1/4 Normal to 1/2 Normal

So blocks are coming up in mere 7 days and once again the frantic feverishness has taken a hold on the tired and weary patrons of AUC. On top of beginning to set into panic mode by discovering how much i still do not know, I decided to make an investment into a more beneficial mode of transportation that didn't involve bipedal locomotion. The ad for the car began "a typical island car" loosely translated into English--you can leave this car unlocked and running cause no one is going to steal it.

OK so I'm hooked right there, I do enjoy myself a good adventure. So I call the guy up and he turns out to be an Australian pilot, flying chartered island hoppers all over the Caribbean (what a dream job!!) "so yeah, mate, no worries, no worries, i'v got the kah right ere, you can come take a look at if if y'like" Hell yeah send me some photos i'm liking this more and more as it progresses. I got the photos through a quick email and told him i'd meet him in half an hour.

"Beautiful, mate...I"ll ketch ya down by B.B's"

Upon further inspection, "typical island car" also translates into bearing a bit of rust along the underside of the fender wells, with a few leprous lesions making it onto the body of the "kah" itself. But nothing unbearable, hey there is only 37 square mile of land here, and 85% of the vehicles here suffer from this malady.

"look, mate...I'll be strait up wit' ye...other than the bit of rust, the AC is shot, and the brakes are bit sketchy"

A test drive proved that the brakes had passed "sketchy" about 1,000 km ago, and the mechanic (who works shade tree jobs by the strip joint---true story) said the AC job would cost about $70US.

But not all that bad, after a bit of deliberation and pondering and consulting with the powers that be (wife) we squared away on a nice very low price and that he would fix the brakes and throw in an $250 internet antennae (most of the internet here is provided through the airwaves, not many places are hardwired) SOLD!!!

Now I do not ever want to hear anyone complain about the DMV back in the states ever again. Buying the car and getting the cash here was the easy part. Getting insurance, inspection, and plates is a fantastical journey that sucks up the greater part of the day. There is one inspection depot for the entire dutch side of the island and it rests in an old bombed out gas station in Philipsburg, I entered with extreme caution and was waiting for Jason Vorhees to leap out around the corner at any given moment.

Apparently one does not need to see the vehicle in question to inspect it on the lovely island of St. Maarten, a simple response of "yes" by the handsome patron in front of the desk to the question of "is everything working properly on the vehicle" seems to be quite sufficient (that and a 20 guilder note). The insurance is quite nice $234.34 bought me protection for an entire year, it is cheap because they say no to every claim brought forth to them. I am in the wrong business!!


Like the rest of the island, it doesn't matter how well things get done of if they are done in the proper fashion or not, it just matters if you pay for it properly. There are no vehicle titles here, I have a 5 line bill of sale that Steve Erwin's cousin and I (crikey) signed on the hood of the car in a grocery store parking lot. That bill of sale with a 5 guilder stamp from the government administration office is now my sole claim to the vehicle SWEET!! With that stamped bill of sale, the government office in downtown Philipsburg sold me the annual car plates for $163. What a world we have down here, I may never return to the really real world.

Most of the weekend was spent in the perpetual bounds of this desk chair, trying to get a grip on the mass of papers and textbooks that are scattered from here to there. Saturday, however was a quasi half day off so the 1st semester volleyball team could compete in the highly competitive beach v-ball tournament. Got a hot dog and a sunburn out of the deal and had a fantastic time diving about in the sand like a wild person. Won the first game but lost out on the next 2, which was good cause we all really needed to study.

In other news guess who showed up.

Of course I was in the dissection lab upon Leah's arrival and had to sequester the help of my neighbor to retrieve her from the airport. After I was able to tear myself out of the lab and make sure all the cadaveric particles were off of me, we were able to make a short trip over to Baie Rouge to introduce Iva the Terrible to the ocean.

After some good ribs and chicken kabobs at B.B.'s I had to come put in another 4 hours of studying the doggone regualtion of gene expression, I hope that I can surely use this information somewhere later in my life.

With another part of me at least on the same piece of ground I have made the transition from a lost 1/4 normal person to that off somewhat found 1/2 normal person, I will become fully complete again on July 6.