Enough said.

October Fun

We can't believe it's already October! The signs of fall are all around us as the temps start to drop and the colors on all the trees are changing. We have been discovering more of the fun things to do in the tri-city area here in Michigan and are liking it more and more. Paul is enjoying the hospital here and I got a new social work job doing family counseling in Flint ...yes, Flint. I am still teaching dance in the evenings as well. We got a newly used 2003 Subaru Outback and love having a family wagon minus the family...lol! Paul's parents have been in town and we had a lot of fun with them spending time in Frankenmuth, Michigan that is a true German town through and through. We ate lunch at a restaurant where all the waiters were wearing Leederhosen and toured a family run cider mill. We hope everyone is enjoying the change of seasons as much as we are.

September in Michigan

Hello friends and family!

Just thought I would update everyone on what we have been up to in Michigan. Well, once Paul got to NC I drove the entire way to Michigan but not before we stopped for the night in Cincinnati and got to participate in a sweet Obama rally. It was so much fun until the fire alarm went off at midnight in our hotel where we were sleeping on the 21st floor. Holy never ending staircase...I have never ran down so many stairs in my life. Everything was fine though. 

As we drove up to our new place that we had never seen before it definitely felt like Christmas in September. We got inside and did the whole screaming and jumping around thing for a few minutes to take it all in. Going from 250 square feet in Dominica to a fully loaded 1,250 square feet with all the amenities of this blessed country was a little overwhelming but in a good way. Needless to say we love our new place and never want to leave it unless it is for something even better. 

I am teaching dance 4 nights a week and am waiting for my temporary social work license paperwork to get processed before I can start a social work job.  Paul started at the hospital today and has a big test tomorrow he is gearing up for. He says he finally feels like a real medical school student now that he can be in a real hospital and is really happy. We like our church ward and so far have not been approached about any callings. However, I have already been cornered into teaching Relief Society in two weeks but worse things could happen I guess. All of the members are so kind and a bunch of the guys are med students, residents, and fellow docs and have given Paul a lot of advice and support already. We are both so grateful for the instant family the church always provides wherever we go!

All is well at this home-front for now!

Livin' it up with my mooie

Hello everyone,

As some of you know I have been living with my mom in NC for the past 2 weeks while I wait for my Paul to come and meet me soon. I have been enjoying living in the USA again and have been over indulging myself in almost everything. My mom took me to a concert at the Biltmore Estate in NC the other night and we had a blast. I forgot how hard the beach boys can rock, even though they are in their 60's. Watching all the old people groovin' to the music was sweet! Other highlights have included, TCBY, shopping, movie theatres, central A/C, and a comfortable bed. I already really miss hanging out on the beach and swimming with the billions of fish oh and my husband of course. I am excited for him to get here so he can enjoy some parts of the lifestyle again.

I got a job teaching dance again in Michigan and so I have been taking some ballet classes to brush up on the lingo and stuff. The classes have been kicking my butt and I have a greater appreciation of the amazing talent I use to have and things I could make my body do.

More to come....

Update-kinda

Wow! we have not been very good about keeping this updated so here's an update.

We are still living in Dominica. Paul's still studying 24/7. Hmm... I guess too much hasn't really changed. I got to go to NC to see my entire family and had a blast for two weeks. My parents rented a huge barn that was converted into  a cool house in the true country of Western NC. The mountains were absolutely stunning and so green. Highlights from the trip included tubbing in the massive rivers, riding crazy rides at Ghost Town in the Sky amusement park, and of course catching fire flies at night with all my nieces and nephews. It was really hard for me to leave everyone to come back to this island but we only have 46 days left so I am TRYING to have a more positive attitude. I started my summer community reading program again yesterday and ESL classes starting again tonight so the time I am hoping will fly by. 

Paul found out he was accepted to complete his next semester in Michigan which was a very competitive hospital to land. Everyone is really proud of him and all his hard work is starting to pay off. I have been job and apt hunting in the area we are going and that is fun but often frustrating. 

A fun tidbit- when I went into town today I was walking outside and my skirt totally flew over my head turning a lot of other people's heads if you know what I mean. I was totally embarrassed and some guy yelled at me for wearing a short skirt(which actually almost covers my knees completely) on a windy island. 

We hope everyone is feelin' Irie!

To our Mothers

Try JibJab Sendables!

What is Love?

Last night for my b-day dinner Blake decided she would go way out of her comfort zone. Believe it or not she prepared and cooked fresh fish, Mahi Mahi, which was caught in the local bay. 

The picture above shows what a wonderful job she did. I wanted to get Blake in the picture but at that moment she was spraying Lysol into the back of two fans throughout the apartment in an attempt to dampen the smell. This was probably the toughest thing she has ever done. She has an aversion to seafood like no one else.  She told me I better document this event because 1.) nobody will believe it and 2.) it will never happen again!

She is amazing. I love her.  

Church Service Project

My parents church in AZ got the children involved in collecting and boxing basic school supplies to ship to the island to donate to a local school. The school supplies on the island are of poor quality are very limited and expensive. Many Dominican children will miss days or weeks of school because they do not have a pencil and cannot attend w/o one. The kids and teachers in this small farming village of "t-baud" (t-bow) were so excited to receive the supplies and letters that the children from AZ wrote for them. I was talking to all the kids about what they want to be when they grow up and my favorite response came from this beautiful tall and thin girl who shouted, "The Chief of Police!" I tried to instill some hope in them by encouraging them to work hard in school to accomplish their dreams even though their reality will make this extremely difficult for them. Dominica is unfortunately a land of very limited opportunity.

a taste of my skills

So, I feel like this link to my last performance needs a little bit of an explaination. As most of you know I am (was) a classically trained dancer and wasn't too bad at it. Here on the island I have missed dancing so much so I finally went stir crazy and joined whatever dance groups I could. One was a tribal belly dancing class I took for just a month and then performed and then the universities Black Student Association was kind enough to let me work it out a little with them. The university had it's first culture carnival talent show so I got a chance to perform in front of a couple hundred medical students and faculty. Although this is not my typical performance style I came out of it learning the basics of belly dancing(which is a lot harder than it looks!) and a newer hip hop move I didn't know called the "dutty wine." It was a lot of fun performing again eventhough my belly is not as fabulous as it once was. Enjoy:)

My Haitian Friends

Myself along with two other spouses in our church started teaching adult ESL classes in our church building twice a week. We started the classes in September and have had about 50 Haitians regularly attend. They are working very hard and have made a lot of progress. I teach the beginning class and they are lots of fun. My favorite lesson was when I taught the body parts and then taught them the hokey pokey. I had everyone get up and make a big circle and follow along. A lot of them wanted to write the song down so they could teach there children. There was a lot of laughter that day:) 

The "grab a root" hike

A few weeks ago I organized a group hike to this crazy not very well known hike on the island. The hike starts at the top of a very high cliff and you have to climb down the cliff to get to the beach where there is a beautiful waterfall that falls right onto the sand. It was a pretty scary hike down because there are no harnesses, just some rocks, a few random ropes, and roots of trees to use to keep you from plummeting to your death! Although it was very hard it felt like such an accomplishment and getting to play under the waterfall and in the ocean was a good break between scaling the cliff. I was really grateful that the cliff was draped with thick trees and forest ferns that often masked the full view of the several 100 foot drop. Our guide that drove and hiked down with us was kind enough to break open some fresh coconut for everyone to snack on. It was a nice sweet treat. 

Espwa Donmnik (Hope Dominica)

Both Paul and I are members of the Ross student group Friends of Espwa Donmnik which is creole (the national language) for Hope Dominica. It is a palliative and hospice care group that is also a branch off of the national non-profit group Espwa Donmnik. I am the education coordinator on the executive board and have been staying busy organizing events and programs for this very new group. I just finished running a student and faculty raffle to raise money to buy a morphine pump for the hospital. The group was able to form a partnership with the government that if the group provides the hospital with the pump, then the government will be able to supply the morphine. Supposedly liquid morphine is very cheap, but the pumps are over 1,000 US dollars a piece! One of the faculty physicians at Ross is trying to open a palliative/hospice care wing in the hospital and having morphine pumps will be a great start. The island has morphine only in pill form and is very limited. I just finished the raffle and am now working on the actual ordering and shipping of the pump to the island. 

Once a month the group offers a community volunteer program where students and "spouses" (b/c that is all I am here!) to visit both the island's nursing home and elderly people who are home bound and living alone through a coordinator from the Catholic Church. Paul and I have really enjoyed going on these visits. Dominicans currently have the most centurions in the world! The oldest woman living on the island is 109! There is something to be said about eating fresh food off the land and having to walk everywhere. The people here are extremely healthy and look so much younger than they always are. They always have so much wisdom to share with us:) 

A Year Already?

We have done a horrible job of keeping everyone posted on our adventures so we have decided to try, again, to improve over the next 5 months.

Dominica has been a great place that we have really enjoyed and we want to share it with all of you!!!

Keep checking back for the updates that we hope to add soon.  We will also try our best to add some posts that detail some the our most memorable moments on the island.