It's about that time where we will be expecting visitors here. So, I thought I might go through some things that might be helpful to you when you get to Cayman. (People here refer to the country as Cayman. Not the Cayman Islands. And it is pronounced CaymAn. Not CaymEn or CaymIn)

First of all, bring a pen with you on the flight. You will need to fill out the immigration and customs forms while flying to Cayman. When you arrive at GCM airport you will notice the plane is pulling up to a fairly small building. That is the airport.





You will also notice there is no air bridge to get you from the plane to the building. You will walk down the steps onto the tarmac.













At this point you will see a large pointed roof under which there are family and friends waving to their visitors who are deplaning.




There is usually a band outside playing Caribbean music to welcome you to your island vacation. Once inside the building the first stop is immigration. There are three lines, one for residents, Caymanians, and visitors. Obviously you will get in the visitors line until the residents and Caymanians are through and then they may usher you through those lines. (Don't worry, everyone here speaks English although is it heavily accented) Once you are through immigration you will walk past the portraits of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip and over to baggage claim. Once you have your luggage you will get into another line to go through customs. They may want to look inside your luggage (so, don't pack your underwear on top). They may ask to see receipts for anything you are bringing and plan to leave on the island (BBW soaps, new shoes or protein powder we've asked you to bring us). You are allowed to bring $300 worth of those goods without paying duty. Once they have cleared you, hand your form to the man guarding the exit door and you are officially on vacation!!

If you are renting a car there are signs to follow to your rental car company. They are just across the street. If you plan on taking a taxi there is a desk just outside the door where you will need to check in and give them the address of your destination or the name of the hotel/resort where you are staying. They will direct you to a taxi bus. Do not just walk up to a taxi and get in, they will tell you to go back to the desk. You can pay just about anywhere with US dollars. The taxis, buses, grocery stores, liquor stores and most restaurants accept US dollars. But, they will give you change in CI/KY dollars. If any place gives you a total in KY/CI dollars just ask them for the total in US dollars. If you'd like to do your own math, one USD equals $0.82 here. And one KYD/CID equals $1.22 in USD. If you go out to dinner pay attention to the bill. The restaurants here almost always add gratuity no matter how many are in your party. And, unfortunately, sometimes the service reflects that.

If you are renting a car there are a few tips I will give you. Test out the turn signal and windshield wipers. They are usually opposite of what they are in the states. It took me a while to get used to that. Obviously, as I've shown before, we drive on the left side here. It really isn't as hard as you would think because you are pretty much just following everyone else. It only gets a bit confusing if you come to a roundabout by yourself. Just like at home, if you are taking the first or second exit stay in the outside lane. If you are taking the second or subsequent exits stay in the inside lane and use your turn signal to indicate when you are exiting the roundabout. Be warned that people here use their horns for everything. Instead of flashing their lights to let you go, they honk. Instead of waving a thanks, they honk. Don't let all the horn blowing rattle you. They will see your white license plates and know you are a visitor (The yellow license plates are for residents).

Once you get to where you are staying you will have all the amenities that you do in the states. US cable television, air-conditioning, WiFi, running and drinkable water, grocery stores with brands you know, etc. But, it's better than home because there are so many new things to do and see. If you want relaxation and a tan you can go anywhere on Seven Mile Beach to park it in the sand for the day. Take a picnic lunch and a book and you are experiencing my days off work. If you want something a little more secluded you can drive to Rum Point or Starfish Point and play music from your iPod and drink a few adult beverages without a slew of other vacationers. Or you can stay on SMB and go to a beach bar and float in the ocean with your tropical cocktail.

If you want something more adventurous you can take a boat ride out to Stingray City. It is a sand bar in the middle the ocean where you can feed, pet, hold, and kiss stingrays. They will take you to two snorkel spots to let you see the local fish and coral. Or you could go jet skiing, paddle-boarding, kayaking, para-sailing, kite-boarding, scuba diving or wind-surfing. There is a botanical garden, turtle farm, and dolphin cove. There is plenty to do at night, too. There are live bands, themed parties, free salsa dancing instruction, wing night, trivia night and even places to play dominoes and dice. There are wonderful restaurants and bars to watch the sunset and have a tasty refreshment.

There are so many things to do here that we haven't gotten to go everywhere or do everything we want yet. So, pick the things you want to do and we will help you get it done. We would love to hang out with you the whole time you visit the island. But alas, we have to work at least a few of the days you are here. But, there will be plenty for you to do during those hours and we will help you anyway we can. Check out some of these links to help you decide what you want to do.

http://www.dolphincove.ky/
http://www.turtle.ky/
http://www.botanic-park.ky/
https://www.captainmarvins.com/
http://www.redsailcayman.com/
http://www.caymankayaks.com/bio/biobay.html
http://www.caymangoodtaste.com/

Hey Guys! I have spent this week alone (Jimmy is in Florida for work) and I'm working everyday.I haven't been out much this week to show anything super fun or super pretty. So, instead of showing you exciting things, I'll show you a day in my life around town. I'll share a few different days eventually but this is a day where I work 7-4.

My first view when getting out of bed

Yes, the steering wheel is on the right side and the gear shift is left handed.

If I were to drive around the back of the neighborhood this is the sunrise I would see before my 10 minute drive to work.

Driving by Camana Bay (Basically a Cayman Easton) on the way to work.

Driving on the left side of the road.

The nine hours between these drives is spent at work. 

(I will show you my day at work another time)

Driving home on the "bypass." Notice the speed limit sign?

Camana Bay on the drive home

The drive through Camana Bay is so pretty

A stop at the grocery store, Foster's IGA

Just like any other produce section

Dinner?

On our street...almost home!

In general, a work day here isn't super different than when I lived in Ohio. Get up, go to work, run errands, go home and relax. Except I get incredible sunshine and blue skies instead of gray, cold, blustery days. 

WISH YOU WERE HERE!

My first night shift wasn't so bad. It was definitely boring but not as hard to stay awake as I thought. Don't get me wrong, there were definitely a few hours that I was tempted to crawl into an empty bed and nap! But, all-in-all it's not a terrible shift to work. When I got home that morning I thought I would be able to sleep all day. But, no...only 3 hours of sleep was to be had. I got an hour nap in that evening before I went in for the next shift. It was another boring evening but I was surprised when one of my patients was a three year old. I had totally forgotten that we are not strictly an adult facility. It was a bit intimidating at first but it went well. When I got home that morning I went straight to bed and slept for 7 hours and still was able to sleep that night.

This past Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday I was able to have orientation in the Outpatient Department (OPD). It is a nice change of pace and it is infinitely more organized. OPD runs like a doctor's office/urgent care. Our responsibility is to check in and triage patients. Then, if they need a treatment (IM injection, IV therapy, nebulizers, dressing change, etc.) they come back to us. I enjoyed my time there. And, since they just lost a nurse and the ward just hired a new nurse I may be doing half my time in OPD and half my time on the ward. That is, until I permanently move to the OR! I am trying to be patient waiting for the day they tell me I will move to the OR. I know it will happen but I am really hoping for it sooner rather than later because I really would like a normal schedule.The day before yesterday, on my day off, I cleaned, did laundry, cooked, watched food network and HGTV. While I was hanging up clothes and listening to The Pioneer Woman (if you haven't watched her show on Food Network, check it out) I realized that I feel so at home. I realized that I am more happy, calm and at peace than I have ever been. I have found where I belong. And I don't mean in this apartment or on this island, I mean with Jimmy. I used to want to be out everyday, shopping, running errands, going to dinner, out for drinks, etc. But, now I'm content with our afternoon jogs, making dinner together, watching ESPN, Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy every night. But don't worry, I will have plenty of island things to blog about when I get a paycheck and the weather gets better.

Governor's House on Governor's Beach

The weather over the past ten days has been a bit gloomy. Now, I know it is nothing compared to the cold and snow and gray that you all are experiencing in Ohio, but for here it is a bit out of the norm. It has been raining a lot. And, if it wasn't raining it was gray. And, it was chilly compared to what it normally is. But our low was 70 times warmer than your low, so I am not complaining! But, yesterday there was a break in the clouds and I took advantage by biking to Governor's Beach and laying in the sand.




I was able to read, relax and tan. After biking home, having lunch and napping it was almost time for Jimmy to get home. I downloaded a few new songs to listen to while we did our afternoon jog around the neighborhood. When he got home he had brought me a bottle of wine because I mentioned that it sounded good the night before! After dinner we drove to the store to grab a few items, but mainly we went because I needed more strawberries to eat with my Nutella and wine :)


The longer I am here the better my life will get. Getting to work in areas of the hospital I like more, moving to a bigger place, getting paid and being able to experience more of the island will all make me happier than I already am...if that's possible!!

WISH YOU WERE HERE!!!

My first full week of work was full of experiences. Meeting so many patients from all around the world was probably the highlight of the week. It's fun to talk to them and see what brought them to the island and how long they've been here. I've also learned the way things work in the hospital. For example, the shifts are 9 hour shifts. The overlap of day to evening shift is two hours, the overlap of evening to night shift is one hour, and there is no overlap for night to day shift. That means you have way too much time to give report and finish your work during the afternoon and evening and none in the am. Nursing is a 24 hour a day job. If you don't get something done on your shift, guess what...there is someone there to finish it for you. So, I'm not really sure why the shifts are scheduled that way.
Also, there are no assignments made. If there is a need to have two nurses on shift they will take report on all the patients and pick their own assignments. Also, the whole hospital is in need of computer assistance. Even though when I worked the floor at Grant we didn't have full computer charting we still were able to put orders into the computer that would communicate with dietary, physical therapy, radiology, lab, etc. The inefficiency, mis-communication and/or lack of communication is a real challenge for me. A few times patients haven't even received meals. Not to mention the waste of time it is to walk your orders to the department and wait to find a staff member to hand it to. But, on the bright side we are supposed to get computer charting in the next few months. I'm not sure if is purely for nursing or if it will be hospital wide but it will be a step in the right direction.

The beach today

Last Friday I worked my first evening shift. It wasn't bad at all. I had the whole weekend off and worked another evening shift (2-11) on Monday. Tonight is my first night shift (10p-7a). Not sure how I am going to stay awake. I tried to sleep in today...only made it to 8am. I rode the bike to the beach and layed out for a couple hours.



On my bike ride home I stopped on the bridge that goes over part of Jimmy's course.

I found this guy sunbathing on the bridge.

And then this little photo-bomber popped up. 

I tried to nap when I got home this afternoon...only got an hour. I'm sure tomorrow I will sleep well and it will be easier to stay awake tomorrow night for my second night shift.


The weekend before last I was supposed to meet some of the nurses out for a drink but we rescheduled. This past Saturday Jimmy and I went out with them on a party boat for one of the nurse's birthday. We were able to meet their boyfriends and other people who live on the island. It was a lot of fun! (I had to take the whole next day to recover!) We stopped at Stingray City and Starfish Point. Both of which we have been to before but this time I had a waterproof camera! Unfortunately I didn't take enough pics so I haven't developed them yet. I had my phone with me but was afraid to drop it in the water so I only have a few bad pictures and this awesome one of the sunset!

Our current place

We have an appointment on Thursday evening to sign the lease for our new place. It is only 1/2 a mile down the same street we live on now. But, it has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, way more storage and space, a screened in porch, walk-in closet, pool and a bigger kitchen! (While it was perfect for Jimmy when he lived here alone, it is very hard for us to be in our current kitchen together without stepping all over each other.) It is closer to the water, too. So, it will be even easier to see the sunrise in the morning!! So, once we move the first of March you all are invited to come visit!!

On my first day of work I was so nervous! I had Jimmy drive me to work because I wasn't sure what time I would be finished (and I wanted some company right before and after my first day). When I walked in to the hospital and over to the "ward" I was met with closed doors where you need a pass code to get through or someone at the nurse's station to let you in. They had not given me the code so I had to wait for a nurse to be available. When she came to the window at the desk I told her who I was and she let me in. She is actually the nurse manager for the ward. BTW, the unit is locked and you have to ask the patient if they want to see the visitor who is here for them. That is awesome! 

I walked to the HR directors office and was met with lots of paperwork to fill out, of course. After a tour I was to meet with the managers of the different departments in the hospital. Everyone was very nice and willing to help me in any way I needed. In the afternoon I was able to meet the nurse who is to be my "mentor" for the next month. She is very thorough in her orientation and documentation...I think I am going to like her. The really funny thing about that day is that there was only one patient. There were no surgeries scheduled for that day so we only had the one medical patient to attend to. It was nice to be able to learn the unit without having to run around for six different patients at the same time.

On the second day I went straight to the ward (I have the code to get in now) and checked out the assignment board. Still only one patient and one nurse but we did have one procedure to go to the "theatre." (That's what they call the OR here). I quickly found out the reason the nurse manager kept telling me they get very busy. As a nurse on the ward, you do an admission and pre-op the patient before they go to theatre. So, if there are multiple surgeries that day you will be sending and receiving many patients in your nine hours. The evening shift will have less admission/pre-op's to do but more post-op care. The night shift doesn't really have to worry about any of that but they do have to cover the 24 hour "urgent care" if someone comes in and I will be working all of those shifts in the next two weeks. I am excited but also very nervous to find out if I am going to be able to stay awake all night! 

It was nice to be able to meet one of the anesthesiologists, the neurosurgeon and some of the surgery staff that day. I also got to meet the podiatrist. He is basically an English Dr. Grossman! He had so many jokes! It made me feel at home! When I told them that the OR was my specialty they were all happy to hear it because they lost a few staff members recently. So, the OR manager told me they are going to fight for me to come to the theatre because it is way easier to find a med-surg nurse than it is to find an OR nurse. YAY!!  Before I left for the day one of the US nurses came to me to see if I would want to go out for lunch or drinks this weekend with her and another nurse. UMMM...Yes! I need friends down here! So, we are set for tomorrow :)

It is fun to see the mix of cultures at this institution. So far I have met people who are from Cayman, Jamaica, England, Poland, Germany, South Africa, Canada and the US. The accents are so fun. I feel like I am going to pick up a few new words and pronunciations. The staff are very friendly to one another...It reminds me of Grant in that respect. So, back to work Monday morning for my first full week of days with the weekend off!

P.S.  I found out while sitting in the back yard typing this------------------> 

that the bird you heard on my video clip the other day is a parrot!!! Awesome Sauce!!

WISH YOU WERE HERE!!

New Years Eve Day we decided to check out a new location to us called Barefoot Beach. We were going to get cell service for me before we went but the line was too long and we didn't want to spend our day off together at the Lime store (Digicel is the other service provider). So, we got on the road to the other side of the island. It takes almost an hour, if you can believe it, to get there. On the way we stopped to get some lunch and beverages to take with us. Once we got to the beach we picked our spot and decided to take a walk and check out what it was like (with our OSU and Brown's cups in hand).

Unfortunately, we were unimpressed because it was not as pristine as the beaches on Seven Mile Beach (which is actually only 5.5 miles long). There was a lot of turtle grass in the water and the ares that looked promising for snorkeling was so far from the beach. 

Since I am not the best swimmer, I let Jimmy check it out first to see if it was worth the intimidating swim. After about ten minutes he was back with nothing special to report. So, we decided to head to a beach that we know and like for snorkeling along Seven Mile Beach (SMB) called Cemetery Beach. Yes, it's a bit strange, but there is a cemetery between the road and the beach, hence the name. 

We hung out in the water, talked and consumed our beverages (which is totally legal here). After a bit we decided to grab our snorkel and fins and head out a bit further. I am usually pretty uncomfortable in the deeper water but the more I'm out there the more confident I get. And this day was a good step for me. We had a blast! When we swam back to the beach we were exhausted so we went home to cook dinner. Lobster (which Jimmy caught himself) pasta and vodka sauce. After showers and a few more beverages we were too exhausted to venture out for the NYE festivities and watched some bowls games instead. (We actually fell asleep before midnight!!!)  Jimmy had to get up for work the next day but I was able to sleep in and lay out at the beach for about two hours to relax before I started my new job the next day. Which after our long day in the sun, I needed. 

Wish you were here!!