Moving to STT....

Someone once remarked: The Americans who discourage you from moving abroad probably dont own a passport and the remaining few who encourage you are those who own a passpot. Before living in the VI for 18 months, not one person questioned my move to STT.

Now that I am moving to Korea, my friends are responding like your peers and parents. Last night I sat at a bar with a bunch of old high school friends, and explained my reasons for teaching English in Asia. They were baffled. I looked at them, their dead-end jobs, monotonous lives, then widened my arms and said "this is why I am leaving."

Take the risk. If family is that important to you, remember this, you will have something interesting to tell your grandkids many years from now.

In regards to employment, you will have to be more specific about work preference, work history and education.

Yeah it might be tough finding a job during that time as we are moving into our "slow season" here. Depending on what you do, of course. It might be tough to find a job in the tourist/restauraunt/bar/boating line of work. Fortunately for me, I already had a job when I moved down here. But I know a lot of people who moved here and didn't, they were just in the right place at the right time and found a suitable job.

Before I moved here (STT) almost three years ago, I was a little hesitant at first, but now I feel like it's the best thing I've ever done for my self. So now I wont have any regrets when I get older.

As for my family, yeah it was tough being away from them at first, but there are several people I met here that were in the same boat as me being away from their families also. I guess that helped me out. Also, my family was so supportive of me moving down here, saying that they wish they did something like that when they were my age.

Good luck and hope everything works out.

Jen: What kind of work are you looking for? Is your on-island friend helping you? If you cannot keep yourself afloat for a period of time- a couple of months or so, you may get nervous.

My belief is that you should have a time line. Tell yourself you will try living here for a year and then re-evaluate. That will help you focus your goals- do you want to learn to sail? To scuba dive? If at the end of the time period you are not at all about the VI, you can always go back and say that you tried it.

Thank you all so much for your input. To be more specific about a job... I have a lot of experience in administrative work, payroll, ap/ar, and the likes... I also have experience with event planning and decorating.. Thank you all once again.. Do you think I may have luck in these areas over there?

Well, the larger hotels are frequently looking for event planners, but they tend to work you to death. Check with The Reef, Sugar Bay and the Ritz. You may have to start in an entry level position, but if you are a hard worker, you will do well.

When you say administrative work, payroll- can you do bookkeeping? That seems to be needed by many of the smaller businesses around.

Get some bartending experience--very profitable and useful in the Carribean context.

My friend, who had similiar work experience, worked at the Ritz as a server on the beach. She made faily good money. Great way to get a tan and see the occasional actor--if that is your thing. She ran into several members of the Friends cast.

Also, contact Botanical Gardens near Megan's Bay. I used to cater there part time; however, I think there are full time positions. Its a great gig; I think I was compensated with food, booze and 100$ for five-seven hours of work.

Also, if you didnt graudate from college, you should look into UVI.

One thing about the Ritz I thought you might like to know. They are about to undergo a major renovation project from August-early November. So positions the might be scarce.