Finding the Fishers

The Water Birthday Party

2010-07-11T22:24:00.002-04:00

"C" begged and begged me to hold a birthday party at our house that involved water... so we started planning and issued some invitations. At first only 2 families RSVP'd so I kept inviting more until we ended up with 25 kids in attendance, not counting the babies!
We played several different games. In this one we tape tissue paper to the kids' backs and made sure they all had some kind of squirting device. The point of the game was to be the last one with tissue paper. This was a great way to start getting in the water.

I also tie-dyed T-shirts for the kids and after I rinsed them (while they were still wet) I folded them neatly and stuck them in the freezer. Then at the party we pulled out the T-shirts, passed them out, and offered a prize to the kid who could get theirs on the fastest.
We also played "squash the sharks" with balloons that were painted with jaws and eyes. The only rule? Stay in the wading pool to pop yours!

We played some more games, had a water balloon fight, and the hit was the $5.00 Slip and slide. Here "C" is teaching her brother how to drink from it. I wish you could have seen how funny this was!

The cake was an absolute nightmare, and didn't turn out like they said it should, I had to make some serious time-consuming alterations, and ran out of time to finish it. These were the only pictures we got, it was cuter without all the candles!

"C" was so excited about all the neat presents she got, including an MP3 player.

She now goes around singing music at the top of her lungs everywhere we go. It's getting quite annoying...
Due to the move we never gave "R" his birthday cake, so we sang to him and gave it to him at the party. He even got a couple of gifts! He was way too tired to eat it so we put him down for a nap. Once he woke up and all the guests were gone he REALLY liked it!

Overall it was a wonderful day and I don't know if we will ever have such a successful party again. :)

We are now in Georgia!

2010-06-28T14:29:00.003-04:00

In May we rented the biggest Penske we could and with the help of lots of family, we loaded up our apartment and storage unit, said "Goodbye" and took off for Georgia.

It took 4 full days of driving, and we stopped far more often than Daddy would have preferred.

There was always someone who needed something at the next rest stop!

Thank goodness my brother-in-law was willing to come along as a 3rd driver/tremendous help for moving guru.

We never would have been able to move all our stuff without all of the fabulous help we received.

When we arrived in Georgia we spent the night with my dear, dear friend and her wonderful family. They fed us well, and provided beds for everyone so that we could get a good rest before meeting the real estate agents to get the keys and sign the papers for our new home!
I came house hunting the month before and found the property that we now live in. I looked at a lot of homes, most of them much smaller, and yucky too! The landlord was willing to make some pretty decent improvements to this home, which made a big difference since we were really considering living by my dear friend in a smaller home. I'll probably always wonder if I made the right decision, all though if we have another baby then I'll know that we absolutely needed the extra space!

Some church members helped us get all the big stuff and most of the boxes moved into the house and the garage, and then the fun started. I hadn't seen some of my stuff in 3 years, and then of course, there's all the stuff we no longer owned, and a slew of miscellaneous projects that had to be done and that I'm still working on.
It's been a lot of work, and there will be pictures soon, but for now we are just glad to be here.

It's official...

2008-10-28T10:55:00.002-04:00

I've tried several times over the last month to sit and blog, but inevitably I just feel stupid and uninspired. I've written a blog about the annoyances of owning a car here, and why I still put up with it, but didn't post it. I started one on Bible Study, but it just didn't seem to go anywhere. I do plan on getting back to those entries and finishing them, I just... need the inspiration I suppose.
So, until those are complete, I will officially announce online that Fisher baby #3 is on its way. Yes, I'm probably around 10 weeks pregnant. Now, I would love to be one of those people who doesn't mention it until they're past the scary 1st trimester, but I get so sick there is no hiding it! I have been sleeping crazy amounts of time, and feeling sick for pretty much the rest of the time. My house is a disgusting mess, and my children are being - for lack of a better word - neglected. Not really, of course, it just feels that way when they say "Mommy, can we do ______?" And I reply with a "Not now honey, Mommy isn't feeling well again." My husband and I are both mostly concerned with my inability to wake up in time to get the kiddos off to school in the morning.
Yes, life on the island is difficult. Yes, it is even more difficult when your car is giving you problems. Yes, it is even MORE difficult when you are sick ALL THE TIME. My husband reminded me yesterday that there are only 3 weeks until grandma and grandpa come, and then I will be going home with them. The bad part? 3 weeks seems like a long time, I don't think even with that interminable waiting period I will even be able to get my house half way presentable let alone ready for a full on visit, and I've been having nightmares about moving home. Nigthmares I tell you! It's ridiculous! I am so excited to move home and can not wait, so why is my subconcious freaking out about it? I can't even tell you what most of them are about, and it's important for you to understand that I have nightmares on a frequent and regular basis. The few that made any sense usually ended up being about clothing. Come on, I mean, am I really that vain??? I understand that I have been severely fashion deprived for the last 18 months, but having nightmares about clothing seems so shallow to me. I'm sure there's probably a deeper meaning, like my unease with moving back home where people are so stinking wealthy and they don't even know it and we won't have anything but debt, debt, and more debt as we try to also prepare to bring a baby into the world, but seriously, it's all going to work out, so it shouldn't be giving me nightmares!
Maybe it's all related to the hormones. I BLAME THE HORMONES. That's got to be the root of the problems... my lethargy, my nausea, my nightmares, and whatever else goes wrong.
Hmmm....
In other news, one of the new families coming in January sent my girls little presents in the mail! This was SO exciting and fun, and a week later it's still all they can talk about. "Mom, have you seen my magic wand?" (a ball point pen with feathers and a star) "Will you read me my new book again?" (fairies! oh how exciting to little girls) "Mom, can we make my BLUE Kool-Aid?" followed by a sharp whistle from a pumpkin straw that well... you know the type... they whistle! I think these fun little presents may have preserved my sanity this month.
Also, my brother went into the Missionary Training Center last week. He will be serving a religious mission in San Diego, California. We won't be seeing him for more than 3 years by the time his mission is complete and we are back home. This really hit me the day before he left, so I called to wish him well... and bawled the entire time. I am SO proud of him, and grateful for his decision to serve the Lord. I am excited to hear all about his trials and triumphs and general adventures as he shares the gospel with others. I love you, bud!
So, at least that's some kind of an update, and it's all ready time to go make lunch for the kids. Until next time...
Happy Halloween!!!

The BIG Birthday Party

2008-09-17T12:41:00.006-04:00

Sometimes kids say interesting things. Sometimes parents believe them, but most of the time we brush it off. While I was trying to teach my four-year-old how to swim a couple of months ago she told me "I will swim when I am five years old!" and refused to have anything more to do with 'learning' how to swim. She has worn a life-jacket in the water for the last year, and is consistently afraid of the water (she does just fine in the life jacket, and we go swimming on average once or more a week). I wasn't going to push the issue, I know pushing can do more harm than good, so I thought "Whatever," and let it drop.

Her birthday landed on the Saturday before the new semester started- a great day to hit the beach with a bunch of friends. We organized the trip and decided to try out a new beach - #1 Beach. It's near Batibou, which remains our undisputed favorite, all though #1 was okay. We played in the waves and had a grand old time once we got to the beach, but before we left the house I had to deal with 'attitude' from my oldest. She didn't want to go to the beach. She wanted to go to the swimming pool. I had all ready arranged for 8 families to go, including providing the transportation for two of them, so I was willing to negotiate with her. I agreed to take her swimming after spending all the morning at the beach. Crazy, I know, but I was hoping she would be too tired-out to hold me to the promise.

Yeah. Right. My children? Tired? What was I thinking?
So, after arriving home, we packed back up, applied more sunscreen, and headed to the swimming pool.
Now, the youngest, all though afraid of the water, had been exposed more often than our average one trip a week through the schools' summer program. The kids had been attending the pool with a life guard 3-4 times a week all through the summer. My daughter decided towards the end that she no longer needed a life-jacket because she was perfectly happy "practicing swimming" (her term) on the stairs of the swimming pool. These stairs are not much different than your average stairs in a pool. Not much larger or smaller, and since she was happy 'pretending to swim' (my term) and in general stayed on the stairs I was okay with the life guard monitoring her every day. Still, we made our weekly trips as a family, and I noticed little (if no) progress in her swimming abilities.
So there we are, at the swimming pool, on her birthday, after spending all morning at an Atlantic Ocean beach with waves too big for her comfort. (She spent most of her time playing in the sand that morning.) We all hop in, and before I realize what's going in, she ducks under the water (I go into mild shock at that point, she would never, NEVER voluntarily put her head under the water) and swims about 4 feet to me. I grab her and say "Wow! You can swim! You just swam to me!" To which she responds simply "I'm five-years-old now."My shock increases. We spend the next hour with her pushing off the steps and swimming to me - under the water! Now I admit, she had finally figured out how to BARELY keep her head above the water with an awkward doggie-paddle the week leading up to her birthday, but seriously, it was like one week she was constantly near-drowning and the next day (her birthday) she could swim.
After the first hour she decided to start jumping off the side of the pool. My child. The one who was terrified of jumping, whether it was straight into Mommy's/Daddy's arms from the wall, or with Mom/Dad holding her and bouncing up and down in the water, or ... whatever! She is terrified of jumping!!!! And yet, here she is, five-years-old, and jumping into the water, not my arms even, and then swimming to me after the jump.
I only wish I had that kind of determination. "I'll ________________ (insert your impossible-to-do task that you would love-to-do but are also afraid-to-do) by my next birthday." And then you do it. No matter how impossible or afraid you are.
Yeah....
What would I do? Finish my degree? Open a business? Trade on the stock-market? Take acting and dance lessons? What would I do?

Well, enough personal reflection. Her birthday party was held the following week. There were several children with birthdays around the same time, and to simplify my friends and I decided to combine our daughters' parties and divide the responsibilities. I got volunteered to do the cake, since my friends had seen the cakes I made for the oldest's birthday in July. She had a rock n' roll theme and these were her cakes.

Now I love baking, and I'm not complaining. I love baking, but especially when I have all the necessary ingredients and tools... which I don't have here. Still, another good friend volunteers to let us borrow her castle form, and since our themes for this party (remember, we combined parties) were princesses and kittys a castle was perfect. I woke up early, knowing I do better if I'm not rushed, and I started baking immediately. The party isn't until 3:00 pm, and I should have plenty of time to bake, cool, and frost the cake(s) and then get everybody ready and out the door by 2:00 so we can decorate. That was the plan.
I had shipped 12 cake mixes to the island last August. One for each month I thought we would be staying on the island. (We do a lot of bake sales, and you never know when you'll be in the mood to make cupcakes.) Cake mix costed $0.88 at Wal-mart, and about $5.50 on the island, so you can see why it was worth shipping. The bad part is that the humidity is so extreme here, it gets to everything. Even if the expiration date says it's good for another 6 months. When I made cakes for my oldest daughter's birthday party in July I had to use twice as many to get the desired effect since the mix didn't rise well.
I was prepared this time. I had spent the exorbitant island price for one mix and had been given another by a friend. She was smart. She kept hers in the freezer.
I decided to marble the two mixes - a strawberry and red velvet castle cake. Perfect. I used about 2/3 of each mix in the form, and poured the extra into two 8 inch rounds. The castle cake came out of the oven perfect. I let it cool on top of the stove while I baked the first round. (My oven is too small to fit two rounds in at the same time.) After that round was done, I popped the second one in, and decided to move the castle in front of the fan. It stays hot - really hot - around the oven, and I knew I would need to do this to cool the cake completely before I tried to put it in the fridge. I begin making one of the old cake mixes to have some cupcakes available. This is big party, and I am in charge of the cake. I want there to be enough for all of the kids who show up.
Enter big sister. Big sister is cranky. Maybe because it's little sister's birthday. Who knows how the moods of a seven-year-old work. Big sister lays down on the couch, and accidentally kicks the cake off the arm where it is cooling in front of the fan. She hears the crash and says tritely "Sorry!" I run. I stare. I fight back tears. The beautiful (yes, the marbling worked REALLY well, and the cake was perfectly moist) cake is completley in pieces. More than 5. I try to put them back in place and they break apart more. I realize there is NO saving this cake. I berate my oldest for not paying attention and send her to her room in tears. My husband breaks away from his computer, recognizing that something in the home has changed (it might be my anger and frustration emanating in waves from wall to wall). He suggests "Pour pudding on top of it and call it 'Strawberry Delight'." My brilliant husband. Unfortunatley I have 3 pudding boxes left. Butterscotch. Pistachio. Maybe lemon could work?
Enter new neighbor who just needs to let her daughter get a little distracted by my highly active girls (regular, welcome habit, I also reflect that it might have been inspired this particular occasion). I had all ready apologized to the oldest for making her cry at this point. I knew it was an accident. As the children start playing I explain my distress. My new neighbor says "I have vanilla pudding. More than I will use. Would you like some?" Yay! Strawberry Delight is officially on the birthday menu.
The cupcakes get done. They are not as flat as I thought they would be, but they aren't quite perfect either. I pull down an extra strawberry cake mix. Since I had only made one batch of cupcakes, I still had 1/2 the batter. I add the new cake mix, wash the dishes, and pour a new castle cake. It bakes while I frantically begin working on frosting.
Have you ever tried making frosting in 86 degree weather with substantial humidity? According to the heat index it is more like 105 degrees. Frosting melts. I try harder. It's 2:00 and the castle cake is done and cool but not frosted. The round cake is done and frosted but not decorated. I screw up trying to decorate it, and decide to try again. I scrape all the frosting off, and then turn the cake upside-down, and start over. 2:30. Will the cake-tastrophe ever end? The colors are done, I'm starting to frost the castle, and 5 kids show up. "You were supposed to go straight to the pool!" I try not to sound accusing or unwelcoming despite my exasperation. "Mommy told us we couldn't, that we had to go with you." I look at my husband. He says "I'll take the kids. You finish the cake and come when you are ready." There is a reason I bought that fridge magnet that says "I'm married to an angel."
I frost like a mad woman. I make stupid mistakes that I know how to prevent, but am in too big of a hurry to bother with. I rush and stress and rush. I finish! I realize I don't have my phone to call a taxi. I can't transport 12 cups of strawberry delight, 12 cupcakes, a round cake and a castle cake without a taxi. I use the computer to call one. The driver totally respects my hours of labor and drives as slow as he possibly can to prevent cake and frosting from ending up all over the cab. I show up half an hour late to my daughters party.... but I brought plenty of cake.

Happy Birthday my darling!

Nana and Papa Fisher come to visit!!!!

2008-09-05T23:34:00.039-04:00

Yay! The last week of August my husband's parents came to visit. They brought my fixed laptop back, my new camera, new toys and swimsuits and clothes for the girls, and even if they hadn't brought a single thing with them, their visit alone would have pulled me out of my depression! We were so excited to have them come and see our little corner of paradise, and so were they. Since we couldn't afford to go home the whole time we were on the island, we hadn't seen either of our parents in over a year. It was wonderful to see them again.

I drove to pick them up at the airport (one of the more difficult drives on the island) and just was so excited the whole way there. Then I pulled up and saw Mom standing on the curb and instead of being overjoyed I started crying because it suddenly hit me just how long it has been since we had seen them.
I had mapped out a whole variety of activities both adventurous and relaxing for us to do with our company in town, and boy, was it a lot of fun.

We started off with a party for all of my sweetie's study partners. We planned the dinner party for 5:00, and as I reflected on this plan during the week I realized my schedule would be really hectic that afternoon - I wouldn't return from picking up my in-laws at the airport until 4:30! So, I decided on a meal I could prepare, but not cook until the last minute. Something a little different, you know, interesting, and with a little bit for everyone to enjoy. Why not pizza? I started buying the ingredients I would need a week in advance. Then my wonderful girlfriends decided they would go on a SCUBA diving trip, something we've been talking about doing for over a semester, and finally we were actually doing it but--- the big event was the morning my in-laws were arriving. I decided that if I could have the house totally clean and the pizzas all ready to throw together and pop in the oven I could just make the schedule work and enjoy the Cabrits sponsored dive. I am so glad I had the opportunity to go on that trip, and will remember my diving girls forever! (Love you sweeties!)

I ended up making 6 different pizzas - 1/2 cheese 1/2 pepporoni for the kids, pampered chef fresh garden style, hawaiian, supreme, meat lovers, and barbecue chicken. Making 6 crusts the day before worked perfectly along with all of my advanced preparation, and I think the party was a hit. The boys finished it off by heading down to the beach for a 'packet burning' - all the notes they didn't want to keep, which they somehow managed to burn despite all the rain.

The next day we were off to Roseau. We decided to rent a car since our sedan is kind of low to the ground and you really need some clearance for some of the sites we were going to. We started with Champagne Bay, did some souvenir shopping, and then checked in to the Fort Young Hotel. I did end up getting my waterproof digital camera (an Olympus Stylus 1030 SW), which Nana and Papa brought to the island for me, and so I had a lot of fun trying it out while we snorkeled, all though I quickly realized that the charge the battery came with was not sufficient (duh, I all ready knew that!) and worse that my spare battery and charger had been left at home! We saw the biggest school of squid I've seen to date, and my oldest daughter had a blast showing off for Nana and Papa as she independently explored the sea-life, never-ending bubbles, etc.

We ate lunch at the Cornerhouse Cafe, located down the road from Astaphan's and up the road from Jolly's Pharmacy. The Cafe is on the 2nd floor of the building, you have to take the stairs on the side in the alley to enter the restaurant. Caribbean dishes with a few familiar items make this restaurant a favorite lunch spot for Ross Spouses Organization shopping trips.

The Fort Young Hotel may have been an expensive indulgence, but it really made us feel like we were on vacation too. We reserved ocean-view deluxe rooms and thoroughly enjoyed the deck, furnishings, and especially the bath tub. It was big enough for the girls to have water up to their necks! We don't have bath tubs, only showers, so this was a really nice feature. I had really wanted to go swimming in their infinity pool (the only one on the island) but the rain interrupted. We ate at the hotel's restaurant that night. I don't recall much of the dinner, but it reminded me somewhat of our trip to the all-inclusive resort in St. Lucia. The service was slower, but enjoying it with family more than made up for that.

At this point I decided to run home first thing in the morning to retrieve my battery and charger for my new awesome camera - which I never would have bought if I hadn't been planning on using it for the days activities! I left the hotel at 5 and was back by 7, just in time for breakfast.

We kind of split up and ate breakfast at Rituals (our favorite American like 'restaurant' (it's really a coffee shop)) and CocoRico's (a little French Cafe right next door to Rituals that has nice crepes). Then we were off for our busiest day of the vacation.

The first stop was Trafalgar Falls, one of the most visited sites on the island. The twin falls can be viewed from an overlook that is about a 10 - 15 minute hike.

We normally go further, since there is a little natural hot spring you can soak in just beyond the overlook, but our next stop was Screw's Sulphur Spa which features like 7 hot springs, so I battled the rest of my family to hold off on the soak until we got to Screw's (named after the owner people). That was probably our only little bit of dissension through the whole vacation, and Nana and Papa seemed to be ok with my agenda, even if my husband and daughters were slightly miffed with me. That only lasted about half an hour though, since as soon as we were all comfortably soaking in the multiple springs at Screw's all was forgiven. We had a blast playing in the hot-tub temperature mineral-rich water.

Lunch was served at Papillote, a quaint little rainforest bed and breakfast which all though I had passed on the way to the waterfalls, I somehow missed twice as we drove around the other side of the valley. While Papillote is one of my favorite restaurants, the picky eaters among us had to make do with what we could get. The girls ended up with pancakes from the breakfast menu (I considered it lucky they would make a breakfast item for lunch!). The tropical gardens are a great source of pleasure to me, and I took a few pictures of some of the flora.

Our next stop was TiTou Gorge. Now I know that I blogged about this site a mere two entries ago, but this time I had a digital waterproof camera with me! The gorge was a little too scary for claustrophobic Nana, but the rest of us climbed in, adjusted to the cold, and started up the gorge. When we got to the alcove - the resting spot at the end - my youngest daughter saw a crab... and totally FREAKED OUT! We see crabs all the time, and have even caught a few. I still don't get why it scared her so bad. She was absolutely hysterical, so I had no choice but to abandon my husband and Papa and get her out in the open so she could calm down. She was so freaked out that she kept standing on top of me while I was swimming with her, and she was totally like a leach around my neck. Even with her life jacket, she was pushing me under as I was desperately trying to get out. I think maybe if I hadn't had so little sleep and been so all ready sleep deprived from the mad days of preparation that I would have had more strength, but as it was, I barely made it. I was very grateful that the boys had my camera and got some great shots on their way out.

From the gorge I decided that we could barely make it to Emerald Pool before sun-down, which we barely did. The ranger and almost all of the tourists had all ready left when we pulled into the parking area, and though we were tired we trekked the 15-20 minutes through the rainforest just in time to get a few shots in the remaining sunlight. The girls jumped in, but since it had been intermittenly raining all day the adults were all chilled enough to pass on the cool dip in the waterfall's pool.

We ate dinner at the Sunset Bay restaurant (which is also a quaint little dive hotel). Sunset's is a Ross student favorite even if it is a 25 minute drive from campus, and they offer one of the best variety of menu selections around. We've never been disappointed in our food, and this night was no exception, all though it was the worst service I've ever had from them. I wonder if the waitress was just having a bad night since we've had her before and not had such problems. The chocolate mousse was divine!

Our next several days were spent relaxing, going to church, going to the swimming pool, etc. We also made a trip to the historic Fort Shirley where I discovered the panorama feature on my new camera...

And then a special horse-back riding lesson for Nana and my oldest, and a special dive for Papa and me. Daddy stayed home to study for the nasty comp exam that is coming up so soon.... and he generously kept the little one home to allow everyone else to participate in their respective adventures. We had so much fun! I learned a lot about my diving expert father-in-law and Nana was flattered with a compliment on her natural balance on a horse.

Before we knew it, their trip was coming to a close, and it seemed like it had hardly even started. It all ready seems like a wonderful, splendid dream, and I look forward to our next grand adventure which will occur in November when my parents come... and then the girls and I will go home with them.

We (the students and their spouses) have a tendency to complain about so many aspects of life on Dominica, but truthfully, the island is a beautiful place, filled with kind and beautiful people. The longer I reside here, the more I believe that our perspective is seriously hampered by the abundant stresses of medical school. Yes, there are drawbacks that are typical of life on any island, and yes there are drawbacks of the 'developing nation' nature, but the lessons we have learned, the adventures we have gone on, the challenges overcome, the natural beauty, the opportunity for increased understanding and personal growth, far outweigh those oh-so-frustrating drawbacks.

And that doesn't even take into account the people!!! I love the Dominicans, and love it when they tell me my daughters are truly Dominican now, and that I am by heart. Their culture is so rich I still have many aspects that I will not fully understand or even grasp before we leave, and their generosity and kindness and spirit will change my personal perspective for the rest of my life.

Add to that the precious opportunity to be surrounded by people (the students and their families and the professors) who are so similar to us in their interests and goals and motivations, to be in the same torturous, life-changing situation with those people (med-school in a foreign country), and maybe you can glimpse how very wonderful, unique, and truly special this island is.

The Dark Ages...

2008-08-30T23:23:00.000-04:00

June, July, and the first couple of weeks of August. No computer. Depression. Oppressive heat. My grandpa died. No computer = no talking with friends back home. Many good friends all gone or preparing to leave. Yeah. Not my favorite time on the island.
Fortunately I knew there was a light at the end of August, and just kept trying to push through it all while looking forward to the future. I tried to treasure the present as well, but in general, the future was far more attractive. Since I'm a happier-when-busy social-butterfly control-freak it really didn't help that I didn't have any big projects to work on. I tried to go to the gym regularly and for long periods of time, but while that helped it didn't fix anything. Thank goodness those months are over!

TiTou Gorge, Victoria Falls

2008-07-01T10:37:00.008-04:00

I've been meaning to blog about these two locations for quite awhile now, but due to the horrible, rotten, no-good, bad day we experienced last week my laptop is now officially broken. I'm currently sitting in the computer lab to get some stuff done, and my blogs will be even more intermittent.

TiTou Gorge:

TiTou Gorge is amazing. It actually makes me a little homesick since the rock formation reminds me of Zion's and Arches national parks. My first time to the gorge was after the challenging boiling lake hike. The second time was much more fun. It was while my girlfriend was visiting, and though I had put it on our schedule, it just hadn't worked out while she was here. We got to talking about it the day before her flight, and one of my dear friends here said "Well how hard is it? Maybe we should just go and do it tomorrow morning before she leaves in the afternoon?" So we did it.

I honestly didn't remember the road being very steep/difficult, and so when my friend volunteered to drive I was gung-ho to go. We recruited one additional person, put the kids in school, and took off. We didn't tell our husbands, and absolutely had to be back in time for lunch or Angela's flight back home would be missed. We got to the site with about 20 minutes to spend before we had to jump in the car and race back home. We giggled the entire way.

The little parking area before the gorge is off the beaten track, to say the least. You walk up a short distance to an access bridge that spans the river, about 30 ft off the bottom, and seriously, it's an access bridge. You pass under the aqueduct, and approach the foot of the boiling lake trail. Off on the left hand side is a little pool of water in a cement ... uh... funnel... that's the beginning of the aqueduct. At the base of the pool is what looks like a cave, but is actually the opening of the gorge. We cover the hike portion in about 5 minutes, and I tear off my clothes while I'm jumping into the pool shouting "Come on ladies! Let's go! Let's do it! Get in!" They're all looking at me like I'm crazy, but giggle and climb into the pool. That's when they see the opening. "We're not going in there are we?" "Are there snakes in there?" "It's a cave??? I thought it was a gorge???"

"Come on ladies, we don't have time to be timid, start swimming!"

The water in the gorge is cold. Year round. Not terribly, but considering the tropical heat, it can be a bit of a shock when you first get in. Swimming against the current, the walls of the gorge are black, and vary in separation from narrow to bowl like. There are two parts during the swim where the bottom is high enough to stand on. Then, when you get to the 'end' (it's really the beginning from the water's point of view) there is an alcove you can climb up into to watch the waterfall, or, if you're physically capable, you can stand up under the waterfall.

All said and done, the trip was awesome, and left us giggling all day. To quote the driver "I feel like I'm in high school stealing my mom's car with a bunch of friends to do something wrong!"

I've returned to the gorge several times after that memorable trip, but it has never been as much fun as that time.

Victoria Falls are beautiful, and the trip reminded me how much I enjoy the scenery on the south-east side of the island. The hike was moderate, and we completed it in between 30 and 45 minutes. I loved taking pictures, but also encouraged a friend to e-mail her pictures to me. She had a waterproof digital camera, and I must say that I wish I had brought that type of camera to the island. Mine has nearly been trashed by all the hikes and sand and water. I may even purchase a new one and have my in-laws bring it with them when they come to visit...

I loved the vines hanging down the cliff side, and there was more than one pool suitable for a dip. The falls were so tall, neither of these pictures show them completely, but my presence on the rock in the bottom corner of this one should give you an idea of exactly how tall they are, seeing as the top of the frame is not even that close to being the top of the falls. You can really tell by comparing the vines in the two pictures that there is a lot more waterfall than what is visible.

The Car

2008-06-01T22:17:00.002-04:00

We bought the car. It is a Honda Legend, 1985. It's brown. Or gray. Or something. It has a new engine that only has 30,000 miles on it, new shocks and struts, the nicest interior out of all of my friends' cars (or so they say), and power locks/windows. It has rust spots, leaks in the trunk when it rains, and we've all ready taken it back for a problem with the fuel filter. This baby cost us 4 grand, US.
We purchased the car from a Dominican Entrepeneur. He likes to fix cars up and sell them and he owns a store and like two other enterprises. He will do all the maintenance on the car for free (reasonable maintenance) if we promise to sell the car back to him when we leave. Seeing as maintenance is a huge issue for car owners here, and we're leaving the island and a bad time to resell to incoming students, this is a great deal for us.
$4,000 probably sounds like a lot for this car, but hey - we're on an island! Everything costs a lot here. I would say the average clunker costs double on the island than it would in the States. Junkers that we would have a yard haul off our property are patched and re-patched and sell for a minimum of $1,500. These are the ones with torn up interiors and no air-conditioning and only two working doors out of the standard four. There are a few really good deals occasionally around $3,000.
We've really enjoyed driving around for the few days we have had the car. Normally, the moment the sun sets, we stay at home. Now we can run to Tina's to do some grocery shopping, or to a restaurant, or a friend's house! These things all used to cost us a taxi ride, about $5 US round trip. But, of course, you have to factor in the unreliable wait for the taxi to pick you up and bring you back. That alone usually discourages us from even trying. It's also great to offer rides to our friends! After walking for the last year, I have no problem offering as many rides as I can.
The kids love getting to ride instead of walk to places, it makes trips to church, and the pool SO much easier.
Everybody keeps asking "Why didn't you just buy a car a year ago?" and tell you the truth, they're right. We would have had a much easier time here. All though the maintenance issues can be a major headache, I'd recommend buying a car to anyone with children too big for a stroller. Unless they are happy walking... mine are too spoiled... ;)

An average day...

2008-05-20T23:32:00.005-04:00

Yesterday was my Dad's birthday, and though we have tried to call him several times, we have been unable to connect with him. Something about not being able to verbally wish him "Happy Birthday!" has made me recognize some pretty intense feelings of homesickness. Thank goodness my sister happened to IM me for the first time in a couple of months tonight right when I needed it most. Isn't it funny how God knows how best to take care of us?

In other news, we have decided to purchase the car mentioned at the very end of my last entry. We went down to the Portsmouth Police Station yesterday to get Dominican driving permits with the seller. We smiled, and handed our New Mexico licenses to the young, but kind officer who points out that my husband's license has expired. He was not able to get a permit, so, for the time being, it will be MY car. Yay!?

We hope that he can renew his license from here, since I've heard stories about how lengthy a process it is to actually apply for a Dominican Driver's License. Tomorrow we should be able to finalize the transaction, and then my life here will change significantly! Since we also want to stay for fifth semester, both sets of parents seem to think they will be able to come and visit us! I am so excited about this that I can't seem to settle down, despite the fact that it is well past bedtime. It has been SO long since we have seen our families, and our prospects for getting clinical rotations near home are slim to none.

I also spent some time tonight reading my friends blogs, and it made me realize how little I have actually been able to blog about during our trip. I am, of course, concious of this fact on a regular basis, but I struggle with wanting to write about the day-to-day doldrums of the temporary lifestlye in which I find myself. I have spent a significant amount of time trying to make information about living here more prolific, and have met with a high degree of success in doing so, only I have really felt a lack of personal contact with those who are helped by my efforts. Whine, whine, whine. My point is, to the few people who have expressed gratitude for all of the information on the RSO site and this blog - THANK YOU!

So, for a change I will chronicle my average day on the island instead of a grand adventure. Prepare to be bored.

I woke up this morning to the sound of my husband sneezing. This is my alarm clock almost every morning. He only developed allergies over the last couple of years, and moving to Dominica from southern New Mexico has done nothing to alleviate his symptoms. In fact, I think they are worse! The matresses in most of the apartments here, including mine, are about 4 inches thick and do almost nothing to support you while sleeping. We cannot wait to return to the States and buy a good mattress! My youngest who is now 4 has not slept through the night since she turned two. I'm not complaining, she slept through the night as a baby so I suppose this is fair. Since every night is interrupted by sneezing and a child joining me in bed (unless I wake up enough to send her back to her bed multiple times) compounded by the poor support of the mattress; I rarely get a good night's sleep. This, of course, means that I struggle to get up and get the kids out the door in time for school in the morning, though we come pretty close most days. We eat breakfast, get dressed, double check that homework, snacks, and water bottles are accounted for in backpacks, fight over which shoes to wear, and then leave the house. Most mornings we are able to catch one of the University buses after they drop of a load of students at the annex, but, if we don't get out the door early enough then we miss the bus and wind up being truly late, like this morning.

After successfully dropping the kids off at school with kisses, full water bottles, and a quick "Hello" to whomever is sitting outside of the school (there are always a few of us around every morning) I head off to the gym. I was in good shape before coming here, but between the heat and the long walk to campus (we lived in Glanvillia in first semester) I got out of the habit of working out. Add to that my picky eaters and the lack of variety I am used to for cooking so I eat a lot less healthy than I used to - and that explains several pounds that appeared. :) All it takes is a good trip off the island for some really great eating and several more pounds materialize. I love working out, and am so grateful for the new gym. The old gym was pretty miserable. Anyhow, I have extended my workouts to fat burn instead of for cardiovascular benefits. After a wonderful 2 hour trip to the gym, my tank top was completely soaked. Gross! I had to run an errand at the bank in my disgusting state so that the car purchase will go off without a hitch, which of course doesn't occur today anyway. After living here for a year I can't help but run into people I know all over campus, so I get a little side-tracked on my way home, and don't actually walk in the house until close to 11, leaving me just enough time to get showered, make lunch, and head back to school.

An hour can seem like a long time to spend with the kids for lunch when it is very hot and there is no shade over the playground, but at least the kids truly enjoy that time. I spend several minutes discussing my current volunteer project (I always have a couple of projects going at all times). I hope to organize the children's school library by topic this semester, and am excited that one of the new spouses to the island is interested in helping me!

One of my big projects here on the island was creating and compiling a guide about island life, suitable for students, spouses, and faculty members. This required countless hours of work and meetings, which allowed me to meet some really fantastic people who I would not have otherwise known. Throughout the course of the last two semesters we met one to three times a week, until April. Needless to say, after all that time together, we miss each other! So, a few of us went to The Tomato Cafe for a wonderful lunch. Eating at any restaurant on the island takes significantly longer than it does in the States, and though the Tomato is faster than most, between the good food and company we only just finished in time to get back to the school and pick up the kids.

Most of our afternoons are spent on the playground until about 4, followed by a walk home up the hill which takes us a good half hour. Today, however, we were blessed with catching a ride home and the opportunity to help out a mother in need of a solution for her baby by sharing some Benefiber. I was excited to be home early as I have some articles to write for The Physical Examiner, the monthly student newsletter, but shortly after reading the days e-mails I found myself nodding off at the computer. I took a nap. :) This is another reason why I'm up late tonight.

I woke up just in time to start putting the house together and prepare for dinner before my husband arrives home. He brings a friend, which allows him some additional study time, and is just a fun change of pace. We've lost our electricity code and are running low, and I decide we need different pasta than what we've currently got, so I send the boys off to the store, prepare and eat dinner while helping my oldest with her homework, I put the kids to bed, put them to bed again, fix them some milkshakes, put them to bed again, put the little one to bed 4 more times, and rather than write my articles I get distracted by my poor, neglected blog.

I forgot to mention a large variety of small and generally insignificant portions of the day. A favor returned here, a favor begged there, several items of RSO business, etc. and there you have it. An average day.

My sweetheart and his friend, on the other hand, had their first day at the hospital today. They were able to observe an echo-cardiogram and a leg amputation. Before coming home they spent time being photographed and interviewed by people from New Jersey who are updating one of their packets or something. Hello! I totally should have blogged about their adventures today! That would have been a lot less boring. :)

The Barracuda and other firsts...

2008-05-15T22:17:00.012-04:00

What a day! What a week! What a month! I hardly know where to start.
We went to Almond Smuggler's Cove all inclusive resort on St. Lucia during the break. It was awesome. I didn't want to come home. The only real negative was that if we could of stayed just two more days (like we had wanted to) we would have had 3 rounds of golf inculded in our stay. So why didn't we just stretch the trip a little longer? Because we took the ferry and had to buy tickets on specific days, not just any day we wanted. Riding the ferry may be a lot less expensive, but it is a lot more hassle. Especially coming back through customs. They gave us a terrible time, and all the rest of the Ross students who were travelling with us (like 12 of us!). The lady even asked us "How do I know you are who you say you are? How am I supposed to know that you are still studying at Ross? I'm just supposed to take your word that you have tickets to leave the island?" After we had presented her with the entire family's passports and offered to show her our school ID cards, and, I'm sorry, but this is not where I would choose to move to illegally reside in a country and raise my children (not that I would ever do that anywhere). You would think with Ross providing more than half of the country's GDP that they wouldn't give students a bad time because they took the ferry to visit another island during their break. FYI, the guys at the airport have NEVER given me a bad time like this, and many people have reported having the same problem at the ferry terminal. My recommendation? Fly. If you insist on taking the ferry, pack your passports, your IDs, get a signed letter from the immigration officer at the school, bring your airline tickets that aren't good for another 8 months, and a whole lot of dramamine and snacks for the kids since the vending machines only take Euros.

When we returned home we went on two different church group outings, one to Batibou, our favorite beach on Dominica, and the other to Purple Turtle Beach, our favorite beach within walking distance. Here's a picture of my girls as we're hiking to Batibou.

Then Monday, the first day of my husband's fourth semester on the island, was a day of ... well... I guess I'd call it PMS. I don't consider PMS to be much of an issue in my life, and neither has my husband, but Monday I'd really like to blame my attitude on something like a hormonal imbalance. Nothing was wrong with anything during the day, yet I found myself to be irrationally moody - specifically angry, depressed, and generally cranky. So, when I presented a new and beautiful dinner and my husband didn't like it, I ripped into him. I did so apologizing the entire time because I knew it was irrational, but continued venting steam and ranting about the tiniest things that were irritating me about living here. The principal at the dayschool described this syndrome pretty adequately when she said "Things that wouldn't normally bug you at home because they are small and petty can really irritate you here. It's like getting sand in your shoes and not being able to get it out." (Which does also happen here). So, in my ranting and raving I mentioned hating how I sleep against the wall and have to crawl over my husband to get in and out of bed. I mentioned a whole lot of other things too (for like 25 minutes) and then went to read the girls a story and put them to bed. While we were reading, my wonderful husband rearranged the entire bedroom, AND he did a great job doing it. He even cleaned as he went! I told him this is one of the most romantic things he's ever done for me, and he quickly replied "I'll tell you I don't like your dinner more often then." Yeah. It's a good thing his sense of humor was one of the things that really helped me fall in love with him. ;)

Thursday morning (I wrote the beginning of this entry Thursday night) I saw my first on-campus-cow. They're all over the island and all throughout the housing areas, but I hadn't seen one actually on campus until Thursday. We were waiting at the school to go snorkelling with some great friends when the cow just walks past all our children playing in PE.

Two of the girls were having their first experience snorkelling, and I thought "Wow, this is so great that their first time can be with a group of experienced friends!" My first time was all by myself and I experienced only a small amount of intrepidation. Most of the people I've introduced to snorkelling are a lot more worried about it than I was my first time, so I try to be sensitive to their concerns (though now I go all over the place and it's no big deal, and I take my 6 year old and she LOVES it). Anyway, we enter the water and get the newbies feeling a little comfortable. After awhile, we spot some squid, which are especially cool to see because we're in pretty shallow water. I've seen a whole school of them at Champagne Bay, but they were swimming like 20 ft below me, where as this time they were only 5 feet away! They look so cool in the water, like a football shaped UFO only they are so obviously marine life. Anyway, I got close enough to look right in it's eye (located on the last third of the body). After following two of them for a bit we managed to spook them and they took off. They were amazingly fast!

We all go back to our exploring, and I head off to an area I hadn't been to before (we've been snorkelling at this particular site many times, but I just happened to explore a little further away from the shore than I ever have before). I went back to the group to show my girlfriend who is my chief partner in crime (a.k.a. snorkelling and playing while the kids are at school) the new area when one of the other girls puts her head above the water, removes her snorkel, and shouts "Hey! Hey you guys! There's this great big fish over here, come see it, quick!" You don't need to tell us twice. We head maybe 6 feet toward her when it materializes through the blue, slightly hazy water. I think to myself "It's HUGE! Is it...? No..., it can't be... Holy cow, I think it's a ---!" When my girlfriend protectively grabs me and pulls me back away from the BARRACUDA. I got this pic from photobucket, but it's almost exactly what we saw. It was at least 4 feet long, and my guess is that it was more like 4 feet 8 inches. HUGE! If it weren't so ugly it would have been beautiful. (I find that the more fun I have in life, the less the adrenaline rushes at a new experience, so the rush of adrenaline I got at the realization of how big this beast was - and the fact that it was so close to the smallest of us and swimming straight at her - might have something to do with my description of it's beauty.) It's irridescent, stream-lined body looked like pure muscle. I bet it could move like my Uncle's Super Bee which has a 4.3 Hemi engine in it. You think "that's a nice body" and then it's gone. Fortunately for us, this guy recognized that we weren't what he thought we were, and he swam off at a leisurely rate, allowing me to follow him long enough to know that he was heading in the opposite direction of our expedition. My friends joke that if he had been more aggressive I would have jumped in and saved the day since I'm the fearless-leader who is slightly crazy type. I did some wiki research and according to the encyclopedia barracudas can be attracted to yellow, and jewelry. My petite friend had neon yellow flippers and a necklace on. They rarely bite humans, and it's even more rare for them to bite more than once. We don't taste that good to them. Most attacks occur in water with poor visibility. They can grow up to 6 feet long. The human lure and I got close enough to see his powerful jaws and his ferocious looking teeth.

We turned around after that, and explored the "safer" waters featuring a sandy - and almost entirely empty - sea floor. That part of the bay isn't 'entirely empty' for a good reason - it's my favorite sand-dollar diving spot - and on Thursday it was totally loaded with sand-dollars! We all took home several, including the new ladies who we taught how to hunt and dive for them. We finished our little water adventure in just enough time to hurry home and get some lunch to our kids.
At lunch there was a dog fight right next to the deck where we all eat. That was a first as well. We all cheered when one of the male students jumped in between the dogs and broke it up, but the smaller one was all ready bleeding in three places by that point. It crawled right up onto the deck and sat in the middle of all the students: I think it knew they would protect him.
Yep. I definitely think it's been interesting around here lately.
Oh! And we're car shopping. We've decided we like it enough here to kick around for the optional fifth semester. Mostly in the hopes that our parents will get to come and visit, and even more importantly, because my kids love it here - they are learning so well at the school, and it would eliminate an entire move in their young lives. Staying for fifth semester requires at least 3 days a week for the student in Roseau, just over an hour away. Public transportation has worked all right for many students in the past, many move to Roseau, and then a few rent or buy vehicles. We'll test drive a... ahem... clunker(?) tomorrow. Cars are so expensive here, I really hope that we'll be able to figure out if we're paying the right amount, or if we're being over-charged. The cheapest I've ever seen a car here is $1,500 USD. These are the cars that you would pay $600- $800 for at home, IF they are even being sold because they are more often scrapped. This makes it a little difficult to figure out when they are an appropriate price or not. The one we're currently looking at is being sold for $4,000. It is S*** brown. It's a Honda, the interior is nice, it runs well, has new shocks, and rust spots on the body. Hmmm... Yeah. The thing is, I would guess it is worth closer to $3,500. We'll probably offer that, but I just get the feeling that he'll take nothing less than the full 4K. If we end up with it I will definitely take some pix!

The waterfall on the beach

2008-03-04T19:13:00.004-05:00

So, where to go to see something new on the island with an adventurous friend? How about a short, perilous hike down a steep embankment to a rocky beach, followed by a stroll to a tall waterfall that falls onto the beach and into the ocean, depending on the tide. This was by far my favorite site on Dominica, though it is difficult to find a guide for, and is only suitable for the physically fit adrenaline junkies. Truth be told, I thought it was just fine, but would rather over-emphasize the peril to prevent people from trying to hang from the rope who truly do not have the strength, coordination, or courage to attempt it.

While my friend was in town we made sure to hit some of our regular favorites in addition to that awesome hike. She enjoyed her trip so much, she wants to return with her husband, who happened to find this link to a great diver's report on his adventures on Dominica... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23509340/

We enjoyed seeing the traditional and modern Sensay costumes of Carnival, (like this guy in a suit made of aluminum cans) but opted to watch the jump-up from home. Jump-up is when everyone pours into the streets wearing p.j.s, lingerie, costumes, whatever at an insane hour like maybe 4 am (and a lot of them have been up 'till 4 am getting sloshed) and then they jump up and down the street to incredibly loud music, courtesy of a truck heavily loaded down with a cacophony of speakers and live bands. I definitely would recommend a stop at "Nice-to-be-nice" for tourists, a produce stand where you can try all sorts of local fruits for free, donations welcome.

Boiling Lake

2008-02-28T09:54:00.011-05:00

Having my sister come and visit us on Dominica was a wonderful experience. One of the memorable activities we did with her was the hike to Boiling Lake (possibly the largest boiling lake in the world) followed by a swim in TiTou Gorge. The hike was brutal... almost straight stairs the entire way, and some of them were as steep as climbing up onto your dining room chair! We made our way through the rainforest and down to 'breakfast river' for a brief break. We continued the hike for what seemed like ages, and finally came to an opening in the vegetation where there were various sulfuric spouts, streams, etc. Then, you hike around, over, and through the springs. Some are scalding, some are cool, some are in between. It is definitely a hike worthy of a good guide. We arrived at the lake two and a half hours after we began - this is considered to be good time. We lunched, took pictures, and started on the journey back. The stairs were particularly hard on my honey's knees as he has had both of his ACLs replaced. We took the trip back slightly slower, making it to the trail head after about three hours, more in the 'average' range for this hike.

We observed sulfuric deposits on rocks in streams, crystal formations around steam outlets, black, orange, and milky white water, and my sister even stepped in some kind of black muck that looked like oil! I love geology, and found this facet of the hike to be amazing.

TiTou Gorge is located at the trailhead, and we climbed in at a point where the water is being prepared to enter an aqueduct. Then we swam up the current through the gorge to the waterfall at the end. This is the same gorge that features in Pirates of the Caribbean 2. It is beautiful and reminds me of home. :)

While having company in town we visited a whole variety of other sites on the island. Champagne Bay remains a favorite for snorkeling. It is amazing every time I go, and features a large variety of fish, coral, and other sea life. It has become a 'must see' for any new friends or visitors we take around the island. There's even a portion of the water where there are deep vents under the sea to the sulfuric action underneath the earth's crust... which result in endless streams of little tiny bubbles that you can swim right through - like swimming in champagne!

Emerald Pool is another site we thoroughly enjoy. The rainforest path is easy to navigate, and the waterfall is super easy to access, including a beautiful view point of the pool from the trail above, and it is also available for taking a quick dip in the cool water... or if you are more adventurous you can jump off of the rock like I did!

Guadeloupe

2008-02-20T22:21:00.004-05:00

I love travel. I haven't travelled nearly as much as I would like to, but I also know there is still plenty of time. Perhaps that is why when my husband came home one day after we had only been married about 9 months and said "I'm thinking of joining the Air Force" I said "Hmm... okay." Though we did not get to satisfy much of my wanderlust while serving the US military I have been able to travel enough to know that my fond dream of travelling is actually something that I actually enjoy in real life!

I also remember when we first arrived on the island someone making the comment "The first semester goes slow, and then by the second semester you know who is going to visit you and you look forward to that, and then they usually visit around your third semester, and then by your fourth semester it's too late and you don't want to leave but you've all ready run out of your time on the island!" I remember thinking "Yeah, but nobody is going to visit us..." And I was wonderfully mistaken!

In January my sister came to visit us. She flew in to Guadeloupe, the French island just to the North of us. The trip to Guadeloupe to pick her up was fraught with un-necessary tension, stress, and disasters that accompany such journeys, but I still don't regret the brief visit. I do reccommend that if you visit Guadeloupe you speak French or travel with someone who speaks French. We did just fine with our extremely basic understanding of French, but the trip would have gone much better with a little more knowledge.

Now I knew to a small degree what to expect as we travelled to Guadeloupe, but neither my husband or I put enough time into the actual planning of our trip. We mostly winged it - please don't try your vacation this way! We were able to pull together the details all right, though there were worms in the bathtub of the hotel and we were blocked in by a car that was double parked on the morning that we were due to catch the ferry home. This ruined my plans of returning with coveted French pastries, and since we stuffed 5 people into the hotel room they had removed the refrigerator which made it impossible for me to buy the meats and cheeses that my friends have all boasted about returning with when they had made a quick trip to a neighboring island. Still, the people, food, and culture of Guadeloupe were delightful and I know that we will have fond and distinct memories of the adventure!

Ross University Welcoming Committee

2008-01-07T12:32:00.001-05:00

For the last two weeks my husband, two daughters, and I have been serving on the Ross University Welcoming Committee. While we have thoroughly enjoyed giving new students a tour of campus and answering their questions, we are also worn out from the experience! We have been checking in every evening by 4:00 pm at the Ross University Housing Office to greet the new students and their family members after their long and tiresome journey to Dominica. We've helped with their luggage, given them their Ross handbags, assisted them to their 'hotel rooms' and then escorted them around campus. This has frequently involved long periods of waiting in the office for the bus of students to arrive, not an easy task if you are trying to keep a 4 and 6 year old entertained.
For me, personally, the experience has been enjoyable. I remember what my first campus tour was like, and I have loved trying to assist the '1st semesters'. I'm usually quite good with names, but there have been so many over the last few weeks that I greet people at a complete loss for their name, even if they have told it to me multiple times. Many of the tours have gone late for a young family, and the girls have lost all desire to go to bed at a decent hour. While this has been difficult on us, I feel equally bad for the students arriving as they are mostly starving after their journey. The tour culminates as we show them to a local restaurant, but this has been regularly occuring as late as 8:30 in the evening. Almost all of the new students arrive too late to make it to a grocery store, and many have arrived on days when the grocery stores aren't even open. Those who have found the Ross Spouses Organization or ValueMd websites have been at least somewhat prepared for these hardships, but living off of protein bars and whatever other packaged food brought on the airplane can only sustain one for so long before you just want a nice, home-cooked meal.
Technically new students will continue to arrive over the next several days, but we have completed our committment for now, and are looking forward to our next adventure...
a trip to the French island to the North - Guadeloupe!!!

Happy New Year, Island Style

2008-01-06T20:00:00.001-05:00

"What are you doing New Years, New Years Eve?" sang my friend last year around this time for a dinner theater. The song has been bouncing around my head off and on from the week before Christmas, all the way up until New Years night. At the last possible minute, we threw caution to the wind and signed up to go on a trip to Sunset Bay Resort for their New Years Special. We RSVPd for the whole family, and showed up for dinner around 8:00 pm with my friend and her husband and baby, and her cousin and the cousin's spouse.
I was really uncertain about the trip because I didn't know if it would be appropriate to bring children, and I am happy to report that the evening was delightful and attended by several other families as well! Sunset Bay Resort is owned by a wonderful French couple, and their cuisine is so good that Ross University likes to wine and dine people there. Their New Years Special involved a four course gourmet meal including Callou soup, Breaded and fried Lobster, Tournedoes, and a Crepe Suzette all for around $50 US. It was fantastic! The courses were served with plenty of time in between for the food to settle and create room for the next splendid concoction. We were just receiving our Crepe Suzettes around 11:00 pm, when the Madame opened a box of noisemakers for the children and party hats for every one. We finished dessert, took a stroll through the tropical garden to sit in some peace and quiet near the swimming pool, and then returned with plenty of time to spare for a New Years toast and count down.
There were many French families in attendance, and at least some of them were related to the Resort's owners. One family sitting near us had a little girl close to my daughters' age. It was amazing that the only language the children needed in common was that of friendship, and as the adults were enjoying the third and fourth courses the three little girls were dancing and frolicking like the best of friends, all without being able to say even two words to each other in a common tongue. I will cherish my memories of our New Year celebration here on Dominica for the rest of my life.

4th Semester Sales

2007-12-08T10:38:00.000-05:00

We just got home from the 4th semester sales which is basically a yard sale on campus for all the students leaving the island. The sales are traditionally held under a big tent on the lawn in front of the library. They are supposed to start at 8:00, but people start showing up much earlier than that.
I went to the sales this morning hunting for several things including:
Textbooks for the next two semesters
Christmas presents of any variety
Cheaper food items to give to people arriving on the island
Coloring supplies and paper
I was quite successful in my bargain hunting, but I paid dearly for the bargains in the form of patience. Since my husband's major study day is Saturday he had left for school before the rest of us had even woken up. I dragged myself out of bed, and then tried to get the girls to get up so we could get going. They must have stayed up late since they wouldn't wake up even at our normal time to get ready for school! Then the whining started. But I was determined, we were going to find a good sale... It had rained all night and I had forgotten to put the cover on the stroller, so no transportation for the girls to campus, they had to walk, and no where to store purchases except for one backpack. We ran into friends on our way, and at thank heavens one of my girls got to hitch-hike a ride on the front of a stroller!
We finally arrived on campus around 7:40 and the sales were all ready off to a good start. I hastened to get in under the tent and start shopping and as I was completing my first transaction my littlest one cried out "Oh no, Mommy! I need to go potty!!!"
"No big deal," I tell myself, I can take her to the restroom and make it back before half of the things are sold, but then the oldest didn't want to come to the restroom with us, and the youngest decided she was going with or without her mother, and before I knew it both children had disappeared through a crowd of people in different directions. I located the oldest first and made sure she could stick with a friend before turning to chase after the little one. She had come back and was right behind me. I'm still not sure if she realized that she'd better wait for Mommy, or if she realized she didn't know where she was going.
The saga continued as I realized I had forgotten the list of textbooks I was supposed to look for, that I had miscalculated and needed to run to the ATM, and though my husband was supposed to take a break from studying to come and join us at the sales he had still not shown up. By the time we got back to the tent it was after 8:10 and paraphernalia and money were quickly changing hands.
We plunged into the sea of people, dividing our lists and attempting to haggle for the prices we were willing to pay. It started raining again. Hard. The water cascaded off the grass and into the dirt under the tent and before you knew it we could have had a really decent match of mud wrestling going on! My darling husband realized that the girls were driving me crazy by this point with comments like "Mommy, I want this!" "Mommy, I want that!" "Mommy, I don't want to step in the mud!" "Mommy, please can we get this?" "Mommy, I REALLY want this!" "Mommy, I WANT THIS!" repeated ad nauseum while I was attempting to find the items on my list. Between the muck and the whining, he decided it was time for them to take a break. He took them over to Subway to get pancakes that cost four times the price that we can make them for. I got my shopping done, and even including the superfluous breakfast we found almost all the coveted items at great prices.
My oldest even charmed a student into giving her a radio, the youngest went home with her prize in the form of a little stuffed turkey that gobbles, someone gave my husband a free textbook, and I now own shaving gel.
Maybe next time they'll hold the sales on the deck where there's no mud...

Happy Holidays and Merry Christsmas!

2007-12-07T17:40:00.000-05:00

'Tis the season, and the children's program at the Ross University Preparatory school really helped welcome in the holiday season! Ms. Autumn spent hours and hours helping the children prepare a beautiful holiday program, which both of my angels participated in. Of course, it was a collaborative effort involving all of the RUPS staff, and Ms. Bethany playing the piano. They were fantastic!
The program started out with a skit by the older children, which unfortunately I did not get to pay attention to, for as I turned my camera on I realized that the girls had filled up my memory card! I sat erasing photo after photo of toys and blurs of their room and their posters, and even several shots of half of each others faces. By the time I got enough shots erased to take some video they were coming out 'on stage'.
Out the younger children came, each with a paper letter that spelled the words "Happy Holidays" and said, shouted, squeaked or clearly pronounced a little statement regarding their letters. As they formed their lines, my youngest looked at the half of the room we were not sitting in, and said "Hi Mom!" and waved at all those parents. They (the parents) of course started laughing, knowing that I was sitting in the other direction. People also highly enjoyed my oldest's articulate and animated statement regarding her letter.
The children continued with their program, singing their renditions of Jingle Bell Rock and Happy Holiday. Again, my youngest disrupted by waving and saying "Hi" throughout the songs, and even left the program to come give me and her Daddy a kiss in the middle of the program!
Several parents commented on how she 'stole the show' and how entertaining she was.
We decided to reward my husband's poor performance on the Physiology Shelf exam by eating out at Subway, a rare (and expensive) treat for us. The girls were being children and I was trying to keep them in check while standing in line and exchanging pleasantries with the rest of the que, when suddenly I realized that the youngest had climbed onto the soda machine counter and was prepared to start dispensing drinks into the drain.
Oh, my little drama queen. How I love her, even when she adds such disorder to my life!
I wonder where in the world they get their fun-loving and fancy free spirits from? ;)

New Haircut Rocks the Caribbean

2007-11-29T18:09:00.000-05:00

At 1:30 pm today I was getting my hair cut. At 2:00 pm my hair was cut and the coloring process begun... at 2:45 pm we walked to school to pick up our children. Promptly at 3:00 the entire Eastern Caribbean started shaking. Yes, that is how great my new 'do is. Good enough to trigger an earthquake!

Ha! In reality I'm not surprised to have experienced an earthquake during our stay on Dominica. After all, the island is volcanically active, with vents under the sea. It is this geological force which provides the island with so many hot springs, including the second largest boiling lake in the world. Dominica is one of the few islands that is 'growing' rather than eroding. You can read a news report on the earthquake by clicking on this link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071129/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/caribbean_earthquake.

I've never been in an earthquake before, and this one will make a good story. 7.3 on the Richter Scale, but no one got hurt. I found the experience to be exciting, but many of my friends were quite frightened by it. It was strong enough to be felt by all, and to trigger feelings of nausea, but not quite strong enough to knock things off shelves. My husband hardly noticed it at all, his comment was "I was walking and I thought there was something wrong with the building I was entering."

In other news, I had my haircut A-line style, a 'do I have been wanting ever since Junior High. I love my new cut, and can't wait to grow the front longer, increasing the angle that gives the hairstyle it's descriptive name. According to several sources, it's taken 10 years off of me. Wait a minute, does that mean I used to look REALLY old?

Spani Falls

2007-11-16T16:35:00.000-05:00

Spani Falls in one of the less frequently visited waterfalls on Dominica, but so far, it has been my favorite. First we hiked up a rocky path that seemed very much like a cement road that was laid over unprepared ground. Then we got into the rain forest where the plant life ranges from the miniscule to the extra-large. Eventually we came to a narrow trail which featured occassional wooden railing. The poles/logs that made up the railing were completely covered in moss and looked like they could be very deteriorated. Then we got to this cliff(?) that was covered in vines and it was like the entire thing was a waterfall. It was literally dripping from the top down and it was almost like rain! (I wish the picture would have turned out better.) Spani Waterfall has great height, and the water was colder than I would have cared to swim in. I loved the solitude of the natural beauty, and secluded feeling the area offered. I also loved seeing that raining wall. I've seen lots of waterfalls, but never an entire cliff side that just rains!

Halloween on the Rock

2007-11-07T20:49:00.000-05:00

Halloween was so much fun! My only regret is that I didn't dress up as Wonder Woman. When I was a little girl I always wanted to be Wonder Woman, and my parents always got me to pick something else because it was too cold (I'm sure it had as much to do with modesty). It was definitely warm enough here to dress up as skimpily as you could wish to, remembering that you normally get hit on while wearing army boots on the island.

The spouses organization threw a carnival the Saturday before Halloween. I've been attending Halloween carnivals since before I can remember. I've seen more than my fair share, and this was THE BEST ONE EVER. Combine amazing refreshments with adorable children who are happy to be there with lots of supportive help from spouses without children and students who wanted to pitch in, not to mention a variety of great children's activities and plenty of candy to go around... you get the picture! Then the kids got to trick-or-treat through campus, attending most of the classrooms and administrative offices during the last part of school Halloween day. Our church held a little get together Halloween evening that was also very well done, and it was fun to see the reactions of the local children who do not celebrate the holiday.

Overall I would say Halloween week was the best one on the island yet!

Pudding

2007-10-24T19:38:00.000-04:00

Yummmmmmy! It's amazing how a simple box of pudding can be a fantastic treat that the whole family loves. Jell-O and Pudding are great little things to stuff in a barrel to take up all the extra little space from packed items that are irregularly shaped.
This last week has been a pretty tough one for us. Being sick is always difficult, but when you add being stir-crazy and sick with stir-crazy sick children... yeah, fun. Then there are the inevitable bumps we all run in to or step in, like my youngest yesterday who was standing on some grass on campus when she was attacked by ants. Hundreds of them were all over her shoes and socks. I ripped them off of her as quickly as I could, and she was only bit a couple of times (thank Heavens) but during that time my oldest daughter and the little girl I was walking home just kept walking! Then the youngest ran off after them and I was trying to bang the ants off the socks and shoes and follow the children along with three backpacks, waterbottles, and various other necessitites including an umbrella because of course it was raining during this whole episode. It's amazing that I was only bit once. Man those little buggers can sting! A student who recognized that I needed help stood with my girls while I caught up, but the little girl I was walking home just took off and ran all the way home! Then I carried my youngest the rest of the way home because I couldn't get the last couple of ants out of her shoes and socks.
In addition to that, she woke up after she'd only been in bed like an hour and begged and cried for a milkshake. So I gave in (it was late and I thought it would get her in bed). She couldn't fall asleep after that, and kept getting up and complaining about a tummy ache, which I of course figured was her way of trying to stay up since this has been a major issue lately. Right after I put her in her bed and chewed her out for getting out of bed, she got up for like the 10th time and promptly vomitted all over the place. I felt so bad. Poor kid. So then Shane sticks her in the shower (we don't have bathtubs) and I'm cleaning up the mess and when I go to check on her I realize that she has found the economy-size bottle of Aussie shampoo that is supposed to get us through our stay on the island and she is pumping it all over the shower floor. So, of course, despite the fact that I was still feeling sorry for 'yelling' at a sick child I can't help but tell her off again. (This isn't our first experience with her wasting my shampoo.)
Add to that the battle I'm waging to try and help other spouses with their island experience and the frustrations that develop from that and I'm just grateful tonight for pudding. Seriously, after our ummm.... whirlwind.... trip to the island and the subsequent trials I promised myself that I would find a way to make it easier for those who follow. It just seems like I'm banging my head against a brick wall lately. I really want to get a sponsorship program started, but how do you do that when you don't know who the new spouses are? Seriously, I thought the RSO website would be a decent way to find new spouses, but so far it's only helped locate 2. This is still progress, and at least I can help those 2, but I know there are so many more out there who could benefit from our knowledge and experience. Oi! I just don't get why grown-ups can't figure out how to get along with each other and how to help each other. I know it's not surprising, this is why there are wars in the world, but still, come on people! Why can't we all be a little less selfish and a little more concerned with helping our fellow men!

My Favorite Things

2007-10-22T10:50:00.000-04:00

Seeing as we are home, sick, again, I figured I'd take the opportunity to address what items we packed or had shipped that have been of the most use on the island.

Let's see, ummm.... not that I haven't mentioned it before, but THE STROLLER. It's like our car. I consider it indispensable.
MY LAPTOP. Yes, it is my link to the outside world. I can use the internet to find almost anything I could want and have it shipped to family to ship to me, or download it directly, or even print off coloring pages, games, activities and recipes, which brings me to my next item....
MY PRINTER. Okay, so really, maybe it shouldn't be on the list. I've seen printers here for pretty decent prices. I don't know whether the ink cartridges would be at decent prices though...
MY IPOD. Man, I sound like my husband with all this digital stuff. Really, the iPod is my DVD player and my radio and my portable television.
THE EXTERNAL HARD-DRIVE. 500 gigs of whatever I want... most of it movies, but room for Shane's school stuff too!
KEEN SHOES. I can't imagine life here without them. They're almost a part of us....
CLOTHING. I think I'd go crazy if I tried to find clothing for the whole family here.
SCHOOL SUPPLIES. We saved a ton of money by buying these in the States and then bringing them with us.
KITCHEN STUFF. My Pampered Chef food chopper, the Magic Bullet blender, the slow cooker, the rice cooker, a good spatula/flipper, princess cups... I cook a lot here. It took a lot of time to buy all of the kitchen things that I needed, and I should have found a lot of the stuff in Roseau in our first couple of weeks on the island, except that we got here so late that Shane was all ready in school so going to Roseau was a fond dream. Buying a lot of this stuff at the 4th semester sales saved us some money, but it was difficult living without them for an entire semester until then. I think our best purchase on the island was either the sandwich maker or the area rug.
WIND-UP FLASHLIGHT. Oh yeah. We even use it as a night light.
RECHARGEABLE LANTERN. The electricity is out again? No problem.
RECHARGEABLE BATTERIES. Batteries are not candy, but we go though them like they are.
OUR PILLOWS. Yes, the pillows truly suck here.
LIFE-JACKETS, SNORKELING EQUIPMENT and beach toys. The safety of my children is paramount and once I've strapped them in I worry a lot less and actually enjoy myself on the beach.
MAGIC ERASER. I have children. Enough said.
MY CAMERA. There's no way I could feel good about living here in paradise and not chronicling it with a camera. ;)
SUNGLASSES. All though you can purchase them here, at least we have the types we like at decent prices.
TOYS. Yup. Toys.
PAPER CRAFTS. We can always find something to do with some construction paper and markers and glue...
5 GAL. WATER CONTAINERS. The collapsible ones on the camping aisle at Wal-Mart. I sleep a lot better knowing that we have water stored for an emergency.

Okay, okay, so I admit it. Everything we brought has been pretty useful. You can get a lot of things here, it's just that they cost triple what they should, or they are only available once in a three month period. I'd put the sunscreen and repellant on the list, except that they are available here. Like everything else they cost a lot more here. It really was worth flying to Miami and purchasing all sorts of food and items to ship back here. We could have done without, but it was a small price to pay compared to trying to get all the stuff we need on the island. We've all ready noticed a big difference in our comfort level and our budget. A lot of my friends have been using Beach Groceries for their food and they are loving it.

Did you notice the Dates?

2007-10-20T22:34:00.000-04:00

Yeah. So did you know that you can open a blog, lose it, search and search for it, and then find it on accident when you start a new one? Yes, that's what happened to me, and now I have tons and tons of catch-up to play! And the worst part is that the most helpful things that I could have chronicled for new spouses coming to the island mostly happen during the first semester!!!

Recently I was asked about whether or not I regret our decision to come to the island. I'm not sure why, but I've spent a lot of time reflecting on that. I answered that I absolutely do not regret it, but truthfully what do I have to compare it to? I don't know what it would be like at any of the other Caribbean medical schools that we could have attended. I also realize that I really won't know how I feel about our adventure until it's over. In the mean time, I plan on enjoying every bit of island life that I can. We've had a couple of slow days lately... we've had a mysterious illness that has manifested itself as a cold, a fever, general crankiness, and fatigue... a different symptom for every member of the family! Having children home all day from school in the confines of a small apartment when you're not feeling well works out for some s-l-o-w days.

We recently had a visit from one of the few creatures of the island that I had hoped we would never meet - a 10 inch long poisonous centipede! I was groping through the toy box (read 'big suitcase') in the dark to get sand toys for going to the beach the next day. I thought I had flipped a necklace out of the toys, and that it was sliding to the floor, but then it kept moving and I realized it had legs!!! Lots and lots of legs!!! I still can't believe I didn't scream, but I went and woke up my husband and had him kill it. Now here is the kicker... if you try to kill these wicked creatures and don't succeed on your first try they charge you! By the second strike the centipede was dead, but all we could do was sit and stare at it for a half an hour to make sure it was really, truly dead. Then we had a hard time falling asleep. So freaky!

(We had another little friend visit a several weeks later that I got a picture of. The one in the sink is one third the size of the one I blogged about.)

The first semester on the island

2007-10-20T17:08:00.000-04:00

Our first semester on the island was full of adventures, adjustments, and lots and lots of walking. We lived about a mile from the campus and after a few days of taking busses and walking while carrying children I knew we needed a stroller. My friend Angela came through for us in a big way, buying the stroller we needed and shipping it to us so that we could get it in a matter of days and pay her back later. The stroller made our lives so much easier! We got to take a tour of the island within our first week and went and hiked around Fresh-Water Lake, bathed in a hot spring under Trafalgar Falls, and swam near Scott's Head where the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea are separated by about 30 feet of land. The following weekend we went whale watching. Shane was sick the entire trip, but we did get to see the fluke of a baby whale.
Shane completed orientation and registration and non-stop school and studying quickly became the norm for him. We had a couple of issues with our landlord, who was elderly and couldn't handle the noise if we had any of the girls' friends over to play. Setting up a home here was very difficult. Most of the products are the type that you can find at a dollar store, but they cost a whole lot more than a dollar. We ended up having Shane's parents ship us a whole box of kitchen supplies.
My days have been mostly spent doing the 'Mom' thing. School starts at 8:00, we are responsible to supervise our own children during lunch from 12:00 to 1:00, and school ends at 3:00. I quickly discovered that by the time I walked home from lunch I only had 20 minutes before it was time to head back and pick Chandee up from school! So, Kira and I started hanging out on campus during this time, every day. There is a playground under the full strength of the sun, and a semi-airconditioned room where we spent most of our time. It was taxing on both of us.
Truthfully, it was a rough semester. I'm glad it's over!

Where in the world is Dominica???

2007-06-03T21:22:00.000-04:00

Dominica is at 15.8 degrees north lattitude, 61 degrees west. We're closer to Venezuela than the States. Shane is attending Ross University School of Medicine (a subsidiary of DeVry.) We flew in through the mountains of the island on April 30th, and moved in to our apartment on May 1st. If you want to know what our little piece of paradise looks like you can watch Pirates of the Caribbean 2 or 3 or you can watch "Pirate Master" on CBS since they were all filmed here. The island is 16 miles wide and about 29 miles long, with the capital Roseau being about 25 miles to the south from us. Those 25 miles take about 45 minutes to an hour to travel by bus because of the mountainous terrain. There are many things to see on the island, and even more things to see around the island if you care to snorkel or scuba dive. We've all ready toured several of the "nature island's" tourist attractions, and we are looking forward to experiencing many more of the island's natural beauties.

In an effort to maintain friendships and share our knowledge we are opening this blog. I say "we" but I really mean "I" because my husband won't have the time and the children are too young to add their own thoughts, all though I will probably catalogue their advice from time to time! If I am able to devote the time, I would like this blog to be available to future families of Ross Students so that they can prepare and learn from our advetures, in addition to keeping our family and friends posted on our whereabouts and adventures. I'd like to open this blog with a picture I took from the airplane of Dominica. I figure it's a pretty decent opener to this chapter in our lives....