K Man Life – Page 2

The Brac

Every Tuesday I travel to the small island of Cayman Brac to work with kids in the public school system that need speech and language services. The day can be a long one with me arriving at the airport at 7:00 in the morning and returning back to Grand Cayman around 4:30 (usually). The flight is on a puddle jumper plane that holds around 20 passengers. Seats aren’t assigned and I’ve learned to be at the front of the gate line if I want to have an individual seat. The plane travels very close to the ground and it gives a nice view of all three of the sister islands. On the

return flight, we stop briefly on Little Cayman to drop off and pickup passengers. Little Cayman is so small that the main road runs right through the area where the plane taxis so the road is shut down whenever the plane is in the process of landing or taking off.

The Brac, as it is known to locals, is located about 90 miles Northeast from Grand Cayman. It is home to 2,000 residents and is a small island that is only about a mile wide and twelve miles long. You can drive from one tip to the other in about fifteen minutes.

As most islands are, the Brac is extremely isolated from the rest of the world. They have television access but there are no major restaurants, supermarkets, or commercialized entertainment options (no movie theater, no mall, no Wal-Mart, and definitely no Sonic). Your major entertainment options are socializing, drinking, staring at the ocean, and diving. There are no traffic lights and rarely do you hear any sounds besides the ocean and birds. At first this was very difficult to get used too. Stepping off the tiny commuter plane and hearing and seeing nothing was odd. However like most things, I’ve settled into a routine and its just another day at work. It is typically a busy day with me visiting 3-4 schools during each trip and working with a variety of students ranging from ages 2-12. The government rents a car for me each trip and I’m greeted at the airport by a very friendly local lady who drops the car off for me. She has even started to give me an upgrade which she refers to as “my car” as it has a little more leg room than the typical rental car. If I’m not to busy I try and grab lunch at the Reef Resort. It is the only hotel on the island and their food is usually very good. The waitress there knows my order by heart and was able to complete it for my parents even though I wasn’t there, and she had no previous tip off that I was of any relation to them.

During a recent trip, a new Occupational Therapist who had recently moved here from London traveled with me over to the Brac. She couldn’t believe that when returning the car; that we were just to leave the car unlocked with the keys in the glove compartment at the airport parking lot. Being from Harrison, Arkansas this wasn’t much of a shock to me as I usually never lock my car. The Brac is a very safe and a crime free place to visit and live.

“Brac” is some sort of Irish (or perhaps Scottish) word that means hill. There is a slow rising hill that begins at the southern tip of the island and gradually increases to a height of 140 feet at the northern tip of the island. This hill runs through the middle of the island which creates a dichotomy between the northern and southern sides of the island. Recently my parents visited for one night on the Brac. Typically, my plane departs the Brac around 3:30 in the afternoon to return to Grand Cayman. It just so happened that the day my parents were visiting that my flight was delayed for 5 hours due to some sort of botched landing by a cargo plane at the airport on Grand Cayman. This gave me an opportunity to a hitch a ride with mom and dad and visit the northern tip of the Brac. The scene there was incredible. It looked as if you were peering off into the end of the world with a straight drop off down to the ocean below.

There were lots of Brown Boobies at the Brac Bluff

One local has a penchant for creative art and he displays it prominently at his residence on the southside of the island. His art is unique and most of the locals do not approve of what he does mainly due to the conservative aspect of the islands. There are many caves around the island but I haven’t had any time to explore them. Legend is pirates used the caves to hide their plundered loot.

Doc Holiday & Jevin Stockholm

Christmas came early this week when our belongings from the U.S. finally arrived. Michael was excited to find his lego set and Katie was happy to get her doll accessories to use with McKenna (her American Girl doll). Jennifer unpacked some much needed kitchen utensils and accessories. I was thankful to open an Ameritron AL-811H amplifier that I will put to use from home and during various contests. Of course getting our stuff wasn’t without some drama. Somehow the freight forwarder managed to

change Kevin Stockton into Jevin Stockholm on the shipping documents. I had originally planned to deal with customs myself which also meant that we would pick up all of our boxes from the dock and then carry them up the three flights of stairs to our apartment. After receiving some sage advice from Victor, at Seaboard Cayman, I decided to have Miracle Brokers handle all of the customs documents and delivery of our items. It was well worth the money to not have to spend several hours with customs as they searched through our belongings.

On Saturday, May the 10th, I had my first tower climbing experience in the Caribbean. Along with Andrew, ZF1EJ, and some of his helpers, we installed a set of guy wires on his enormous free standing tower. It was a little unnerving climbing the tower as it was similar to a giant ladder. There wasn’t a good way to secure a safety belt as I climbed, so for 40′ I used some giant hooks on the fall harness to lash myself to the tower. However, the securing and releasing of the hooks to the tower seemed to be more dangerous than just climbing so I ditched the hooks and quickly (but safely) made my way to the top of the tower.

With the guy wires installed, the tower could probably withstand another Ivan, which had peek winds of over 200 mph! While tightening the guy wires to the posts I uttered the phrase, “say when” to let Andrew know when the guys were tight enough. One of Andrew’s helpers chuckled and said, you remind me of that movie. He thought for a minute and then said, “Yes, Tombstone, that is one of my favorite movies.” He then started to ask me about Doc Holiday and wanted to know if Tombstone was a real story, as if it was taught in our history books in school (I wish it was because it is way more interesting than the war of 1812). Michael went out a few days before the tower project and helped me put some guy grips onto the guy wires. We spent a lot of time talking to Andrew and getting a tour of his excellent station and radio room. Michael was particularly enamored with Andrew’s three dogs and he couldn’t understand why the smallest of the three dogs was the most likely to bite. We also picked and ate some Naseberries from Andrew’s orchard. I’ve never tasted a sweeter fruit in my life. Picture a cross between a pear, apple, and the sweetest sweet potato you’ve ever tasted.

Looking down from 100' — Looking down from 100′

Looking South 100' in the air. — Looking South 100′ in the air.

Lately it has been raining for brief amounts of time and in very isolated patches around the island. One day while at school a particular hard rain was pouring down and a little boy came out of his classroom to investigate the storm. With eyes wide as saucers and he yelled out, “Jesus Pete” at the top of his lungs and then quickly retreated back into his classroom. I had never heard this saying before and the moment was hilarious.

We really enjoy our three bedroom apartment that we are renting. It has minimal finishes inside the apartment, but the view of the ocean is nice and the 60′ long pool is fun for all of us to play in. It is also conveniently located to most of my schools and is less than a 5 minute drive to the kids’ school. We really only need two bedrooms but it is nice to have the spare bedroom for when guests come to visit. Katie and Michael are sharing a room that has two twin beds in it. We discovered that Michael has been sneaking into Katie’s bed to sleep with her at night. Two growing kids in a tiny twin bed is not my idea of comfort.

Michael invades Katie's twin size bed. — Michael invades Katie’s twin size bed.

The Last Kahuna

Michael and Katie have been quick to remind me that they didn’t want to go to the beach. Instead they wanted to go to the pool which would have prevented this problem from ever happening. A few Tuesdays ago we went to 7 mile beach around 4:00 in the afternoon. Michael has really become accustomed to the ocean and he loves to swim and play in the waves. Katie has become a great swimmer in the pool and has a natural stroke, but she prefers the pool to the ocean. So after arriving at the beach, Michael immediately ran out into the water. A few minutes later, I followed him into the water and started to go for a swim. My swim was immediately cut short when I noticed on my first stroke that my wedding ring was no longer on my finger! This happened back in Arkansas when we were outside playing and luckily we were able to find the ring. Hunting for the ring in the water would not be as easy.I swam around with Michael’s goggles in the general vicinity of where I thought the ring came off. After an hour and a half it was clear that this was a needle in a haystack situation and all hope was lost. Then I just happened to look up at the shore to see a giant well tanned man wearing massive headphones attached to a metal detector. I didn’t think that the metal detector could go in water, but still thought it was worth a shot to tell the guy what happened. Immediately he asked where I thought the ring was and how long ago it had been. He gave a good prognosis for finding the ring and immediately lumbered down into the water, snorkel in tow with the metal detector. For the next two hours, he searched fruitlessly for the ring. Jennifer, Michael, and I stood out in about 4 feet of water while he searched for the ring. Katie stayed on shore reading a book. I never thought you could feel cold in a tropical climate, but after the sun went down the water and the air became a little chilly. Several times during the evening, he would dive down trying to retrieve something but every time he came up empty handed. He called the false pings pop tops. When it became completely dark outside, he went back (not sure where) to get an underwater flashlight. Finally around 8:00 p.m. I pulled the plug on the search. The kids were getting tired and so was I. At this stage I learned the man’s name, The Last Kahuna, but his given name is Mike. The Last Kahuna then told me about his failed comedy career and also about the night writing classes he was attending on island. He told me that he would come back out and look for the ring again. We exchanged email addresses, appropriately thelastkahuna@hotmail.com (I didn’t realize hot mail accounts still existed). A couple of weeks went by and yesterday I received an email from the Kahuna himself. No ring, but he had been searching for it.

The day after Easter is a holiday here which meant no work for me, and no school for the kids. We went to a kite festival with a boat ride across the bay to Cayman Kai peninsula to a resort called Kaiboo. We’ve been to Kaiboo once before and saw a large group of drunken 20 year olds taking advantage of the free ferry to get back home. We were a little worried that our boat would turn out to be a party boat, but it was mostly adults with young children. One of Katie’s classmates was on the boat and Katie and the girl made bracelets on the 40 minute ride. Unfortunately, the wind wasn’t strong enough for us to get our kites up into the air. The highlight of the trip was, for a small donation, having unlimited access to the ocean kayaks and paddle boarding. We all really enjoyed the kayaks. I tried paddle boarding, which is standing up on a surf board and then using an oar to move yourself around. After a while, I managed to get the hang of it but not without wiping out and falling into the water.

Jennifer and I really enjoy going to the gym here. It is quite large and they play good music. Not like our old gym in Harrison, which was very cramped and seemed to play death metal music on a continuous loop. The mix of songs is oddly eclectic. They mainly play pop songs but then a Nirvana song will come on followed by a Rick James song and then the theme song from Friends. I hate running, but if a song comes on that I like then I will hop onto the tread mill and crank it up to around 8 and run for about half a mile (or until the song is over). Some songs that I could relate to from our last visit were, “Walk like an Egyptian” by the Bangles. I remember hearing this song during Lady Pioneer basketball games when I must have been around 6 years old. Another song, that is a must for any gym, is the one hit wonder by the group Right Said Fred, “I’m too Sexy.”

We try and do something that is memorable but most days are just ho hum. We went by the fish market in Georgetown to get some fresh fish for the first time. Splayed out in front of us was an assortment of tuna, yellowtail, and red snapper. I was disappointed in the cost, $5 per pound, but the fish was very good and maybe I can find a place that is a little cheaper next time. Considering that you can get a fresh Maine lobster for $6 per pound, I was hoping for a better deal. The fisherman wasn’t really into conversing and all I could get out of him was he went out 12 miles to catch the fish. Upon seeing the fish heads and guts, Michael immediately declared that he felt sorry for the fish.

This past week I’ve been working but all of the public schools have been out on holiday. The special needs staff are made up of speech therapists, occupational therapists, and educational psychologists. We all share a big office in Georgetown, which is where we report to when we are required to work, but school is not in session. By Friday of this week, everyone was definitely ready for the weekend. I was discussing IQ tests with Stephanie, of the ed. psychs, and then told her that I wanted her to give me an IQ test. A full battery would have taken around one hour, so she gave me an abbreviated version. I’ve always considered myself a hard worker and attributed whatever successes that I may have had to hard work along with a lot of help from others. So with that in mind I told the ed. psych that I hoped my IQ would be an 84, putting me in the overachiever category. Anything between 85 and 115 is considered to be average with 100 being the norm. The IQ test was only comprised of two parts, a visual spatial portion that tests the subjects ability to determine patterns and a verbal section that requires the subject to define a word. With some lucky guesses, I made it to the end of the visual spatial portion. I told Stephanie I was going to destroy the verbal subtest. I was feeling pretty good about myself especially when the word achromatic came up which I had heard the root word in a song one time. However, all of the words after that were really tough and I immediately hit the ceiling.

At the conclusion of the test I immediately declared (jokingly) that it was culturally biased and the results were not a true reflection of my abilities. My score was a 109, which put me in the 73rd percentile. Turns out my high school guidance counselor was right, I am an underachiever. Stephanie said it could have been higher if I would have put more effort into the test, but I told her that I usually quit quite easily so it was actually a valid score.

Random Facebook worthy pictures and comments
Michael and I went exploring along the coast outside of our apartment and found some black spiny sea urchins in a small lagoon. Twice we have seen a sun halo which is the sun’s rays passing through ice crystals. It looks a little freaky.

A couple of pictures from the beach yesterday.

And I must write something related to radio. It continues to be great fun to generate a pileup using 100 watts usually into Europe and the U.S. Conditions into Japan have not been very good which I think is a combination of the time of year and propagation. I spoke to my dad on 40 SSB one night. The 5 element 40 meter Yagi is loud! His signal peaked around 50 over S9 on the meter during our conversation running a KW. I’ve been using the club’s Icom 756 when I get on the air. It is much easier to not have to lug the TS590 from our apartment to the station. Seems to be a really good rig. I should have an amplifier in a couple of weeks, which I’m hoping will enable me to get on from our apartment with a loud enough signal to get a nice run going.