Summer or Winter?

Having warm sunny days year-round can create confusion for some people. Yesterday, I had to walk to town to pick up a roti for dinner. The roti shop is closing for 2 weeks for vacation and called my office to let us know, since someone here gets lunch there once a week. While wandering through the vendors' plaza on the way to Ideal Restaurant, I overheard a tourist ask a vendor "Is it summer or winter here?" The reply? "It's summer!" Umm, no. The USVI is in the northern hemisphere. We're 18 degrees north of the equator, and a little south of the Tropic of Cancer. We experience summer in July, winter in December, just like everyone else in the United States. Even though it's 85 out, we don't technically enjoy "summer" all year.

Even though I was surprised to hear a local give the wrong answer, I probably shouldn't have been. On any given day, it can be really difficult for me to know what time of year it is too. Last January, for example, a friend in law school emailed saying vacation was over and it's time to get back to school - I immediately thought "wow, summer's over already!" It's a little disorienting to wear the same clothes year-round, maybe switching between sleeveless to short sleeves in December or January... maybe getting a dusty pair of socks out to warm my toes at night. We certainly don't have any real seasons. Living here makes it seem like Phoenix has seasons. We get "Christmas winds" which cool us off a bit in December and January. It always feels like summer here, at least physically. Mentally, sometimes I wish I was on a long summer vacation! I get both Christmas and Boxing Day off from work (both are local holidays too). But sadly, when the rest of the world is on vacation - tour guides have to go to work. Dave has been busy at work this week now that the season has officially started as of December 15. December 15 brings higher prices on airline tickets and hotel rooms around here for four months.

Winter Solstice

Happy Winter Solstice! The shortest amount of daylight for the year. For those of us at Latitude 18, it means sunrise was at 6:47 a.m. and sunset will be at 5:49 p.m. 11 hours of daylight, which pretty much means sunshine here all day (the rain I felt that persuaded me to quit my run after just a minute or two was definitely before the official sunrise). Our sunrises and sunsets are fairly quick, maybe 30-40 minutes from first light before official sunrise time. Compared to living in Alaska where they maybe get just 6 hours of daylight in the winter, the difference between a Caribbean winter and summer daylight isn't very extreme. In June, our sunrise is at 5:45 a.m. and sunset is at 6:59 p.m.

One related thing that seems to confuse some people for some reason, is that most, if not all, of the smaller Caribbean islands are on Atlantic Standard Time. AST is one hour ahead of EST. The USVI doesn't participate in daylight savings time, so in the summer, it's the same time on St. Thomas as it is in Pennsylvania.

Just like the amount of daylight doesn't change much throughout the year, neither does the temperature. Yesterday's high was 84 with a low of 76. In June, the average high is 90 with a low of 77. Weather.com has a lovely graph showing the monthly averages, and you can even compare our monthly highs to your city's!

Tonight marks the first annual Crown Bay Christmas Tree Lighting Party. (No, it's not for Winter Solstice, it's scheduled for today because the Queen Mary 2 is here.) On an island of 50,000 people, one might wonder why 3 separate town christmas parties are needed. Crown Bay is a new (by "new" I mean "not yet open though it was supposed to open a few months ago") shopping area at the Crown Bay dock on the western part of St. Thomas. Cruise ships have been docking there for as long as we've been on island, whenever the dock at Havensight (closer to town) is full. Havensight holds 3 ships, and Crown Bay holds 2. Whenever we have more than 5 ships (maybe once or twice a week during the season), the rest have to anchor in the harbor. Today the Queen Mary 2 is here. It's the only ship I know of that is too large to dock in St. Thomas. St. Thomas has a very deep harbor, but not deep enough apparently. When the QM2 is here, it anchors outside of the harbor. The ship's passengers get ferried to/from their ship. Right now you can see the Marriott from the ship's bridge webcam. I can see the ship from my office window - almost 90 degrees left from where the webcam is pointing right now.

Holiday Parties

Dave and I have been getting our share of holiday goodies by attending multiple holiday parties. They're really Christmas parties and most of them are referred to as such, but the one labeled as a "holiday party" started with a Christian prayer and had exclusively Christian holiday music playing. All the government buildings are decorated for Christmas and so are the shopping malls. Once again, we started the holiday season by going to Havensight's Christmas tree lighting party about 2 weeks ago. We kept our visit shorter than last year, just going for the local food sold by various people at booths setup just for the evening. We had tamarind juice, a salt fish pate, a lobster roti, fried shark and johnny cakes. For dessert we picked up a coconut sugar cake and potato pudding. Potato pudding is like bread pudding, but it's made from sweet potatoes and usually has some spice. Very tasty.

On Thursday last week, the court holiday party took place at lunchtime. My co-clerks and I were forced to sing the local version of 12 Days of Christmas. But we were rewarded handsomly with plenty of food including my favorites: potato stuffing, guavaberry and coconut tarts, and sweet bread (island's version of fruit cake, usually served with ham, as we experienced earlier in the week at an office birthday party). In the evening, Dave and I went to a law firm's party - they invite the entire bar and all the judges and law clerks. One of the partners was very excited to meet me - she and I are the only Boalt alum in the territory. She moved here for the same clerkship I've got now, and she never left (something we've considered on many occasions but decided against). Dave and I filled up on appetizers and champagne and listened to a calypso band from St. John.

Friday was the true pre-Christmas party on the island - Miracle on Mainstreet. We went a bit later than last year, as I got stuck at work, so we missed the lighted boat parade, and some of the vendors' food was cold. But we did get to enjoy saltfish cakes, saltfish pates, coconut sugar cake, and a tamarind ball. I indulged in a jello shot too. You may recall we've mentioned the absence of any law restricting open containers of alcohol in public, and the fact that juice or soda general costs more than beer. It was a very jovial atmosphere that reminded me a little of Carnival, but the temperature was so much cooler than last April. There was plenty of dancing in the streets both by organized groups such as the Quadrille Dancers and by everyone else who couldn't help but sway to the various steel drum bands. As one ad for Miracle on Main Street said: "The [UVI] Pan Panthers will offer steel-drum renditions of such classics as Jingle Bells, The Little Drummer Boy, Silent Night, and the local favorite, Mama Bake de Johnny Cake."

With all these parties, we're working hard to avoid the holiday weight gain. Living in the tropics, we don't have the excuse that we need the extra layers for the winter! Dave and I ran about 5 miles this morning up and down a hilly road that took us to many scenic overlooks along the way. It's quite rewarding to climb one of the tougher hills and have a view of the British Virgin Islands on one side and Magen's Bay and various cays on the other side. At the end of a long run like that, it's imperative to jump into the ocean at Magen's Bay to cool off. This morning was the first time I actually got chilled in the water after a run. It must have been a brisk 78 degrees! The air temp has been around 75 in the mornings, but it still climbs to 85 during the day fairly easily! Don't worry about us though - we've got our winter clothes and we're keeping warm!

Election Day

After missing the primary, Dave and I were determined to find the polling place this time. It was an elementary school named after my boss's grandfather (small island). We had a vague idea of where it was after asking people, and took a road we hadn't been on, figuring since we hadn't seen the school and hadn't been on the road - they must be together. From there it was actually really easy to find as there were about 100 people outside the school campaigning. In typical St. Thomas fashion, we pulled over and parked on the side of the road, not bothering to worry about whether there was enough space for two cars to get past on the road or whether it was a legal parking place - if your car fits there - it's a parking place!

Then we had to deal with the campaign workers to get inside the school. There were so many of them. Not just standing around with a sign either - people stepped in our path to stop us as we were walking to get in the voters' line and told us for whom we should vote. There was plenty of singing and cheering. It was almost as if this was the Big Game of the year. By convincing us who to vote/cheer for, they could affect the outcome of the game. A book I read gave a similar analogy - explaining that people here care about their senators like people elsewhere care about their big sports teams.

We said Good Morning to the people we joined in line and responded likewise when other voters arrived behind us. It looked like we were going to be in line for a long time but after about 5 or 10 minutes, a message from inside the polling place was passed throughout the line "Any Ns Os or Ps?" We didn't quite get it at first but then someone said if our last name started with one of those letters we could go ahead. It didn't make any sense to us and seemed too good to be true. But with mild apprehension, we left out spot in line and stepped forward, hoping we wouldn't soon be facing a crowd of angry West Indians.

After we entered the multi-purpose room, we realized why our last name mattered. On one side of the room there were multiple tables labeled with letters. The N-P table only had one person in line, whereas the others had long lines. When it was Dave's turn, the first poll worker asked for his voter registration card, and she wrote down Dave's name on a long list of other names. Then she spelled Nielsam to the woman sitting next to her who had a very large binder. The binder had tons of voter records. She found Dave's card, wrote down the date of the election on the back of the card and had Dave sign it. Each card holds 30 years of voter data, listing the dates of each election in which the voter participated.

Once we were checked-in, we stood in another line to actually vote. The voting machines were electronic touch-screens that would light up next to the candidate you picked. I had never voted on a machine like that before, but it seemed fairly easy (and who knows how reliable). After voting, we had to check-out on the other side of the room. The room wasn't very big and there were about 100 voters at any given time along with a few dozen poll workers, so going to the "other side" just meant taking a step or two away from the voting booths. We presented our cards once again and the poll worker printed our names in a large log book, we signed next to our names, and that was that!

I was a little disappointed there were no "I Voted" stickers. I mentioned that to someone at work and she had never heard of such a thing. Perhaps it's because voter turn-out is so high here (I heard about 70%?) they don't need such incentives.

A candidate needs 50% + 1 to win the gubernatorial election (and take "Government House"). If noone gets that much, a run-off between the top two candidates must take place 2 weeks after election day. This year, the top candidate had about 49% and though they were still counting absentee ballots (which are only available to true absentees), they had to plan for a run-off. (By the way, our neighbor, a senator, was the third place candidate.) The run-off took place while we were on our cruise, and we put off getting an absentee ballot until appendicitis struck, so we didn't end up voting in that election. The newly elected governor takes his position on the first Monday after January 1.

Incidentally, our non-voting delegate to the House of Representatives won another term. Her name is Donna Christian-Christensen - born Christian, married a Christensen. Reminds me of how some of my doctors' offices file my records as Kendra Nielsen-Nielsam.

Registering to Vote

Back in August, Dave and I registered to vote here on St. Thomas. While we don't have any federal elections (other than choosing our delegate to Congress, who has no voting power), there were plenty of local positions up for grabs in November. The islands seem to be mostly full of Democrats and Independants. Registering to vote was quite different from registering at the DMV in the states. Rather than just fill out a one page form, we had to go to the Board of Elections Office with our passports and sign-in. It was a bit crowded as we went on the last day to register before the primary. After about 45 minutes of waiting, we were each called forward to meet independantly with an elections worker. The worker asked my name, birthday, physical address (Dave had to remind me of that one - it's our lot number in "Estate Wintberg" - 1-123-10), how long we'd been on the island, party affiliation, etc. She typed everything onto a form as I gave her the answers, and then I was told to wait awhile longer. Next it was my turn to get my photo taken for my voter registration card. They used polaroids so the pictures would be ready quickly. Rather than waving the prints around in the air to allow the color to develop, the card making employee immediately placed the photo on my card and laminated it. While most people here probably look fine in their photos with minimal color and a white background, my face practically blends into the background - very pasty white!

Politics here are really important. The campaigning was very intense. Remember the scene in Back to the Future where the car drives around with speakers blaring "Re-elect Mayor Goldie Wilson"? Picture that. Now add multiple vehicles for multiple candidates. Add some calypso music with lyrics that sing about the candidates. We're getting close to what it was like. Really the only reason I put off this blog post was because I wanted to get some photos of all the campaigning. I completely failed on that front.

We actually missed the primary (couldn't find the polling place - a little problem with not having any street addresses around here) but I believe there were seven teams running for governor. In the end, there was one Democrat team and two Independant teams on the November 7 ballot. More about the election and our experience voting later!

Jingle Bell Fun Run

This morning I participated in the Jingle Bell 5k Fun Run. First I ran a couple miles at the beach, as I'm training for the Rock 'n' Roll half marathon in January. The weather has been nice and cool but I still haven't had to switch to wearing a t-shirt (rather than tank top) for my morning runs, even at 6am! Then I drove back home to pick up Dave - the ever cheerful spectator - and we went to one of the very few flat areas of the island for the race.

It's called the jingle bell run because all the runners are given bells to tie to their shoes, so we all jingle as we run. It was a one mile loop (three times around), so I heard plenty of jingles as runner after runner lapped me. I didn't come in last this time though - there was a walker right behind me! In the general races put on by the St. Thomas Association of Runners, I have come in last twice, including a 10k last February and a 5k in November; and second-to-last twice (today and the mother's day 2 mile run). These races all had between 15-35 people in them. In the big popular races though, like the anti-gun violence two mile race or the Carnival mile race, they do age group awards. My age group is notorious for not showing up. So I've won two second-place trophies with my 10 or 11 minute mile pace. Speaking of awards for being slow, there's an annual marathon on St. Croix on January 1. I've reviewed a few years worth of results - haven't seen more than three women sign up ever. So, if only I thought I could do 26.2 miles in the next few weeks, i'd sign up. Wouldn't it be great to get 3rd place in my first marathon? (last year 3rd place was 5:42). I've heard you can register for the race and run a marathon elsewhere within 30 days and be eligible for the prize money. Any takers?

Today's race was fun, as usual. Now that we've done a few races here, we recognize names and faces and everyone generally cheers each other on as they go back and forth in these lap races. Dave jogged along with me here and there along the course too. Next week we may do a Splash and Dash on St. John - swim 1/2 mile, run 3 miles. We haven't been in the water much recently, except for a brief swim last weekend at Coki. A former coworker and his fiancee were on island for the day on a cruise, so we played tourguides. The water seemed chilly to us but nice to someone used to surfing in San Diego in a wetsuit! We also took them kayaking and hiking on Cas Cay. A nice way to spend the weekend. Much better than this weekend where the fun run was the only fun - I've been busy working all weekend. So, that's my excuse for a lack of blog posts. Dave's been busy perfecting his coconut tart recipe. That's his excuse.