Well, Sorry we haven't posted very often over the last few months... I've been crazy busy with school, and Trina... well... she just hasn't updated the blog. anyway, we are home in Colorado, and Christmas has been awesome. We got a new camera from Santa, so we should have plenty of new pictures, and I finally got around to putting our cabrits movie up on youtube, so check the video links for the new movie. That's all for now - first semester went off without a hitch, and I'm looking forward to getting back and learning more. Merry Christmas to everyone, and a happy new year.
-Sam
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Friday, November 23, 2007
Finally...an update
One Saturday, Sam was able to take the day off so we bought a Cutlass and went to Cabrits. It was really nice to spend a day together.
This is Mooch, the dog who has adopted us. She'll eat everything but lentil stew.
This is Mooch, the dog who has adopted us. She'll eat everything but lentil stew.
Sam had to buy a machete, or cutlass as they call them here, because pretty much every man has one, and uses it to do every project you can imagine. Here we tried to get some coconut milk, but they weren't ripe yet. :(
The beautiful Caribbean Sea.
A big hermit crab
Me, the cutlass, and a coconut
Hey Everyone!!
I cannot believe it's already the end of November! The time has just flown by, as is obvious since the last time we wrote on here was the beginning of October! Things have been going really well for us here, and we just love living here!! Sam's been keeping busy with school, but so far it's paying off. He only has 3 weeks left until the final test for the semester, but between now and then he has a bunch of tests. So he will continue to be very busy, and is definitely ready for the break! I have been keeping busy myself. My classes are going well, although a little bit busier in this half of the semester than they were at the beginning. My theology class is really interesting, giving me a lot to think about.
In the midst of school and the everyday stuff, we have been able to get out and enjoy the island and relax a little. We've been able to go sailing several more times, mostly during the week because I babysit most weekends. One saturday Sam took off after his last mini, and we took a transport to the capital and just spent the day exploring. It was fun to just wander around the streets and see what was there. We found a place called "The Spice Man" who sells a bunch of different spices, as well as tons of flavored rums that he makes. He's a really neat guy who will give you samples constantly if you wanted them. We ended up buying 2 different rums, but will definitely be back. His shop is a really cool environment. We payed a little extra to eat at a nice restaurant, where we had a creole dish made with fried octopus, with okra on the side. It was very different, but very good. Although the capital isn't exactly glamorous, it has it's own character that is really starting to grow on me.
A couple of weeks ago, my friend Mary and i put together a trip with a bunch of the other spouses to go through the Carib Territory and take a couple of short hikes to some waterfalls. There's a bus driver that is affiliated with the school who we usually hire to take us on trips, his name is Theo. He took us on this trip, and is a wonderful guide. He knows Dominica inside out and there were several times he would stop on the road, jump out and run into the bushes, and then come back with some random branch or fruit. He brought us bay leaves, oranges, showed us a cocoa pod, and even got one of the girls an herb that he said would cure her asthma. He's a really sweet guy, and is really careful to protect us spouses whenever he takes us places. We got to see some more of the island and get to know the other spouses more, so it was a really cool trip.
Yesterday was Thanksgiving, and although they don't celebrate it here and so Sam still had class, we were able to have a nice celebration. Mary and I braved the Dominica "grocery stores" and found enough stuff to make a relatively American Thanksgiving, complete with turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberries and pumpkin pie. It was a lot of work, but we had fun. It was Sam and I, Mary and James, and our friends Marc and Ericka and their son Nicholas, and then another couple joined us for desert. It was really fun, but we still missed family. But for our first holiday out of the country, it was really fun. That's about it for us! We are so excited to come home for Christmas!! T-minus 3 weeks...we're getting close. We cannot believe how fast the time has flown by here, and are very ready to see family, eat beef, go to a real grocery store and be cold!! Love you and miss you all!!
Katrina
I cannot believe it's already the end of November! The time has just flown by, as is obvious since the last time we wrote on here was the beginning of October! Things have been going really well for us here, and we just love living here!! Sam's been keeping busy with school, but so far it's paying off. He only has 3 weeks left until the final test for the semester, but between now and then he has a bunch of tests. So he will continue to be very busy, and is definitely ready for the break! I have been keeping busy myself. My classes are going well, although a little bit busier in this half of the semester than they were at the beginning. My theology class is really interesting, giving me a lot to think about.
In the midst of school and the everyday stuff, we have been able to get out and enjoy the island and relax a little. We've been able to go sailing several more times, mostly during the week because I babysit most weekends. One saturday Sam took off after his last mini, and we took a transport to the capital and just spent the day exploring. It was fun to just wander around the streets and see what was there. We found a place called "The Spice Man" who sells a bunch of different spices, as well as tons of flavored rums that he makes. He's a really neat guy who will give you samples constantly if you wanted them. We ended up buying 2 different rums, but will definitely be back. His shop is a really cool environment. We payed a little extra to eat at a nice restaurant, where we had a creole dish made with fried octopus, with okra on the side. It was very different, but very good. Although the capital isn't exactly glamorous, it has it's own character that is really starting to grow on me.
A couple of weeks ago, my friend Mary and i put together a trip with a bunch of the other spouses to go through the Carib Territory and take a couple of short hikes to some waterfalls. There's a bus driver that is affiliated with the school who we usually hire to take us on trips, his name is Theo. He took us on this trip, and is a wonderful guide. He knows Dominica inside out and there were several times he would stop on the road, jump out and run into the bushes, and then come back with some random branch or fruit. He brought us bay leaves, oranges, showed us a cocoa pod, and even got one of the girls an herb that he said would cure her asthma. He's a really sweet guy, and is really careful to protect us spouses whenever he takes us places. We got to see some more of the island and get to know the other spouses more, so it was a really cool trip.
Yesterday was Thanksgiving, and although they don't celebrate it here and so Sam still had class, we were able to have a nice celebration. Mary and I braved the Dominica "grocery stores" and found enough stuff to make a relatively American Thanksgiving, complete with turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberries and pumpkin pie. It was a lot of work, but we had fun. It was Sam and I, Mary and James, and our friends Marc and Ericka and their son Nicholas, and then another couple joined us for desert. It was really fun, but we still missed family. But for our first holiday out of the country, it was really fun. That's about it for us! We are so excited to come home for Christmas!! T-minus 3 weeks...we're getting close. We cannot believe how fast the time has flown by here, and are very ready to see family, eat beef, go to a real grocery store and be cold!! Love you and miss you all!!
Katrina
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Another week...
well folks, i meant to update this on monday and now here it is Saturday and I'm finally doing it! Better late than never, I suppose. This was kind of a crazy week.
Last weekend it RAINED. and when I say rained, I mean, I never knew that much water could come out of the sky for that long! It wasn't a tropical storm or anything, but we certainly got wet. Which shouldn't be a problem, except that Dominica's water supply system, whatever that may be, somehow gets overwhelmed when we get a lot of rain. We've noticed before that the water pressure gets really low and you sometimes can't shower for a couple of days but can still do things like wash dishes and flush the toilet. But we got so much rain this weekend that we lost our water completely. For those of you who don't know, I'm a bit of a procrastinator, and although I'd been told that you should always have 4-5 gallons of water around to drink, I hadn't exactly gotten around to it. And when the water runs out like that, of course none of the stores have any left to sell. But we did ok in the drinking department, because it was only out for the night and part of the day. The problem was, this was the night my body decided to have diarrhea issues, and we couldn't flush the toilet! Yeah, it was pretty bad. I felt like a true Dominican as I made trips back and forth to the little river by our house carrying every bucket i could of muddy rain water up to the house so that i could flush the toilet. All I need to do is learn how to balance one on my head while carrying two others in each hand, and then i'll fit right in! That was a lesson learned. STOCK UP ON WATER!!!
On Monday, my friend Mary and I ventured out to the other side of the bay to a national park with a bunch of hiking trails and old fort ruins. We loved the chance to get outside, hike around and explore our island a bit. The fort was used by the british to defend the ships in the port against enemy attackers. In the eighties they restored the main part of the Fort which you can see in the pictures. But if you take a variety of hiking trails through the forest, you find the rest of the fort that is overgrown now. They are absolutely beautiful. We definatley are planning on returning again, because the view from the top of the Cabrits (the hills surrounding the fort) are supposed to be amazing. The nice thing is that the area is only about 3 miles from here, so it's easy to walk to and free to get in. Like I said, it was wonderful to get out and explore and do some hiking.
The rest of the week Sam was focused on studying. He had his first anatomy lab practical on friday afternoon which he is "cautiously optimistic" about the results. He said he thought it went pretty well, but we won't find out what the actual results are until next monday. The major test is this coming monday, his first "mini" over all the lectures they've covered so far. Keep him in prayer for that--he's put in a lot of study hours that should pay off well. We're excited to see how he's doing so far.
We've unofficially added another member to our family--her name is Mooch. She appeared on our doorstep last week sometime, and because you can see every single bone in her body, and could tell that she has puppies somewhere, I of course had to feed her. She's a very friendly dog and is actually really polite about getting food. She will just randomly show up, I'll feed her and she'll sleep here for a couple hours and then go back to wherever her babies are. We aren't allowed to have pets in our apartment, so she just stays on our porch. It's kind of fun having her...we'll see what happens when she shows up with 8 little puppies, all wanting food!! Sam already swears we can't keep any, but we'll have to see. :D She left today before I could take her picture, but she'll be back and I'll get one then and post it for you all to see.
well, that's about it for now. I'm finishing up my last couple weeks of these classes, almost ready to start the next two. I've also been babysitting quite a bit. Last Saturday I got to take 4 of the kids i babysit with one of the dads and mary and go visit a dominican fruit farm! It was on a hill in the rainforest, but was really cool. Next time I'll bring a camera.
We really miss you all back home. Hope everything is going well, hope to hear from you soon!
Love, Katrina
Last weekend it RAINED. and when I say rained, I mean, I never knew that much water could come out of the sky for that long! It wasn't a tropical storm or anything, but we certainly got wet. Which shouldn't be a problem, except that Dominica's water supply system, whatever that may be, somehow gets overwhelmed when we get a lot of rain. We've noticed before that the water pressure gets really low and you sometimes can't shower for a couple of days but can still do things like wash dishes and flush the toilet. But we got so much rain this weekend that we lost our water completely. For those of you who don't know, I'm a bit of a procrastinator, and although I'd been told that you should always have 4-5 gallons of water around to drink, I hadn't exactly gotten around to it. And when the water runs out like that, of course none of the stores have any left to sell. But we did ok in the drinking department, because it was only out for the night and part of the day. The problem was, this was the night my body decided to have diarrhea issues, and we couldn't flush the toilet! Yeah, it was pretty bad. I felt like a true Dominican as I made trips back and forth to the little river by our house carrying every bucket i could of muddy rain water up to the house so that i could flush the toilet. All I need to do is learn how to balance one on my head while carrying two others in each hand, and then i'll fit right in! That was a lesson learned. STOCK UP ON WATER!!!
On Monday, my friend Mary and I ventured out to the other side of the bay to a national park with a bunch of hiking trails and old fort ruins. We loved the chance to get outside, hike around and explore our island a bit. The fort was used by the british to defend the ships in the port against enemy attackers. In the eighties they restored the main part of the Fort which you can see in the pictures. But if you take a variety of hiking trails through the forest, you find the rest of the fort that is overgrown now. They are absolutely beautiful. We definatley are planning on returning again, because the view from the top of the Cabrits (the hills surrounding the fort) are supposed to be amazing. The nice thing is that the area is only about 3 miles from here, so it's easy to walk to and free to get in. Like I said, it was wonderful to get out and explore and do some hiking.
The rest of the week Sam was focused on studying. He had his first anatomy lab practical on friday afternoon which he is "cautiously optimistic" about the results. He said he thought it went pretty well, but we won't find out what the actual results are until next monday. The major test is this coming monday, his first "mini" over all the lectures they've covered so far. Keep him in prayer for that--he's put in a lot of study hours that should pay off well. We're excited to see how he's doing so far.
We've unofficially added another member to our family--her name is Mooch. She appeared on our doorstep last week sometime, and because you can see every single bone in her body, and could tell that she has puppies somewhere, I of course had to feed her. She's a very friendly dog and is actually really polite about getting food. She will just randomly show up, I'll feed her and she'll sleep here for a couple hours and then go back to wherever her babies are. We aren't allowed to have pets in our apartment, so she just stays on our porch. It's kind of fun having her...we'll see what happens when she shows up with 8 little puppies, all wanting food!! Sam already swears we can't keep any, but we'll have to see. :D She left today before I could take her picture, but she'll be back and I'll get one then and post it for you all to see.
well, that's about it for now. I'm finishing up my last couple weeks of these classes, almost ready to start the next two. I've also been babysitting quite a bit. Last Saturday I got to take 4 of the kids i babysit with one of the dads and mary and go visit a dominican fruit farm! It was on a hill in the rainforest, but was really cool. Next time I'll bring a camera.
We really miss you all back home. Hope everything is going well, hope to hear from you soon!
Love, Katrina
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