Reflections of 2017

Today marks the end of the year 2017. It also marks the 50th post to my blog Retiring in Paradise that I started in October 2016. I wondered if I could find enough things to write about for a weekly blog and here I am at post number 50! Please note, you can find each of the following blogs in the Archive section on the right side of my home page after selecting the correct month.

Before I get into my year end review, let me tell you about next week. Most of you probably think that monkeys are cute! To me, they aren’t cute at all! However, I do understand why people are fascinated by them. I have a few stories and a couple of personal experiences with these “cute” creatures. Tune in to RetiringinParadise.com next week to read the post. Until then, let’s do a review 2017.

As I reflect over the past year, I think about 3 of the interesting people I interviewed including 101 year old Enid Agard born January 19, 1916, she’ll be 102 in a few weeks “Bajans Live Long Lives” (February 19, 2017).  “Chase the Coconut Man”  (November 19, 2017) and  “Bajans Are Strong Despite Disabilities” (December 2, 2017), are both interesting men from Scarborough in Oistins.

There were also 3 posts about my misunderstanding the Bajan dialect with “Bajan Dialect Part 1 & Bajan Dialect Part 2″  (April 2 & November 26, 2017) and with “Bajan Confusion” (November 12, 2017). Each is about my struggles understanding the Bajan dialect. In fact, the Bajan dialect sounds like a different language to many that are not familiar with the West Indian accent.

It spoke about the weather 3 times. The hurricane season for the Caribbean which coincides with rainy season was historically bad in 2017. Fortunately, Barbados was spared from damage this season! “Bajans Don’t Like Cold Weather”  (March 12, 2017), explained that some Bajans think there are three seasons and not two. There is a rainy season, the dry season and believe it or not, winter!  “Bajan Water” (September 30, 2017) and the “The Rainy Season”  (November 5, 2017) were about weather in Barbados.

There were 3 cultural post that will help you learn more about the Bajan culture and they are “Bajans Will Talk” (January 29, 2017),  “Bajans Do Chores” (February 5, 2017). It’s amazing how household chores have changed through the generations and “Bajans Ain Leffin Home” (February 26, 2017). 

Finally 3 of my favorite post were “Bajans Don’t Knock” (April 9, 2017), “Bajans Get Their Mail” (January 22, 2017), and “Bajans Give Directions.” (October 22, 2017), Bajans are very helpful but don’t ask them for directions!

So there you have it, 15 interesting blogs in 2017 that you can take look at. Of course, as I mentioned earlier, my archives contain all 50 of my blog posts.

Now, what’s new for 2018? I plan more trips, adventures, meeting interesting people and of course dealing with those pesky monkeys. Also, I have a goal of completing my book that has a working title Retiring In Paradise, Barbados! A Guidebook to Understanding the Bajan Culture and a Road Map to Retiring in Barbados!