Ah, life in paradise

Ah, life in paradise...some of you who have read earlier blog entries have written me directly or posted here and have said how this seems so idyllic. A brother-in-law, and good friend, commented on how fortunate I was to be living such a wonderful adventure. “Adventure is good,” he said. “Don’t under appreciate it.”

Last spring, when we mulled over whether or not to come, my darling Denise used similar words when she said: “I guess, Norm, you are taking me on just another one of your adventures.” But, good sport that she is, she still agreed to come or at least I hope she hasn’t changed her mind and will get on that plane. She is due to arrive in a week’s time and, missing her as I am, I sure hope that the week flies by fast :)

Now back to that same brother-in-law. He welcomed me into the family many, many years ago by telling me that he felt I had ulterior motives for betrothing his sister. He believed I was doing it so that I could be an uncle to his children. Definitely he had a different way of looking at the picture and so from him I’ve learned that it is often good to take time, to sit back and to look at a situation through a different focus. When I replied last week to his note regarding the adventure I was on and mentioned that this adventure was not without frustration, he simply responded: “Frustrations??? What did you expect?”

So frustrations will be my focus for this week’s ramble and I will try and keep it all in focus since, bottom line, we are living on a beautiful, warm and at times, idyllic island. As you may have already noticed, as I do spout off, I will throw in a collection of photos that may, but probably will not, have anything to do with what I am talking about.

Life in a different culture often moves at a different pace than that to which we are accustomed or so I have found as I have adventured around. And, as I believe I’ve mentioned earlier, life here in the Caribbean moves slowly. One can’t speed things up, one can only get used to the slow pace. In discussing this with my colleagues and other ex-pats we all seem to agree the heat may have something to do with this tempo. Adjusting to the rate at which life moves here helps alleviate some of that inner build-up of frustration. (I am tempted to print off that last sentence and paste it around the house and my classroom at school so that I can focus on more positive thoughts when frustrations get me down.)

The first topic I’ll address is the purchase and registration of used cars. This tale almost qualifies for Ripley’s Believe It or Not. The process begins once you find a car to purchase. Quite normally, you need to have it inspected and evaluated and this needs to be done before you can drive it away. With the evaluation in hand, and still no vehicle, you must make your way to an insurance broker who will then insure it, no sorry, I misspoke. The insurer will take your money and then begin the process of insuring it and give you documentation that the paperwork has begun.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that the renewal date for your car insurance has nothing to do with the date you purchase the used car. Rather, it has to do with the date the car was first insured. Due to this, you may end up getting insurance for weeks or months and when the car’s original insurance date comes up, it’s once again time for inspection and evaluation.

Back to the used car purchase process now. With “promise of proof of insurance to come” in hand you head back to the seller to pay for and pick up the vehicle. Now that you have wheels, completing the next four stops in the process will be slightly easier. There, of course, may be more than four stops, if you forget a document or signature along the way.

First, it’s back to the insurance company to show them you have the car and necessary paperwork. The seller must complete a form describing the car, announcing that he/she is selling it to you and must also provide you with a photocopy of his or her driver’s licence. The insurer will then give you the almost 100% complete insurance package. Later on we will return to visit our friendly insurance broker and we will, only then, have the process complete.

Next step is to head off to the registration office. With a bit of money and all completed documents in hand you must get in line. The office is open Monday to Friday 10 am to 2 pm but not Thursdays and they are closed from 12 to 1 for lunch. If you are going in the afternoon, please make sure you are in line by at least 1:30 since the wicket where you must pay your money closes precisely at 2.

If you are lucky enough to make it to the front of the line with all of your documents, properly completed, it’s smooth sailing now. If not, good afternoon, please go back to the end of the line and do have a good day. Those fortunate enough to pass the wicket lady’s test of documentation verification will pay their money, receive numerous official stamps in the appropriate places and will also be assigned a new licence plate number. Odd I thought. Although the car must keep its original insurance date forever, the licence plate expires when the vehicle is sold. Just makes for another stop along the way I guess.

Now some of my readers may have jumped to the conclusion that since the wicket lady gives you a new number she would also have given you a new set of licence plates for the car. Not true. You take your assigned number, mine was PE9837, and you either go home if you are handy with a paint brush or you head off to the local licence plate maker. That’s right. You either make your own or you have a set made.

The final step in the process is to return to the insurance company since they like to see your face. Remember, this is the third time you are visiting them. You show them the documentation with official stamps in all the required places and you show them your new licence plates. I am not certain whether or not they have the right to approve or deny the acceptability of plates since I did not attempt to paint my own but rather went to a licence plate maker with a good reputation.

With so many steps in the process, just imagine how many times you line up and wait. In this climate, one hopes to find air-conditioning to wait in but such is not always the case. Did I mention that, at the insurance office, during one of my visits there, they even apologized to me for the length of time it took to finish with me? That may have had something to do with the fact that I had fallen asleep in the chair during one of the four times, that day alone, that I had been called to their counter, had been asked to provide further information and then had been told to have a seat and wait while they continued working on my dossier.

Let’s hope selling a car is less complicated otherwise I think I need to put a sign in the window next week if we hope to sell it when we leave at the end of June.

Recall, if you will, that my topic for the day was frustration. What better environment to stimulate frustration’s growth than the internet or lack thereof. I had already mentioned in previous postings how we were trying desperately to get to a level of regular service both at school, where I attempt to be the computer lab technician while also facilitating on-line course during half of my day, and at home, where the gang look to me as the guy with the most number of hours logged at a keyboard and hence the most wherewithal to solve problems. How many times have they asked me, “Do we have internet yet?” or “Any word from Paul or Portia (our landlords) on when someone is coming to fix the internet?”?

We reserved this house seven weeks ago and moved in three weeks ago. One of our first questions was “Will we have internet when we move in?”. “Yes, no problem.” we were told. Up to yesterday, we had had a total of 22 hours of internet service, we had spent 9 days at home waiting for the “technician who will come today”, we had received three visits from 3 different technicians and had been given two different helpline numbers, neither of which had service.

The nine days of waiting for someone who does not show is typical St. Lucian behaviour we are told. It seems that companies and individuals find it easier to say “Yes we will”, even if they have no intention of doing, rather than say “No we won’t.” As for the three technicians, it seems that this Cable and Wireless company, the sole internet and cable TV provider on the island (and oh, how I just love dealing with monopolies), have very specialized technicians. An internet technician who comes by either will not or is unable to verify problems with telephone lines and jacks. Then there are inside and outside wire technicians neither of whom will touch the others wires. And so knowing exactly where the problem with connectivity comes into play and knowing which technician you have to chase to come by and solve your problem can be difficult at times. Being friendly and on good terms with our neighbour, Wally, chief financial officer for Cable and Wireless, helps me deal, in a small way, with this possible source of frustration.

Then there is the school. I am here because they decided to sign up for New Brunswick’s online courses as a route to a diploma for their students that will be recognized in universities around the world. To date, they have been trying to run up to 25 machines on the internet but with only enough bandwidth to handle 5 or 6 comfortably. That will hopefully change in the coming days.

So daily, together with my own frustration, I must deal with the students’ frustration. Luckily for me, they have, for the most part, grown up in cultures that have taught them to show patience and to find other ways in which to deal with frustration. In classrooms back home I would have had daily mutinies to put down. Not so here.

To top things off, Friday after school I received a phone call telling me that Cable and Wireless have given the school a new domain name and a new static address, that the school’s router will have to be reconfigured, that we will have no internet in the meantime and that the technician will be in sometime Monday (maybe, I think to myself) to address this.

There is good news to report. Yesterday, (Saturday), I was able to reconfigure the school’s router myself and I was able to get on line there. Let’s hope that it wasn’t just a temporary fix. Also here at home, the Cable and Wireless outside line technician that came by, wasn’t able to find the problem, but was able to put me in contact with an internet guy and together, he and I were able to find and solve our connection problems.

Enough on frustration. Let me finish this posting with a lighter, happier item. For those who know me well, you know I am crazy about fruits. I love to eat them, grow them and work with them. Down here I am taking advantage of the friendly ladies at the market to teach me about fruits that I knew about but had never worked with before. Star fruit, passion fruit, and something locally referred to as spice apple are the exotic flavours for this week. Denise, got to love her, was smart enough to throw a hand blender into my luggage before I left home and now its fruit juice city here in Marisule where we live. :)

Well that’s all for this week folks. Thanks again to Sue for the pictures. Have a good one and stay happy :)