Christmas break is here

We are loving life! Friday was my last day of work and then our Christmas break officially began! The couple nights this week that we haven't eaten out Stephen and I have cooked dinner together. Yesterday at the pool I told him we were going to have spaghetti for dinner and he decided it would be fun to make meatballs. They tasted delicious! It has been so great being able to spend time with each other again. We have been going to the beach or the pool almost every day and having lots of pizza and movie nights. Now that I am done with work we are going to be able to do so much more. Today we went snorkeling with the branch to Toucari Bay. It was so much fun getting out of town for a few hours. Stephen found 4 sand dollars. We are so lucky to have such amazing people here on the island with us. I already know I am going to make some life long friends here.

We had nachos for dinner and opened a nice bottle of sparkling cider to

 celebrate Stephen making the Deans list and surviving Semester one.

Definitely missing home. Definitely not missing home's winter.

First semester is coming to an end

Stephen has survived his first semester of Medical School! I am so proud of him. He worked really hard and did so well that he made it on the Deans list. Now I just have one more week of work and then Stephen and I get one whole month off together. We already have so much planned. It is going to be a great little vacation for us. We have already done a little celebrating. We have been going to the pool every day after I get off work. After Stephen finished his final exam I had some brownies waiting for him at home. Then we headed to the beach and watched the sunset. It felt so relaxing knowing that he didn't have to start studying again when we got back home. Once the sun set we headed home and ordered pizza and had a movie night. It was so wonderful. I am so happy to have the next month all to us. People tell us all the time how the 16 months here will just fly by. I wasn't sure if I believed them but this first semester really did go by really fast which was just fine with me. I feel like this was a good starter semester. Now I know more about the island and feel a little settled. I'm excited to have many more adventures next semester!

On a side note we had some major flooding this last Sunday. I wanted to post some pictures of it to remember. The river got so high it came over the road we live on and turned it into its own river. Luckily we live high enough that our place was fine but a lot of homes closer to campus weren't as lucky.

Just wearing my rain boots to church!

The above picture is what our road looks like when it rains. 

The lower picture is what our road looked like when it flooded on Sunday!

This is where the river came up over the road.

It rose about 8 feet from what it normally is. 

We decided to go exploring in the rain.

Stephen pointed out this rainbow while I was writing this post.

There is always a rainbow somewhere.

This boat has been coming around Portsmouth lately. We just love it.

Christmas toes!

Highlight of my week: Contact Dermatitis

I have never in my life had an allergic reaction to anything, until now. Ever since moving to this lovely island I have encountered what I thought were thousands of bug bites. I have probably 50 little scars on my legs that I have gotten just in the last 3 months from living here. This week I found out they probably weren't all from bug bites. About 3 weeks ago I got a rash on my feet and ankles. I assumed it was nothing and put some cream on them for about 4 days and it went away. Then on Monday evening I noticed a rash on my leg. It wasn't huge but it itched like crazy just like the one on my feet had. I assumed it would go away in a few days like the other one. Well the next morning it had spread all the way up my leg and onto the other leg. By the time I was off work that day it had spread all over both my legs. I had painful little red bumps all over them. So I think it was Tuesday after work I went in to the clinic to get it taken care of. The doctor didn't know what it was but thinks that I probably have been allergic to something here all along and my body was finally just not getting rid of it on its own. Probably some kind of grass or plant I have been walking and sitting on.

I am just so glad Stephen was at the clinic with me. One of the first things the doctor asked me was how I handle needles. Well I told the doctor not well but that I couldn't stand the pain anymore. The fastest way to stop the spreading was to get a Hydrocortisone injection. It was not my lucky day. I have never been one that handles needles well especially this time. I turned ghost white and the nurse probably thought I was going to pass out. What made it the absolute worse was that the nurse didn't get it in my vein on the first try. But she was determined! She finally gave up and the doctor tried on the other hand and got it right in. The only somewhat humorous part about all of it was that I said I didn't want to look at the needle before the doctor put it in and in that instant the nurse opened the cupboard and about 15 huge needles fell onto the floor right where I was looking away. It was not a fun experience and I really hope I won't be visiting the clinic again anytime soon. After that I headed home with a big old bruise on my hand, a bunch of benadryl and a weeks worth of prednisolone.

Besides my allergic reaction it was a pretty decent week. This is the last week of the semester! Stephen had 3 exams this week. His final is in two days and we both cannot wait for it to be over. Stephen has done so well this semester and we are very excited to spend some time together. At work this week the prep school put on a school Christmas play so I spent the week watching them practice for it. Jack was really cute during the songs. Jack also celebrated his 8th birthday. His birthday isn't really until next week but his mom wanted all of the prep school to be there before the break came and students started going home. Jack's mom is amazing. She went all out for Jack's party. There was sand art, face painting, pizza, cookies, little toys for the kids, bubbles, and balloon animals. I'm pretty sure Jack loved it. He really is a lucky boy.

My battle wound from the nurse. I'm pretty sure she was digging for gold.

Stephen thought I was very brave at the doctors.

Jack loved singing the songs at the Christmas play.

Jack helping blow out his birthday candles.

Merry Christmas from the Peirces

Our very first Christmas card!

An hour in Dominica

I was sitting at home this afternoon wondering if I should do anything before dark. I decided it would be a perfect evening to ride my bike to the ocean. I grabbed my camera and an hour later I have all of these wonderful photos. This is such a beautiful island. I need to appreciate it more before my 16 months are up and I'm gone.