Feeling Deflated

Thanks Wanderer- I am not very rich or very poor. Hopefully I can help fill in that middle gap.

You are welcome. Not being poor will help with your relocation, should you decide to do it. The jobs on the island pay about 30% less than comparable jobs in the states, and the cost of living is about 30% higher.

Wanderer-I've been reading that about the cost of living and wages. It's different because the places I've lived in the states are not like that. Meaning moving to Florida meant lower wages but it also meant a lower cost of living. Living in the New England means higher wages but a higher cost of living. I am good at being frugal, I'm not too picky, but it's different when wages are lower and COL is higher. Where will I cut corners when needed? Guess I will figure that out. This year I am focusing a bit on increasing my freelance writing business so that I may have that as extra income in addition to an outside position. And the writing I can do from anywhere....like the beach. Or a beach bar. Or my front porch. Or a hill overlooking the ocean. 🙂

Where will I cut corners when needed?

Many people relocate to VI to simplify their lives and to escape the continental "rat race". A simplified life implies lower cost of living. So, this may come naturally, without looking for the corners to cut.

This year I am focusing a bit on increasing my freelance writing business so that I may have that as extra income in addition to an outside position. And the writing I can do from anywhere....like the beach. Or a beach bar. Or my front porch. Or a hill overlooking the ocean. 🙂

That's a huge advantage that you'd bring with you to the island. That is, not being dependent on a local economy. There are tons of people who come to VI, and take multiple jobs in the service sector, to sustain themselves.

Well you nailed it with me Wanderer. I am all about simplifying. I've been working on becoming a full fledged minimalist. If I don't LOVE it or NEED it I don't want it. And some of the things I love too, if I don't need them. I recently downsized from a 4 bedroom house with caged pool etc to a small two bedroom apartment. I am loving the time I have freed up for myself just not having to clean that large of a space! This bit by the hilarious George Carlin says a lot about how I feel about having too much stuff. And it has only become worse since he did this, IMO. https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?p=george+carlin+stuff&ei=UTF-8&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-002

There already is a board driven by West Indians! It's the viconsortium!!!
(well, the message section below the news stories is sort of a board)
There you can see the kinds of topics and discussions that West Indians have.

Thanks for pointing me to viconsortium, IJ. It's fascinating to compare the VIMoving (mostly white transplants) with viconsortium (mostly West Indians). Here is a sample of a a few recent topics:

-- On tropical storm Danny
VIMoving: Be prepared! Be prepared! Be prepared!
VIconsortium: Good! We need rain!

-- On the arrest of former governor de Jongh
VIMoving: The justice is served! Hurrah!
VIconsortium: De Jongh was a good governor, but his wife is fat and ugly.

-- On the never ending waves of crime reports
VIMoving: WTF is going on? Where is the police? And the feds?
VIconsortium: Let's pray for the families of the dead. Ain't nothing else we can do.

-- On the death of Guy “Doc Deep” Garman during a deep dive
VIMoving: Let's carefully consider the risks and the benefits of deep diving, before jumping to conclusions about whether Dr. Garman was reckless or justifiably adventurous, and whether it was worth dying for.
VIconsortium: Yeah, but what 'bout that rescue tether? And how are our dumb police officers going to retrieve the body?

This bit by the hilarious George Carlin says a lot about how I feel about having too much stuff.

Haha. I love that Carlin's dialog. "I have too much stuff, so I need to buy a bigger house so that I can buy more stuff". My wife and I quote this to each other all the time.

But yeah, seriously, the sensory feedback that you'll experience in VI will hopefully flush out your brain out of the "Hmm, what kind of car am I going to buy next?" type of thinking. That happened to me in a dramatic fashion, during my visit to STX. Caribbean sea has a lot of healing power.

Thanks for getting it Wanderer. I feel like I am already at an advantage over many of the material obsessed in America. I drive a modest little car, etc. However, even I feel the "keeping up with the Joneses" brainwashing creep in once in awhile and I have to beat it off. Looking forward to a Caribbean meltdown. Keeping the Florida Keys as a possible back up plan but really, I kind of hate back up plans.

I took a look at VI Consortium. Interesting reading!

Looking forward to a Caribbean meltdown.

I look forward to reading your observations about your PMV. Should be interesting to compare notes.

-- On tropical storm Danny
VIMoving: Be prepared! Be prepared! Be prepared!
VIconsortium: Good! We need rain!

-- On the arrest of former governor de Jongh
VIMoving: The justice is served! Hurrah!
VIconsortium: De Jongh was a good governor, but his wife is fat and ugly.

-- On the never ending waves of crime reports
VIMoving: WTF is going on? Where is the police? And the feds?
VIconsortium: Let's pray for the families of the dead. Ain't nothing else we can do.

-- On the death of Guy “Doc Deep” Garman during a deep dive
VIMoving: Let's carefully consider the risks and the benefits of deep diving, before jumping to conclusions about whether Dr. Garman was reckless or justifiably adventurous, and whether it was worth dying for.
VIconsortium: Yeah, but what 'bout that rescue tether? And how are our dumb police officers going to retrieve the body?

Here is another one.

-- On the merits of appointing the Attorney General vs independently electing the Attorney General
VIMoving: According to article 23b paragraph 45e of the Wisconsin penal code, inter alia,...
VIconsortium: You go to hell, Mapo!

The soft bigotry in this thread is ridiculous. About one out of every five comments on this blog is useful. The same is true for the consortium, and most other blogs on the internet. Some of the commenters there are very informed and educated (see the Guy Garman discussion). Even the DeJongh thread has some gems.

Also, if the term Native Virgin Islander (and the historical reasons that distinction is important) is offensive to you, you have a great deal to learn. There is a centuries-old tradition of fairer skinned people coming into the islands and: 1) extracting its private sector wealth (rum, cane, hotels, restaurants, etc); 2) segregating themselves from the local population (no explanation necessary); 3) and leading much better lives generally than your average native Virgin Islander. The same is true today, and it will be true 100 years from now. The average white child will always receive a better education than the average West Indian in the VI. It's just the way it is. As a representative of the colonial host country, you'd be wise to try to understand the reasons those distinctions are important.

I have many friends in Texas, and I've spent a great deal of time there. I am not offended when Texans bask in their almost traitorous pride. I SHUT MY TRAP, immerse myself in their culture, and have a great time! Transplants often come here with a disrespect for locals that they would not express toward Texans or BAWSTONIANS. West Indian locals aren't allowed to have a culture--yours is supreme, and any expression of theirs is denounced as anti-white bigotry. If more transplants did like I did in Texas, they would make many local friends and would realize that playing the race card is weak. I reckon, though, that they would not go to Texas or BAWSETON and disparage the local institutions present there, as discriminatory and darn nigh traitorous as they might be. I don't even think they would do so in Jamaica. There's something about the colonial relationship here that makes it okay in their minds.

The fact that we prefer to seek information about the islands from a website filled with transplants (as opposed to one populated by natives) is itself interesting. Far too deep for me to unpack here. But suffice it to say our online blogging presence is as segregated as the territory is generally. We wouldn't want to socialize, even online, with those rough Consortium-dwellers, would we? 😎

"The unexamined life is not worth living." Socrates. I'd go a step further than Socrates--I'd say the unexamined life is incredibly boring! :@)

I am a native Virgin Islander.

That's a highly controversial term, popularized by Adelbert Bryan, and it's tightly associated with racial bigotry and rejection of "outsiders".

It's not so controversial when Rick Perry refers to himself as a native Texan, though, right? I think I know why! :D(td)(td)

Monogram- Thank you for the thoughtful post. My first post and question about the islands was about whether or not I would have any luck developing relationships with "locals." I use the word with lack of knowledge as to what is correct here, but what I meant was that I want to be immersed in another culture. I want to get to know people who live differently than myself and I want to live differently as well. I don't want to go to an island to live and then associate with only other "transplants" (again, what word should I use here?)

To be honest, my first choice of islands was not US territories for this exact reason, wanting to be involved with another culture, not just observing it from afar or even worse, trying to stay away from it completely. I was a little afraid that the US territory would not be "different" enough for what I was looking for. ( When I visited Italy I did my best to find the off the beaten track places that Italians would frequent, where English wasn't spoken as frequently.) I have decided however that while my daughter is still in school and moving with me, the ease of moving to a US territory is going to be my best option. I have visited many Caribbean islands (unfortunately for only a day each because of all the cruises I can easily get out of Florida) and my favorite so far was Dominica. The most rural, the least touristy, the most natural and untouched, and some of the happiest people (although the people on St. Maartin and Barbados were extremely friendly and helpful as well.)

I will keep what you have written in mind as I continue my research into USVI and hopefully move there next year. I would personally love to be involved with the "local" "native" ?? community as much as possible.

Monogram, thank you for your comments and participation in this thread.

If we all live, here, work here, and shop here aren't we all "locals"

to monogram:

Speaking for myself, and for many others on this board (based on many posts I've read), I don't prefer to seek information about the islands from a website filled with transplants (as opposed to one populated by natives)

In fact I read many boards because they all provide useful information in what transplants AND locals are thinking about the subjects that affect all who live here.

And I don't look at them as those rough Consortium-dwellers, either. Some are rough, for sure, but many posters offer very thoughtful comments, and some have what seems to be insider info on the VI govt, which I find fascinating to read.

I've looked for other message boards but not found any others with as much traffic as this one. There used to be a really good (well...interesting anyway) one that Michael Springer ran but it closed down a few years ago. What are some other good ones with lots of daily posts?

vicanuck, yeah there aren't many boards out there.

I used to read Springer's cruciansinfocus regularly. It was quite entertaining and eye-opening to say the least.

Here are two more - they are not as good as vimovingcenter

virgin islands online

trip advisor

ps on boards

The comments sections on stcroixsource, stthomassource and stjohnsource usually have postings from natives and transplants alike.

stxsailor-thats kind of how i feel. we live here, spend money here, work here and have friends here-so we are local.

we were not born here so we are not native. i am fine with that. i am from maryland and i am a marylander

Or "Born Again Crucian"

lol

One of the benefits of any forum like this is also one of its pitfalls. People come here to discuss current events on the island, and naturally things like crime and corruption get a LOT more discussion than what an awesome mango melee we just had, or how great the ag fair was. But we process these things, we incrementally make our island and ourselves better, and we move on.

But when someone searches the archives here with an eye toward learning what it's like to live here, and they search for "crime" for example, they get the emotional, unfiltered, first-person firehose of discussion for as long as they can stomach reading.

For me, the possibility of crime is never too far from my mind in an awareness context, but in the 25 years I've lived here my various stateside family has been touched by a similarly modest degree of crime where they are that I have here.

Hope this helps.

[One of the best posts I've read here. Thank you.]

Wronging the VI natives? Na we will leave that to your elected officials 😀

ALL A WE!

Having read what "wanderer has posted in the 350+ POSTS during the last year, including the brief visits and now the extensive commentaries I have to say I have maybe never seen such misinformed information and off base opinions spouted by one poster in any forum in my experience.

A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion. - Solomon