever political environment exists and we cant be in the business of choosing sides.

It is somewhat difficult to follow the debate. There is no question that Cayman is not looking for independence and wants to remain a protectorate. There is a debate about what that status means. Yesterday I attended a meeting of a civic organization I am joining, and the guest speaker was from the constitutional authority to talk about the referendum. She spoke of the current situation and why Cayman is drafting a new constitution. There was a similar process prior to Ivan but it failed and then when Ivan came along was shelved. This new process is well along and is ready to be put to a vote of the people.

After the speaker finished the floor was opened for questions. There were a few questions about helping the Cubans and about the impact on the roll over policy. Then a few softball questions about whether the referendum might get pushed back and the voting places that have been chosen. Eventually, the questions started coming fast and furious on whether or not the new constitution would have a bill of rights. At first I thought the questions must be because people wanted a bill of rights but it quickly became obvious that wasn't the case. In fact, it is having the bill of rights section that most concerned the questioners and finally someone said what apparently everyone else had been thinking but not saying which was does this new constitution and the bill of rights mean Cayman is going to have gay marriage?

Apparently there is concern here that since the U.K. has civil unions that will be imposed on Cayman and Caymanians are concerned that the new Constitution and the bill of rights in it is the vehicle for that. The speaker kept assuring the group that this was not the case and that the constitution does not change the definition of marriage. It was a stark reminder of just how conservative this Island is.

West Bay

The two hardest parts of the Island to get to from Red Bay are Northside and West Bay. We make it up to Northside every couple of months to go snorkeling at Cayman Kai or go out to Rum Point but other than two short trips early last summer we haven't been to West Bay at all. West Bay is the northwest part of the Island. It is at the top of seven mile beach and looks like the head of a wrench on the map. Hell is located in West Bay as are many restaurants and dive spots.

On Friday we decided to do something new for our date night and passed on another sushi run. Instead we made reservations at Pappagallos an upscale Italian restaurant in West Bay. It was about a 25 minute drive and once again we were reminded how spoiled we have gotten as that ride seemed to take forever. We used to not bat an eye traveling 30 plus minutes to Arlington or elsewhere to go to a restaurant but now 25 minutes seems like so long. There is only one road going into West Bay. It is the Seven Mile Beach Road that turns into the West Bay road. As soon as you enter West Bay you can tell it is the high population part of the Island. The density of houses and people is dramatic. We had been told that West Bay was where a lot of people lived but until we drove through it never really could picture it any differently than the other districts on the Island.

The houses ranged from obviously high income people to some neighborhoods that could best be described as a little sketchy. The richest people on the Island live right before West Bay on Boat Club drive and many have moved out to Savannah but the younger crowd that wants to be where all the action is live in West Bay. As we drove through we both realized that it was definitely not a place we would enjoy living in, too many people, too much traffic, not to mention the commute we would have to make out to Newlands.

Pappagallos was a really nice restaurant on an inlet near the top of West Bay. We didn't eat out on the deck as it was being used for a private party. Instead we ate inside which had a roof designed to look like a huge thatch hut. Around the outside of the room were parrot cages with brightly colored Cayman parrots. The food was very good and the atmosphere was really nice. We did notice a lot of tourists dressed like tourists. The other really high end restaurant we have been to, Grand Old House, people got dressed up to go to (even the tourists). At Pappagallos they were in their shorts and sun shirts. This isn't a restaurant we will go to very often, for one its pretty expensive (even more than Grand Old House) and its distance from our home is a factor. However, it is a special restaurant and can be used for some special occasions.

On Saturday we went to the movies and saw Juno. We are trying to catch up on all the Oscar movies as we hadn't seen any of the best picture nominees. There are just three weeks left in our Winter quarter and we are definitely ready for this quarter to be over. The cats are doing well, still fighting their ringworm medicine but settling in and walking around like they own the place.

Riding into a storm

Yesterday, we decided to try a new bike route. We decided to head west using the Crewe Road bypass and go by the Sports Complex and through some residential neighborhoods. When we pulled out from our house, the sun was shining and there was no real hint of bad weather. About 20 minutes into our ride though we could see the clouds gathering and the wind picking up. This was one of those fast moving Caribbean storms and it blew in very quickly. Suddenly, we were dealing with 30-40 mile an hour winds and a driving rain. We had to start aiming our bikes into traffic to combat the wind which was blowing us off the road. At first, the sand from the beaches was stinging our legs but once the rain started that stopped. Of course that meant we got soaked and our glasses (my real one's, Katie's sunglasses) suddenly needed wipers. At one point Katie called back to me that we were like a Nike commercial braving any elements to get our exercise in. This mini storm is not unusual here in the winter in fact our students call them the Christmas winds which come every year starting in December. As we pulled back into home, the rain slacked and the wind died down. We both started laughing as it seemed like it had been a test just for us.

Katie has started scrap booking our Keys trip from November with the scrap booking supplies we bought in Miami two weeks ago. She has also made contact with some scrap booking enthusiasts here on the Island. We went to a book store in George Town yesterday afternoon and she found some more supplies though they are much more expensive than the States. Gypsy loves to sleep on the scrap booking pages and we are constantly having to move her as she wants to participate in the process. We are watching season one of Heroes having finished season one of Grey's Anatomy. We figured out how to hook up the mini DVD player to the TV and watch the DVD's on the large television which has been nice.

The stores and newspapers are starting to put up signs for the 2008 Hurricane season which begins June 1. Although we had the huge scare with Dean last year, 2007 was a very quiet season with far less storms and hurricanes than predicted. 2006 was similarly quiet. Whatever global warming may be doing elsewhere it hasn't increased the number of hurricanes though there is some debate about whether it has increased their intensity. Down here some of the weather people talk about the false debate on global warming and hurricanes, saying that since we really couldn't accurately measure hurricanes its hard to say that they are "more intense" now than they were in the past. That isn't to say they discount global warming just the premise that global warming is affecting hurricanes here in the Caribbean basin. Some people want so desperately to argue the affects of global warming they see it in everything even when there is a real question whether it is having a particular affect. Its too bad since you can see global warming in many other things, why blow your credibility trying to link it to everything?

We don't get to follow US politics much down here but at least one candidate is doing the right things to make a play for Scott's vote. See the link at

http://mackbrown-texasfootball.com/index.php?s=&url_channel_id=40&url_article_id=3626&url_subchannel_id=&change_well_id=2

and the video posted at:

http://mfile.akamai.com/39650/wmv/univtexas.download.akamai.com/39650/2008/02/022108_fb_obama.asx

That is if we can figure out how to vote and not lose our tax status of having permanent residence abroad and therefore being exempt from income taxes. To vote absentee in Texas you have to have a permanent residence in Texas so we are trying to figure out how to do that. We may end up just passing all together since we would probably just be cancelling each others votes out anyway.

How fast a year goes by

Wednesday marked the one year anniversary of our first visit to Grand Cayman. That three day trip to see the college, meet the people and interview with the Board of Trustees doesn't seem like it can have been over a year ago but it was. It has also been a little over a year of since we started this blog site to keep everyone updated on our news, that doesnt seem possible either but time really does fly.

We have put up pictures in the house to give it more of a home feel, we printed off wedding pictures in Miami and put up a collage in our upstairs hallway. We also did some football pictures for Scott and we put those up as well. Having cats has meant more constant cleaning as their hair gets into everything. It also means getting used to having their toys around. Gypsy likes to sleep on the bed but Ginger prefers the floor. We bought her a bed in Miami but except for a few times she has avoided it. She actually prefers sleeping on the top of a cardboard box. We continue to give them their medicine each day and they seem to be getting better though both still have visible signs of the ringworm on their foreheads.

Last night we went out to Bamboo a sushi place at the former Hyatt resort. It was OK but way too expensive. They obviously hike up their prices for the resort tourists and since those people don't know there is better and cheaper sushi just up the road they stayed busy. We have now sampled all the sushi places on the Island and Yoshi's is by far the best. We aren't having sushi every Friday anymore because it was starting to not be special. We are trying to check out different restaurants on our date night using the guide magazine we have.

We are getting back into biking and with the bypass to the middle of the Island now complete there are bike paths all the way from Red Bay where we live to Hirst Road in Savannah. Our long term goal of biking the entire Island is still a ways away but we are getting better. Four weeks left in the Winter Quarter then we head to Orlando for Easter to meet family and attend a conference of registrars.

Some Unique Caymanian Things

One thing that has really struck us since we moved to Grand Cayman is the number of people who are usually walking by the side of the road hitch hiking around. Because the Island is so small it is not at all uncommon to pick up people and give them a ride. It took us about a month to get used to it but now we will stop to pick people up and take them as far as we are going all the time. It really adds to a sense that this is a close knit community with people helping strangers for no personal benefit, just to be a good neighbor. We noticed it on Cayman Brac when several people slowed while we were hiking and asked us if we needed a ride. Its like everyone is looking out for each other. In the U.S. you just dont pick up hitchers, here it is normal and accepted.

Busy weekend in Cayman

This has been a really long week and weekend for us. On Thursday I was on a morning radio talk show called Cross-Talk getting interviewed on the Caribcert program. Also on the program was the Minister of Tourism so it was a great chance to promote ICCI and what we have been doing for the Tourism Apprentice Training Program. Doing the early morning things is hard since we dont get home from work until after 10:30 Monday through Thursdays but every chance we get even if it means little sleep we jump on. The show lasted over an hour and I got several plugs in for ICCI.

On Friday we had a booth at the Chamber of Commerce Job and Career Expo. The Expo was took place at Sir Vassell Hall on the campus of the University College so we were on unfriendly turf. Friday was for high school students and all the local schools brought their 11th and 12th year students. There are seven high schools all within about a two mile stretch that all the high schoolers on the Island go to. We passed out brochures that Katie has designed and also gave out key chains with ICCI and our phone number on a palm tree. Friday night was the welcome reception so after 4 hours in the afternoon with high school students we had another two hours with some big wigs like the Minister of Education and some industry leaders.

Saturday morning started at 4:30 a.m. as we woke up to start getting the donations for our memorial walk which began at 6:30 a.m. Katie had been planning this for two months and had lined up donations, sponsors and gotten everything ready. We drove over to the Island Taste factory and picked up patties for the walkers. On Friday we had gotten some donated fruit platters from Fosters Food Fair and had already picked up the donated drinks. It was a testament to good planning as everything went off without a hitch. Katie had made a banner with all the sponsers and we had stations set up at the half way mark and at the castle. We were the marshalls so we had to make sure everyone stayed safe. We walked fast at the beginning leading the group but later had to slow down and be the back end marshalls escorting the slower walkers to the finish. Even slowing down for the second half of the walk we finished in about an hour and 15 minutes so we kept a pretty good pace. It was a good first training walk for the half marathon we want to run/walk in December.

The college to castle walk is designed to raise money for the Hugh Cummings Scholarship Fund. We had almost 50 people pre-register and then another 20 plus walk ups, some didnt walk but over 60 people did all or part of the four mile walk. We raised over 800 dollars for the fund. It was a complete success and is something that we look forward to doing in the future.

After getting home from the walk Katie spent a day scrapbooking while I went back to UCCI for six more hours of the Expo. Katie had bought a lot of scrapbooking supplies in Miami last weekend and is working on a scrapbook of our Keys trip from last November. I headed back to the Expo for the Saturday session which was open to the public. We passed out a ton more keychains and brochures. We had taken five pages of call back sheets and filled up all five with potential students. It was also great for raising the visibility of the college. Lots of people came up to tell us they were happy to see us there and that it was great that ICCI was coming to events like this. It also helped that we had a really professional looking booth, with our web site called up on the lap top through wireless, brochures, pictures and program forms as well as the keychains.

In the evening we attended a Cayman Outreach Association dinner. It was a celebration of Valentines Day but both of us were so exhausted it was hard to really enjoy the occassion. We got home around 9:30 and the TV station was showing the Young Caymanian Leadership Association awards dinner from the Ritz Carlton. The guest speaker was Mike Huckabee, yes that Huckabee who actually gave a really good speech on perseverance and leadership with no politics mentioned. You can tell he was a preacher as he was very polished and was great story teller. Couldnt tell you a thing about his politics from last night but he is definitely a really good speaker.

The girls ringworm has definitely gotten better but we are still giving them medicine. They are getting smarter though and it is getting more and more difficult to get them to take the medicine without having to force it down their throats. We have the hurricane shutters off and the cats sit in the front window watching the world go by everyday when we leave. They like the toys we brought from Florida and Ginger has adopted several as her children and carries them up and down the stairs every morning and evening crying as she does to the ones she left behind not to worry she will be back soon. We are half way through the Winter Quarter and already planning for the summer and fall events. Cayman has been unusually hot this winter and everyone tells us that means a steamy summer.

33 hours in Miami

We made a quick trip to Miami this weekend to deposit money, do some much needed shopping and stop in on our Miami seminar. We arrived at 9:30 Saturday morning and were shopping or running errands straight through to nine in the evening. Today Katie had a hair appointment, we did the last of our shopping and headed home looking like a pair of refugee's with suitcases that had been empty yesterday now full of supplies for the college, dvd's for us and new clothes that would have been outrageously priced here on the Island. People on Cayman will literally fly up to Miami for the weekend to shop because it is so much cheaper in the US, even with import duties which we avoided by keeping our purchases under 800 CI which is 1000 US.

We also learned that cats will eat anything if mixed with clam, tuna or shrimp juice. We are now mixing the ring worm medicine in with the liquid from cans of various fish and crustaceans and both Ginger and Gypsy lap it up. There sores have gone down dramatically in the past week so they are both looking up.

We are on Island until the end of the quarter and Easter weekend when we go to Orlando for a conference that Katie is attending for registrars. Good Friday and Easter Monday are both national holidays so we are going early to meet family and see some of the parks.

Ash Wednesday

Today is a national holiday here on Cayman giving us a well needed day off. We had planned to go to the agricultural festival but as we drove toward Savannah the traffic was backed up a few miles from the fair grounds. Deciding that we really didnt want to sit in traffic for an hour and a half to get into the festival, we headed home to a rest day of watching Planet Earth and some pre-spring cleaning.

Gypsy and Ginger get medicine twice a day for their ringworm and while Ginger dociley accepts the liquid and the pills, Gypsy fights us like we are trying to kill her with each drop of the medicine. Ginger has stopped crying all night and is now sleeping on our bedroom floor. Gypsy continues to sleep in the bed. At least they still have the dog like characterisitic that after a few minutes of being mad at us after they get the medicine they want attention and as Katie calls it their Luvins.

On Saturday we are headed up to Miami for a quick shopping, banking, working trip. we will be stopping off at the seminar which is going on to check in with the students but for the most part doing a lot of personal errands. We get back Sunday afternoon so it is a less than 36 hour trip. The following week is our memorial walk which we are both looking forward to both for the exercise of the 4 and a half mile walk and for the way the community has been reacting with the registrations and support/donations we have gotten. Yesterday the Cayman National Bank agreed to sponser and man a water station for us and we already had gotten donations of breakfast for the first 50 walkers and a donation of water and gatoraide for two water stations. We are hoping to raise at least $500 for the scholarship fund but even more importantly get the college back in the public eye with these type of events.

Bathing cats

So it turns out that Gypsy and Ginger picked up ringworm while guests of the Cayman Humane Society. After a visit to the vet yesterday, we got some special ointment, pills, liquid medicine and shampoo. Last night we had to bathe the cats. Bathing cats is not a fun experience. We trapped them within the bath doors with each of us at one end. In the beginning they fight you, but then they become so dejected that they just sit there looking completely defeated. We used the shower head to get the water on them and then they had to sit with the special shampoo on for 7 minutes. We also had just forced them to take their pills so it was an all around bad experience.

They spent a good hour licking themselves after they got out of the bath. Surprizingly, they showed their puppy side with forgiving us fairly quickly.

The overall experience of giving them two pills a day, syringe of liquid medicine, rubbing in ointment, and weekly baths is frustrating but we love our girls and want them to get better. The treatment lasts a month and sometimes two so we will be doing this for a while.

Visit from Missouri Southern State University

Yesterday we hosted a contingent from the School of Business at Missouri Southern State University in Joplin, Missouri. The Dean of their business school and the head of their finance department came for the visit. We are in negotiations for an agreement to transfer credits and give our students an opportunity to pursue additional degrees or certificates in the United States as well as some distance learning opportunities. We spent most of the day in meetings but also got a chance to introduce them to some of our students and they passed out literature about their programs. The next step will be a memorandum of understanding between the two institutions.

We are very excited, because since Ivan the college has not pursued this type of partnership with a foreign institution. This is the first one the new administrative staff had been a part of pursuing. Before Ivan the college had many such partnerships which helped students who wanted to start their education in Cayman and complete it abroad. It did mean a long day for us both starting with leaving our home to pick them up for breakfast at 7:30 a.m. and ending when we closed up the college at 10:35 p.m. We put them on their flight home this morning and are looking forward to a very productive relationship with their institution.

We learned about Missouri Southern at a conference last fall where there was a presentation on their partnership with a college in the British Virgin Islands. They have a very international outlook and their mission statement includes partnerships abroad. We contacted them to see if they would be interested in something in the Cayman Islands and they were interested enough to send down the contingent. The students who met with them yesterday were excited because they have been pushing us to get arrangements with U.S. institutions and this showed them we were pursuing options for them. We suspect they would be in for a bit of a culture shock going from Cayman to Joplin, Missouri but that is what going away to college is sometimes suppossed to be about. Equally exciting though is the distance learning capabilities for our students to take MSSU courses here in Cayman.

This weekend we are hosting a Super Bowl party for some of the folks in our office. It is a rest weekend for us as next weekend we head up to Miami for the seminar. Next Wednesday is a national holiday here on the Island and is the big agricultural festival. We are also in the final planning stages for the annual college to castle walk which benefits the college scholarship fund. It is on Saturday the 16th at 6:30 in the morning (all events like that have to be early to avoid the heat). The students have responded well and we already have several who have signed up for the walk and posted the flyers at their work places. Our goal was to raise $500 for the scholarship fund we think we may double that at the pace we are going with registrations.

Our cats have both broken out with something on their heads and we are taking them in to the vet tomorrow for a check up. Neither one reacts with any pain when you touch them where they have broken out but it is worrisome since they both broke out in the same place with very similar looking sores. The kitty cats are much more like puppies than cats. They come running to the door when we get home each night and are very demanding of attention. The clincher was when we got back from the Brac. Usually cats give you the cold shoulder when you go away to let you know how angry they are with you, ginger and gypsy came running to the door and were so happy to see us back just like little puppies wagging their tails and licking us. We will let you know how the vet visit tomorrow goes.

Cayman Brac Holiday Weekend

We haven't posted for a while as things have been very busy here. The start of classes, work on the second accreditation report and completion of the Caribcert program have been taking up most of our time. Today is National Heroes Day in Cayman and is a national holiday. Katie and I took advantage of the holiday weekend to get away for a couple of days to one of the sister islands Cayman Brac. Located about 90 miles northwest of Grand Cayman, "the Brac" as it is referred to by Caymanians has a much more Caribbean feel than Grand Cayman which can sometimes feel like Miami south. The Brac was actually the spot where Christopher Columbus in 1503 discovered the Cayman Islands and claimed them for Spain. He sailed along the Northern coast of Cayman Brac and Little Cayman the third island in the group which is located about 5 miles west of the Brac. There were no inhabitants other than turtles until 1833, though pirates often used the two sister Islands before they were settled to hide their booty and make repairs.

We flew over on Saturday morning at 7:45 a.m. on a small prop plane that seated 18 people and was packed. The flight took less than 40 minutes and by 8:30 we had arrived and gotten our luggage. A short cab ride took us to the Brac Reef resort where we had gotten a special deal they give to locals, two nights plus the flight plus the Saturday evening dinner. One of the reasons Katie chose this resort was the bike rentals. It turned out that the bikes were free for guests so after we checked in and unpacked we headed out to explore the Island. We had brought our own bike helmets and our water bottles so we were in great shape for a long exploratory ride.

Cayman Brac is a long thin island that looks a lot like a piece of rice. It rises from sea level on the western side where we stayed up a bluff that gets to 140 feet at the eastern edge of the Island. We rode our bikes from the southwestern corner where our resort was located over the western edge of the bluff and to the north side of the island about a 1 and a half mile ride. We stopped at the local market and had sandwiches for lunch. Feeling adventurous we set out east on the northern road. The bluff is full of caves that were and sometimes still are used by locals to hide in during storms. We stopped at a cave called Half Way Ground Cave (see picture to the right) and went exploring. You could walk well into the cave without flashlights (next time we go we are bringing flashlights to explore deeper). We then biked to the road in the middle of the Island that cuts over the bluff and connects the north and south side. Heading back west on the southern road we came to the Bat Cave which went deep into the southern side of the bluff. We explored as far as we could with the natural light, we saw one bat very briefly fly into the darkness but otherwise didn't see the bats or owls that live in the cave.

Arriving back at the hotel after our approximately 12 mile bike ride we decided to take advantage of the hammocks that were set up throughout the beach and read and sleep. Saturday night we walked to the western edge of the Island and watched the sunset then headed back to the resort for the Saturday dinner. Dinner included lobster bisque, seafood newburg, beef wellington and many side dishes. After our active day it was a great way to wind down.

Before going to the Brac everyone had said you couldn't get to the top of the bluff unless you rented a car. We took that as a challenge. Sunday morning we got up and after eating breakfast got on our bikes headed to the summit of the bluff. Saturday afternoon we had gone back to the market and picked up granola bars, apples and two 64 oz bottles of Gatorade. We refilled our 64 oz water bottles as well and were well stocked with energy food and liquids. Saturday evening we had watched some of the discovery channel before going to dinner and it was showing an episode on Everest and interviewing people who had summitted. We decided that with everyone telling us we couldn't do without a car, the bluff (yes all 140 feet of it) was our Everest and were going sans the auto.

We started off great and less than an hour into our ride were over half way there. Then disaster struck. The bikes were only one speed and with chains that had rusted from salt exposure. As I headed up a sharp incline my chain cracked, rendering the bike useless. We had brought our cell phone so we called the resort to come get the bikes. I told Katie I was sorry it loked like our summit would have to wait but Katie was undaunted. She suggested we hike the 6 remaining miles up the bluff to the lighthouse that sat on the eastern edge. With plenty of liquids and food and feeling like we wanted to finish what we had started we set out on our trek. It took us about three hours to get from the parrot preserve where my bike broke to the lighthouse. Along the way we actually deviated from the shortest route cutting over to an old path used by the lightkeepers before the road was built. The path went through shrub land and over black coral a beautiful but often difficult hiking trail. When we got to the eastern bluff we were met with incredibly beautiful scenery and breathtaking overlook.
The lighthouse, which is actually just a light not the traditional house and light, sits near a brown booby bird nesting site and we could see the birds nesting on the bluff in amongst the rocks. We took pictures, ate our apples and feeling like we had accomplished a lot headed back west. The trip back to the resort was over 15 miles with the winding road and having already walked seven miles we didn't expect to make it. Our goal was go as far as we could then call for a cab. We hiked for about two hours from the lighthouse making it back to the parrot preserve our starting point for the hike when we both reached our limit. We called the resort for a ride and while waiting for it to arrive actually got to see some Brac parrots eating on a tree near the road.

Dinner Sunday night was at the Tipsy Turtle Pub but after a seven mile ride and 14 mile hike we didn't care what we were eating, we just chugged it down. We headed back to the hammocks on the beach and enjoyed another sunset over the water. This morning we went out cayaking on the southern side of the Island, something Katie has been wanting to do for a while. We played some ping pong and then checked out. With only 18 people to check in we didnt have to go to the airport until 30 minutes before our flight. This was a really incredible vacation and we will definitely be heading back to the Brac again. We plan to go to Little Cayman in May and see the third island in the group.

First week of classes

This week marked the beginning of the Winter Quarter. Katie and I are back to the nighttime work hours and having our mornings to exercise, run errands or simply sleep in. We have set up a regimen of run-walking and bicycling though this past week was harder because of the adjustment to the new hours. The first week went pretty well and we are both getting back into the swing of things.

The cats are definitely settling in. Gypsy is an attention hog and loves to sleep on the bed with us. She also prevents Ginger from getting up on the bed which leaves her downstairs crying a lot during the night. We try to call her up but she wont come. Katie is going out of her way to give Ginger attention when we get home and we will often split up the cats so that both of them feel like they are the center of our individual attention. We have bought them a cat tree and toys that are now spread out throughout the house. Its not that Gypsy is mean to Ginger she just demands attention and ginger defers to her. Ginger is the more curious and we have now opened up the entire house, except for the upstairs guest room, to them so they have a lot to see and do.

Last night we went to a party for the Pirates Week volunteers at Breezes by the Bay a restaurant right on the George Town Harbor. The food was good and it was a chance to catch up with one of our board members who does a lot of work for the Heritage Days that happen during Pirates week. We had manned a small stand for ICCI during the Savannah Heritage Day which got us the invite to the celebration.

Earlier in the day was our winter faculty meeting which had a great turnout. I am also working on my two classes, a grad course and an undergraduate course. Katie is working on a newsletter that will come out every month and is also doing a math skills class for our caribcert students during the day. Our winter enrollment is larger than our fall enrollment which means each of the last two quarters ICCI has had its biggest enrollment since Hurricane Ivan. The accrediting agency has asked for more information so we are once again working on a new response. We have found that the process of working on those is actually quite helpful in getting issues at the college identified and addressed. We are all very optimistic about where things are headed and all that we have accomplished in the six months since we arrived.

As I write this I am watching the Cowboys game on TV and watching Katie take a nap on the big couch with Gypsy asleep by her feet. A nice lazy Sunday afternoon for us both.

Ginger & Gypsy

By Katie

This morning we picked up our new family members Ginger and Gypsy. They are sisters who are each about 2 years old. Ginger is the orange one and Gypsy is the orange and white one. They had a home but the family had to leave the island and were unable to take them.

We were expecting them to be timid as they entered a new home but they have been very curious and bold. Both of them are out and about. They were a little wary of the stairs either going up or down but they have gotten used to them and now enjoy running up and down. Ginger loves Scott's shoes and has, as the picture shows, made herself at home on top of them. The two of them follow us around from room to room and are quite demanding for attention.

They have brought many smiles to our faces since they have arrived and we are very happy to have them.

Sweater weather

The same cold front that is freezing Florida is affecting us down here in the western Caribbean. The temperature has dipped into the low 60's and everyone is wearing sweaters and acting like it is freezing cold. Our blood must not have thinned just yet because we are still walking around in short sleeve shirts and this morning did our exercise walk in shorts and t-shirts. Scott made another TV appearance yesterday and we are both working on orientation for the new students tonight. Tomorrow is our date night and we are going to Deckers on Seven Mile Beach to use the gift certificate Scott's cousin Chuck and his wife Twila gave us. We are also trying out the new movie theatre at Cayamana Bay the new American style mall and seeing National Treasure on Saturday.

Happy New Year

As 2008 began we were fast asleep but firecrackers are very popular here on the Island and right at midnight an explosion of them went off waking us up and giving us the opportunity to wish each other a happy new year and then roll over and go back to sleep. We had celebrated with our traditional spaghetti and clams along with a bottle of sparkling wine. Around nine we both were exhausted and decided to call it an early night. We fell asleep well before midnight and only the massive fireworks by our neighbors brought us out of our slumber.

We got up at 7 this morning and did a 2 hour bike ride out to the Ipigenia marker in Boddentown. Then this afternoon we went out snorkeling up at Cayman Kai. It has been a busy New Year's Day as we try to stick tpo our plan of running one day then bike riding the next. We are both trying to work off the holiday weight and also the weight we put on last fall. We have even started a bet with Katie's parents based around the biggest losers.

Our new quarter starts next Monday and Orientation is Thursday so we are getting back to the busy times at ICCI. Scott is teaching two classes and we are both teaching Caribcert during the month of January. We plan to go to Cayman Brac at the end of the month so that gives us something to look forward to.

Texas football season comes to a close

Last night in San Diego my beloved Horns beat Arizona State 52-34 to close out 2007 with a 10-3 record. The game was on ESPN so I got to watch it from the comfort of my own living room. This was only the third game available through basic cable here on the Island, so I could watch it from home, and the previous two, OU and A&M did not end well. For the first time in 18 seasons I was unable to attend in person any of the Texas games and this was the first Texas bowl game I have missed attending in person since the '91 Cotton Bowl. Ironically Dennis Erickson who coached ASU last night was the coach of Miami, the team which took Texas behind the woodshed to the tune of 46-3 back in 91.

While I haven't gotten to attend any games, I have gotten to watch or follow Texas games at a variety of locations. These ranged from a mansion in West Bay, to a sports bar in Grand Harbour, at my home in Red Bay, a Holiday Inn Key Largo and even on a casino boat in international waters off the Florida coast. I missed two games that later had to be watched on the Internet and generally missed out on the normal day to day coverage you get when you live in Texas.

Missing football is the one draw back to living in paradise (well that and the hurricanes in August and September).

As Katie likes to say with football drawing to a close she gets her husband back. From the end of the Super Bowl until that first weekend in September when the rites of fall renew, our weekends are not spent trying to find the Texas game or tracking the score, back to biking and hiking and shows and snorkeling.

Boxing Day

Today is a national holiday here in Cayman called "Boxing Day". The holiday was traditionally a day when employers would give gifts to their employees and people would give gifts to those less fortunate, ie a day for charitable works. It has morphed into a national sporting day and typically a big cricket match is played. We are off work and will be resting and perhaps doing some more snorkeling. We have been really good about sticking to our exercise schedule and after two straight days of biking today will be a walking day with some swimming mixed in for variety.

Katie and I awoke yesterday to an expected high of 84 degree weather. We wanted to do an early morning bike ride before it got too hot. With a morning chill still clearly being felt we left around 7:45 and biked on the new bypass out to Hirst road then up to Careenage the small dock about a kilometer above the college on the North Sound. After a brief stop at Careenage we biked down Hirst road to Pedro Castle where we ate some apples and drank our water. Then a ride home along the main road back to Red Bay for a good hour and a half tour. We are trying to work our way up to some long rides but this time we are taking it slow and building gradually so we don't have a repeat of last summer.

After cleaning up we made a nice Christmas breakfast of eggs, toast and turkey bacon. Our plan had been to head over to Smith's Cove around 11 and go snorkeling. we were running late and didn't get out the door until almost noon. By the time we got to Smith's cove it was packed. a drive up seven mile showed that everyone else had the same plan we did so we decided to head over to the north side of the Island. When we got to Cayman Kai we were greeted by an empty beach all to ourselves. We set out our picnic lunch and then went into the water. We were feeling adventurous and swam out to the reef a good 1000 feet from shore. The fish that far out were incredible and with our new underwater camera we were very busy. After an hour or so of swimming we headed back in and chowed down on our PB&J's and ginger bread cookies that Katie had made on Christmas Eve.

For Christmas dinner we had a full turkey, stuffing, corn and green bean casserole. We got to talk to a lot of family members throughout the day on Windows live and by phone. All in all it was an incredible Christmas.

Merry Christmas

Kathleen and I want to wish all our family and friends a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. 2007 is drawing to a close and as we reflect back on this year there have been so many changes personally and professionally its hard to keep track of them all. A year ago we never would have thought our next Christmas would be spent in the Caribbean in 80 degree weather but that is where we find ourselves on this Christmas Eve. It has been a very eventful year and we appreciate all the love and support we have recieved as we made these momentous changes. We cant wait to see what 2008 has in store.

Pre-Christmas and New Year's resolutions

We are back on Island after a week in DFW and Georgia to visit family and friends. It was a week of family, shopping, medical appointments and meeting Jennifer and Ryan's new baby girl Emma Katherine who arrived the week before we came to visit.

While home we both had Dr.'s appointments to get regular check ups and both were horrified to discover that all the weight we had lost over the summer had been gained back during the fall. A lot of it is because we now have a car and all the extra biking we were doing was cut out. In addition, we have been spending so much time on college stuff that our morning walks and exercising has gotten progressively less and less. So we have made a resolution to get back to exercising more, spending more time on non-college related activities and enjoying more of this beautiful Island than just the ICCI campus.

We were also both inspired by Katie's sister Melanie who ran the half marathon the first weekend we were home. Both of us would like to start training and do a half marathon by next fall and a full marathon by 2009. The Cayman Islands marathon is usually the beginning of December so we have a year to start building up. There are several 5k and 10k runs here on the Island so those will help gauge our progress.

The last two days we have done an exercise walk and a bike ride on the new bypass road which was built with a bike lane so we have started off well. The temperatures are in the high 70's so it is perfect exercising weather especially when the breeze blows in from the sea.

Thanks to Russ, Gail, Stephanie and Mel for a great time in DFW and to Kevin, Kristy, Kelsey, Scott K and Maryanna for a fun visit to Georgia.

Back to the States for a Week

Tomorrow we head back to Dallas-Fort Worth for the first time in six months. With graduation done and classes not starting again until January 7 we have some time to catch up with family and celebrate early Christmas. We will be in DFW through Wednesday afternoon spending time with Katie's family and doing doctor and dentist appointments. Wednesday night we head to Georgia where we will spend time with Scott's family and catch up with Katie's friends who still live in the Macon area. We head back to Cayman on Sunday the 16th. With the weather here still in the 80's most days and nothing resembling jacket weather we know that our first stop Saturday will be our storage facility to pick up winter clothes. It is hard to believe its been six months since we came down here. We are both looking forward to seeing family and getting serious away time from the college and work.

Graduation

By Katie

Our Graduation ceremony was yesterday afternoon at Church of God Holiness in Red Bay. We had 39 graduates and managed to get them through all their individual shots, getting robed and ready, through the group shot, and all lined up with minimal fuss. We did have four show up with only 5 minutes to spare and almost sent me shooting through the roof but at least they were there and ready before we marched.

It was awesome to see the church fill very quickly. Last year, they had the ceremony at the same location but just 2/3 of the downstairs filled. This year, we had the entire church, including the balcony, packed with people standing along the side walls, back, and in the foyer of the church. I was sitting next to the Chief Secretary of the Cayman Islands (#2 person in the Cayman government) on the platform and he leaned over to me and commented about the turn out. Next year, we will have to consider a location that holds more. The turn out this year was with no advertising and problems getting the invitations out.

I was the Marshall of the ceremony and led everyone in the processional. Dr. Cummings and the Chief Secretary followed. Scott and a member of the legislative assembly, Ms. Lucielle Seymour, came next. The guest speaker, other members of our Board of Trustees, and the faculty preceded the students who marched in last. The students took up the first two pews while we sat up on the podium.

All in all, it was a beautiful ceremony and went off without a hitch. Scott did a great job handling his parts of the ceremony and helping the group of people who handed diploma covers and did the hoods. I announced the names of all the graduates and led the recessional.

After the ceremony, Scott and I celebrated by going to Deckers restaurant on Seven Mile Beach, a new restaurant we had never been to before. I had a WONDERFUL Caribbean lobster tail. Scott had a mixed grill with chicken, beef, and lobster. Scott tried a Pinetini (Pineapple Martini) while I had a Seven Mile Melt Down (Pina Colada with Peach Liqueur).

The ceremony is already having a positive impact. Students that we thought might not be coming back were so enthusiastic about the ceremony that they have already called Scott to talk about their next degree. It was exciting and we are looking forward to seeing the Associates students get their Bachelors! After all the hard work, it was great to see the ceremony come off the way it did and the reaction of the students be so positive.

Graduation Week

This past week has been another long and crazy one. Our graduation ceremony is today at 3:00 and that has meant we were furiously working to clear the graduate files, academically and financially. We are also in the last three weeks of the Caribcert program, trying to get admitted and registered our new students for the Winter Quarter as well as complete registration for continuing students, trying to finish the Standards of Academic Progress for the Fall quarter and finalize all the details for the graduation events. It has meant that Katie and I have been at the office working 12 hours a day pretty much every day this week.

The graduation events included a graduation banquet on Thursday and our rehearsal on Friday evening. Kathleen, as the registrar has been handling the lion share of planning and coordinating all the events. The college had not held a banquet in several years but there was a lot of enthusiasm about restarting that tradition. Katie got a committee of graduates to call several restaurants and get quotes for the meal. They ended up picking Grand Old House and the dinner was held out on the patio next to the water. It truly is one of the most incredible restaurants on the Island with an extraordinary view. Katie prepared a PowerPoint slide show presentation and it was shown on a plasma TV the rental of which one of our students got a local business to donate. Katie printed the tickets and handled the sale of tickets as well as getting all the payments made. She printed up commemorative menu's with the program on the back on card stock which made for a very nice keepsake. The banquet went really well and almost 70 people attended. It was great to restart an old tradition.

The rehearsal Friday night was at the Church of God Holiness in Red Bay where the ceremony will be held. Ironically, the church where we are having our ceremony is just a block and a half away from our house. That means a short trip Sunday afternoon. After missing our Friday night Sushi the last several weeks, we had a chance to go to Yoshi after the rehearsal and enjoy a nice meal. Yesterday morning we did some Christmas shopping and then in the afternoon went over to the college and spent two hours printing and folding programs for the graduation ceremony. We also went over again our roles in the ceremony and made sure everything was ready. After the ceremony today we have a week to get registration complete and then head home for a week in DFW and Georgia.

CIMA walk and Botanic Gardens

This morning at 4:30 a.m. Katie and I got up and headed over to Seven Mile Beach for a 5k walk sponsored by the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority for the benefit of the ICCI library. The walk began ar 6:00 a.m. from the public beach in West Bay down SMB road to the Hyatt and back. We finished in a little over 45 minutes which wasnt bad for just power walking. We started in the darkness and finished with the sun rising to the east of us over the Island. The walk had to be early so we wouldnt have to battle the heat and also to avoid the traffic that really gets going by 8:00 a.m. The turnout was great and at ten bucks a head plus some donations, we are hoping to raise a couple of thousand dollars for the library.

After a nap and some lunch, this afternoon we headed over to Frank Sound Road and the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Gardens. The gardens are the habitat of the blue iguana though they are protected throughout the Island. We saw mostly green iguana out and about but did see one blue iguana in a pen. Katie isnt sure it was a blue iguana and it was mostly green so I could be wrong in saying we saw one. We took some pretty pictures and added another mile of walking to our day. We finished up out at the East End Lighthouse Park while a storm blew in from the south. The botanic gardens were pretty incredible and definitly are added to the list of must see places when family come to visit.

I have come out of my brief period of mourning for the tragedy yesterday. Living in paradise there are some nice things to distract you.

Happy Thanksgiving

Although today is a work day we are having a Thanksgiving meal at work this afternoon. Katie is hard at work right now making an apple pie and a pumpkin pie. I am making the corn. Others on the staff are bringing the turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, casseroles and salads. We plan to stop down around three and spend a couple of hours before the students start arriving having our meal.

The quarter is over but we have a couple of classes making up missed days so we are working tonight while classes are in session. Tomorrow we are leaving a little early to watch the Texas-Texas A&M game. Last night we had pizza on seven mile beach with some new friends from Houston who are in town for the week. We had met them at Elizabeth Bezemek's baby shower last year and when they heard we were down here set up a get together.

Doesnt feel like a holiday yet but watching the Macy's parade and smelling the pies is getting us in the mood. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

Key West

This weekend Katie and I had our second getaway weekend up to Florida. We flew up Friday morning and after a run to the bank to deposit money, a stop at Best Buy to get some DVD's, a stop at Staples to pick up supplies and lunch at Chili's we headed down to the hotel in Key Largo. Friday night was our night to catch up with Katie's friend Bridgette who is now living and working in Tallahassee. We went to Senor Frijoles for Mexican food and Margarita's and caught up on everyone's news.

Saturday morning we drove back up to Miami and attended a couple of hours of the Seminar our students were attending. After lunch with the instructor and another stop at Staples (we turned in over 100 printer cartridges on our last trip and can only use three per person per day), we headed back to the Keys. We decided to take the water taxi three miles out into international waters and go to a casino on a boat. The sun was setting as we headed out to the big boat and we got a spectacular view over the water. The boat had three decks and was 190 feet long. Slots on one deck, cards, craps and roulette on another and an open poker area on the top. It was Katie's first time gambling so we started out playing black jack together. We sat next to two experienced players who helped us out a lot telling us certain tips and the dealer was nice enough to let them give us help even though it broke the pace of the game a couple of times. I was distracted trying to follow the scores on a TV and see how Texas was doing against Texas Tech. The Horns won in a shoot out and Katie must have had first time luck because we won 45 dollars on the game. We learned about odds and doubling down and when you always hit and when you stand.

We then dumped $5 of that into the slots and decided to call it a night while we were ahead. The boat shines a light onto the water which draws bait fish who then draw sharks. We went onto the outside and could see the sharks swimming around the boat. At one point we counted 16 sharks some of them at least 5 to 6 feet long. They were swimming around and occasionally would strike at the fish. It was a neat experience seeing them. We headed back to the resort on the 8:30 water taxi and took our winnings to a restaurant 5 miles further down into the keys called Snappers and finished the evening with a meal on the water.

Sunday was our drive down to Key West. On the water taxi back from the casino, a local named Skip had told us about things to do in Key West (including a train/trolley tour). We stopped for breakfast at a place called Little Italy about half way down the Keys. We also pulled off at the start of the Seven Mile Bridge and did some walking around. When we got into Key West we stopped on the outskirts of town and rode a trolley train in called the conch train tour. The tour included an hour and half drive around Key West to all of the sites. It was incredible and really gave us a fell for the town.

After the tour we walked from the north end of the Island the mile and half down to the south and and the southernmost spot in the Continental U.S. We stopped at the Truman "Little" White House, mile marker zero on Highway 1, the Key West Lighthouse, the Hemingway house and even the birthplace of Pan American World Airways. The picture of us at the right is in front of the house where Harry Truman would vacation while President. The house has also been used by Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Clinton. It was most recently used by Secretary of State Colin Powell in 2001 to host an international conference. We had lunch at a cafe on the beach and key lime pie at a bakery near one of the train stops. We both agreed that the tour was the best part of the day enabling us to see everything and decide what we wanted to go back to and spend more time at. It also meant we didn't have to mess with parking. We headed out of town around 5:30 and watched the sunset in our rear view mirror. The drive back up the Keys was mostly in the dark and we were both exhausted.

We had dinner at Islamorada Fish Company sampling stuffed Florida Lobster and pasta with shrimp. We had an early wake up call this morning to drive up to Miami. The flight was uneventful and this evening we headed into the college so I could do a review session with my Business Law students. This is Final Exam week and Thursday is our last day of classes for the year. Our report to ACICS is due tomorrow and I start a conference for the Association of Caribbean Tertiary Institutions tomorrow for three days that I will attend in the mornings and afternoon's before heading over to the college in the evenings. Katie is hard at work on graduation which is the first Sunday in December. We are headed home in December and will be in DFW from December 8-12 and Macon from the 12th to the 16th.

Swimming in an Aquarium

This morning Katie and I went over to Smith's Cove to do some snorkeling. There had been a huge rain storm overnight. The water was cooler than normal and close to shore was very murky. We swam to the outer part of the cove and the water cleared the farther from the shore we got. There were several schools of fish feeding out near the markers. We saw a new fish that appeared to have camouflage skin with green and dark spots. It had points above its eyes extending out and its tail forked and seemed hollowed out almost. We cant find it on our fish card and will be searching on the net to find out more about it. The water was pretty choppy and it was hard exercise swimming/snorkeling. After about 45 minutes we headed in and are settling in for an afternoon of NFL watching and working on the computer.

Our ABC channel was showing a New York regional game so I headed out to watch the Texas-Oklahoma State game yesterday over at Davie Jones and got to see the incredible comeback. Yesterday the Alabama and LSU fans on the island had a huge game watching party at the other end of the bar and it was interesting to watch their interaction. When the fourth quarter started and Texas trailed 35-14 I was resigned to a Longhorn loss and really only stuck around to watch the end of the Notre Dame-Navy game (when Navy won the whole bar erupted). The Horns had made it 35-21 by that point so I stuck around and got to see them score two more TD's and then the last play field goal.

We don't have the time change here so the clocks didn't change last night. We are now the same as eastern time instead of Central and so our TV is now the later prime time. Other than Desperate Housewives on Sunday and house late night on Friday on USA that doesn't affect us much. It does mean no time adjustment this week when we head up to Miami and the Keys. Katie has joined a weight loss web site and we are trying to get back into regular exercise. We finally got the underwater pictures from Katie's birthday trip developed and on a disk we will update later with some of them.

Busy Times

We got our ACICS report last week and have been working on the response for the past week. Next week is the last week of classes and the Miami Seminar. Katie and I fly up Friday and will attend the seminar Saturday morning. Final exams are the following week and the quarter ends on the fifteenth. We are also getting ready for the graduation ceremony December 2. Sometimes it feels like we just got here and then we realize it is coming up on six months.

Not much to tell of late, the schedule is pretty routine. We get up around 9 each morning, run a few errands then head to the college at noon. We work until three then take a few hours off for dinner. That usually consists of coming home, making some food and watching a DVD to get our minds off work. Then its back to the college. I teach Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. There is always more work to be done than there is time. Sometimes that is discouraging but mostly its a challenge.

We had sushi again last night and Katie tried a new martini with raspberry vodka and Saki that was very good. We are watching Planet Earth on DVD and I will abandon her again this afternoon for a sports bar and the Texas-Oklahoma State game. We are looking forward to our getaway next weekend and to coming home for a week in December. Not much else to tell, just regular routine down here (well except for watching Noel closely and making sure she stayed East of us and headed north).