Friday, August 31, 2012

The Ladder

The View from near the top of the ladder


This week has been full of people getting the things checked off their list before class starts. Hiking Mt. Scenery, Snorkeling, Scuba Diving, and this thing called The Ladder. So yesterday we did the ladder...

Here's a bit of history so you know why the ladder exists... Saba Island didn’t used to have a port and since its a very steep volcanic island they had to find a way to get supplies from the boats to the towns. The way they did this was carve roughly 800 stairs into the side of the cliff and they hauled everything up these stairs until the harbour was built. We decided to try and climb the stairs. 


As you head through town and ask for directions from the locals they laugh and shake their heads, this should have been a clue. 

You walk down the winding roads and eventually reach the sign that says the ladder. The first thing you notice is the jaw dropping view. Then after catching your breath you notice the crazy steps, they are uneven and more like two steps wide than one and you realize what an adventure you are in for. 


The top of the steps, these ones are actually
pretty even compared to the later ones.
Custom's House view
The descent was pretty easy but it got pretty slippery at some points when the steps were covered by the trees and there was moss. There was gorgeous greenery around the trail, lots of ferns and big leafy trees. There were also tons of little Saban lizards and a few land crabs.

Halfway down there was an old abandoned customs house which has a window that looks over the whole bay. Apparently from the customs house you can find the vanishing beach, sometimes there is a sandy beach but sometimes the sand has all washed away from the rocks. All of the rocks at the bottom were round volcanic rocks, it was a great free pedicure.
Customs House View: you can see diamond rock in the upper
right corner, which has amazing dives


We eventually reached the bottom and could let our shaky legs rest. It didn't take us long to start heading for the water. It was so clear and blue, you could see everything!

We went for a snorkel and saw so many fish! We were pretty far away from the reef and yet there was amazing diversity, even a barracuda just cruising the area. If more of us had gear we could have swam out to the reef, maybe next time if I can bring myself to challenge the ladder again.

Sign at the customs house telling about the history, the
picture is from 1934 I think.
Tomorrow a bunch of us are heading out with Sea Saba to go snorkel on the reef and I will definitely be bringing my waterproof camera.

Overall it was a major challenge but it was so worth it, what a beautiful eden and I get to live here. I can't wait to do some more exploring!

Anyways heres some more pictures... enjoy!






Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Arrival on Saba/First Few Days



The Plane from St. Maarten to Saba
Hey everyone! Sorry for the delay the last few days have been insanely busy for me. I had a huge long day (or two) of traveling and flying with no major problems thankfully. In Toronto I met up with a ton of my class and we all took the rest of the trip together which was fantastic. There were so many new Saba students on that flight. Then we arrive in St. Maarten which was gorgeous (i’ll probably be saying this word a lot) and haul all of our millions of bags to the tiny plane that would take us the 30 miles to our new island home. It was a little daunting looking at the plane and pilling in but the pilots were great and there was never any real scares. 


We finally get to Saba with only some of our bags (I got one but some people got none) and we all crawl out of this tiny plane and are hit by the humidity and heat! It is sweaty here! But above all else we are hit by the beauty that is Saba, seriously you couldn’t dream this place up! We are so lucky that we get to live here and study here for the next 20 months. 

When we get to the airport all of the locals are super friendly, if not a little hard to understand, and they get us checked in and put into taxis that take us up the one road to Windwardside where all of our hotels are. There a couple of us who are staying at a hotel called Scout’s Place which was a great hotel and to top it off Saba students and family get a 10% discount which I didn’t know about before I got there. Luckily my roommate D had already checked in so I just got shown around to our room by “a friendly Canadian face” as she called herself and met my new roommate. The woman then spent about half an hour telling us about the island and where to eat and go and she told us that if we ever need someone to talk to that she is there for us! Talk about wonderful service, she really cares about the people of Saba and wants everyone to get the most out of this island.

We decided to then head out for dinner so we walked around Windwardside and eventually settled on a place called Saba Snack which served an eclectic mix including delicious mexican food. A few of our classmates joined us as we headed to another place to grab some beer and just chill out after a crazy day of traveling. We met up with some students from the upper class who stayed on the island during the break and they were kind enough to show us around the island. 

Kitchen

The next couple of days have just been moving in to our new home and meeting my other roommate L. L’s parents came with her and I have never seen anyone more prepared! They are wonderful and have treated us so well and tried to help us get settled in too, taking us all over to get stuff to set us up so we don’t have to take a cab everywhere. They also set the wifi internet up which will be up hopefully within the next couple of days. 

Theres been a huge influx of new students and so our group is steadily growing and everyone seems pretty awesome! Suddenly we are not the new ones who don’t know the island and we are showing people around and introducing the locals. Its crazy how slowly time can more here because it feels like its been much more than three days. 

Heres some pictures of the dorms and arriving at the island, i’ll add some more later. I have to get outside and enjoy this beautiful day! 


More Kitchen... you can see our living room through the cabinets
and my room is a door to the right.
The other side of the kitchen/bar






Saturday, August 25, 2012

Deep Cove

Doughnut from Honey Doughnuts in Deep Cove,
I'm not sure i've ever tasted anything like it. It was delish!
 I spent the morning of my last day at a really cool place called Deep Cove with the kiddos so heres a few pictures from my new camera (which I am still getting used to).  We had a yummy breakfast at Honey Doughnuts which I definitely recommend! And it was a stunning drive once we got over the second narrows bridge along the water.


Anyways heres the pictures:





I love the coast, I don't think there is anything more beautiful than the blue water and gorgeous mountains in the background.



H. on her super cool red strider from Grandy.
That girl loves to bike!
Sisters <3

This is the same area that K. took me on a overnight camping trip on the kayak when I was approx. 11 ( we cant remember exactly how old I was...) ! It was so much fun, I have such a great big sister!


S. Being the king of the rock! He is getting to be such
a big boy! 


 Off to finish packing and catch my plane in 5 hours!



Goodbye Canada

Today is the day!

Its officially my last day in Canada and i've still got tons to do so this will be short! I will miss so many things but mostly I will miss all the wonderful people in my life who have moulded me into who I am today. Thank you for all you have done for me and I will see you soon! Luckily we have skype, face time and facebook that will help keep us in touch and not cost an arm and a leg (it was $ 2.49/minute to call Saba from my old phone).

So wish me luck and I will post picture when I get there!

<3 GB

Monday, August 20, 2012

Top 5 Things I'll Miss From Home.

I've lived in the greater Vancouver area for a long time now and it's become home, therefore, there are things that I will miss when I leave and also things I won't (commuting with construction on Hwy 1!)

Here's a list of the top 5 things that I think i'll miss:

Disclaimer: This list does not include people, i'll obviously miss the people the most, that's a given!

1) Starbucks - Having worked there for the past year its safe to say i've become very addicted. I think its also safe to say that there will not be a Starbucks on Saba island. Studying + Coffee = made for each other.  Luckily i've been stocking up on via for quite some time and hopefully it will get me through until I can adapt to life without Starbucks.

Silver-lining: I'll probably save a lot of money and there is a coffee shop on Saba so there is some hope that i'll be able to find a decent latte in times of desperation.


2) Sushi & Pho - There is very easy access to both of these types of cuisine in the greater Vancouver area and I have been warned that there is no sushi on Saba. I'm taking an educated guess that there will also be no pho (shout out to Chau on Victoria drive- simply DELICIOUS!). Normally sushi comprises a good part of my diet so I think this is going to be quite the challenge. It's a good thing I like trying new things and i'm sure there will be lots of fresh fish for me to eat, even if it isn't sushi style!


3) The Aquarium- One of my favourite places to visit on a rainy day and thanks to my wonderful sister I even have a pass. It brings out my inner nerd in a place where its totally acceptable to be nerdy. Its also a lifesaver when you need something to do with kids.

Luckily in the Caribbean I have something even better- direct access! Saba itself has some of the best scuba diving in the caribbean and its nice and warm unlike the diving in Vancouver!

4) Local/In Season Fruit & Veggies - In canada we are seriously lucky to be able to grow so many crops and as a by product of this you can almost always get some sort of yummy fruit or veggie that is local, in season, and very cheap. I have heard that fresh fruit and veggies are very scarce and expensive on the island. I doubt there will be many flats of strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries from the coast hitting the island, and I also doubt we will get many fresh Okanagan cherries, peaches, and apples! Yum!

5) Camping - Fun times with good friends- enough said! Shout out to Cogburn!
















Well thats it, off the top of my head those are the 5 things that I think i'll miss the most (not necessarily in order). I'm sure if I wrote this list after living on the island for a while it would be vastly different.

If you were to  move away from home what things would you miss the most?

Sunday, August 19, 2012

The Count Down

So i've officially moved to my sisters house in Vancouver and my car is for sale (hopefully it sells before I leave!!! ) and yet I am still having trouble believing that my departure is less than a week away!  Moving from Langley has turned out to be really hard; I had to get rid of everything i've accumulated over the last four years, leave a wonderful work crew, and leave my roommate who happens to be one of my very best friends.

Over the last year living with CD has been wonderful! It's been full of girls nights and lying in bed watching movies late into the night. This has been my first experience living with someone who was a friend first and it has definitely been much different experience than living with a stranger. One of our favourite things to do was go out and grab a bite at a new restaurant while we were both exploring Langley, we had sushi, thai food, indian, chinese, italian, and greek, but one of our all-time favourites had to be fresh sea food at White Rock on a beautiful day. It was bitter sweet having our last night out and since it was so gorgeous we decided to go to White Rock and eat fish and chips followed by gelato on the pier as the sun set. Is there any better smell than fresh sea air?

Roomies <3
On the same night I was also surprised by a last minute night out with RH. We tried to go to roosters one last time but we got there too late and ended up chilling in the line up forever. Sometimes you have the most fun when you are doing nothing!  I'm going to miss that girl, who else is going to get me in trouble?

The Table
Last night was a combined Birthday for CD and Bon Voyage Party for myself and DC (who is headed off to England to teach for a year). We went to Steamworks in Gas Town which was DELICIOUS! I highly recommend it! I was pleasantly suprised when a bunch of the girls from work were able to make it out even though they were opening the next day at 4:30 am, troupers!

The Fishbowls were on special! 
After stuffing ourselves at dinner we headed farther into gas town to the Blarney Stone for dancing. I'm going to miss the Blarney for its laid-back atmosphere and consistent good time, I seriously don't think i've ever had a bad night there.

 These kind of nights are what summer is made for, good food, good company, good music, and a giant sweaty dance floor!

 It seems like the last few weeks has been filled with endless goodbyes; my parents, my brother, aunts & uncles, cousins, friends, co-workers, pets, and places! There are so many things I will miss about this beautiful place but I know I will be gaining so many new things. There will be new people for me to meet and new experiences for me to have and I can't wait! It's been weird because I cant remember the last time I didn't have at least one job or was in school and so during this job-less/school-less time I find the days just floating by without me being able to keep track. I can hardly remember what day of the week it is and i'm not really following any schedule, just trying to make sure I don't forget to get anything done before I go!

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

First Post!!

Blogging is a new experience for me but i've had the idea to start this blog since I found out I got accepted into medical school. Starting something new always feels so strange but here I go...

My hope for this blog is that it becomes a place that I can write down my feelings and experiences and create a medium to keep everyone in my life up to date ( and of course put up tons of pictures :) ) so please hang in there with me as I figure out how to become a blogger.

Today finally feels like the right time to start writing about this crazy new adventure since all of a sudden in the last couple of days it has become real... I am really moving out of my place with C today. I am really getting rid of everything I have acquired in the last four years. I am really flying to the tiny island of Saba in just 10 days! Its insane how quickly everything has come to pass since it was only 4 months ago that I got my official acceptance letter.  After you get accepted everything becomes this race to get everything done, you have tons of paperwork, somehow you need to get a loan approved, and you must also fulfill any other requirements that the school asks of you. Its not until you have gotten everything done and you sit down and realize what is actually happening... I got into medical school! It's definitely not going to be easy and it's probably going to seem impossible at times but all I can do is try my best and hold on with everything i've got and be thankful that I have such a wonderful support network.

On monday I got some exciting news... I found out that I won the dormitory jackpot and I will be staying in Hillside 2 which has 6 quads, I will be in quad # 2 with three other girls. This is one of only three quads that has a full kitchen with a stove and oven which is great because I wasn't looking forward to eating microwave meals for the next year! I'm actually really excited to live in dorms because it was something that I missed out on going to UFV but at the same time I will still have my own space, its the best of both worlds. I will post pictures when I get there!

Cheers
GB