What a beautiful mess

We have survived one year of living in the Caribbean! Exactly one year ago today our 16 month adventure here in Dominica began and we quickly leaned what we were in for. When I started this post it was because I honestly thought that I hated living here. Don't get me wrong, I love how beautiful this island is and the friendships I have made. I definitely won't ever forgot some of the amazing ladies I've met here. They have gotten me through it with a somewhat sane mind. I also have loved being here to support Stephen. I wouldn't want things any other way. This has been such an amazing adventure. However when the time comes to move back to the US (four months from now) I am not going to want to spend one second longer than I have to here.
I started this list sometime during second semester one day while I was walking to campus just thinking about life on the Island. It is of the little and some of the big things that I always hope to remember about Dominica. I call it my "what a beautiful mess" list. It started out as a list of pet peeves here on the island but as I got going on it I decided to add the positive things about living here as well because I really have had some amazing days here and want to remember the good just as much as the not so good.

• While driving, people will come to a complete stop without pulling over to the side of the road for any number of reasons. (One of those reasons I've witnessed was to eat their lunch. I mean why wouldn't you stop in the middle of the road to eat lunch)?
• Using an umbrella to block the rain just as much as the sun.
• Honking as a means of communication. (Absolutely hate it)
• Very colorful homes and businesses.
• Lizards (Most are cute and fun/Some look like godzilla babies and can be very scary when they fight)
• Momma cows, daddy cows, baby cows. Now I know how "moo cow trail" got its name. (Keep your kids close though, some of those cows are mean)
• Island dogs. (They are the sweetest animals and It breaks my heart to see how they are treated here)
• Two speeds of driving: As fast as your vehicle will allow, and slam on your breaks a split second before hitting that speed bump or other car in front of you. (Riding in a transport in Dominica can only be related to the Knight Bus in Harry Potter)
• Muddy puddles
• "You alright?" Locals term for saying hello. (I know they are just being nice but "YES I'm fine!! STOP ASKING.")
• Listening to locals have a two minute conversation...didn't understand one word and that was supposedly English. Oh well.
• Ants! (oops, left one tiny little crumb on the counter. That won't ever happen again)
• IGA (grocery store) finally stocked. Drop everything your doing and run before its all gone for two more weeks!
• Raining outside with no clouds in the sky. (Very peculiar)
• Tai would like this one. A centipede (thankfully dead) on your child's teddy bear. (I think we have a bug problem)
• Beautiful flowers everywhere.
• Fruit! Mango, avocado, banana, pineapple, papaya, sugar cane, passion fruit, guava, star fruit, watermelon, sugar apple, and the list goes on. (One fruit which I love that Stephen likes to make fun of me for eating he calls snot balls)
• Warm Caribbean ocean with breathtaking sunsets. Can't get enough of the sunsets.
• Black sand (Pirates of the Caribbean style)
• Rainbows every single day.
• Frogs (tiniest little things but so incredibly loud at night or when its raining)
• Boas (you would think in the rain forest, nope on our neighbors kitchen window)
• Parrots in our front yard.
• Grass allergies (hate it)
• Dominican "English" language??
• LOUD EVERYTHING! Loud music, loud locals, loud birds, loud frogs, loud honking!
• Fireflies! (Definitely at the top of my most loved things on the island)
• Fish from the market. (Yum)
• Thunder that shakes the house a little.
• Crazy echos
• Can't go outside after dark. (Could get robbed or worse) 
• Birds that eat lizards. (Just like the tiny compy's who stalk their prey and eat people in Jurassic park)
• Brown water in the sink/shower after it rains to much.
• Shower the size of a hot tub. (When that happens hang a clothes line in it)
• Unreliable transports
• "Wow, it's hot." Next day "Wow, it's still hot." Next week "Wow, it's hot." Next month "When will the Heat end???"
• Pot holes
• Island time
• Stinky toilets (You can clean it every day but that smell just won't go away. Island problems...)
• Random awful odors and trash piles.
• Standing in line at the bank for 30 - 45 minutes minimum whether there is one person in front of you or 5. (This is a bit of an exaggeration, but only by a little bit)
• Lemon Grass! Love love love lemon grass!
• Starting your propane stove/oven with a lighter. 
• Running out of propane while dinner is cooking. (Guess we are doing delivery tonight)
• Worrying about running out of electricity because the grocery store doesn't have more to buy. (Yes, you pay for your electricity at the grocery store and for some odd reason they often run out)
• Random power outages & randomly your water shutting off.
• Usual spot, uptown, the tomato, la flambeau. (Our favorite places to eat out)
• French Bakery in Roseau. (The best!)
• Does Subway have bread yet? (Who knew subway could run out of bread for 2 months, then close down the place because the freezer brakes)
• Saturday morning market! (Woohoo we get to listen to people preach on the loud speaker)
• Going to church in a green building. Then moving church buildings to a lighter colored green building. (So blessed to have it though and absolutely love our local members, Pinky especially)
• The Caribbean breeze. (So thankful when we have it)
• Spouses trips exploring the island.
• Light flies (Dishes are waiting until tomorrow)
• Perfume tree outside our house. (The flowers on them are used in a lot of perfumes and smell so good)
• Game days at the family lounge. (Awesome company, AC, and sometimes 10 kids screaming)
• Eating a cookie from a brand new just opened package only to find it full of weavels on cookie number two.
• Fort Young! (Where you can feel like you live in America again for just 100$ a night!)
• Locking myself out of the house...multiple times.
• Playing crab hockey in the kitchen at 1:30 in the morning.
• Tropical Storms (Fun to prepare for. In the end very anticlimactic...so far)
• No hot water in the kitchen sink. (Who needs hot water to do dishes anyways)
• Taking cold showers. (Not because we have to, but because it is one of the few ways to feel cool for 5 minutes)
• Trading in my car back home for a bike with a basket.
• Huge leaves (Like 3 times bigger than your head)

Hundreds of tiny light flies. They come in through the windows at night sometimes following the light. When this happens you just have to hide in your bedroom with just the lamp on.

These birds give me the creeps. The way they look at you is super creepy and I once saw one with a lizard hanging out of its mouth. The locals call them cow birds but their real name is cattle egret. They hang out with the cows and garbage truck. They remind me of the compy's in Jurassic Park who eat people.

My favorite tree in Dominica. This picture doesn't do it justice. The red flowers are incredibly beautiful and vibrant. It is called the Royal Poinciana.

The sugar apple. Such a unique fruit and one of my favorites.

This garbage truck sits at the bottom of our road.
Walking past it makes you just want to throw up.

This guy got into our house one night after Stephen got home from studying. Stephen used a broom to try and brush him out. Sad I didn't get a video of it. One of the funniest things to happen here.

The lizards are so cute and tiny and at the same time super scary!

Moo cow trail with a beautiful rainbow and of course a cow.

This has been our beautiful home for a year now! We've enjoyed all the ups and the downs and look forward to our last 4 months living in beautiful Dominica.

Garden Party Spouses Banquet

Another successful spouses banquet. I look forward to this night every semester when all of the spouses get together for dinner and send off the last semester spouses to their next adventure being a medical students spouse. Only one more spouses banquet left for me before moving home!

Beautiful sunset we had about a week ago. This is from our apartment. Stephen and I walked to the beach to try and catch some pictures of it over the ocean but didn't make it in time. Thankfully one of the other spouses was already at the beach.

Photo Credit to one of the other spouses who was at the beach during this amazing sunset. No filter added either. That is just how beautiful sunsets can be here.

Spanny & Hibiscus

So glad I finally went to see these beautiful waterfalls. They weren't really on my list of places to see on the Island but I'm so glad I took a day to see them anyways. They were just as incredible as the other waterfalls on the Island. I can't get enough of how wonderful the waterfalls are here. They are by far my favorite thing to go see on the Island. The first two Falls we visited were Spanny Twin Falls or Penrice Falls. The first waterfall is a short 20 minute walk. The second waterfall is only 5 minutes farther but up the cliff. Thankfully there is a rope to rock climb up with. The last waterfall we saw was a 5 minute drive away and then just a few stairs down to Hibiscus Falls. I don't have much more to say about these falls because words aren't really enough. Pictures aren't enough either but they will do. 

Hibiscus Falls

There was water trickling down the rock. 

It was really beautiful but hard to see in the picture.

Spanny Falls Twin #1

Just a little rock climbing to get to Twin #2

Spanny Falls Twin #2

Just hanging out behind a waterfall.

Every storm runs out of rain

Hurricane season officially started June 1st and will go until the end of November. Hurricane season for us means we may see a few tropical depressions and maybe a tropical storm or two. We are unlikely to see any hurricanes in Dominica. They tend to not have formed yet when they pass over us. We had our first tropical depression about a week ago that only left us a downpour that lasted about a half hour. Yesterday we had our first tropical storm pass and she was named Bertha.
Stephen and I were pretty excited for Bertha to come. Campus was closed at 4pm because of the storm and our landlord moved all of his rental cars from Portsmouth to our front lawn. Stephen was home all day anyways because he hasn't been feeling well for a few days now. We decided it was going to be a treats day and I made cookies, we ordered pizza for dinner, opened a bag of cookies, and spent the night with candles as our light, even though the power never shut off. I was happy to have him home for a day and it was the perfect day to be home with the tropical storm coming our way. We were ready for it but in the end didn't need to be. It rained off and on all day and was pretty windy for a little while in the evening. There was a little thunder and lightening. Overall it was a perfect little summer storm. Definitely no Bertha tropical storm we were expecting. We were a little let down at how wimpy Bertha ended up being but still had a great day and night hanging out. We watched the dark knight and then ended the night playing rummikub.
The next morning after "surviving the storm" the only aftermath we had was from a bowl of oatmeal falling to the floor, breaking, and spilling oatmeal all over the kitchen floor and cabinets. And that didn't even come from the storm. It is still just the beginning of hurricane season so we may get a few more impressive storms our way in the next couple months. I'm looking forward to it.

Counting down the weeks to the end of 3rd semester

Well 3rd semester ends in less than a month. It has gone by crazy fast. Stephen and I are really looking forward to our 2 week break together. He just had his 3rd test about a week ago and spent the afternoon spear fishing with some buddies while I worked at aftercare. They caught a ton of lion fish and even a couple lobsters. Stan was kind enough to gut them all and gave us a couple fillets that we cooked for dinner a couple nights later. It is so fun eating fresh fish that Stephen has caught. The rest of the exam night Stephen was sweet enough to watch the bachelorette with me.

A couple weeks ago we were able to attend the honor roll banquet. Stephen made the deans list second semester and he was congratulated by the dean of the University and given another certificate. I am so proud of him for making the honor roll both semesters so far! 

With the end of the semester coming soon all of us spouses have been getting together a lot to say goodbye to some amazing girls on the Island who will be moving back to America after this semester. The hard part about making such amazing friendships here is the fact that spouses are always leaving at the end of the semesters. It is sad to see them go but I am so happy for them at the same time knowing they get to start their next adventure. I can't believe that will be Stephen and I in 5 months. We have already bought our tickets home. We move back to America Dec 20th just in time for Christmas. To say we are getting pretty excited is an understatement. It will be sad to leave so many good friends but our adventure here has been more than enough fun and we will be excited to start our next adventure. 

RSO Community pot luck dinner

 Getting some delicious ice cream in Roseau.

Brunch with the ladies to say goodbye to an amazing friend. 

We will miss you so much Kalia.

 Spear fishing after mini 3

Moon Jelly

Blessed

I've had an interesting couple of weeks. A lot has been on my mind. I just need to say how blessed I am to have the life that I have and how it has ended up so far, especially with it bringing me to Dominica. A lot of people think that I don't enjoy living here in Dominica, probably because I joke about disliking it a lot. Then in the last week or two it has hit me that we really aren't going to be living here much longer, and it is making me a little sad. It is crazy to think that we have almost lived here a year now and move back to the states in 5 months! I have made some amazing friends here who have gotten me through some tough times and I'm really going to miss them. Some of them I will probably never see again. Knowing that I have made such awesome friends has really made me realize that I don't hate living here. I am actually getting to a point where I almost enjoy it. There will always be those annoyances that come with living in such a poor country but besides those it is an amazing place. The community on this island is something you won't find anywhere in the states. I feel so blessed to have been given this opportunity to live the way we live here and to have met the people we have. This is an experience I won't ever forget and I'm so glad I have this blog to keep forever to look back on some amazing times here. 

With that being said it is the 4th of July today and I am so extremely bummed that I'm not back in the US to be with family and friends to celebrate and watch the fireworks. Living outside of the US has made me the most blessed I've ever been to know I live in the United States of America. I am so grateful for all of the servicemen and women who fight for our freedom and who have fought for it. I never thought I took advantage of what I had back in the states and always felt like I was grateful. Now I know just how lucky I have been my whole life. I am so proud of my country and even more proud and blessed to have my religion. I don't know where I would be without having the Church of Jesus Christ of Ladder Day Saints in my life. 

We have such a strong branch here on the Island full of loving and kind locals and students with their families. A couple weeks ago Elder W. Craig Zwick who spoke in our last general conference came to our Island to dedicate our new church building and to visit the branch. He is currently our interim Mission President and has been visiting all of the islands in the San Juan, Puerto Rico Mission. Our church meeting with him there was so powerful and had such a strong spirit. It was an incredible hour and a half meeting. I don't say often enough how blessed I am to have the gospel in my life. I am so grateful to be married to someone who feels the same way and that we can have children some day and raise them in the Church. I'm so thankful to my loving parents who raised me in the church and who have always taught me by example to be the best I can be. I am also so grateful for Stephen's parents as well for raising such an amazing man. I know he has gotten where he is today by being raised by such amazing examples. 

Our beautiful branch here in Dominica!

June 22, 2014

Our new church building. Dedicated on June 22, 2014

Had a fun time at the 4th of July event on campus.

Learning how to frost!

 Deanna had the best idea to cheer me up on the 4th by frosting cupcakes.

Watching the fireworks back home by facetime at 12:30am.

RSO Bake Sale with two of the other Jen's

and some awesome spouses!

Silly cows aren't supposed to be there.

Right outside our window.

Waking us up at 4:30 am mooing for a couple hours.