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.