A few ways I pass the time...

Blogging...for your reading pleasures.
Knitting so I have something warm to wear home from the airport in Dec.

Reading my chapter for Women's Bible Study this week.
Tennis anyone? No? Just me? (This is a video. I know most of you know that, but "Anonymous" thought the last video I posted was a picture.)
Of course I also spend a lot of time cooking, washing dishes by hand, cleaning, blah blah blah. I would show you how Ryan spends his time, but I don't think flash photography is allowed in the library or the anatomy lab.

Spanni's Waterfall

We thought the hiking was over. We were all pretty tired but Theo decided to take us on another hike. The Emerald Pool was a touristy hike, so there was a pretty clear-cut path. The Spanni waterfall, however, was an absolute nature hike. We were climbing up and down and tromping through deep mud puddles. I took the first picture because it reminded me of Man vs. Wild. We found some "sensitive grass" and if you touched it, it would immediately shrivel up. It was really neat.

Emerald Pool

According to my Caribbean travel book, the Emerald Pool is an "emerald-green pool fed by a 50-foot waterfall". Theo says that the reflection of the trees and plants is what makes the water appear to be green. Those of you who know me, know I am not necessarily a nature-loving girl. I am not a hiker and I don't like to be dirty. I figured I should try to put that aside and do the site-seeing things of the island. You know the saying "When in Rome, do as the Romans"? Well, I say, "When in Dominica, get used to being dirty". Here is a picture of us hiking to the Emerald Pool..."an easy 20 minute hike". I know that from this picture you may think that I was struggling to keep up with the group. In fact, I did pretty good and was actually at the front of the line a couple of times.

A view of the waterfall from above.
Andrea and me. If I look exhausted, it's because I was sleeping in the van.
A random man that was from another country swimming in the Emerald Pool. I'm sure he didn't expect to end up on a blog! 2 of the girls got in and swam, but it was actually kind of cold down in the rain forest.

Trip to the Carib Territory

On Monday a group of 9 or 10 spouses took a trip to the Carib Indian Territory, the Emerald Pool, and the Spanni waterfall. Theo was our guide. The first and last pictures are of the east coast (Atlantic Ocean...technically the west side of the island where we are is the Caribbean Sea and the east coast borders the Atlantic). The second picture is of our fearless leader, Theo. Theo tells us all about the island and he will stop to cut us certain plants that he thinks are interesting. Exhibit A: the third picture. This is a picture of Theo using a plant to "tattoo" himself. The tattoo showed up better on his black arm than it did on our white skin. The drive to the Carib territory took about 2.5 hours. The fourth picture is of the only drive through I know of on the island. The front of the shack has a sign that says "Local Bakery". The car in front of us just slowed down, held out money, and the man walked up to the window and handed the driver food. Theo parked and got out because he wanted us to see how the Cabassa bread was being made. Theo bought some and got us all to try it. I picked off a very small piece because I can only imagine how this place would score on a health inspection. The bread was actually good and had coconut in it. I just had trouble getting past the fact that the "chef" had no place to wash his hands. Theo stopped another time to jump out and cut us all a piece of cinnamon bark. It smelled wonderful. The Carib territory was not that interesting. Basically, the Carib's are the islands first settlers (Caribbean Sea was named for them). I did buy a couple of souvenirs that the Indians had made by hand.

More pictures of Dominica

I want to live in the yellow house! Maybe next semester. :) To the left of the dock is Ross' campus. That big white building at the very left is one of the dorms.

This is Secrets Beach. The only way to get there is by boat. I have not been yet but Ryan and I are thinking we might go after the next exam. These are pictures that one of my friends took. It's supposed to be one of the better beaches around here.

Some island pics.

When I look at these pictures, it does seem like a beautiful place. However, in the hot, hot light of day when you add the bugs and the smells and the grossness, it's hard to see the beauty. Enjoy the view from the comfort of your homes. I'll stay in the jungle and be your photographer. That's just the kind of person I am.

This is the pier that we HAVE to get on to board any boat. Basically, entering is not an option if you want to whale watch, scuba, etc.

More pics from the carnival

Some pics from the cake walk

Halloween Carnival

Yesterday was the Halloween Carnival. The kids were SO cute! There were all kinds of little games for them to play and there was a cake walk, which Ryan would have participated in if he had been allowed. It was fun to be around all of the kids and to help them have a Halloween, since that is not a holiday here.

Last night we did not get to watch the UT game because of all the channels we get at our apartment, the one channel we do not get is ESPN! We listened to the last few seconds of the regular game and all of the overtime on the computer and were gathered around the computer cheering. We really wish that we were "on ole Rocky Top" right now! Hopefully, the time will pass quickly.

Friday night I went to bible study and then Marissa and I went to the Tomato for dinner. Yesterday was the carnival for the kids. Today was church. That's about it. Tomorrow I am going on a site-seeing tour, so hopefully I'll have some good pictures and stories to share with you.

Do y'all know where we are??

"We're not in Kansas anymore." It just occurred to me that while I know many of you know our exact location, some of you may be picturing us on a random rock in middle of the sea. We are on the northwest coast of the island, right between Portsmouth and Glanvillia.

MOOOOO Cow Trail

Sometimes I think that I'm practicing to be 90. This afternoon I was going to go to a yoga class that is on a pavilion on the water with 2 other girls. A thunderstorm started at about 3:40 and the class was at 4:00. It continued storming hard, so we didn't want to walk to class (or be under the pavilion in the storm). So, instead, I knitted and fell asleep. When I woke up, I continued knitting and that's when it hit me...I'm practicing for when I'm 90 years old and this is what I will do everyday! Anyway, we've had a big storm and lots of rain, so I've been stocking up on water just in case. The power is out everywhere right now, but thanks to our generator, we have power. :) This morning I went to Savanne Paille (local school I go to on Thursdays). Tomorrow is the Creole Festival and all schools are out and no one will work because it is a national holiday. The children all had their creole clothes on and they preformed creole dances for us. It was so cute! Little kindergarten boys and girls dancing together. The kids that were in about 4th-6th grade could really dance! They were shaking it! I watched closely so I can teach them to Ryan when he gets home from the library tonight. :) I really enjoyed watching that but since we did not know they were going to perform, none of us had cameras. One of the workers at the school said he would email pictures. If he does, I'll be surprised, but I'll post them if I ever get them. Apparently everyone will have on creole clothes tomorrow. There was a mom at the school with a baby that was probably 4 or 5 months old and the baby was wearing a tiny creole dress!

Yesterday afternoon I kept hearing loud mooing (louder than usual). I opened my kitchen curtains and the above pictures are what I saw. In the second picture, there is a baby cow nursing the cow on the right. You may be able to barely see it's behind. The cow on the left had a lot of leaves and vines stuck on it's left horn. Not sure if you can see that to clearly either.

Back on the "Rock"

I had a wonderful 10 days in Tennessee! I ate tons of delicious food, including about 5 steaks, took long, hot showers, drove my car, visited with family and friends and slept in my own comfortable bed. Ryan asked what the best part of being home was and one of the things I mentioned was walking around the house barefoot. I forgot how good that feels...to walk around on clean carpet. We keep our shoes or house shoes on here. I left bright and early (actually it was not bright at all, it was totally dark) Monday morning to come back to Dominica. After a long 4 flights, going through different securities, customs, checking into 2 different airlines and waiting for one flight that was delayed, I finally made it back to the rock. Theo was at the airport waiting for me and we had a nice long conversation on the hour drive to my apartment. I got to hear about all of the Dominican holidays and their traditions for celebrating them. I thought that it would be really hard to come back, but it really wasn't. I was really excited to see Ryan and I know that we are only here for 6 1/2 more weeks before we come home for Christmas for 3 1/2 weeks! Not too much is going on. Ryan is buried in schoolwork and I am searching for a new place for us to live next semester. I was very excited to unpack all of the stuff I purchased at home for our apartment. I brought Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas decorations and a LOT of candles and febreeze products to cover up that "Dominica" smell. Thanks to Theresa, I started knitting yesterday and am addicted. I would try to sell the stuff I knit, but there isn't much demand for scarves here!
This Saturday we are having a carnival on campus for all the children to come and trick-or-treat and play harvest festival type games. They will all have their Halloween costumes on. I'm looking forward to that. I wanted us to go as Gilligan and Mary Ann (since I feel like we're living on Gilligan's Island), but I never found a hat for Ryan to wear.

Last blog for a while...

Monday we went to the beach after Ryan finished school. The SGA was having a "beach bash" and they had ribs and stuff like that. Once it got dark, we went to the Tomato to hang out with some friends. It was the first night we had relaxed together in over a week. Yesterday I cooked a lot because I'm going to be gone for a week and a half and Ryan will be on his own for his meals. I made fried chicken last night and it was so good! I also made homemade dinner rolls and they were great too! I made them in the shape of Dumplins rolls. I was pretty proud. I haven't been feeling very good the last couple of days and I've been having trouble breathing. I went to the school doctor today and she said I have bronchitis. The problem is, I couldn't understand anything she was saying, so I kept repeating everything to be sure I understood my diagnosis. When she was calling my name in the waiting room, I didn't even budge because it did not sound like my name at all. We think the bronchitis might have been triggered by all of the bug spray I've been breathing. She told me not to wear it anymore. Good thing I'm coming home tomorrow because I have to wear bug spray here. I must admit, it will be nice to not have to smell like bug spray next week! Anyway, she prescribed me 5 prescriptions. Doesn't that seem like a lot? I went to the pharmacy, Bullseye Pharmacy, I might add. The "pharmacist" was singing at the top of her lungs with the radio blaring "You're way too beautiful girl, that's why it'll never work." I was uncomfortable because I'd never been in a pharmacy where the worker thought she was in a karaoke bar. For the 5 different medicines, it cost $50 dollars U.S. I asked if she needed my insurance card and she said no, that it would be the same price. That's pretty good! Average of $10 per medication with or without insurance. We met Mike and Marissa for dinner and I have just been packing to go home since then. Theo is picking my up at 6:00 AM and I will be bright eyed and bushy tailed!!! I probably won't post a new blog for a while because I will not be back in Dominica until Oct. 22nd.

Dominican Sunset

More pics from Sunset Bay

As you can see, the kids were pretty exhausted by the end of the trip. The last picture is of us at Subway (on campus). You can't see us at all... I mainly wanted to show you the view.

Carnival Cruise Ship Docking in Dominica

"Don't get off the boat! Turn around and go back where you came from. It's too late for us, but SAVE YOURSELVES!!!"