In Pursuit of the Caribbean

The idea to live in the United States Virgin Islands came about in 2007 when we were living in Germany on Fulbright Scholarships. Our stay in Germany was about to end, our visas were about to expire and our monthly stipend was about to end. Both of us tried hard to secure other forms of employment in Germany, but our efforts were to no avail since we are not EU citizens. Having planned a wedding for July 28th in the US anyway, we reluctantly returned to the other side of the Atlantic.


Before our reluctant return, we contemplated our future together quite often. We asked ourselves many questions such as:
Where do we want to live? DC, Boston, Asheville, Charleston, Charlotte, Annapolis, the United States Virgin Islands?
What do we want to do? Teacher, businessman, government worker?
That sort of thing...


We came up with plenty of ideas and plans, and decided to go after all of them and follow through with whatever came first. Shortly after we got married a job offer in Boston came up for Justin. An offer we thought was too good to refuse at the time, so off we went to the heart of New England.


Our time in the Boston area started off optimistically. Justin had a job at what seemed to be a rapidly growing small company, and a few months later I found a job working at a small private school. We made wonderful friends, enjoyed seeing new things in New England, and even looked forward to a New England winter. Things were going great. At least we thought they were...


After almost two years in Boston Justin lost his job due to bad economic times. He desperately searched for jobs in the middle of a nasty recession, and luckily he found one a few months later at another small organization in the area. That job did not go so well either, and a year later he found himself looking for jobs again.


While all of this was going on an onset of family drama (ailing family members, etc) also occurred, and I was feeling confused about my own career path. We could not help feeling as if Boston was some kind of bad luck charm in our lives. During this this three year period of little ups and a lot of downs, we kept revisiting a discussion we had shortly before leaving Germany about living in the United States Virgin Islands.


I remember the discussion quite well. We were sitting in Justin's place at the time discussing our future at great length when Justin mentioned he wanted to live in the US Virgin Islands. I thought he was not serious at first.  I reminded him that he hates sand and does not like hot weather, and I brushed it off as some idea that would never come to fruition. However, this idea never went away in the 3 years we lived in Boston. Justin applied to several jobs in the USVI during that time, but without any success. Mainly because he could not convince the people that he was serious about working and living there. This is something I will discuss in a later blog entry, but unfortunately that is how it works.


After several attempts to obtain a job here in the USVI, Justin seemed to stumble upon hope in February 2010. He found a job, which would be an excellent career move for him, so he applied to it. He also contacted the person in charge of the organization. Within minutes he received a promising phone call that got the ball rolling and began a 10 month job application process.


While all of this was going on we did a lot of research about the Virgin Islands. We purchased and read the Settler's Handbook, religiously followed the St. Thomas Blog, read local newspapers online, tracked the weather and delved into the VI Moving Center website. Then in late November 2010, Justin received word that he had finally been offered a position in St. Thomas, which prompted Justin to go on a one week pre- move visit. (Pre-move visits will also be discussed at a later point in time.)


After all of these efforts a decision was made and we snatched the opportunity to move to St. Thomas. This blog will chronicle our own unique experiences in living in STT, not only to amuse our family and friends, but to also provide critical insight on what it is really like to live in paradise for those who may be considering a move to the USVI.


Welcome to our little corner in the Virgin Islands!