First post of 2008

Hi Everyone!

I know it's pretty pitiful that it's already the 20th of January and I'm just now posting my first post of the year, but I have decided to be better at updating this thing every week, so it is going to improve...don't give up on me!

Well, after an awesome but short visit home for Christmas, we are back in Dominica. We had a great time catching up with our families and everyone else back home, and were very sad to leave. But once we actually landed in Dominica, we remembered how much we really do loving down here and then it was ok to be back, even though we stillr eally miss our families. I for one do not miss the cold weather, but Sam definately does. Actually, it has been really nice weather down here. Today is a very comfortable 80 degrees, and we are just laughing at the 1st semster students who think it's hot.

This semester we are living in the same building as before, but we were able to move upstairs to a two-bedroom apartment in anticipation of the guests we have coming soon. It's nice having a little extra room, but we have discovered that it's a lot harder to make feel homey, especially on our budget. All-in-all though, we really like it and have settled nicely. Our friends Mary and James moved closer to us too, so that makes life a lot easier.

Yesterday we went into Portsmouth for the start of Carnival season here in Dominica. We're not exactly sure yet of the origin of this holiday, but it is a prelenten celebration with parades and music and tons of colorful costumes. The parade we went to lasted about 3 hours and went through Portsmouth, and the reason it took so long is because it was a "jump up." Basically, it started as a parade with dancers and musicians and people in costume, but the idea is that the hundreds of onlookers (who are encouraged by plenty of available Kubuli) join in whenever they want. So by the end of the day, there were just hundreds of people dancing in the street following the very slowly moving trucks with the band on it. It was quite an impressive sight, definately something Sam and I have never seen before. I took tons of pictures, and will begin the hunt to find a reliable Dominican photo developer, because I took them all with film because we've been having battery difficulties with our awesome digital camera. So once those come I'll definately put it up. The whole day was pretty amazing. Dominicans will take any excuse to party, and they certainly do it well. This was quite the production.

Other than that, we are just settling back into our routine here. Sam's already working on a stack of lecture notes about 6 inches tall and excited to keep moving forward, even though the amount of work between now and april is a little daunting. Last semester turned out well for him, so we're excited to keep moving forward. Classes are going well for me as well, although I have a speech class this year that I am not looking forward to. This is my last semester with any gen-eds, from here on out I can focus completely on my religion major, which is exciting.

Hope all is well back home, we really miss you all a lot. Stay warm!! :D

Katrina