What is that green stuff poking out of the ground?

The two week mark. That is right, it has two weeks since finals, and I have to tell you this week has flown by. In the last 2 weeks it has rained at least once everyday. Some days it has just rained the entire day. The place is really starting to look alive again.

Can you believe all this green stuff poking out of the ground. Shiloh has been thrilled with the rain. She so enjoys scratching at the door, and not standing still so that we can wash her feet, but instead tracking mud half way though the house, while we chase her with a towel. Also notice the nice football that was bought for her to play with, and carried from the states taking up space in the luggage that I could have packed another shirt, and look at that great stick. Oh, great, look a stick, who cares about toy, sticks!! Nice! So, I have come up with a plan to buy Shiloh these boots, and make her wear them, and then just take them off when she comes inside.

D says that will never work. But he also said that if I do buy them, then I have to get the blue ones, because the other dogs will make fun of her in pink. I will not be getting the blue, for sure! In other important news, we have our flights and plans all worked out, and I am so excited to leave that it is hard to wait around.

We have been doing some studying this week, and I have never been one of those people who studies something, and then thinks they have what ever problem they have learned about, BUT I am studying about parasites and you know almost all of them are in the tropics. Also, we now live in the tropics. We, rarely get sick, but I have been sick once, and D twice since we have been here, all stomach issues. I am just saying, the symptoms seem to fit some of the parasites. Not like the ones that live in you forever, but some cause you to be sick for a week or two, and then your immune system wins, hopefully. We have a filter for our water, but D has been searching on the internet for some higher quality filters. Great topic, I know. At least I am not making you watch any more homemade videos. For a much more intellectual topic, D and I have been discussing what we will eat at the airport on our way home, yes this is crazy, but we are so obsessed with really unhealthy food. I mean like Taco Bell and McDonald's bad.

Shiloh will not be coming home with us, we have a pet sitter. She will be staying with 3 other dogs. She will probably forget completely about us. I am sure there will be sticks in the other yard, so at least she will be entertained.

Oh, almost forgot, I have to tell you this great story. J our landlord's son is 6 years old. So he was at school talking to his friends and he was telling them about us. So one of his friends ask him if we were white. This is his reply, "hmm, ...... well, ..... no, more like peach." Isn't that the sweetest thing ever, I mean I was kinda going for khaki , but peach is probably more accurate. R, my landlord told me, and we both thought it was just the best story.

I hope everyone has a great 3 day weekend! Happy Memorial Day

Ok, this is addictive.

I made a movie

BBC Beach is the Best

What a great week. NO studying. So it has rained like 3 days but I have caught up on some much needed sleep, and my house will is no longer unsuitable for animal. Finals can get really messy. We went to the gym, and it was nice to get a good work out done, and just listen to music on the ipod instead of trying to read notes on the treadmill. Today we took a hike to BBC beach. This beach is just on the other side of a mountain across the street from our home. One of our friends K, had promised to take us, so we met her today. You kinda need someone to show you the path, it is certainly not a road, and the path goes thought several peoples yards, and across some ruff terrain.It was only about a 20 minute hike and was totally worth it. Shiloh of course had no problem with the hill, as she is part mountain goat. The beach was so great, very few people, and the water was perfect! Very calm water and super clear, I could see bottom easily when I swam out to about 15 feet deep. The beach is kinda of in a cove setting and there are not really any big waves. Shiloh was quite happy about this, as she must bark at the large waves, because they are after us. There is also a small restaurant there, and one of our friends works there. He ordered us some chicken and chips, and wow, really good fried chicken. With a great big glass of coke. What a day!! I am so tired now, the sun and the beach always makes me so sleepy.

I know one dog that will sleep good tonight. If only every week was this good! I can't wait to share this place with friends and family when they visit, the only thing better that going yourself is sharing it with others.

Term 1 is OVER

So term one is officially over. The grades, the grades. So we have still not gotten our biochemistry grade back, hopefully tomorrow. So Anatomy B, Histology B, and if you remember that we got an A in Ethics. So that is for me and D, so far we have made the same grades. We have been refreshing the biochemistry like every hours, but nothing yet. So, the weirdest thing happened Friday, it rained the entire day. It never rains here and we are in a huge drought, but really, on our last final, when everyone wanted to go to the beach to celebrate?!? So, we did not get to go to fish Friday, as everything outside was canceled due to the rain. We did however catch up on some much needed rest. Yesterday we went hashing, which is really interesting. This group gets together on a different part of the island every other Saturday and they have these trails made and everyone hikes them. There were four trails done, and the hardest was called the iron man. D and I went with our Landlord R and her friend C, and they were like, "you guys wanna do the ironman trail?" So we did, and come to find out, studying 24/7 for 4 months does not get you in the best shape.

This is at the beginning, we haven't even gotten in the woods yet. Not normal woods either, like the Rain Forrest. We climbed this mountain and it was straight up, and they had ropes to help you pull yourself up, I mean crazy steep. If you let go of the rope, you would roll down a couple hundred feet. it wasn't like a cliff strait down, but you would not be able to stop. The whole hike was 3 hours long. Then there is a big party afterwords with a band and food and drinks. Because it was our first time we were hashing virgins, and we were initiated. They told us that they had a certificate for us to stand in line, once they got all of us virgins in an area they sprayed beer all over us. I know, fun right? But they really did have a certificate for us with our names on it and everything! We felt so special. I will defiantly go back, maybe next time we can take Shiloh along, several people had their dogs and she loves to hike, so it would work out well. Oh, and the hash was all the way in St. Marks, so we had never been there, and now we have.

Here is the website if you want to read about it.

We are so tired today, but it was so refreshing to be outside doing physical activity instead of indoors behind a book. So, term one is over, we should know our other grade soon, but we do not think it is a passing/failing kind of issue, so we can say that we are 2nd termers now! It has been a crazy 4 months. Moving to a different country, studying harder than I have ever imagined, and coming to a place where I did not know a single person except D and of course Shiloh (who is a dog, I know). It has really been an adventure, and sometimes scary and sometimes hard, but term one is over and I am really proud of myself and D! Thanks to all you, family and friends who have given us your support! We miss you!

week 16

So, Happy Mothers Day!! I hope everyone is being appreciated more than normal today. Shiloh was so nice as to let me sleep in today, and D got up early this morning and did the dishes. So a great day for me! Finals start tomorrow, and no I cannot believe that. At the same time, I am so ready to get them over with. Shiloh cut her paw Friday, so we have been tending to her, not to mention she has the most pathetic limp. She has gotten lots of treats, as we have had to care for the wound, which she has not been happy about. I know hydrogen peroxide stings, but it is all we have. I felt so bad for her that I bought her some hotdogs, and D put a sheet over the chair to make her more comfortable.

One does not get much more comfortable.

Well maybe they do. This is how she sleeps when she is really out of it. She is in that exact position right now as I sit in the other chair typing. So, for finals, anatomy is first on Monday, it is the all day long final that goes from 8am to 4 pm. So fun, then it is histology on Wed from 8am to 12pm. Lastly is biochemistry on Friday from 8am to 12pm, this is the really scary one! And on Friday at noon, D and I will be done with our first semester of medical school. Hopefully, we can say that we passed our first semester. We have really been studying a lot, and we even went crazy and bought ice-cream and cookies, which are great study foods. They did not have any brownies, which is one of my favorite study foods. The brain needs glucose (sugar)! D even found M&M, chocolate chip cookies. He was in heaven for the hour that they lasted! Our friend M is going to make us caramelized mangoes with vanilla ice cream tonight! YUM!! Not sure how I got off on that food tangent, anyways, D and I have a lot to celebrate this coming weekend. We are postponing our 5 year date (Tuesday May 11th), till after finals, plus the whole, done with final things. We are going to go to fish Friday, which is something that I have wanted to go to since before we even got here. I will tell you all about it, and I will be taking my camera, so it should be awesome! Well, I must get back to studying, I want to be smiling Friday, not crying! Happy Mother's Day!!

Week 15

Hey everyone,

I hope all of you are staying dry and not floating away in the floods. Some exciting things this week. We had our last biochemistry lecture with new material Friday, so this week is just review. I think we only have two more Anatomy new lectures, and we are done with histology lectures as well. As I am sure you remember, finals start May 10th. So two week lefts!! Studying is going well, and we both feel that we are in better places as far as knowledge is concerned than we were a week before midterms. There is a mountain near our house that we climbed with our friend M, and it has some amazing views!

The collection of pinkish buildings on the right, near the water, is the school. It is about a mile away.

Of course, Shiloh was so happy to be going on a hike. Shiloh says, "This so much more fun than stupid studying." On the left you can see a shipyard. You can kinda make out the sailboats.

Here is our romantic sunset, on top of Grenada, and of course, my shirt is all weird. Yes, we hiked in flip-flops, it was kinda spontaneous, we did not plan to hike to the top, but our friend M, was like lets just go to the top, and so we did. The view is really spectacular!

Here is Shiloh and Princess. They are so happy for walk, and all the new smell up on this mt, they did not seem impressed with the view.

This a house that we passed as we were walking down. I am not sure why, but I really liked this photo. This house has electricity and plumbing, and a great breeze up here. Just a simple house on a hill. Well, I must get back to studying. Hope you all stay dry!

Talk to ya next week! BYE