Am I famous yet?

This past week I was invited to talk to students at NST (National School of Technolody). This is a small school granting Associate Degrees in South Miami-Dade County. It was an oportunity to talk about my book, but also to express views about living abroad, adjusting and adapting to new places, making the best of every move and contributing to your new home. The students were attentive, more or less involved and if I could make one of them a writer, I did well.

BUT, does this mean I am now famous? or at least that people will talk about me? Who knows? I have friend that teaches at NST and she asked me, reinforcing what we all know: is not who you are but who you know.....I am very grateful, don't get me wrong. It is wonderful to be recognized and to be made feel important.

Being famous involves more than one talk, surely. The trick is to stay out there to be talked about, right? In this time and age, everyone is famous for something or another... or just because you're famous. No great achievements are required. I don't know if I want that: fame for the sake of fame. So maybe, I don't care to be famous after all. What I want is to put out there the easy social interactions, the friendships, the way you can truly make a difference in your community, the sunsets, the beaches, the slow pace, the whole lifestyle you find in the Tropics. When I was actually living in there, I took so much for granted. Everything was there for me to enjoy, and I thought it would be forever. It didn't.

This time of the year, for example, Curaçao is getting ready for suspended animation. School is almost out, expats are going home for the Summer, locals are planning vacations.... everything stops: children's after school lessons, adults' club activities, meetings of any organization. The heat and the rhythm of the Tropics is really felt. When I was there, it was annoying and a bit depressing, now I miss it. What to do?

Here I go!

After publishing my book last year, my publisher suggested I get my own website. Wishful thinking! I am not very good at anything technological, you could say I am computer challenged. So after much procrastinating, and then trying and trying, I was unable to get what I wanted. My son suggested this, a simple blog, to start with. So much easier he said... you were right! This was so easy and stress free. Now I have it and all I need to do is sit at my computer and write.... and writing I can do, it's second nature to me. So here I go!

Four years ago, my husband and I moved back to the States after more than twenty years living in Curaçao, a small Caribbean island that is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. As you can imagine, this was far from easy. Even though we moved to Miami and everyone told me the lifestyle was similar, the beaches beautiful and the people cosmopolitan. As we say in Dutch: NEE... to all the aforementioned. Not when you have lived in the Tropics. Florida can be beautiful, but it's a far cry from the real thing. I cannot help but miss what I left behind; probably always will.

So this is what the blog is all about. Ramblings on the things I no longer enjoy and a venue to write about them and share them with others like myself. Don't get me wrong! This is not about whining, comparing or complaining, this is about reminiscing. And reminisce I'll do! Hopefully, you will share your memories, experiences and anecdotes of your life in the Tropics.