Slightly cheesy

You definitely see people from a completely different perspective, as well as get to know them on a much different level when you live with them.

When I came here last year with my big sister and her family, I definitely didn't think about how close we'd all get, as well as how often we'd experience "roommate issues."

When I was four, Carina was getting married, she's fourteen years older than I am, and when she was eighteen she was already married, moved out of the house, and enjoying a family of her own, so I don't remember growing up with her. At all. She tells me stories of how she and I shared a room when I was little, and she'd come home from school to all of her drawers emptied and sifted through (which is totally coming back full circle since her little girl is now doing that to ME. Karma) and how she'd put me to bed and tell me stories and help take care of, change my diapers, etc, etc. But I don't remember any of that. I don't know what the average age is that people can first recall memories, but I can guarantee mine isn't what it's supposed to be. I literally don't remember anything before middle school, and constantly people are reminiscing with me on something I said before, or did before, and it almost never rings a bell to me.

I've pretty much accepted that my memory SUCKS, the story to perfectly illustrate my point is the following: I was once text messaging with my friend Sara, and she was telling me how my memory was just "abysmal" and she told me I should "google" some memory improvement exercises, so I remember pulling up an internet browser, and going to google, and then a couple of minutes later I was sitting there staring at the monitor and I was like, "wait, what am I googling again?" its pretty ironic that I forgot I was about to research ways to help remember better...boo.

Anyways, back to my story...this is story time. So, I don't remember growing up with Cari, she lived in St. Cloud with her husband and kids and St. Cloud is only an hour north of Minneapolis where I live (although once my friend Kenzie clocked me driving home from there and it only taking half an hour---so I guess it depends on who's driving, weird that I've been pulled over so many times-that's a whoops) and my family would see Cari's family probably at least once a month they'd drive down, or we'd drive up there just to hang out, or for birthdays/fathers day/Christmas, etc. So I grew up seeing my sister and her family BUT she never felt like my big sister really. I never confided in her, I just felt like we were on such different pages of life, she had her own kids, she was going through way different things than me, and it felt awkward to really talk all that in depth with her...until I came here.

By far, one of the biggest reasons I'm glad I came here was to make that connection with my own sister, and to feel like she's my sister. You definitely bond and grow close with someone when you're here first hand to experience trials with them. I'm glad I could be here to help her as she's been bent over backwards and up to her eyeballs in stress from trying to balance a life of a mother of three, a wife, and a full time student who's just giving everything she has into pursuing her dream of being a doctor and helping people like our sister, Amy, who died of cancer so long ago. It's remarkable to watch her go...it just makes me exhausted watching her. For real. All I can say is that in my personal opinion, doctors deserve every stinking penny of what they make, because they're dedicating YEARS AND YEARS to NOTHING but helping US. There's so much information they're trying to put together, process, and work through, and I really think if I was in medical school my brain would actually explode in the middle of a lecture--like seriously be some giant gooey mess. I'll just stick to doing hair, thanks.

Obviously from living on the island I've also gotten much closer to my brother in law, Casey, and my nieces and nephew as well. It says a lot for their whole family that they came here to support Carina. Casey the most, I mean, leaving your awesome job and comfortable nice life in Minnesota where he had all these hobbies and friends, just to be a backbone for his wife is awesome, and speaks volumes of his character. It just makes me happy that these people are my family, and i'll have them forever. Thus ends my rant on how much I love my family, because its fairly evident to anyone who knows me, that family is, and always will be, number one.

DONE WITH CHEESY/SAPPY PART OF BLOG...MOVING ON TO LIGHTER AND MORE FUN THINGS ;)

Before half of the family went back to Minnesota for the summer, I tried to soak up some extra time with Andi and Tanner. These two...oh man, these two. We totally took our relationship from Aunt-Niece, and Aunt-Nephew, to big sister-little sister, and big sister-little brother. We totally fought, laughed, talked like siblings after a couple of months. I got to know these two so well while I was here, and I'm SO glad. They're SUCH good kids, I love them so much, even though sometimes I wanted to punch them in the face, and I KNOW they'll say the same about me. That's how siblings are ;)

I took the kids to Rima which is a giant souvenir store on the island, I've posted about this place before. Locals buy stuff here and then sell it for twice the price on the beach, sucks to whoever falls for it. *cough* me *cough*

Tanner and Andi wanted to buy some presents for their friends when they went home so I took them there and of course Tanner bought a bunch of swords and spears and walking sticks, and Andi bought jewelry and stuffed animals. Typical girl/boy differences.

When we were checking out the cashier tells me that because I've spent 50 dollars I can receive a complimentary skirt/shirt set so I was like, "oh sweet! thanks!" she shows me the outfit and I laughed inside and told her no thank you...it wasn't quite what I was expecting, so she says, "no problem" and puts the outfit in our bags...uhh, okay.

We get home and I'm emptying the bags and I pull out this Caribbean outfit and trying to wrack my brain for who the deuce I could give this to that would like it, nobody comes to mind, then I decide it's going to a friend as a joke, then for some sick reason I decide I'm going to just put it on, so I unwrap it in the kitchen and just throw it on over my clothes and Cari starts dying of laughter.

Cari says she'll pay me fifty bucks to wear the outfit on the airplane home, I'm still considering it, I have student loans to pay off, i'll do anything for a dollar. Just kidding! I'm pretty sure if I wore that on the airplane home Piper wouldn't even want to walk next to me, and whoever picks me up will just take one look at me and then leave me at the curb, driving away at 100 mph with the tires squealing. Fair to say that I will NOT be wearing that home. Sorry, Rima saleslady.

The kids and I took Piper to Burger King because its A.) heavily air conditioned B.) They sell ice cream shakes for two dollars and we sometimes get sick of gelato (can you believe that?) and C.) They have a play place that Pipey LOVES. I'm pretty sure Andi, Tanner and Piper stayed up in that bubble/play pen for like half an hour.

Pipey misses her big brother and sister, and it is weird not hanging out with all four of us. I love those three kids, maybe soon I'll kidnap them and flee to Canada or something? Weighing the pros/cons still. JUST KIDDING CARI & CASEY, YOUR KIDS ARE SAFE.

Speaking of children I love: the primary kids I teach at church. A couple of weeks ago it was Yensen's birthday, and I told her I'd bring her a cake the next week. The next week came around and I FORGOT. What did I say about my memory? Agh! So I took out my lesson book and wrote huge on the next weeks lesson (which I'd see the following Saturday when I prep my lessons) "BRING CAKE FOR YENSEN, IDIOT" so that totally worked, the next Saturday I saw it, bought some stuff, and made birthday girl her cake...a couple of weeks late.

Yensen is my favorite student, I KNOW i've already talked about her before, but she's just exquisite (I say awesome and cool way too much, so i'm trying out some new adjectives, ya like?) Yensen has an extremely delicate home life situation, but she's such a brave and loving girl, she's only seven and she's already such an example to me. She teaches me a lot. I get so sad on weeks when she doesn't come, I miss her.

After the people, the best thing about the island is definitely the ocean. People who say "if you've seen one beach, you've seen 'em all" are SO wrong. Every beach here I like for different reasons, and I never get sick of going to the beach, I really do feel bad for people who live here that just don't like going to the beach, so I'm grateful I like it I guess, and that Piper loves it, too.

A couple weeks ago I went with Gary and Ashley to Guana Bay which is full of seaweed, so you don't go there for the scenery, you go there for the big waves, best for boarding. We learned last time we were there that sea turtles lay their eggs in the sand on that beach so you're not supposed to bring umbrellas because they don't want you to puncture the eggs in the sand. The waves were SO big that day and my board kept getting ripped away, so I had this super cute wrist rash for a couple of days, but still a lot of fun. The ocean is the best.

Island bestie

So never in a million years did I think that the security guards who work where I live would turn into some of my closest friends. Ever.

My best friend on the island by far is my friend, Pierre. He is SUCH a punk. When I first met him I thought he was such a wiener because he seemed too cool for school and hardly spoke a word, I tell him this all the time, now it's funny. He's just apparently very shy at first. I don't tend to get along with shy people, I always interpret their being shy as their being rude. Oops...

Anyways, Pierre and I (once he actually started talking around me) hit it off right away in our mutual love of music, he told me he had big plans for me to show me around the island, so one Saturday (probably about two months ago--I'm really behind on blogging) he took me to town (literally) and showed me the island from his perspective, and things he likes to do.

I honestly don't even recall everything we did because from 9am-7pm we were in and out of the car, driving to different places, meeting a bunch of his family, all of his friends, and it was such a busy day, but I had so much fun seeing the island in a way different from the tourist perspective.

The first place we stopped was this giant airplane restaurant that I've always been curious about, the inside of it ended up being humongous, its attached to a house, so it's a fairly big place.

After the airplane restaurant Pierre took me to Philipsburg to a bunch of music stores, radio stations, and to see some steel drums played...I seriously came very close to buying a guitar, I can't even play guitar (yet) but I want one. Badly.

Then we hit up the barber shop, THIS I was most excited about. In school, male clipper cuts were always my favorite thing to do, the clippers I brought are getting so dull and old and they're in desperate need of replacement so I haven't done many men cuts lately, and I dearly miss it. I've always contemplated working in a male only salon that just specializes in men cuts, but have never finalized whether or not I'm certain I want to go into that area alone, I think I'd miss womens cuts and colors too much. The barber shop was super little, but I sat in between two other men who were waiting, the guy on my left shared the newspaper with me, asked where I'm from, etc, and people kept opening the door to pop their head in and say hello because everyone knows everyone there. It was so old fashioned seeming. I loved it.

After the barber, we head up to Middle Region. Pierre wanted to show me where he used to work, and wanted me to meet some of his closest friends. As soon as we got there I met his friends Addison and Entry. Addison is a super talented rapper who has an album out that Pierre gave me a couple months back, he's very talented. While I was talking to Addison, I all of a sudden see Pierre riding around on a unicycle that his old boss apparently taught him to ride...couldn't stop laughing watching him.

Addison (Adi), Entry, Pierre and I hit up "50 Cent Bar" which is where they wanted to teach me to play pool, I was freaking awful, but I DID beat them in chess. Whazzuppp?!

Then the four of us headed up to their other friends house and Pierre wanted to show me this amazing view, it was gorgeous. This island has so many pretty views because of the cliffs and overlooks...they never get old to look at, at least I don't think so.

Our last stop was at the zoo! Woot! Of course my camera died right after we got there, so I only got a picture of the birds which is fine, because they were so cute. I already told someone to buy me a parrot for my birthday last year, but I still haven't gotten one, so that super sucks. Bueller? Anyone?

Pierre and I stopped at McDonalds on the way back home because we were starving, and because he'd literally sell his soul for a McChicken.

It was a fun day, got to see a lot of cool things I wouldn't have seen if I didn't know Pierre, because they weren't all exactly "tourist attractions" and that's why I liked it. Hanging out with people who actually LIVE here is always a lot of fun for me, they know the good places and nice people.


I'm glad Pierre works here so I can just go down and talk to him while he finds me good music to listen to on his precious blackberry that he loves oh so much.

Best friend pic taken by my friend Trisha:

I hate toilets

On Monday of this week, Casey, Andi and Tanner left to go back to Minnesota. I was originally supposed to be leaving on Monday as well, but Casey and I thought it best if someone were to stay with Cari for a few more weeks so she didn't shrivel up and die in the apartment by herself for a month. Thus, Piper, Cari and I will be a tripod for the next few weeks.

This week has been psycho busy...my sisters family is trying to move into a new apartment which means we've been trying to find new renters for their current apartment...almost two months went by without a nibble on the place, and then two days ago Cari got a message from someone interested in seeing the apartment the next day. Cari and I looked around our apartment at the mayhem that was left from three people packing up their stuff to go, leaving messes here, suitcases there, piles here, blah blah blah...She and I stayed up last night cleaning most of it, but this morning after she went to class I finished up, and THAT was an experience.

So let me preface this by saying that Cari has made a few "homey" touches to the apartment in an attempt to take it from being a "timeshare" feel to a "home." Okay, by "homey" I mean she took down ugly paintings only to be replaced by our literal screen door with construction paper letters spelling "St. Martin" Have I already ranted about this in a previous entry? Probably. Because every time I look at it I have to just laugh and envision myself on the "Jerry Springer Show" because I feel THAT white trash.

We've also accumulated so many things in the short eight months we've been here, and there are toys exploding from the tub in the family room under our "homey" fold up table with a Hawaiian tablecloth over it which is basically covering an ugly table with, well, more ugly.

Anyways, first things first this morning I skyped our neighbor, and seriously one of the funniest people ever, Kristin. I basically said, "Hey, we have a ton of heinous looking crap in the apartment, can I store it at your place while people come over to check out the unit?" Of course she said yes, 'cause she's awesome, and she's paying me to write these nice things about her in my blog. Just kidding, she's not...

After I had cleared all the ugly over to her apartment, I realized the showing was in an hour and a half and started to panic that I had maybe more to do than I thought and should probably start hustlin', by hustlin' I simply mean, moving really quickly, not literally hustlin' people or anything crazy like that.

I felt like a tornado of cleanliness through the apartment, Piper was trying to follow me around to help, because whenever she sees me cleaning she says, "its time to clean up!" and begins throwing her toys where they go, putting her shoes away, but this morning she had no idea what was happening. The only time I stopped cleaning was to change the song on YouTube for her so she could continue her one woman dance party out in the family room.

I gathered up all the trash bags and threw them outside in the bigger dumpster that gets taken out from the maintenance staff here. When I was done with everything except cleaning the toilets (which I purposely put off to very last because-ew) and I couldn't find the stinkin' toilet brush anywhere! So I had to quick message Cari in class and ask her where it was, she says its in her bathroom garbage because Piper put it in there and she forgot to take it out...Okay, no problem. AH CRAP. I emptied out all the garbages, guess I'll have to go out to the dumpster and grab it back out again? Nope. The maintenance crew here is apparently incredibly on top of their game because they had already taken the garbage away...

"Cari, I threw away the toilet brush, how the heck am I supposed to clean the toilets? Scrub it with my hand?" I say to my sister as a JOKE. "Yeah, Michelle, good idea! Just throw a plastic bag over your hand and you're good to go!"

I won't release the details of what took place next, but I assure you it involved much dry heaving, and much hand washing. I literally came out to the kitchen to wash my hands while singing "Happy Birthday" like you're supposed to, Piper heard my singing and yelled, "OH YAY! MY BIRTHDAY PARTY!!!!" She turned a bad experience into a funny one in .000001 seconds. I LOVE that little girl.