At The Movies

For anyone who knows our family even slightly, you will figure out very quickly that something we love to do is going to the movies.  When Jay and I were dating in college, we saw a lot of movies as part of the activities hosted by student council.  Even when our girls were born, we still went to the movies.  Maddie was about six months old for her first flick, Madeline (how appropriate!).  Morgan, on the other hand, went through her “rough stage” during the toddler years and there was about an 18 month span when we didn’t go to the theater at all!  Glad that’s over:)

Now that we live in Aruba, going to the movies is still part of our lives.  When we have visited in the past, we have gone to the theater located at the mall in Palm Beach.  There are actually three theaters here to choose from – two at the mall and one at the Renaissance.  Tonight we tried out the theater at the Renaissance to see “Secret Life of Pets”.

Going to the movies here is much the same as back in Arizona, minus the big crowds.  It’s also way more affordable.  Tonight, our family of four spent less than $32 for the four tickets, two huge sodas, and two large popcorns.  Not bad!

Speaking of popcorn, the snack area of movies in Aruba are a little different than what we are used to.  They still have the “regular” popcorn, nachos, and candy, but there are also choices like chicken caesar salads, wings, french fries, and wrap sandwiches.  You can also purchase beer and wine.  Very interesting!

Another difference in movies here is the previews.  During the preview time, you will see a preview for an upcoming movie followed by an ad for a local business, a couple more previews, an ad or two, etc.  There is some Spanish mixed in with the English and sometimes subtitles as well.  It didn’t happen this time, probably because we were seeing a “kid friendly” movie, but I remember last time we were here, the previews were not ‘cleaned up’ and when they previewed an R rated movie, you saw an R rated preview, if you know what I mean!

The other thing that we became aware of is that the release times for movies are not the same here as in the U.S.  For example, the movie BFG has been playing for a few weeks in the U.S., but isn’t scheduled to start showing here until August 11th.  On the other hand, Bad Moms has been playing for more than a week in Aruba, but doesn’t come out in the U.S. until this coming Friday.  So the moral of that story is not to pay attention to the release dates we see on the TV stations, but just check the local movie listings to see what is really showing when.

To sum it up, we have made no movie sacrifices whatsoever by moving to Aruba.  Well, I take that back because nothing can compare to Harkins Theaters in Arizona and their unbelievably delicious popcorn and $1.50 refill cups, but things are pretty good in the movie business here.  Plus, you do get to drive by the crystal clear blue waters on the way to the theaters, which does NOT happen in Arizona!!!  Yep – I think we’re good!

Our First Week in Review

Today marks the completion of week one in our new home, Aruba.  Everything is fantastic.  It has been a whirlwind of a week getting things settled for us here, and also still dealing with issues back in the U.S.

There was one particularly bad day when it started off by finding out that our dog could not board the plane she was scheduled to leave on because her health certificate dates followed Aruba rules and not U.S. rules.  In Aruba, they have a 15 day window, but when flying within the  U.S., the health certificate must be issued within 10 days of flight.  Long story short, we have a wonderful friend who has taken care of every detail of issuing a new certificate, all along taking care of our sweet Molly and now she is scheduled to join us this coming Thursday.  We miss her so very badly, but are so thrilled she is in good hands.  There are no words to describe how thankful we are for friends who are willing to sacrifice their time and go out of their way to handle this.  Kim, again, I love you!

That very same day, we also found out there had been an issue with shipping our car and household goods and everything was still at the port in Houston.  The problem was, no one ever bothered to tell us there was an issue until a million phone calls were made to find out the status of the shipment.  Long story short, please retract my previous shout out to APX in Miami.  Virginie is no longer my best friend.  I was VERY upset with her for not doing her job, and she was very apologetic, but that doesn’t fix the fact that she waited THREE WEEKS to tell me there was an issue.  Now our things are scheduled to arrive on August 10th.  Let’s just move on…

There has been A LOT of shopping this week.  We had to stock up on food, which is an extra task when just arriving because there are so many things to purchase.  We have been to a store just about every day we have been here.  I have vowed not to return for at least three days at this point.  Our favorite store is PriceSmart, a close second is Ling & Sons.  We did go to Super Foods, but I feel like they are more expensive and don’t have everything like Ling & Sons.  We have also visited a local market just at the end of our street, and Cheng’s.  Probably some others I am missing.

For household goods, we bought a lot of things at the Island Asia Store.  They are good for things like plastic tubs, laundry baskets, organizing items, and some linens (dish towels, etc.).  We also discovered Flora (next to PriceSmart).  All I have to say is “Oh My!”  I love that place and can’t wait to be able to spend a few dollars there!  It is all outdoor things from patio furniture to bug spray, but also a ton of decorating items.  Seriously loved that place.  Another good one was Win Tung.  My Aruban friend referred us there because we needed to purchase a desk to set up my office.  She was correct – jackpot!  We purchased a desk for $257 USD and they will be delivering it on Monday.  No extra charge, just delivery of anything you can’t fit in your car.  LOVE IT!

And now we shall talk about my favorite – pool time and beach time.  Among the chaos of getting settled, we have managed to be in the pool and/or at the beach every single day.  This is why we live here.  This is what it’s all about.  We have been to Eagle Beach several times, and we have snorkeled at Tres Trapi.

We are looking forward to meeting more people and being able to enjoy the island together.  We live directly across from a football field (soccer?), and we walked over there one evening because there is always activity.  We met a very friendly man named Eddie and he told us about the field, which is beautiful by the way, and the teams that play there.  Right now it is off season, but when they play, it’s teams from 4 years old and up.  There is a team preparing for a big match against Colombia on August 4th.  We are very excited to see how it will be living next to that event!

Another great way I have “met” people and hope to meet face to face very soon, is through a Facebook group called Aruba!  I joined this group and have had several new Facebook friends as a result, private messages, and hope to get together with a couple of these ladies in the next week or so.  We also learned of some great volunteering opportunities that we will be looking into.

Something else we love is FOOD!  Because of being budget conscious, we have limited our eating out for now, but we did sneak in a few trips.  Our first night here, we went to Hollywood Smokehouse for some yummy barbecue.  We also had Taco Bell near Eagle Beach (it’s better here than anywhere!).  We tried a local chicken place, Kikoriko, which turned into an adventure.  The people there did not speak English well, and we ended up ordering a Family Meal instead of a lunch special, plus two other combos.  They must have thought we were crazy!  But it was very good food and we had leftovers for several lunches.  Another favorite on the island is Linda’s Pancakes.  Can’t even describe how good this place is!  We have also had Pizza Hut, food court at PriceSmart and frosty’s from Wendy’s.  Goodness – now that I type it out, we have eaten out a bit more than I realized:)

All in all, it’s been a great week and I cannot wait for further adventures.  So very, very thankful to be here.

 

The First 48 (Part II)

We have been in Aruba for more than 48 hours.  It has been glorious!  After a rather rocky exit from the U.S., the entry into Aruba was beyond smooth.  You no longer even speak to a live agent at customs, but now just enter a little gated area, scan your passport, and you are onto the luggage area of the airport.  Seriously, so very, very easy (please see The First 48, Part I to see the contrast).

Our EIGHT bags of luggage were already spinning around the luggage carousel when we exited customs, so we grabbed them and made our way out into the world of Aruba!  We had a car rental reservation with Jay’s Car Rental (our favorite), and their agent was waiting just as they said they would be right across the street from the exit door.  We did have to drag our bags just a little further to their van, and they loaded us up and drove to their office to pick up our car for the week while we wait for ours to arrive from the U.S.

In addition to meeting our Jay’s agent, our property manager, Lars, also met us at the car rental office.  You see, people in Aruba are just nice and they do things like this.  Like load half your luggage in their car so you can follow them to the house you are renting and you don’t have to worry about finding it yourself.  Can you tell how much I love everything right now?  Lars leads and we follow to our home in paradise.  We rented this house with pictures and a few reviews from previous vacation renters.  It was more than we could imagine.  Better than the pictures showed.  Still can’t believe we live here.  Thank you, David and Brenda, for sharing your amazing find!!!

We are now running on about two hours of sleep (sitting up in an airplane) in the past 30’ish hours, but that’s okay.  We are here.  What to do first?  Have to unpack one bag, but we were starving.  Just so happens we live literally around the corner from the most famous bakery on the island, Bright Bakery, and a Pizza Hut, so we went there for pizza and salads, checked out the bakery (yum) and just unpacked a little more.  Of course, we took a dip in our pool (amazing), then decided we needed to have Hollywood Smokehouse for dinner.  Well, the girls had fallen asleep and there was no waking them up at that point, so we made it a date night.  Pretty funny considering we were both half asleep as well!  But Hollywood Smokehouse is a delicious BBQ place located by Alhambra Casino.  A very good choice for our first night out.

The next morning (Sunday), of course we slept very late before getting started with our day.  Began with a walk around the corner to Bright Bakery.  It was about noon on Sunday, and obviously there were a lot of people stopping there on the way home from church.  And let me tell you, these people put on their Sunday best!  I saw little girls in the huge dressy dresses, guys in dress pants and ties, ladies in dresses and heels, all decked out.  The bakery was very busy and I waited my turn before getting four huge cookies of some sort, three donuts with sprinkles, and a giant cinnamon roll.  I think I need to start taking the long way around the block to get to the bakery!

After breakfast goodies, we headed to PriceSmart for our first grocery shopping adventure.  PriceSmart is the Caribbean version of Costco, Sam’s Club, etc.  What we didn’t know is that they close at 2:00 on Sunday, so we were able to get in to buy our membership cards, but ran out of time to do any shopping.  Fail!  Off to another familiar grocery store, Ling & Sons.

 

We were able to shop there and made a really huge purchase, trying to figure out what we should buy and what we should wait for was the hard part.  We’ll figure it out eventually.  Lunch this day was at Taco Bell.  Sounds kind of anti-climatic, but Taco Bell in Aruba is super yummy!  Their combos come with FRIES!!!  More unpacking, then made a spaghetti dinner.  The fresh bread we bought was probably the best part.

And yes, more pool time!  

But then, we had to hit the beach – Eagle Beach for sunset…

We have now made it to Monday morning.  Another trip to PriceSmart (when they were open this time!), but also visited the Asia Island Store first.  This store has everything and the kitchen sink – party supplies, pool supplies, tools, bikes, housewares, furniture – you name it, they probably have it.  Purchased things like laundry baskets, drawer organizers, dish towels, and food storage containers.

Then it was time to hit PriceSmart!  We were “those people” walking through the store with two, huge, heaped carts!  We bought fans, body pillows, and a ton of food items.  Fun, fun, fun!  After paying for the huge purchase, we went to the food court for lunch.

They have a lot of choices like fried chicken, pizza, cheeseburgers, hot dogs, french fries, and pizza.  Again, yum!

Enough about shopping, it’s time to go to the beach again!  We went back to Eagle Beach for some swimming and soaking in some sun.  This is what it’s all about.  Work a little, play a lot.  The First 48 was terrible, exhausting, and amazing all in one.  An emotional roller coaster that ended up in an island that makes us happy.  One Happy Island.  Thank you, Aruba, for welcoming us so wonderfully.

 

The First 48 (Part 1)

It is official – we are here.  After years of planning, Operation Toes in the Sand has been completed and we now live in Aruba!!!  Getting here was definitely NOT all the fun!  I had planned to write about the first 48 hours, however, the first 48+ minutes turned into a whole story on their own.

Friday afternoon, we had our final walk-through on our rental home in Arizona.  All was well, suitcases were packed and loaded, and we headed to the airport to fulfill our Caribbean dreams.  The day before, we received a check-in notification from Delta Airlines, but we usually don’t do online check-in since we are paying for bags, have passports to verify, etc.  So we did our final “see ya’s” (saved the toughest for last, of course!), walked happily up to the check-in kiosks, and received a message saying “see ticket agent.”  Okay.  We can do that.  After all, we are a family of four planning to leave the country.  Luckily, there was no line, so we walked up to a very sweet ticket agent named Danne and she said, “I can’t check you in without a return ticket.”  WHAT?!?!?  Never in the process of purchasing the tickets, receiving confirmations, and an online check-in have we ever been told that we could not fly to Aruba without a return ticket.  Danne went through the list of requirements on her system which stated that a Visa was required.  Well, that’s not true.  Aruba loves Americans.  Obviously, Americans aren’t quite as nice!

Trying not to panic or puke at this point, we tried everything we could.  We pulled up our acceptance letter from DIMAS stating that we have applied for residency.  No good.  We gave her a copy of our lease stating we were committed to living there for a year.  No good.  We read the wording from the Minister of Aruba stating that “an American or European can wait for his/her permit in Aruba indefinitely.”  No good.  Danne made a phone call, Danne searched in her computer to try desperately to help us.  Now the panic sets in.  What in the world?!?!?

Our only solution was to purchase a stupid return ticket, at the full refundable fare ($1,308 per person!), and get us to the gate to catch our plane.  She assured us that we would be refunded every single cent.  Luckily, I spoke to Delta again just today, and we have a confirmation that every single cent is being sent back.  I am completely freaked out thinking that there might be another family who has to endure this situation, and they might not just have $5,200+ available on a credit card to purchase a return ticket.  Then what?

My problem with this whole process was, why were we not informed of this prior to showing up at the airport?  Shouldn’t there have been some type of red flag for Delta to say they wouldn’t let us fly one way?  I honestly do not understand how they came up with their own rules when we have dotted every I and crossed every T in the process to come to this amazing island.  Aruba has no problem with us coming to live here.  They welcome Americans and make it easy as they can.  Yes, it does take forever, but at least we get to come.  Once you’re here, there’s so much happiness and beauty that it’s going to take a lot to make us upset:)

Soooo….once we practically had to run to the gate, we boarded our first of three flights, again trying not to puke, cry, scream, pass out.  We were past the point of exhausted.   We left Arizona approximately 7:00 pm Friday and landed in the magical island of Aruba around noon on Saturday.  When the plane was coming in for a landing and I had a small glimpse of the blue water and the white beach, I just started crying.  I cannot believe we are actually here.  There is still a lot to do, a lot to put away, and figure out, but we have the beach a short drive away, live in an amazing house, and most importantly, we have each other.

Happy Birthday, USA!

As we just celebrated our final 4th of July in the United States, it forced me to think about patriotism, citizenship, etc.  Yes, I really am proud to be an American.  Do I think our country is pretty screwed up right now?  Yes, that is also true.  But I am thankful to have lived in a place that allowed me the opportunity to work hard and be able to relocate to a country of my choice and fulfill our dreams.  I know that plenty of other people in this world do not have such freedoms and moving to a different country would be next to impossible.

As we close another chapter of our life in the U.S., I want to say I am thankful for all of the 4th of July celebrations we have been part of over the years.  We have celebrated with a ton of different friends, usually involving pool parties and fireworks.

SONY DSC

SONY DSC

One of our favorite 4th of July celebrations did happen to be in Aruba in 2014.  We had low expectations for the day, since this holiday really has nothing to do with Aruba.  All of the stores, restaurants, businesses are open as usual and it seems like a normal day on the island.  However, we were VERY impressed with the fireworks show that was put together in honor of their friends from the USA.

Until just a few days ago when we attended the Arizona Diamondbacks game and the fireworks after were AMAZING, the Aruba fireworks were one of the best we have ever experienced. Thank you, Aruba!  This U.S. family looks forward to many new traditions, such as celebrating the 4th of July at the beach, hopefully watching the fireworks from our boat, with new friends:)