Evenly Eventful

Hello one and all. Well this has been quite an eventful week. There were a lot of new things I did this week as Matt studied. Most were good, some bad.
GOOD - I attended a new yoga class on Saturday. It was on a deck right next to the ocean. There was no music, just the sound of the wave lapping against the sand and my breathing. Very exhilarating.
BAD - I can't stop eating cookies (or any other food). One night I consumed a whole box. Ridiculous.
GOOD - On Thursday I started going to two new service opportunities. In the morning we went to a school to work on reading with children. At night at the church there is a ESL class which I will help teach in the coming weeks. It's nice to stay busy here. I feel lucky.

BAD. Very bad- I experienced a nightmar-ish ordeal with some weavels in my food (I would blog about it, but it still makes me ill to think about it. Maybe another time.)

GOOD - Matt and I got new callings in the ward. He will be teaching Elders Quorum and I will be a Relief Society teacher. Pretty laid back callings, hip hip hooray.

Here are some other pictures from the week. Enjoy!

This is a picture of some of the children in the After School Program (4 of the 12). We were playing the game Sardines. Some had never played it before and were having trouble not giggling. Everyday this group of kids does something hilarious.

Here is a picture of many of the fruits and vegies we get at the market every Saturday. I wash it in bleach water to destroy the bacterias. Usually I'll pick up mangoes, oranges, apples (which are expensive), grapefruits, all kinds of lettuce, carrots, onions, cucumbers, peppers, green beans (our favorite), limes, potatoes, and bananas. Since I'm so indecisive, it takes me forever to pick out the produce...but well worth it during supper time.

Ok, I'm pretty proud of myself about this shell. When Matt took a break from studying on Friday, we went to the local beach for a swim. The ocean doesn't have too many waves, but there is plenty of sea life close to the shores. I brought my goggles and was checkin out the fishes and such. Suddenly, I saw this baby laying by a small coraled rock. I shouted to Matt that I found a shell and asked if I should try bringing it to shore -a lot of big shells have creatures living inside them. He said go for it, so I dragged it behind me all the way back to the beach. I was a tad nervous something was inside of it, but my mind was put at ease after checking it out with Willy.

It's cool, huh. I did a victory shout on the beach and showed everyone that came by my new trophy (I'm such an american idiot). It's not everyday you find a shell as big as your head, so that was a great event.

Now this is a great picture: Willy studying his brains out. Don't you just feel smarter by lookin' at this pic?! It will be a site to see for many more days, months, and years to come. I'd just like to give a shout out to him for doing such a dedicated job at studying so far.

Whitey Coats

This marks the end of the first week of medical school. Good job Willy for working hard. The school had a white coat ceremony to welcome the new students into their new profession (or the pathway too there new profession). We both thought it was a little silly to take pictures of an event which still had four years left of grueling hard work....but Matt looked all sorts of cute in a medical outfit, hence I couldn't resist.



Here are some of our newer friends. Aileen Mosele and Matt Cullings (Texas), us and Chelsie and Keith Taylor (Idaho). Special thanks to Jenny Garlock for the cute green skirt I'm sporting. Basically I wear it every other day because it's light-weight, comfy, and a great color. Special apologies to all who have to see me in this skirt all the time.

This pic above is Jonathan Napitupulu (L.A. and Indonesia), Willy and Adam Heath (Ohio). We met these guys in Antigua when we all missed the airplane. They are great guys and hopefully will be great study-buddies for Matt.

I Love Lists

Crazy things I've seen on the island so far:

1. Man driving a motorcycle while drinking a beer.
2. The LDS church building is a bright lime green color. Think 80's neon green. You can't miss it.
3. Most of the students at Ross look like they are going to the beach, but they are actually going to class.
4. In the mornings I have Farrah Fawcett hair. It's hot, but only lasts for about an hour.
5.The roads look like they are only big enough for one lane of traffic. Nope, two crazy vans going opposite directions are going to squeeze on the narrow slap of pavement...
6. One box of Pop Tarts are 14.95 EC or around $7.00 USD. Crazy. They're not $7.00 good.
7. Stray cows. I can't get over that one. Why are they so skinny when all they do is eat all day? And why doesn't anyone own them?

Things about Dominica that are super cool:

1. The diversity of the students who are attending.
2. Not having to wear a coat or a pair of winter boots...ever.
3. The little branch of saints who are valiant and friendly.
4. My Farrah Fawcett hair in the mornings.
5. The three minute walk to the beach from our place.
6. Knowing that because I married Willy all of my wildest dreams are coming true (living by the ocean, in a warm climate, with friendly non-materialistic people around, etc.)
7. A taxi ride is less then 40 cents from our place to the middle of the town.
8. I get to volunteer at an after school program and work with darling kids.
9. The lizards and birds and iguanas and roosters and goats and stray cows and fish and plants and flowers!

Things I miss about the United States of America:

1. Living by family.
2. Cheap food.
3. Hammy and Hilmo.
4. The big screen ghetto cinema.
5. My kitchen appliances.
6. Having a job.
7. A toilet that flushes correctly, with no surprises.

Cabritz and Ft. Shirley

Ok, so as promised we made the trip back to Ft. Shirley with the camara and checked out the ruins more extensively. It really is a remarkable place.

This is looking north over Prince Rupert bay at Cabritz peninsula. Fort shirley(the rebuilt part) overlooking. You can see how a fort on this peninsula is in good position for defending the bay.

Cannons looking from the fort back over the bay from the previous photo.

Hiking the saddle (which was cleared of trees during the time of the fort) between the east and west peaks of Cabritz brings you to the north battery which shows the signs of what rainforest plants can do to stone and morter after a two hundred years.

Here is leigh inside the ruins.

More ruins, cannon still aimed north ready to defend Douglas bay, and the British Royal insignia. All around the fort you can see cannons still sitting on the origional cannon stand with the wheels sunk in about 2-3 feet of mud. Most of this site is unexcavated... metal detector anyone?

Leigh doing her best captain hook impression on a 18th century cannon laying in position along the old wall running east and west along the north side of Cabritz, just as the British left it centuries ago. The archeologist in me is going nuts right now... things like this all all over there...unbelievable.

Looking north off Cabritz you can see Guadalupe in the distance, a french island. directly below this photo is a great snorkeling spot called Rose Garden.

These are all pictures of the east side of the peninsula at the Commandants quarters. You can clearly see how stately this two story sturcture once was. It had arched ceilings, and flagstone flooring. it also has two bunker rooms and a tunnel (storage perhaps) leading around behind the structure. I found a cenuries old iron spike- looks like a hinge pin to an old iron gate door to me.

You can see how the trees treat these structures, unimpressed with the imperial might that had them built, they get their branches in and literally rip the stone walls to pieces. Here is a peice of a wall or house suspended 5 feet off the ground... rule of the jungle applies here to be sure.

We saw this near the Commandants quarters. Standing 60 or so feet tall and spiny all the way up, 20 bucks goes to any amateur (or professional) botanist who knows what type of tree this is... and 1000 bucks to anyone who climbs it!

As always here, when we left the park we were treated to the always different, and always spectacular sunset over the caribbean sea...

Are you for scuba?

Well, matt and I forgot our camera today on the very best adventure we've had so far...which means in the near future, we should do it again and bring it! (Hence, you only get a pic of the map of Dominica) Matt's first experience with snorkling and my second was spectacular. We drove around Portsmouth to Cabritz, a national reserve in the northwest corner of the island, containing the remains of Fort Shirley, an 18th century British military post complete with gunneries overlooking the bays to the north and south of the peninsula (the peninsula directly above the word "portsmouth" on the map at right). What is unique about this sight is that the cannons, and stone ruins have not been restored, so things are pretty much as they were left when the Brits abandoned the island. Willie and I went with our two new friends from Texas -Matt and Aileen. They are a hoot.

After weaving around snakes, lizards and crabs through a thick tropical forrest, we reached a rocky beach edge called Rose Garden. We then ventured out to the underwater entertainment. All sorts of long fish, flat fish, electric blue fish, stripped fish, and schools of fish swam around makeshift coral and rock homes. I actually saw a big fish attack a smaller fish and eat it! Matt saw a sea snake slithering on the buttom of the ocean which then settled in between a circle of rocks. The snake was not happy with sharing its space with any other fish. It was fasinating!

Heading home, wet and sun-kissed, we past two stray cows (they have stray cows around here like most neighborhoods have stray cats) chewing on some grass on the side of the road. We had to walk quite a ways until a transport bus picked us up. There is just so much happening around I have never seen before. Everyone is friendly here -once you are friendly to them first.

The one thing I could live without is the bugs though. Matt just killed a cockroach in our bathroom and we were informed kindly by my landlord today that right now ants take over the kitchen. At least in a couple of months ant season will be over -something to look forward too!!

Hope you all are doing well.

feelin' Dominica

So after a missed flight that "stuck" us in Antigua for a night... is stuck the right word?... we finally arrived in our new home for the next couple years, the Nature Island of the Caribbean, the island where parts of Pirates of the Caribbean II was shot, the Island of Dominica. Leaving Antigua at 530 am after flying a redeye from Salt Lake to Newark, then a 4 hour flight to Antigua left these two cowboys wondering what we had gotten into. We boarded a two-prop puddle jumper in antigua before the sun was up. Luckily it was only a 30 minute flight and we had 4 or 5 other stranded classmates to keep us company on the trip.

The approach into melville-hall airport comes in low off the sea and traces a small canyon to an unlit runway, all routine no doubt for the caribbean pilots. We landed and embarked on a taxi ride along the coast and across the interior of the Island to our apartment in picard, right across the street from Ross University...

As we watched the sunrise over the undescribable island scenery, we thought, "yeah... I think we might be able to pull this off."... and one nagging question to all those we left behind in the gorgeous rocky mountains...
Wanna get away?...

VETERANS DAY

On November 11th the nation honors all those who served in the armed forces. I join with many in giving my thanks for those who willingly sacrifice to ensure that their fellow citizens are able to walk, worship, raise families and raise protest under the treasured banner of freedom. One of the most sobering experiences of my life has been the opportunity to talk with veterans from both the WWII and the war in Vietnam. As they shared their experiences with me, I was moved. Hearing their stories of faith and sacrifice had such an impact on me. Shakespeare wrote: "He who sheds his blood with me today, shall be my brother..." How much stronger then should our hearts be tethered to those who shed their blood for us? To all those who have served, currently serve, and the families of veterans -I offer a sincere but somewhat inadequate thank you. Your sacrifices have made a difference. I hope within each of us is a desire to live morally correct. To live honestly, to be charitable, to exercise our freedoms in such a manner as to be worthy of the price that liberty cost.

List of a few great war movies:

• Saving Private Ryan
• Saints at War Documentry
• The Longest Day
• The War -Documentry directed by Ken Burns
• Band of Brothers HBO Series
• Tora! Tora! Tora!
• Letter from Iwo Jima