Local Tsunami Drill

This coming Wednesday apparently there will be a tsunami drill throughout the Caribbeans. Apparently this was scheduled long ago and has nothing to do with the recent horrifying tragedy in Japan (boy did I go through tons of youtube videos last week - morbid curiosity got the best of me).

According to the French newspaper here, 10% of tsunamis that occurred in the last 500 years have taken place in the Caribbeans, claiming more than 3,500 lives since 1842. Woah. That gave me pause.

The thing is that there is no tsunami alert system here - not like those unending sirens and calls to higher ground that you can hear on the Japanese videos. The newspaper says that it's the role of the radio to inform the public if there is a tsunami alert. I gotta remember to turn on the radio more often here.

Of course the other thing is that there isn't much "higher ground" on St Martin - by French law, buildings cannot go higher then 3 storeys. There ain't much "inner land" here where we live either - we live in the stretch of land between the sea and the lagoon. Even if we had enough warning to think "let's go over to the high rises on the overdeveloped Dutch side" - who are we kidding? The traffic that will ensue will get us nowhere.

The events in Japan also made me think - these people lost everything - so is it better to have had it all and have enjoyed it (whatever "it" is) then have lost it, or is it better to never have had much at all, so that you do not have much to lose and mourn? I'm at two minds about this (and trifling and irreverent as it may seem, yes it has something to do with that Hello Kitty Beach Bag purchase I have been deferring)...

Better not to think about it. I am rather hopeful that the series of so many natural disasters we've seen in the last couple of years is coming to an end...

US Market

One would think that a supermarket called US Market would cater to Americans by having shelves and aisles filled to the top with American goods. Boy was I deceived when I first set foot in there. The place is undeniably French - I would venture to say that 99% of the food/household items there are imported from mainland France.

US Market is a chain - there are maybe 4-5 stores under the same management (I believe they hold a near monopoly on the French side) and it used to be called, even more deceivingly, "US Imports".

So why call it US Market? It is certainly misleading and I am sure I'm not the only one who has walked in there expecting to find Cheetos and Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, but instead running into canned Cassoulets and Petits Filous...

Busy Busy Busy

Strangely enough, living in a sunny and hot climate means lots of people suddenly want to come visit. We've averaged a visitor a month so far - I'm not complaining, I love having company - it's just that nobody was that enthused about visiting us in Rennes ("can you come meet us in Paris?" was a frequent question I used to field).

So frequent visitors along with occasional work and housekeeping and kids have kept me busy busy and busy. I'm on the run all the time, it seems, or at least, I'm in the car incessantly. And because I cannot get everything done while the kids are at school, I tend to drag Manolee around everywhere - Hana is old enough and disinterested enough not to follow me around while I run errands, but Manolee is wiling to accompany me as long as there is a little treat at the end. However, I did feel quite bad when I saw her conked out at Ace Hardware while I was picking up some knicknacks:



At least she has the talent to fall asleep anywhere - it may serve her well in the future!