Boa Land

It has been on my bucket list to see a boa constrictor while in Dominica. I thought my only chance would be on a hike deep in the rain forest. I didn't realize my neighbor just up the road would have one on her kitchen window! The local name for the boa is tete-chien. They eat chickens, iguanas, and agouti (a kind of rodent). It was pretty awesome seeing it!

Happy St. Patty's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day! The older I get the more I find I love the Holidays. Even the little ones like St. Patrick's Day. I painted my nails green last night and cooked green pancakes for breakfast this morning. Stephen and I even wore the same green shirt today. I think I might just have to make something green for dinner too.
So far March has been pretty good to us.The month started out with an island Holiday called Carnival. This mean't that Stephen didn't have any lectures! We slept in, enjoyed the morning together, and made breakfast. Then we rode our bikes to Douglas Bay. It's about a 10 minute bike ride. It is known to have lots of sand dollars but we didn't find any this time. There were a lot of local families there enjoying the Holiday and barbecuing and playing in the ocean. After swimming in the ocean together for a little bit Stephen snorkeled and I read on the beach. It was a great morning together. On our bike ride home we noticed quite a few conk shells that were alone in the dirt not being claimed by anyone. So we helped ourselves to one. They are pretty hard to find so we feel pretty happy to have one now.
Like I said March has been pretty good to us. This month has been flying by. I can't believe it is already half over. There was a little bit of excitement at aftercare this week. We found out that there is a pinworm issue among quite a few of the kids in the school. So Stephen and I are taking a pill today and one two weeks from now to kill off any pinworms that we may possibly have. Just like the lice issue that is still an issue at the prep school, now we get to deal with pinworms probably until we are living back in the states and can just kill off everything that could possibly be living in us. Lucky us.
Besides the possible worms that could be living in our bums we are doing good. Stephen is getting ready for two exams this week. He has been a little bit stressed for them but I know he will do really well. His hair is getting pretty long too. He has been growing it out since August and it almost is long enough to put it in a small ponytail. He hasn't decided how long he will go without cutting it. The original plan was to leave it long the whole time on the island but I wont mind if it gets cut sooner. This last week he wore a headband in it to church, silly boy. There isn't much new with me. I have been working at aftercare still and doing my standardized patient job. Last week one of the girls who works in my group brought all of the jewelry she sells on the weekends on the beach. She is French and has been living here for about six years. She makes really interesting jewelry. It was fun looking at it all.
Not much else is new with us. We have been debating whether or not to move into a new apartment over the break and about a week ago we finally made up our minds and signed a contract for a new place. We really love where we are living now but we are paying way too much for it. We will be saving 500$ a month in the new apartment and it is just a two minute walk from where we are now. Hopefully it will be a fun change for us.

Douglas Bay

One of the cows on our road had a baby a couple weeks ago. 

It is the sweetest little thing.

Some of my best girlfriends!

Bye Bye February

Bye bye February. It wasn't a bad month but I am glad it's over. That means one month closer to the end of the semester and going home for a few weeks. Stephen and I are starting to reach the point we did last semester where it just needs to end. I have enjoyed this semester, a lot more than last, but I reach a point where I just need a break. Routines are set now and we feel comfortable living here which makes such a difference. February was a lot of fun because I did more with all the spouses. We started a weekly girls night and I have been getting more involved in activities.
Stephen had his second mini exam this week and after it was over we met up with Stan and Taran at coconut beach just off of campus and the three of them snorkeled while I read. They saw some really cool fish but we forgot to bring our camera. oops. That never happens with me either. They also found the tiniest sand dollars. They were the size of my fingernail and so perfectly detailed. Of course they shattered before getting them home to take a picture.
This week I did a hike with a couple spouses and two second semester students. There is a 14 segment trail on the island called the Waitukubuli Trail. It covers about 90 miles throughout the entire island. I did segments 12 and 13, which was 12 miles! It was the longest day yet here on the island. We started first thing in the morning and were still hiking as it was getting dark. At times I thought I wasn't going to finish it but working out the last couple months the way I have been really improved how long I could go. Plus I wasn't nearly as sore the next day as I was when we did the boiling lake hike at the beginning of the semester. I was pretty proud that I did such a long hike in one day. Now just another 8 weeks of second semester and Stephen and I will be back in Utah for a couple weeks.

Happy Valentines Day

Once again I get to brag about my amazing husband. Stephen and I were able to attend the deans list honor roll reception this last week. Every semester the Dean will honor those students who made it on the honor roll the previous semester. We were really excited to go. There are about 1,300 students currently at Ross and only 10% of them made the honor roll this last semester. I am so proud of Stephen and how hard he worked for it. I hope he can keep it up every semester here but I will be proud of him either way. It is really hard to keep up a high enough GPA to stay on the honor roll all four semesters. Only a handful of the fourth semesters now were still on it. 

For Valentines Day I wanted to have a really special day but knowing that I am married to a med student I didn't expect much more than going out to dinner. I was really surprised though. On Thursday night Stephen surprised me with ballroom dancing! One of the spouses in the branch is a really talented dancer. She and a group of students got together to surprise their wives with some dancing. They decorated the room with lights and balloons and even found a babysitter for all of the kids. It was a lot of fun learning some dances with Stephen. On Friday our original plan was just to go out to dinner instead of me cooking but Stephen felt caught up enough on studies that he took the whole night off! He surprised me with a beautiful rose and I made him a gift out of a deck of cards that gave 52 reasons why I love him. I decorated our bedroom with rose pedals and candles and splurged on some sparkling cider. When it came time to go out to dinner we were feeling pretty lazy and just ordered take out instead and watched a movie. It was a perfect Valentines Day. 

Just a couple random pictures from the week.

Helping out at the spouses bake sale.

Goodbye party to one of the spouses.

Mini 1 & the Super Bowl

Semester 2 already seems to be flying by. I feel like it just started and Stephen just had had his first mini on Monday. It is so nice to have the first test over with. Stephen of course did great on it. I am so proud of all his hard work he is doing here.
Sunday night we were able to watch the super bowl. Stephen doesn't study much on Sunday and he never likes to study the night before an exam so we had the night to ourselves watching the game. I am not fond of football but I know it meant a lot to Stephen so I made a bunch of treats and tried to color them to match the two teams. We had popcorn, almond cake, brownies, tortilla pizzas, chips, cookies, and root beer. We decided to root for the Seahawks because two of their players graduated from Utah State and Stephen knows them. The only thing I was excited for that was supposedly going to help me get through watching it was the commercials. Well the game was showed through Puerto Rico so we got to watch Spanish commercials. Fun for us...I went to bed after half time anyways. It was still a pretty fun night.
The next day after Stephen's mini we were originally planning on riding our bikes to a snorkel spot where you can find tons of sand dollars but the weather was being up and down so we just relaxed at home for the afternoon. I put in emperors new groove for us to watch and we just hung out in bed. After a few hours of being home we figured we needed to get out for a bit. We weren't able to go for our Sunday walk the day before so we headed to the beach around sunset and walked along it until we ended up at PBH. (a little restaurant that is on the beach by campus). There we watched the rest of the sunset. It was really nice. I just love how we can walk for five minutes and be at the Caribbean ocean and feel like we are on vacation. After the sun set we headed to meet Stan and Taran and their two kids for dinner at The Usual Spot. They are a couple in our branch and they are one of the nicest families. We love hanging out with them and loved going to dinner with friends.
It really is days and nights like these spending the day with Stephen and having dinner with awesome friends that get us all through medical school. It is a tough few years but I am so lucky to have such an amazing husband and friends who almost make it easy and fun.

Random pic of my bike. It is a big part of my life here.

I just love these signs at one of our favorite restaurants here.

The Usual Spot - Best Chinese on the Island.

Super Bowl 2014

Post Anyway

I have debated whether or not to write a new post because I feel like nothing has really happened in the last two weeks. Then I have to remind myself to "post anyway." Even though I feel nothing is happening life is always happening and I want to look back on this blog (journal) some day and remember what life in Dominica was like even when I thought nothing was happening. So here is my post of not really anything.
I mentioned in my last post that I got hired as a standardized patient. I was able to do my first set of shifts with students this last week. I wasn't to nervous because I figured the students will be pretty nervous since this is their first time really diagnosing patients. I was definitely right. A couple of them were so nervous their hands were shaking. Overall they were really professional and did a great job. I was really impressed. It was a lot of fun doing it and will be a pretty fun job that I hopefully get to keep the rest of the semesters here.
There were a couple spouses activities that I went to this last couple weeks. The first week of classes I went to Roseau with a group of spouses. Every semester we get to go on a free transport to the capital where food is cheaper and you can get really heavy things because the transport will drop you off at your home. So it is a good time to stock up on things if you need to. I knew I would get car sick and didn't really need to buy much but went anyways and it was really nice getting to know some of the new spouses. Plus I was able to get some groceries. For the last two Saturdays a few of us spouses have been meeting at the family lounge to play games. Both times have been a lot of fun and I think we might start doing it regularly. It has been kind of crappy weather the last couple weeks so we haven't all been meeting up at the pool which we normally do. So this has been a fun way to meet up and chat. I can't complain though, it has still been in the 80's here unlike Utah being in the 20's. I have not been missing winter at all this year!
Stephen and I recently started doing Insanity Monday through Saturday in the mornings before he starts studying. We have a pretty regular group of four of us that go but have had six people come a couple times. We just finished week 3 today but my body was screaming at me during this mornings workout that it needs a break. This is the first time I have ever worked out this way and it is tough. I do love how I am noticing improvements in how hard I can push myself. I will only get better, at least that's what I keep telling myself. We will probably start it up every semester. Along with insanity I have started keeping track more of what I eat in a day. I never thought I'd be one for counting calories but it is kind of awful and nice at the same time knowing how much I eat everyday.
Well that's about it for the last couple weeks. I am still enjoying my mornings off but I am learning pretty quick I need to find ways of spending my time better.

Random pic of us all being squished in the transport for church.
I just love these people so much! They are pretty awesome.

Back in the swing of things and loving it

Second Semester has officially started! I can't believe it. It is nice to be back on the island and back in the swing of things. This semester is starting off very different from first semester. I am loving it! For starters I feel settled in here and familiar with life on the island. Stephen and I came back to the island to find out that there is a major lice out break among the kids at the prep school. It is starting to get under control but I won't be surprised if I am posting about our lice experiences here on the island in the near future. Lets hope not though. Besides already being settled on the island there have been some changes with my work schedule which is actually turning out great.
I am no longer doing the same job I did before. It sort of fell through on me at the end of the semester which at the time was really stressful and very unfortunate. I am hoping to still be able to work with Jack doing the same job in the afternoons from 3:00 to 5:00 starting mid semester. Hopefully it works out. I really have enjoyed working with him. Now that I am no longer working mornings I have a ton of free time though. I have to admit I have absolutely loved having my mornings off. My mood has improved so much not working in the classroom that Jack was in. I love working with Jack and his classmates are adorable, but his teacher at the prep school was really difficult to worth with. I came home very stressed and angry quite often after listening to how she teaches. I will just mention this one time and be done with the subject but if I had children here I would not allow them to go to the prep school. They would be home schooled! I know that is probably easier said than done but I don't agree at all how those kids are being taught there. But that is all I will say on the subject.
Having my mornings free this semester I will be able to do so many more spouse activities that I missed out on before. This week I was able to go to the orientation that welcomes all the new and old spouses back for another semester. I was also able to go to the spouses opening social which was a lot of fun. There are so many fun ladies that live here and I am so excited to become better friends with them. My number one goal this semester is to do a lot of hiking.
One thing I have been stressing a little bit about is not having the income I had last semester from working. It was really nice being able to live on what I made instead of using loan money. This week however I was able to find two new jobs! I must be doing something right because I was offered a last minute job working as a standardized patient. Basically I act out certain symptoms or problems pretending to be a real patient for the med students and they have to diagnose what is wrong with me. I think it will be a really fun job. I was also put on the sub list for the aftercare program at the prep school just until I start working with Jack again.
To end the week Stephen and I signed up to do whale watching. The school will take students every semester for a really good price. We were signed up to go last semester but sold our tickets last minute because Stephen had an EMT meeting. That day the group that went without us saw about 10 whales super up close to the boat. So we tried it out this time. We saw two birds and one flying fish but not one whale. The flying fish I have to admit was pretty awesome but overall a little anticlimactic. Maybe next semester we will be luckier. It was still a fun boat ride.

The only whales we saw were these little ones kept on the boat.

We have about 15 Parrots living in the trees by our house! You can see and hear them in the mornings and afternoons when they come out to eat. I can't get over how amazing and beautiful they are.