Coin me crazy

At first glance, and only at first glance, can you tell which of these quarters belong to which commonwealth country/Brit territory? If they were to be found jingling around in your pocket or wallet and you were looking for the appropriate coin, would you be able to separate it from its cousins that have also mistakenly made their way into your pocket/wallet? This has been my dilemma for the past four years.




Canadian quarters mixed up with Bermuda quarters mixed up with Cayman quarters. What does not help is that they all bear the image of their Head of State, Queen Elizabeth. It is quite the annoyance when you're in a rush and you find yourself short of change, only to dig deeper into your wallet and find that you yet again forgot to clear your wallet off the lesser needed unvaluable change.



So, at first glance can you match the coin to the country?

Auto lock

It's always a little bit of a lifestyle change when you move from a big city to a smaller island. Many fail to understand the reason behind the little habits that we have accumulated and exhibit over the years from our big city life. Until shit hits the fan...or so to speak.

Like...locking your car doors while driving around. Car jacking is all too common in big cities and locking your car doors could make the biggest difference. One would NOT want to have their vehicle carjacked in the middle of winter because one could be left stranded outside. They say, in Canada a person can die from just being outside during the winter. Not something you'd want to have happen to you at any point.

It's a force of habit, I reckon. Makes no sense to have just the front doors locked while cruising the streets, so I always find myself reminding the driver to lock all doors while we are driving off, or if I'm the driver, then I find myself doing it. Because car jacking does happen on smaller islands too. And when it does there's such shock and surprise, which I fail to understand. Just because you're on an island, and crime may not make an appearance everyday, or every week for that matter, doesn't mean you'll never be touched.

This carjacking incident took place a couple of months ago, and soon followed reminders that one, especially women, should ensure their doors are locked while they're driving around. Now if you've been doing this all along, then you're golden. But if not, now's the time to start, because you never know when you're going to be a victim. Anywhere.

House of Nemo

I must have watched Finding Nemo at least 50 times. Don't be shocked. It was a long time ago and yes, even though I was that much older, what can I say, it was a very well done animated film. And when you think of Nemo, you inevitably think of his home and recall how difficult it was for him to pronounce it - anemenemone!

Which is why it thrilled me to no end to spot this during our snorkel at Kaibo a few weeks ago. This Sea Anemone was in relatively shallow water almost too easy to miss amidst a seabed of seaweed and other underwater greenery. But spot I did and in proper and usual fashion pictures were taken. Can we say Anemone?

And what is a Sea Anemone? Believe it or not, it's also a predatory animal, with it's tips that sting and temporarily stun prey as they are attracted to its pretty colours. Clown fish like Nemo, make their home in the Sea Anemone as they are immune to the stings emanating from the Anemone.

I've also attached a video, because that swaying is so mesmerising, I did not want you to miss out on it.

Badda Bing Badda Boom

Celebrating something in Cayman? Light up the fireworks. On any given weekend one is guaranteed to see fireworks somewhere on the island. Cayman loves its fireworks and will set them off for whatever reason that may be. This is the only place where you'll be driving around town and can and will pull up for some impromtu fireworks show. Every weekend. Don't believe me? Start looking...

Starry eyed

If I stay at work late enough I have the delightful company of one of my co-worker's daughter (aged four), who comes in at the end of the day for 15 minutes or so. She'll make a straight bee line for my desk, just because she knows that's where she has to go if she wants her own personal visual tour of the underwater creatures. 'I wanna see fish', was her statement today. She had previously seen my videos & pictures on Stingrays and all she could say as she stared open mouthed at the screen was WOW. I then realised that I hadn't updated the blog with any fish pics per se, and had to delve into my personal album to show her some Starfish pictures. Yes that's right, I said Starfish. We went all the way up to Kaibo a few Sundays ago and were able to spot quite a few Starfish. Hubby was sorely tempted to take one home with us and even asked if we were. I have to admit I was too, but I said it would be too cruel. That was before I found out that Starfish cause much damage to coral reefs. Perhaps next time...except I was told that it reeks as it dries.

For some Starfish may not be a big deal, but to me it is! STARFISH! How often do you get to pick up Starfish off an ocean floor? As you can see these are of a decent size. Check out that underside, whereupon you can feel a slight suction motion if you were to place your palm flat against the underside. And just to show you how big a deal this is, one of my high school friends who now lives in Aussie had this to say: You just run into starfish just like that!....*sigh*...here we gotta go to Sea World to get a glimpse of the buggars :)

Doing what?

...So, what do you do?

It's a very common opening starter of a question that expats are often asked here in Cayman. For some this may feel like the norm, for others not so much. A couple of weeks ago I overheard a couple of women talking about how this is such a norm of a question for North Americans to ask, while noting that in France, for example people just don't ask questions like these.

Which got me thinking...Why do we North Americans have this incessant need to find out what it is that one does for a living. Does it make a difference? Does it define who a person is or make/break them?

It's even worse here on the island. Bermuda was the same where expats take it to a whole new level...after the 'what do you do' question, it's the 'Where do you work?' follow up and then when they are told the name of a company that they don't recognise, a quizzical look is borne. Further explaining is mandatory and if one isn't given, you're then asked, 'Well, where is that? What is that?'

It is often easy to forget that at times people just don't want to divulge where they work? How is any of that important? A little semblance of privacy in a place where nothing is private is a good thing.

And sometimes it pays to remember: You are not what you do, you are what you are.