Hello to anyone who is still reading my blog!
It has been a ridiculously long time since I've written, but I'm really going to attempt to do shorter blogs more often this term because it really does help me get my thoughts in line. It also helps me document my memories down here because, let's face it, I'm not exactly the sharpest when I'm studying and I am most likely quickly forgetting all of the stupid things that happen to me down here. Possibly that's for the best, but for argument's sake, let's assume I'd like to remember my time in vet school later down the road.
So let's get to it: Last term was one of the worst 4 month periods of my life thus far. I'm not trying to be dramatic or encourage sympathy. It was just a terrible term. I hated all of my classes, I hated most of my teachers, we were house poor (accidentally, but that's another issue in itself) so we couldn't really do anything besides live in our apartment and eat our food. I struggled through most of my classes. I know vet school isn't supposed to be easy, but I have never had to fight so hard for anything in my life and it was definitely an emotional roller coaster with test anxiety and the feeling that no matter how hard I studied, I would still just be mediocre. Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, almost my entire class felt like that. Needless to say, that caused most of us to probably never want to see each other's faces again, which made class even more torturous. But guess what? I made it through and now I'm on to my next term with bigger and better things! (*End sob story*)
This term Nick and I moved into a house with another married couple friends of ours. They're from Arizona. Kaley is a med student and Mike is a house husband who like to spear fish, so he and Nick get along well. They have an Australian Shepherd named Layla, who Maverick is thankful for because he gets to bug her. Our house is very large with four bedrooms, three bathrooms, a kitchen, living room, large dining room, and an "activity room," which is really just a huge room with absolutely NOTHING in it. We also have our own washer and dryer; however we don't really use the dryer to save on electricity, so we line dry everything. Our house also has three "verandas," which is what Grenadians just call balconies. Our yard is gated, so that Maverick and Layla can run around a bit, and the boys have even started a garden, so hopefully we will be eating fresh veggies before the term is over (although I have little faith in the corn...).
My family came down at the start of the term before classes started to vacation and see what my life was like down here. They enjoyed it and had great weather the whole time! We took them to a couple different beaches, hiking to Mt. Carmel waterfall, to the city, to campus, snorkeling, the whole shebang! We will still be here until May 2015, so if you'd like to plan a visit, don't delay! We'd love to see everyone down here.
My classes this term are pretty interesting. I'm taking Epidemiology, Veterinary Public Health, Intro to Surgical Skills, Intro to Medicine, Pathology, an Exotics class, and Anesthesia. It's getting pretty real because next term we get to do our first surgeries. Exciting stuff! This term we're learning suture patterns, which has been pretty fun so far. We have all the schools from the states visiting this week to talk to us about where to go for our clinical year of studies. We have to put in our bid next term, so it's going to be a big decision! This Friday we have the day off for Grenadian Independence Day, or "Grindependence Day" as we lovingly have dubbed it. We're going to BBQ and enjoy our day off, but alas, we also have to study. There is no rest for the vet student.
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Saturday, October 26, 2013
Midterms
Whew! Midterms are over! It has been a long, hard term. but at least we're over half way over now! I've studying like crazy and it seems I can never get a second to breathe. But I already have more quizzes and exams next week, so no rest for the wicked. It has been raining here a lot lately. It usually only rains for about 5-10 minutes a day, but this week in particular it has been raining nearly all day on some days. It makes Maverick's feet all muddy when we take him out and then he makes a mess of our tile floor. Oh well. One of the parts of having a dog.
We finally got our car back today! The "Silver Bullet" as Nick calls it kept overheating and we were putting more water than gas in it almost every time we drove. So we took it in to our car guy and he determined the water pump went out and it blew the head gasket. I don't really know cars, but sounds pretty bad to me. Luckily since we rent the car, all the repairs were "free" and we got another car to drive around in the mean time. Our first replacement car was a blue, 4-door SUV. I don't even know what brand it was. It was pretty ugly, but it got the job done. It was a V6 so it was pretty good about passing cars, but the automatic transmission wasn't quite right so it struggled shifting into second gear. You'd hit the gas and it would rev all the way up and unless you took your foot off the gas and then put it back on, it wasn't going to shift. It also didn't start very well all the time. I called the place and told them and they guy told me to "Push the lever forward." I finally determined the "lever" he was talking about was the shifter. I told him that we're trying to start it in park, so it really can't go any farther forward; it's already there. He told me to just push it forward next time it happened. Well wouldn't you know, we tried it and it worked! They really know their crappy cars down here. The plus side about this car was that it had air conditioning that worked! It was weird, though, because the driver's seat was on the left (like a "normal" car), but we still had to drive on the left. It was weird getting used to at first.
About a week after we started driving that loaner car, they came to our house and switched us for a 2-door, white Escudo (SUV). It was the bumpiest car I've ever been in! Seriously, it was like the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland. You couldn't hit a pot hole or you'd break your back! The driver's side window made the WORST screeching noise when it was rolled up or down. But, it did start every time and the transmission seemed to be fine. It also had a working radio, so we could play the one station we found with all the Grenadian music. But today we got our beloved/hated Silver Bullet back. It's crappy, but it's ours.
Yesterday was Grenadian Thanksgiving. It's actually not a relatively celebrated holiday; it's celebrating the American invasion in the 80s. Not everyone down here appreciated that. But nevertheless, it was a day off from school. I always do the grocery shopping on Thursday mornings because they stock the shelves that day, I never have class during that time, and it's relatively not crowded. Unfortunately I didn't think about it this week and I went at my normal time. Oh my gosh! It was so packed! Since the store was going to be closed on Friday, everyone came out to stock up on groceries on Thursday. They had a honey sampling in the back of the store and a cracker sampling in the front of the store. But worst of all, they had a DJ in the front of the store. Yes. A DJ! And he was playing 10 seconds of music and then coming on the mic going, "Good morning shoppers of IGAAAAAAA!!!! We have a honey sampling in de back of de supahmarket! Also in de front of de store dere are crackerrrrrrsssss!!!!!" He then proceeded to mix "You're the One That I Want" from Grease with steel drum music. Really? My ear drums don't particularly need to be accosted while grocery shopping. It was an experience to say the least. When I finally got to the check stand after waiting in a line about 8 people deep, the couple in front of me was an old German couple. For some reason, the checker couldn't get their card to work on her machine. Between her accent and quiet voice and the fact that they spoke almost no English, I thought I'd never get out of there!
But now it's time to study Pharmacology and Virology. Nobody cares about Virology, but unfortunately we have cram it into our heads for the test. Until next time...
We finally got our car back today! The "Silver Bullet" as Nick calls it kept overheating and we were putting more water than gas in it almost every time we drove. So we took it in to our car guy and he determined the water pump went out and it blew the head gasket. I don't really know cars, but sounds pretty bad to me. Luckily since we rent the car, all the repairs were "free" and we got another car to drive around in the mean time. Our first replacement car was a blue, 4-door SUV. I don't even know what brand it was. It was pretty ugly, but it got the job done. It was a V6 so it was pretty good about passing cars, but the automatic transmission wasn't quite right so it struggled shifting into second gear. You'd hit the gas and it would rev all the way up and unless you took your foot off the gas and then put it back on, it wasn't going to shift. It also didn't start very well all the time. I called the place and told them and they guy told me to "Push the lever forward." I finally determined the "lever" he was talking about was the shifter. I told him that we're trying to start it in park, so it really can't go any farther forward; it's already there. He told me to just push it forward next time it happened. Well wouldn't you know, we tried it and it worked! They really know their crappy cars down here. The plus side about this car was that it had air conditioning that worked! It was weird, though, because the driver's seat was on the left (like a "normal" car), but we still had to drive on the left. It was weird getting used to at first.
About a week after we started driving that loaner car, they came to our house and switched us for a 2-door, white Escudo (SUV). It was the bumpiest car I've ever been in! Seriously, it was like the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland. You couldn't hit a pot hole or you'd break your back! The driver's side window made the WORST screeching noise when it was rolled up or down. But, it did start every time and the transmission seemed to be fine. It also had a working radio, so we could play the one station we found with all the Grenadian music. But today we got our beloved/hated Silver Bullet back. It's crappy, but it's ours.
Yesterday was Grenadian Thanksgiving. It's actually not a relatively celebrated holiday; it's celebrating the American invasion in the 80s. Not everyone down here appreciated that. But nevertheless, it was a day off from school. I always do the grocery shopping on Thursday mornings because they stock the shelves that day, I never have class during that time, and it's relatively not crowded. Unfortunately I didn't think about it this week and I went at my normal time. Oh my gosh! It was so packed! Since the store was going to be closed on Friday, everyone came out to stock up on groceries on Thursday. They had a honey sampling in the back of the store and a cracker sampling in the front of the store. But worst of all, they had a DJ in the front of the store. Yes. A DJ! And he was playing 10 seconds of music and then coming on the mic going, "Good morning shoppers of IGAAAAAAA!!!! We have a honey sampling in de back of de supahmarket! Also in de front of de store dere are crackerrrrrrsssss!!!!!" He then proceeded to mix "You're the One That I Want" from Grease with steel drum music. Really? My ear drums don't particularly need to be accosted while grocery shopping. It was an experience to say the least. When I finally got to the check stand after waiting in a line about 8 people deep, the couple in front of me was an old German couple. For some reason, the checker couldn't get their card to work on her machine. Between her accent and quiet voice and the fact that they spoke almost no English, I thought I'd never get out of there!
But now it's time to study Pharmacology and Virology. Nobody cares about Virology, but unfortunately we have cram it into our heads for the test. Until next time...
Sunday, August 18, 2013
The Summer Edition
So much has happened since my last blog! I hadn't realized how long it's been. At the end of the school year last term we were struggling down here so there wasn't really any time or energy left to write anything. To make a super long, aggravating story short, our landlord in our last apartment decided to turn off our electricity. We lived in an all inclusive type of a place, so we didn't have to pay our electricity bills. We paid our May's rent and then we had a "power outage." Nick had been doing laundry that day and our clothes were in the washer. I suggested we take the clothes out and line dry them, but he said he'd turn the washer back on when the power came back. The office assured us it would only be a couple hours. Well, low and behold, the power did not come back that day, or the next, or the next. The office just kept stringing us along, telling us they didn't know anything. We went to the electric company, who told us Mr. Griffith (our lovely landlord) was very aware of his outstanding bills but was refusing to pay, and until he did, we were out of luck. We had a generator that on a good day may have powered 3 rooms, but it was attempting to power 70. You can only imagine the amount of power each apartment received. As Nick put it, the ceiling fan was moving at "horror movie speed." We didn't have lights, our refrigerator didn't work, so we lot all of our food, our air conditioner certainly didn't work, and the fans were definitely not moving any air. This forced us to open our windows, but since we always had used A/C, we didn't have any screens. We were getting eaten alive by mosquitoes at night. Nick was laying in bed with dryer sheets covering him (that supposedly wards off mosquitoes, but the jury is still out on that one) and I was laying in bed spraying Off on myself. One night I actually slept for a few hours on the tile floor to try to suck in some of the coolness that may have been left. To top things off, since we lived at the top of the hill, our apartment required an electric pump to pump water to us, so without any power, we couldn't even take a shower, let alone get a drink of water. People in the complex started sleeping at school and trying to find hotels. The problem was, many of us had dogs and no one would take us because Grenadians are terrified of dogs. I finally found the owner's number (who conveniently is now living in Miami) and called him. He had no sympathy and told me that the electricity is expensive and he just wasn't going to pay it anymore. Seriously? This was all going on during finals week, so stress levels were high anyway. We woke up on Saturday morning and went and looked at two different apartments. We finally found a nice place where we moved to and currently live. We are still battling with our old place to give back our deposits and May's rent money. Supposedly the owner is selling the place and/or going bankrupt; no one can ever give us a straight answer. We will see if we ever get that money back.
We finally got to leave the island after another successful round of finals. Once we got home we hit the ground running. We only had a month until our wedding! Within 4 weeks, my wonderful friends threw me a beautiful bridal shower, we got our marriage license, chose our food, finalized the guest list, finished up center pieces, got toasting flutes, cake cutters, wedding jewelry, cake topper and my mom made my garters. Nick went house boating for his bachelor party with all of his buddies. For my bachelorette party, all of my girlfriends and I headed to San Diego for the weekend. We went to a murder mystery dinner and then we went the the gas lamp district. It was so much fun! Before we knew it we were at our rehearsal dinner and then our wedding was there! We had family fly in and stay at our house. It was really nice seeing everyone.
On our wedding day, everything was perfect. I think it went that way because I hadn't expected perfection; I just expected a fun day. But everything went the way it should have and it was beautiful. The staff on the boat couldn't have been friendlier and the weather was awesome. Nick and I said our vows while one of our good friends married us. He did a great job and all of our bridesmaids and groomsmen helped us have the best day.
The next morning we all went to brunch at Woody's Wharf and then Nick and I had to fly to Seattle for our honeymoon. The server at brunch was possibly the worst I've ever seen. He spilled an entire tray of bloody marys down my back and on Nick's side! He didn't really even say sorry, but brought me a t-shirt. I told them Nick needed one too and they finally got him one. The manager never came over to apologize, and they didn't give us anything discounted on our almost $1000 bill. I didn't want to throw a fit, but we definitely will never go back there after that. Nick and I flew to Seattle and stayed at the Double Tree for the night. We got upgraded to a suite and it was really nice! The next day we got on our cruise ship to Alaska! We fished in Ketchikan and I caught my first, second, third and fourth fish ever! They were good sized rock fish. Nick caught a couple rock fish and then he also caught two halibut. The guide took us to a campsite and they cleaned and cooked the fish for us right there. It was delicious and so much fun! We zip lined in Juneau and then went and looked at the Mendenhall glacier. It was really cool. I couldn't believe how blue the ice was. Then in Skagway we went horseback riding. It was really fun and so relaxing. We got a room with a balcony and it was definitely worth it for this Alaskan cruise. We went through Tracy's Arm Fjord and it was breathtaking! The best part was we just ordered room service and sat in our pajamas (and jackets!) on our balcony while we cruised through. We sat with a couple very nice couples as dinner and did some of the ship's activities. All in all, it was an amazing vacation and we definitely plan on going back to Alaska at some point.
Unfortunately after our wedding and honeymoon, we had to go back to reality. I worked all summer at Raging Waters and had a good time doing it. Nick worked for his best friend, Rob, doing shipping for his lighting company. Everything was pretty uneventful until July 3rd. Right before our wedding, we lost my sister's horse to an extreme case of colic. It was so sad and so sudden that we were all hit pretty hard. On July 3rd, my mom and sister were looking for a new horse. My sister got on one to try him out and he started to spook and crow hopped, causing her to fall off and break her sacrum! (That's the part of your back that joins your pelvis for those of you who are less medically inclined.) She was confined to bed rest and using a wheel chair. She finally is able to use her crutches to get around a little bit better, but she still can't put any weight on her right leg. She is going through physical therapy and hopefully will be able to walk soon.
On August 12th, Nick and I had to head back to the island. Our flight left at 6AM from LAX, so we left my house at 3AM to get there. As always, we were flying with our dog, Maverick. He did really well and everything on the trip was thankfully non-eventful. We got to Grenada at 8:30PM that night and believe it or not all of our bags showed up too! We got through security and finally got to our apartment around 10:30. Where we currently live, there isn't anything to eat walking distance. Thank goodness Nick caught the chef that works here and he made us a couple of hamburgers. The next day we called around to find a car and registered for classes. Since it was Carnival down here, the island was pretty much shut down and it was hard to find anything open. We finally got a car the next day. It is a 1996 Peugeot. It is the UGLIEST gray hatchback car in the whole world. It has a manual transmission and since we drive on the right side of the car down here it was a little interesting at first getting used to shifting. The clutch has to be pushed in at just the right place; if pushed in too little or too much, it grinds. You have to find the sweet spot. The lights only work if you turn on the brights, which is kind of common down here, anyway. There aren't any automatic locks or windows, but we're not exactly asking for luxury I suppose. We got gas in it the first day and it all came leaking out from under the car! We took it back to the guy and apparently there was a blockage it? I don't know very much about cars. He fixed it. I drove it without Nick and kept stalling when I was backing up and in first. Then it stalled when I was in third! I told him and he chided me about not knowing how to drive. My car at home is stick! I definitely know how to drive it. He got in it and figured out there is a choke. He told me, "Well you just have to pull the choke out a little bit more to give it more gas. It's like a lawn mower!!" I have never mowed a lawn in my life and had no idea what the function of a choke was, but now at least it doesn't stall all the time. We went out in the morning to drive it and one of the tires was completely flat. The owner came and filled the tire and then we had to take it to the tyre (that's how "tire" is spelled here) shop to get it fixed. The owner paid for it, but to fix the tire, the bill was only $10EC. That's like $3.75US. I don't think you could get someone at most tire places in the states to even look at your tire for that little. Luckily something down here is cheap!
We're all settled into our apartment and Nick is out fishing. I'm not sure how long it's going to be before he comes back because it's absolutely pouring outside. It is rainy season after all. Class starts tomorrow and from what I'm told this is going to be my hardest term yet! Time to buckle down and get things done.
We finally got to leave the island after another successful round of finals. Once we got home we hit the ground running. We only had a month until our wedding! Within 4 weeks, my wonderful friends threw me a beautiful bridal shower, we got our marriage license, chose our food, finalized the guest list, finished up center pieces, got toasting flutes, cake cutters, wedding jewelry, cake topper and my mom made my garters. Nick went house boating for his bachelor party with all of his buddies. For my bachelorette party, all of my girlfriends and I headed to San Diego for the weekend. We went to a murder mystery dinner and then we went the the gas lamp district. It was so much fun! Before we knew it we were at our rehearsal dinner and then our wedding was there! We had family fly in and stay at our house. It was really nice seeing everyone.
On our wedding day, everything was perfect. I think it went that way because I hadn't expected perfection; I just expected a fun day. But everything went the way it should have and it was beautiful. The staff on the boat couldn't have been friendlier and the weather was awesome. Nick and I said our vows while one of our good friends married us. He did a great job and all of our bridesmaids and groomsmen helped us have the best day.
The next morning we all went to brunch at Woody's Wharf and then Nick and I had to fly to Seattle for our honeymoon. The server at brunch was possibly the worst I've ever seen. He spilled an entire tray of bloody marys down my back and on Nick's side! He didn't really even say sorry, but brought me a t-shirt. I told them Nick needed one too and they finally got him one. The manager never came over to apologize, and they didn't give us anything discounted on our almost $1000 bill. I didn't want to throw a fit, but we definitely will never go back there after that. Nick and I flew to Seattle and stayed at the Double Tree for the night. We got upgraded to a suite and it was really nice! The next day we got on our cruise ship to Alaska! We fished in Ketchikan and I caught my first, second, third and fourth fish ever! They were good sized rock fish. Nick caught a couple rock fish and then he also caught two halibut. The guide took us to a campsite and they cleaned and cooked the fish for us right there. It was delicious and so much fun! We zip lined in Juneau and then went and looked at the Mendenhall glacier. It was really cool. I couldn't believe how blue the ice was. Then in Skagway we went horseback riding. It was really fun and so relaxing. We got a room with a balcony and it was definitely worth it for this Alaskan cruise. We went through Tracy's Arm Fjord and it was breathtaking! The best part was we just ordered room service and sat in our pajamas (and jackets!) on our balcony while we cruised through. We sat with a couple very nice couples as dinner and did some of the ship's activities. All in all, it was an amazing vacation and we definitely plan on going back to Alaska at some point.
Unfortunately after our wedding and honeymoon, we had to go back to reality. I worked all summer at Raging Waters and had a good time doing it. Nick worked for his best friend, Rob, doing shipping for his lighting company. Everything was pretty uneventful until July 3rd. Right before our wedding, we lost my sister's horse to an extreme case of colic. It was so sad and so sudden that we were all hit pretty hard. On July 3rd, my mom and sister were looking for a new horse. My sister got on one to try him out and he started to spook and crow hopped, causing her to fall off and break her sacrum! (That's the part of your back that joins your pelvis for those of you who are less medically inclined.) She was confined to bed rest and using a wheel chair. She finally is able to use her crutches to get around a little bit better, but she still can't put any weight on her right leg. She is going through physical therapy and hopefully will be able to walk soon.
On August 12th, Nick and I had to head back to the island. Our flight left at 6AM from LAX, so we left my house at 3AM to get there. As always, we were flying with our dog, Maverick. He did really well and everything on the trip was thankfully non-eventful. We got to Grenada at 8:30PM that night and believe it or not all of our bags showed up too! We got through security and finally got to our apartment around 10:30. Where we currently live, there isn't anything to eat walking distance. Thank goodness Nick caught the chef that works here and he made us a couple of hamburgers. The next day we called around to find a car and registered for classes. Since it was Carnival down here, the island was pretty much shut down and it was hard to find anything open. We finally got a car the next day. It is a 1996 Peugeot. It is the UGLIEST gray hatchback car in the whole world. It has a manual transmission and since we drive on the right side of the car down here it was a little interesting at first getting used to shifting. The clutch has to be pushed in at just the right place; if pushed in too little or too much, it grinds. You have to find the sweet spot. The lights only work if you turn on the brights, which is kind of common down here, anyway. There aren't any automatic locks or windows, but we're not exactly asking for luxury I suppose. We got gas in it the first day and it all came leaking out from under the car! We took it back to the guy and apparently there was a blockage it? I don't know very much about cars. He fixed it. I drove it without Nick and kept stalling when I was backing up and in first. Then it stalled when I was in third! I told him and he chided me about not knowing how to drive. My car at home is stick! I definitely know how to drive it. He got in it and figured out there is a choke. He told me, "Well you just have to pull the choke out a little bit more to give it more gas. It's like a lawn mower!!" I have never mowed a lawn in my life and had no idea what the function of a choke was, but now at least it doesn't stall all the time. We went out in the morning to drive it and one of the tires was completely flat. The owner came and filled the tire and then we had to take it to the tyre (that's how "tire" is spelled here) shop to get it fixed. The owner paid for it, but to fix the tire, the bill was only $10EC. That's like $3.75US. I don't think you could get someone at most tire places in the states to even look at your tire for that little. Luckily something down here is cheap!
We're all settled into our apartment and Nick is out fishing. I'm not sure how long it's going to be before he comes back because it's absolutely pouring outside. It is rainy season after all. Class starts tomorrow and from what I'm told this is going to be my hardest term yet! Time to buckle down and get things done.
Monday, April 22, 2013
Rainy Day
Today has been a very rainy day, and good thing, because the island is in a draught. That's not something you would normally expect of an island but desalination plants are costly and inefficient. The school has one in case of emergency, but most of the island just depends on rainfall for their water. A lot of the southern part of the island (where we live) has been experiencing their water being shut off all day. They just turn it on at night and then shut it off again in the morning. Thank goodness since we technically live in a hotel and are on the tourist belt, they don't shut our water off.
A couple weeks ago, Nick's friend, Robby, came and visited us. He stayed for six days and had a great time. Unfortunately I had to study for the majority of his stay because I had exams, but he and Nick had a good time. They went fishing and spear fishing. Nick got a couple lobsters and they were delicious! We took him to the city and he bought some knickknacks and saw a steel drum band. Nick took him hashing, which he didn't really enjoy because it's blazing a trail through the rain forest and is very physically demanding. I still haven't been to a hash, but Nick likes most of them. Nick and Rob also went golfing on the course here. It's a nine hole course and isn't maintained well. There are goats scattered throughout. And it was super expensive. The weren't impressed.
Maverick had a hotspot on his face and neck area. We tried to treat it topically, but it just kept growing. To make them stop festering, you have to shave the affected area, but all we have are Nick's little beard trimmers, and Maverick's hair was way too much for them. Luckily, our friends/neighbors, Mike and Crystal, have heavy duty clippers for Mike's hair and offered to help us. It took all four of us to hold him down and clip him. He cried like we were trying to kill him at first, but after he realized we weren't he laid still pretty well. He was uncomfortable and painful, but he never tried to bite us or anything. He really is a good dog. We were scrubbing his face every day and he hated it, but it just wouldn't get better. So I called the vet and was informed that there weren't any available appointments for over a week. The receptionist advised me, however, that I could take him in as an "emergency" and pay $85 EC. That's about $30 bucks, which is cheaper than most office calls at home! So we took him in emergency and they saw him. Everyone in the hospital was very nice. They knocked him out and shaved him even better and gave us some antibiotics and steroids for his face. He was all groggy and sleepy when he came out to us and had a silly hair cut. But after being on meds, his face cleared up very quickly. being on steroids caused us to take him out a million times a day because the poor dog had to pee so much! He was waking me up at least twice a nice to take him out. For some reason he only wakes me up to take him and he's super creepy when he does it. Occasionally he'll lick me or touch his nose on me, but a lot of times he just stands at the edge of the bed really close and just stares at me. I wake up and see his silly face an inch from mine and go, "WOAH! Oh, man, ok, I'll take you out." Silly dog! His face is completely better now, but we're still waiting for all of his hair to grow back.
The other day we had our fourth, (4th), yes FOURTH, flat tire in three months. Our "car lord" (guy who rents us a car) is such a cheep and sneaky guy and he always puts old retread tires on for our "new" tires. He makes them look "new" by putting six gallons of armor all on them, but the tread is no where near legal in the states. The tires (spelled tyres in this backwards country) look like they were taken off of one of those Power Wheels jeeps that every kid wants when they're four. They may as well be plastic. At least Nick and Mike are getting pretty good at changing tires; they're fast enough that they probably would make the Grenadian pit crew, if Grenada had Nascar. That beings said, we can only imagine that a Grenadian pit team would also be moving on island time because, while they have gotten a little system down, it is still a time consuming operation. Nick found us a nondescript piece of lumbar that appears to be a three by four or some odd measurement that we carry in our car with us since our jack isn't tall enough to lift the car. Unfortunately the wood and jack together are too tall to fit under the car, so one guy has to partially life whatever end of the car we're changing (the shocks are completely shot, so although they're "lifting a car," they're really not lifting a car) while the other guy slides the block-jack combination under. Now, they have to crank up the car, which is a lengthy task considering the lack of quality of said jack. They also have to try to get the tire off and the "new" one on without being completely covered in armor all, which sometimes is completely unavoidable. The entire process usually entails at least a change of clothes, if not a shower. If we're lucky, they'll only have to change one more tire during the next month we're here. Our shiesty car guy called us after the third flat and accused us that it was our fault the tire had gone flat. We saw the tire and there had been a small hole on the inside of the tire. His "theory" was that we had hit a wall!!! Seriously? How the heck could we hit a wall, not do any damage to the car, and yet damage the inside of the tire? He's such a sneaky bastard, we can't wait to be done with him! He's always trying to pin blame on us for something. We drive his car as if it's made out of porcelain, but I know we're going to get another flat. His tires are awful and the roads are full of potholes, try as you might to miss them.
We get to go home exactly a month from today! I'm so excited. I can't wait to see my family and friends and ride my horse and take Maverick to the dog park. Nick's not so excited, but that's because it means he can't be on permanent vacation and play video games and fish all day. He went to a hash the other day that was pirate themed, so I made him a costume with what little supplies we have down here. He looked pretty good. I put eyeliner on him to make him look like "Pirates of the Caribbean," but it just made me giggle. He looked a little silly, but I think it's because I'm not used to it. He thought putting the eyeliner on was bad and then he hated running with it because it ran in his eyes. Guys just don't appreciate the hassle we go through just to look good. When we get home, I'm going back to Raging Waters for the summer to supervise for the aquatics department. It's my second home and I'm looking forward to seeing the new guards. Nick's going to go work for his friend, Rob, who runs a light fixture manufacturing company. We get married in about two months, so everything for that is getting finished up. Then we get to take our Alaskan cruise honeymoon! I'm very excited for this summer. It should be very fun! Until then, I have nine more exams! Back to studying.
A couple weeks ago, Nick's friend, Robby, came and visited us. He stayed for six days and had a great time. Unfortunately I had to study for the majority of his stay because I had exams, but he and Nick had a good time. They went fishing and spear fishing. Nick got a couple lobsters and they were delicious! We took him to the city and he bought some knickknacks and saw a steel drum band. Nick took him hashing, which he didn't really enjoy because it's blazing a trail through the rain forest and is very physically demanding. I still haven't been to a hash, but Nick likes most of them. Nick and Rob also went golfing on the course here. It's a nine hole course and isn't maintained well. There are goats scattered throughout. And it was super expensive. The weren't impressed.
Maverick had a hotspot on his face and neck area. We tried to treat it topically, but it just kept growing. To make them stop festering, you have to shave the affected area, but all we have are Nick's little beard trimmers, and Maverick's hair was way too much for them. Luckily, our friends/neighbors, Mike and Crystal, have heavy duty clippers for Mike's hair and offered to help us. It took all four of us to hold him down and clip him. He cried like we were trying to kill him at first, but after he realized we weren't he laid still pretty well. He was uncomfortable and painful, but he never tried to bite us or anything. He really is a good dog. We were scrubbing his face every day and he hated it, but it just wouldn't get better. So I called the vet and was informed that there weren't any available appointments for over a week. The receptionist advised me, however, that I could take him in as an "emergency" and pay $85 EC. That's about $30 bucks, which is cheaper than most office calls at home! So we took him in emergency and they saw him. Everyone in the hospital was very nice. They knocked him out and shaved him even better and gave us some antibiotics and steroids for his face. He was all groggy and sleepy when he came out to us and had a silly hair cut. But after being on meds, his face cleared up very quickly. being on steroids caused us to take him out a million times a day because the poor dog had to pee so much! He was waking me up at least twice a nice to take him out. For some reason he only wakes me up to take him and he's super creepy when he does it. Occasionally he'll lick me or touch his nose on me, but a lot of times he just stands at the edge of the bed really close and just stares at me. I wake up and see his silly face an inch from mine and go, "WOAH! Oh, man, ok, I'll take you out." Silly dog! His face is completely better now, but we're still waiting for all of his hair to grow back.
The other day we had our fourth, (4th), yes FOURTH, flat tire in three months. Our "car lord" (guy who rents us a car) is such a cheep and sneaky guy and he always puts old retread tires on for our "new" tires. He makes them look "new" by putting six gallons of armor all on them, but the tread is no where near legal in the states. The tires (spelled tyres in this backwards country) look like they were taken off of one of those Power Wheels jeeps that every kid wants when they're four. They may as well be plastic. At least Nick and Mike are getting pretty good at changing tires; they're fast enough that they probably would make the Grenadian pit crew, if Grenada had Nascar. That beings said, we can only imagine that a Grenadian pit team would also be moving on island time because, while they have gotten a little system down, it is still a time consuming operation. Nick found us a nondescript piece of lumbar that appears to be a three by four or some odd measurement that we carry in our car with us since our jack isn't tall enough to lift the car. Unfortunately the wood and jack together are too tall to fit under the car, so one guy has to partially life whatever end of the car we're changing (the shocks are completely shot, so although they're "lifting a car," they're really not lifting a car) while the other guy slides the block-jack combination under. Now, they have to crank up the car, which is a lengthy task considering the lack of quality of said jack. They also have to try to get the tire off and the "new" one on without being completely covered in armor all, which sometimes is completely unavoidable. The entire process usually entails at least a change of clothes, if not a shower. If we're lucky, they'll only have to change one more tire during the next month we're here. Our shiesty car guy called us after the third flat and accused us that it was our fault the tire had gone flat. We saw the tire and there had been a small hole on the inside of the tire. His "theory" was that we had hit a wall!!! Seriously? How the heck could we hit a wall, not do any damage to the car, and yet damage the inside of the tire? He's such a sneaky bastard, we can't wait to be done with him! He's always trying to pin blame on us for something. We drive his car as if it's made out of porcelain, but I know we're going to get another flat. His tires are awful and the roads are full of potholes, try as you might to miss them.
We get to go home exactly a month from today! I'm so excited. I can't wait to see my family and friends and ride my horse and take Maverick to the dog park. Nick's not so excited, but that's because it means he can't be on permanent vacation and play video games and fish all day. He went to a hash the other day that was pirate themed, so I made him a costume with what little supplies we have down here. He looked pretty good. I put eyeliner on him to make him look like "Pirates of the Caribbean," but it just made me giggle. He looked a little silly, but I think it's because I'm not used to it. He thought putting the eyeliner on was bad and then he hated running with it because it ran in his eyes. Guys just don't appreciate the hassle we go through just to look good. When we get home, I'm going back to Raging Waters for the summer to supervise for the aquatics department. It's my second home and I'm looking forward to seeing the new guards. Nick's going to go work for his friend, Rob, who runs a light fixture manufacturing company. We get married in about two months, so everything for that is getting finished up. Then we get to take our Alaskan cruise honeymoon! I'm very excited for this summer. It should be very fun! Until then, I have nine more exams! Back to studying.
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
It's been too long!
Well, here I am a month after my last entry! It has been much too long since I have given my snarky view on life. With that said, midterms came and went as painlessly as possible. So far, so good! Our car has been amazingly dependable (Knock on wood!) and only stalls on us occasionally. Everything has been going pretty smoothly for us.
The weekend after midterms we went to a party at a house to celebrate being done. We were all having a good time and were chatting about what we were going to do on our weekend when we didn't have to study. Suddenly, a classmate who had been, shall we say, celebrating a little bit harder than the rest of us and was sitting on the railing of the third story balcony fell off!!!!! Nick and Mike were near him when it happened and reached over to try to grab him, but it just wasn't soon enough. Luckily, Nick goes into autopilot when emergencies happen and he was already running for the stairs to get to him. I called the ambulance from the school and followed Nick. He found that he was unconscious but breathing and had a pulse, thank goodness. Nick did some neurological tests on him and miraculously he seemed to be fine. I called to get the status on the ambulance and was informed it could take up to an HOUR for it to arrive because they were waiting for a driver to get there. Crystal and I jumped into our car and drove the mile from the house to school, ran into the health clinic, and started demanding an ambulance. They couldn't even find the keys to it at first! When they did find them, we demanded that instead of waiting for a "driver" that a security guard drive it for us. He said that one of us had to ride with him to give him directions to the house, so I jumped in the ambulance and Crystal drove our car. We had to go pick up the nurse on the way there, which delayed our trip by a few minutes. We finally arrived probably close to half an hour after the fall and there was another ambulance that wasn't related to the school pulling away. Nick said that the ambulance had taken him with a soft collar and a scoop backboard, so they didn't support his spine at all. Thank goodness he didn't wind up breaking his back or he would've been paralyzed! After a few days in the hospital, (which isn't air conditioned, you have to bring your own bedding, food, TOILET PAPER, soap, towels, clothes, and completely reminds you you're in a third world country) and a set of x-rays, he was cleared and released from the hospital. He is still sore two weeks later, but seems to be on the mend. Everyone was so thankful for Nick because he took charge of the situation and made sure everything went as it should until he was taken away in the ambulance. He did a good job.
Last weekend was Sandblast, our end of midterms party that the school throws us every term. It's a huge beach party and they supply the drinks and music and everyone is happy midterms are over. We had a good time. That day we noticed Maverick had developed a hot spot on his cheek and neck area. Nick and I clipped him the best we could with Nick's beard trimmer and scissors. Maverick is not what you would call a good patient and acted like we were performing surgery on him without anesthesia whenever we even looked at his sore. We've been scrubbing it and treating it every day and it's getting better, but the poor dog is so itchy and uncomfortable. He knows he's not allowed to scratch because I tell him not to, but that just causes him to pace. He paces while I'm trying to sleep and I'll just get to sleep when I feel a wet dog nose on me. I open my eyes to see his silly face an inch away from my face looking at me and just pet him and try to calm him down. Today I finally found some Benadryl (which was surprisingly hard to find down here) and drugged him and he's so much happier. Looks like I'll keep him drugged until he's better. I'd love to give him a cone of shame, too, but the hot spot is in such a place that a cone would irritate it rather than help it. Oh well. He has been glued to my side while he's sick so it makes getting ready for school interesting. My poor baby!
Tomorrow I'm going to take him to school so that we can practice different techniques on him. As vet students, we often supply our own dogs and cats to practice doing exams on them for different things. Hopefully he behaves himself without being too big of a baby. We got to go into the simulation lab last week and listen to different patterns of heart murmurs and respiratory problems and try to predict what was causing them. The sim lab only has one dog which can be set to give a variety of ailments, so we have to use the med school's human mannequins and pretend they're dogs. Learning to be flexible I suppose.
This weekend is Easter so I get Good Friday and Easter Monday off of school because they're both national holidays, seeing that most of the island is Catholic. The sad part about being in vet school is that I'm excited for the four day weekend, but mainly because it means I can have four days that I don't have to go to school to learn my stuff that I will have to study and I can get some good solid studying in. But we will go to the beach and probably go out at night to relax and celebrate. The kids down here fly kites for Easter and there are different kite flying contests they can enter. They've been getting their kites ready and been practicing down on quarantine point where we take Maverick to play. Side note, it's called quarantine point because there used to be a leaper colony down there and the foundation can still be seen in some places on the field. The kites down here are all the same; hexagons about two feet across with a tail. They vary in colors and tail length but that's it. When they fly and catch the wind right they buzz and vibrate and I incorrectly thought they had small motors on them based on the sound. Nick made fun of me. We've seen some kites get stuck in trees and while spear fishing, Nick has seen some kites at the bottom of the ocean. Some of them get so high in the sky they can hardly be seen! But the other day we were watching a guy try to help his kid fly his kite and for some reason, the tail on it was at least 100 feet long; no exaggeration! It was windy, but not nearly windy enough for that little kite to drag that monstrous tail. The guy just couldn't seem to understand why their kite kept crashing. Nick and I can't decide if we'd rather bring down one of those trick kites we see on the beaches back home that do fancy flips and turns, or a huge one with different tiers like a pirate ship or something. We definitely want to bring a fancy kite for next Easter to show the Grenadian kids what they're missing!
Whenever I walk Maverick, the Grenadians are always fascinated by him. They always ask if he's a fox or a wolf. Another woman stopped me the other day and begged for a picture of him because she'd only ever seen a dog like him in the movies. She took a whole bunch so that she could get a good one with his blue eyes because she'd never seen a dog with blue eyes. No matter how intrigued the locals are by him, no one will pet him because they think he is going to bite them. That's alright with me because he's a good guard dog for our apartment and for me if I ever walk without Nick. Little do they know he loves pats and would probably just kiss them. A man the other day asked me, "What brand is that dog?" I almost told him Reebok, because recently he chewed the tongue off of a pair of my Reebok running shoes. When he pooped the next day, I noticed his poop had a word in it! I know that it is completely weird to be inspecting your pet's poop, but as a vet student, I have learned that you can learn many things from an animal's poop, so it's important to look at it! I grabbed a stick and poked at it and realized that it said Reebok. I should've taken a picture and sent it to the company, because let's face it: Nike definitely makes a better shoe. We have been dealing with Maverick's separation anxiety and sometimes it seems to be getting better and then other times it seems a whole lot worse. He has chewed the edges off the cutting board, all of my Gladware, a bra, four and a half pairs of my shoes, the edge of the Kindle cover, a couple pairs of Nick's shorts, his hat, both of our water bottles, our hamper, my alarm clock, my lotion bottle, he's spread panko, pancake mix, popcorn, flour, pasta, two and a half dozen eggs, and rice all over the apartment, AND he somehow poured about a gallon of water all over, including out bed. We've figured out how to be smarter than him and put everything up high where he can't reach it (Although he is very tall!), close things in the bathroom and then we tie our closet doors shut. Our closet doors are like French doors and so we just have been tying the handles closed. The smarty pants dog figured out he could chew through that rope to get to my tasty shoes, so we had to figure out a different way to tie it. Luckily he hasn't figured out how to get that open yet! Rotten old dog! But we're working on it every day and hopefully by the time we get home he'll be better. When he has other dogs around he doesn't become destructive, so at home it's not an issue.
Well, Nick just made some popcorn and it's calling my name. Until next time.
The weekend after midterms we went to a party at a house to celebrate being done. We were all having a good time and were chatting about what we were going to do on our weekend when we didn't have to study. Suddenly, a classmate who had been, shall we say, celebrating a little bit harder than the rest of us and was sitting on the railing of the third story balcony fell off!!!!! Nick and Mike were near him when it happened and reached over to try to grab him, but it just wasn't soon enough. Luckily, Nick goes into autopilot when emergencies happen and he was already running for the stairs to get to him. I called the ambulance from the school and followed Nick. He found that he was unconscious but breathing and had a pulse, thank goodness. Nick did some neurological tests on him and miraculously he seemed to be fine. I called to get the status on the ambulance and was informed it could take up to an HOUR for it to arrive because they were waiting for a driver to get there. Crystal and I jumped into our car and drove the mile from the house to school, ran into the health clinic, and started demanding an ambulance. They couldn't even find the keys to it at first! When they did find them, we demanded that instead of waiting for a "driver" that a security guard drive it for us. He said that one of us had to ride with him to give him directions to the house, so I jumped in the ambulance and Crystal drove our car. We had to go pick up the nurse on the way there, which delayed our trip by a few minutes. We finally arrived probably close to half an hour after the fall and there was another ambulance that wasn't related to the school pulling away. Nick said that the ambulance had taken him with a soft collar and a scoop backboard, so they didn't support his spine at all. Thank goodness he didn't wind up breaking his back or he would've been paralyzed! After a few days in the hospital, (which isn't air conditioned, you have to bring your own bedding, food, TOILET PAPER, soap, towels, clothes, and completely reminds you you're in a third world country) and a set of x-rays, he was cleared and released from the hospital. He is still sore two weeks later, but seems to be on the mend. Everyone was so thankful for Nick because he took charge of the situation and made sure everything went as it should until he was taken away in the ambulance. He did a good job.
Last weekend was Sandblast, our end of midterms party that the school throws us every term. It's a huge beach party and they supply the drinks and music and everyone is happy midterms are over. We had a good time. That day we noticed Maverick had developed a hot spot on his cheek and neck area. Nick and I clipped him the best we could with Nick's beard trimmer and scissors. Maverick is not what you would call a good patient and acted like we were performing surgery on him without anesthesia whenever we even looked at his sore. We've been scrubbing it and treating it every day and it's getting better, but the poor dog is so itchy and uncomfortable. He knows he's not allowed to scratch because I tell him not to, but that just causes him to pace. He paces while I'm trying to sleep and I'll just get to sleep when I feel a wet dog nose on me. I open my eyes to see his silly face an inch away from my face looking at me and just pet him and try to calm him down. Today I finally found some Benadryl (which was surprisingly hard to find down here) and drugged him and he's so much happier. Looks like I'll keep him drugged until he's better. I'd love to give him a cone of shame, too, but the hot spot is in such a place that a cone would irritate it rather than help it. Oh well. He has been glued to my side while he's sick so it makes getting ready for school interesting. My poor baby!
Tomorrow I'm going to take him to school so that we can practice different techniques on him. As vet students, we often supply our own dogs and cats to practice doing exams on them for different things. Hopefully he behaves himself without being too big of a baby. We got to go into the simulation lab last week and listen to different patterns of heart murmurs and respiratory problems and try to predict what was causing them. The sim lab only has one dog which can be set to give a variety of ailments, so we have to use the med school's human mannequins and pretend they're dogs. Learning to be flexible I suppose.
This weekend is Easter so I get Good Friday and Easter Monday off of school because they're both national holidays, seeing that most of the island is Catholic. The sad part about being in vet school is that I'm excited for the four day weekend, but mainly because it means I can have four days that I don't have to go to school to learn my stuff that I will have to study and I can get some good solid studying in. But we will go to the beach and probably go out at night to relax and celebrate. The kids down here fly kites for Easter and there are different kite flying contests they can enter. They've been getting their kites ready and been practicing down on quarantine point where we take Maverick to play. Side note, it's called quarantine point because there used to be a leaper colony down there and the foundation can still be seen in some places on the field. The kites down here are all the same; hexagons about two feet across with a tail. They vary in colors and tail length but that's it. When they fly and catch the wind right they buzz and vibrate and I incorrectly thought they had small motors on them based on the sound. Nick made fun of me. We've seen some kites get stuck in trees and while spear fishing, Nick has seen some kites at the bottom of the ocean. Some of them get so high in the sky they can hardly be seen! But the other day we were watching a guy try to help his kid fly his kite and for some reason, the tail on it was at least 100 feet long; no exaggeration! It was windy, but not nearly windy enough for that little kite to drag that monstrous tail. The guy just couldn't seem to understand why their kite kept crashing. Nick and I can't decide if we'd rather bring down one of those trick kites we see on the beaches back home that do fancy flips and turns, or a huge one with different tiers like a pirate ship or something. We definitely want to bring a fancy kite for next Easter to show the Grenadian kids what they're missing!
Whenever I walk Maverick, the Grenadians are always fascinated by him. They always ask if he's a fox or a wolf. Another woman stopped me the other day and begged for a picture of him because she'd only ever seen a dog like him in the movies. She took a whole bunch so that she could get a good one with his blue eyes because she'd never seen a dog with blue eyes. No matter how intrigued the locals are by him, no one will pet him because they think he is going to bite them. That's alright with me because he's a good guard dog for our apartment and for me if I ever walk without Nick. Little do they know he loves pats and would probably just kiss them. A man the other day asked me, "What brand is that dog?" I almost told him Reebok, because recently he chewed the tongue off of a pair of my Reebok running shoes. When he pooped the next day, I noticed his poop had a word in it! I know that it is completely weird to be inspecting your pet's poop, but as a vet student, I have learned that you can learn many things from an animal's poop, so it's important to look at it! I grabbed a stick and poked at it and realized that it said Reebok. I should've taken a picture and sent it to the company, because let's face it: Nike definitely makes a better shoe. We have been dealing with Maverick's separation anxiety and sometimes it seems to be getting better and then other times it seems a whole lot worse. He has chewed the edges off the cutting board, all of my Gladware, a bra, four and a half pairs of my shoes, the edge of the Kindle cover, a couple pairs of Nick's shorts, his hat, both of our water bottles, our hamper, my alarm clock, my lotion bottle, he's spread panko, pancake mix, popcorn, flour, pasta, two and a half dozen eggs, and rice all over the apartment, AND he somehow poured about a gallon of water all over, including out bed. We've figured out how to be smarter than him and put everything up high where he can't reach it (Although he is very tall!), close things in the bathroom and then we tie our closet doors shut. Our closet doors are like French doors and so we just have been tying the handles closed. The smarty pants dog figured out he could chew through that rope to get to my tasty shoes, so we had to figure out a different way to tie it. Luckily he hasn't figured out how to get that open yet! Rotten old dog! But we're working on it every day and hopefully by the time we get home he'll be better. When he has other dogs around he doesn't become destructive, so at home it's not an issue.
Well, Nick just made some popcorn and it's calling my name. Until next time.
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Officially Significant
This term has been so unbelievably busy; but it is going so fast! I can't believe that we are almost to midterms. I also can't believe that at the end of this term I will have been here for a year and a half! Time is flying. It's strange because I drive around and go to school and I don't think that it feels weird anymore. It's not really "home" like being at home is, but I live here and I feel at peace with that. However, it's sometimes surreal when I step back, look around and think, "Wow. I live in Grenada. I don't live in the US. I am going to vet school in the Caribbean." It sometimes doesn't hit my how strange of an experience I'm getting. I was thinking back at some of my first weeks down here and boy was I miserable! But this island has grown on me and I have wonderful friends and experiences to thank for that. Not to mention that Nick and Maverick being down here this term help me be less homesick. Being super busy helps too!
A couple weeks ago we went to Fish Friday again for Mike's birthday. That was the one thing he wanted to do. His wife, Crystal, and I tried to surprise him by lining up the boat to take a big group of us up there. The boat is so much fun and so nice; it makes you feel like a tourist rather than just dreading the next test that we have. Unfortunately the ocean was too choppy for the boat to take us, so I lined up a bus that took us up there. It was a lot of fun. Nick had never been to Fish Friday before and commented that the poverty and unkept streets reminded him of Iraq, except down here it's safer. Thank goodness! We ate a lot of different fish and then came home. It was a nice opportunity to get out of our three mile radius that we're typically in.
We also had Valentine's day last week. It was one the first Valentine's day in a long time that Nick and I actually got to be together. I'm not usually one for the mushy holiday experience, but it was so nice being with him and getting to go to a nice dinner. We went to Dodgy Dock's, which is a restaurant on the water and they had a Valentine's special with a singer and fancy food. I had mahi mahi and it was delicious. Nick got steak and lobster, and while I'm not usually one to really appreciate a steak, this was one of the best steaks I've ever had. It was delicious! The next night we went to sushi with Mike and Crystal and then went to Prickly Bay for a couple drinks. It was a nice way to relax and spend our night out.
Nick is what the school refers to as a "Significant Other," or SO. As an SO he has access to the University Club pool (I don't even have access to that without him!), gets to ride the bus, go onto campus, use the gym, etc. However, he needed his SO ID card to get all these "benefits." We had to apply for it and it had to go through the dean of students to make sure I was in good standing and then through security to make sure he didn't seem suspicious. We applied for it the week we got here and I was told that I would receive and email when he could come take his picture and get his card. After a week I still hadn't heard and so I went to the office and was impatiently explained to that I would receive an email when the application was approved. Four weeks later, I went into her office again. She said she had the approved application and didn't realize she didn't email me. Island time I guess. We finally got to go in and get his ID so that he is officially significant. Luckily we got it because he had to renew his visa with it. When we came into the country a month ago, he was issued a month long visa. However, after obtaining a letter from the school, he was able to extend it three more months. We went down to immigration and it is similar to the DMV. We had to wait in line to get a form. Then Nick had to fill out the form and wait in line again to turn it in. We then had to wait while the immigration officer reviewed it, printed out a receipt and then called us up to give it to us. We had to go out of the building to the next building, pay, get the receipt stamped, and then go back into the first building. After giving the stamped receipt to the immigration officer, they finally stamped his visa and sent us on our way. We really didn't have to wait, but it still took half an hour. I've heard horror stories of other SOs who have had to wait forever to get it done. We were lucky. But now he won't be deported and can stay the rest of the term.
Nick has been doing really well. He spear fishes usually two days a week and has been getting a decent amount of smaller fish, which he then uses as bait for when he fishes with a rod and reel the next day. He also has been doing the hash runs which he's really enjoyed. He's also been playing on the intramural kickball team. Their team is really good and has won the two games they've played so far. I was a little bit worried that he would get bored down here, but so far he's loving it. I'm loving getting my laundry done and breakfast every morning! It's also nice just having him with me finally!!
Maverick has been doing really well. He's turning into quite the character. Nick got a 50 foot long rope and we take him out to the field and let him run around on it. He's been doing good with coming when he's called, but he really can't fetch to save his life! We found the secret beach that people take their dogs to, which you get to by way of climbing down rocks. Once you're down there, there's no one else; it's like a "Lost." That was kind of fun to let him play in the waves.
We've had to work with a little bit of separation anxiety with him since we've been here. It's vary rare that both Nick and I leave the apartment, but when we do we have to secure it so that he can't chew up our things. Our close doors close in the middle, but have no way to lock them. We learned the hard way that we had to keep them closed somehow, so first we tried a rubber band, but he broke that no problem. Next Nick got a little hook and put it on the door and we hooked it closed AND tied it with a shoelace. Not only did he chew through the shoelace but he bent the hook and was able to get in. So now we have a thicker rope that he is unable to chew through in the short times we're gone which we lock the doors with.
We also have to make sure we put absolutely everything out of reach that he could harm. One night we came home and the kitchen light had burned out, but we could tell there was stuff all over the floor. Using a flashlight, we discovered that he had shattered a giant glass mixing bowl into a billion pieces. He also had eaten the cereal, spread pasta on the floor and the napkins (which he always attacks) were strewn about. To top it off, he had chewed up the brand spanking new, never used, dustpan so we couldn't even sweep it all up easily! A couple days ago I made a dumb mistake. There is a guy who comes to campus every Tuesday and sells eggs at a good price, so I get a flat every week for us. I came home and put them on top of the stove and then I had to rush back to school. I should've put them in the fridge, but I didn't have time so I figured they would be alright because they hadn't been refrigerated yet. Nick came home to find the two and a half doesn't eggs all over the floor! Needless to say he was not thrilled with me. Oops! Live and learn.
The absolute worst Maverick offense happened after Nick and I had gone to get his ID. We were only gone for about an hour so we figured everything would be fine. Let me just preface with the fact that Maverick almost never has an accident in the house anymore. He makes it through the night and is pretty good about telling us when he needs to go out. Well, the poor boy must have had to really go because when we came home, Nick unlocked and opened to door to find that that action smeared the poop that was just inside the door! AAAHHH!!! It was a mess! The door has one of those rubber weather strips at the bottom that Nick had to take off and clean and we had to clean under the door. Poor Maverick looked super embarrassed and I know he felt bad, but it was so gross! Oh well. The joys of owning pets. He gives us more happiness than anything else.
Midterms start in a couple of weeks so I will be studying a lot between now and then. Then I have a whole week without tests! I don't even know what to do with myself. Nick's best friend is going to come visit us right after Easter, so we're looking forward to that. It should be a lot of fun. Now back to studying the blood vessels and nerves of the horse leg!
A couple weeks ago we went to Fish Friday again for Mike's birthday. That was the one thing he wanted to do. His wife, Crystal, and I tried to surprise him by lining up the boat to take a big group of us up there. The boat is so much fun and so nice; it makes you feel like a tourist rather than just dreading the next test that we have. Unfortunately the ocean was too choppy for the boat to take us, so I lined up a bus that took us up there. It was a lot of fun. Nick had never been to Fish Friday before and commented that the poverty and unkept streets reminded him of Iraq, except down here it's safer. Thank goodness! We ate a lot of different fish and then came home. It was a nice opportunity to get out of our three mile radius that we're typically in.
We also had Valentine's day last week. It was one the first Valentine's day in a long time that Nick and I actually got to be together. I'm not usually one for the mushy holiday experience, but it was so nice being with him and getting to go to a nice dinner. We went to Dodgy Dock's, which is a restaurant on the water and they had a Valentine's special with a singer and fancy food. I had mahi mahi and it was delicious. Nick got steak and lobster, and while I'm not usually one to really appreciate a steak, this was one of the best steaks I've ever had. It was delicious! The next night we went to sushi with Mike and Crystal and then went to Prickly Bay for a couple drinks. It was a nice way to relax and spend our night out.
Nick is what the school refers to as a "Significant Other," or SO. As an SO he has access to the University Club pool (I don't even have access to that without him!), gets to ride the bus, go onto campus, use the gym, etc. However, he needed his SO ID card to get all these "benefits." We had to apply for it and it had to go through the dean of students to make sure I was in good standing and then through security to make sure he didn't seem suspicious. We applied for it the week we got here and I was told that I would receive and email when he could come take his picture and get his card. After a week I still hadn't heard and so I went to the office and was impatiently explained to that I would receive an email when the application was approved. Four weeks later, I went into her office again. She said she had the approved application and didn't realize she didn't email me. Island time I guess. We finally got to go in and get his ID so that he is officially significant. Luckily we got it because he had to renew his visa with it. When we came into the country a month ago, he was issued a month long visa. However, after obtaining a letter from the school, he was able to extend it three more months. We went down to immigration and it is similar to the DMV. We had to wait in line to get a form. Then Nick had to fill out the form and wait in line again to turn it in. We then had to wait while the immigration officer reviewed it, printed out a receipt and then called us up to give it to us. We had to go out of the building to the next building, pay, get the receipt stamped, and then go back into the first building. After giving the stamped receipt to the immigration officer, they finally stamped his visa and sent us on our way. We really didn't have to wait, but it still took half an hour. I've heard horror stories of other SOs who have had to wait forever to get it done. We were lucky. But now he won't be deported and can stay the rest of the term.
Nick has been doing really well. He spear fishes usually two days a week and has been getting a decent amount of smaller fish, which he then uses as bait for when he fishes with a rod and reel the next day. He also has been doing the hash runs which he's really enjoyed. He's also been playing on the intramural kickball team. Their team is really good and has won the two games they've played so far. I was a little bit worried that he would get bored down here, but so far he's loving it. I'm loving getting my laundry done and breakfast every morning! It's also nice just having him with me finally!!
Maverick has been doing really well. He's turning into quite the character. Nick got a 50 foot long rope and we take him out to the field and let him run around on it. He's been doing good with coming when he's called, but he really can't fetch to save his life! We found the secret beach that people take their dogs to, which you get to by way of climbing down rocks. Once you're down there, there's no one else; it's like a "Lost." That was kind of fun to let him play in the waves.
We've had to work with a little bit of separation anxiety with him since we've been here. It's vary rare that both Nick and I leave the apartment, but when we do we have to secure it so that he can't chew up our things. Our close doors close in the middle, but have no way to lock them. We learned the hard way that we had to keep them closed somehow, so first we tried a rubber band, but he broke that no problem. Next Nick got a little hook and put it on the door and we hooked it closed AND tied it with a shoelace. Not only did he chew through the shoelace but he bent the hook and was able to get in. So now we have a thicker rope that he is unable to chew through in the short times we're gone which we lock the doors with.
We also have to make sure we put absolutely everything out of reach that he could harm. One night we came home and the kitchen light had burned out, but we could tell there was stuff all over the floor. Using a flashlight, we discovered that he had shattered a giant glass mixing bowl into a billion pieces. He also had eaten the cereal, spread pasta on the floor and the napkins (which he always attacks) were strewn about. To top it off, he had chewed up the brand spanking new, never used, dustpan so we couldn't even sweep it all up easily! A couple days ago I made a dumb mistake. There is a guy who comes to campus every Tuesday and sells eggs at a good price, so I get a flat every week for us. I came home and put them on top of the stove and then I had to rush back to school. I should've put them in the fridge, but I didn't have time so I figured they would be alright because they hadn't been refrigerated yet. Nick came home to find the two and a half doesn't eggs all over the floor! Needless to say he was not thrilled with me. Oops! Live and learn.
The absolute worst Maverick offense happened after Nick and I had gone to get his ID. We were only gone for about an hour so we figured everything would be fine. Let me just preface with the fact that Maverick almost never has an accident in the house anymore. He makes it through the night and is pretty good about telling us when he needs to go out. Well, the poor boy must have had to really go because when we came home, Nick unlocked and opened to door to find that that action smeared the poop that was just inside the door! AAAHHH!!! It was a mess! The door has one of those rubber weather strips at the bottom that Nick had to take off and clean and we had to clean under the door. Poor Maverick looked super embarrassed and I know he felt bad, but it was so gross! Oh well. The joys of owning pets. He gives us more happiness than anything else.
Midterms start in a couple of weeks so I will be studying a lot between now and then. Then I have a whole week without tests! I don't even know what to do with myself. Nick's best friend is going to come visit us right after Easter, so we're looking forward to that. It should be a lot of fun. Now back to studying the blood vessels and nerves of the horse leg!
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Superbowl Sunday
Well, after a long, busy, but wonderful Christmas break I'm back in Grenada. I have been so busy getting things settled over the last two weeks that I haven't had any time to write about it. So much has happened! My fiance, Nick, got out of the army right before Christmas and he came down here with me, but over the break we were busy planning for the wedding, being with family and running around getting things done to come down here. We also were very busy looking for a dog (we visited eight local animal shelters and were unable to find one!) and finally found one on Craigslist. He is a Siberian Husky named Maverick and he was nine months when we got him the day after Christmas.
One of the stresses was trying to get Maverick ready to fly. He is great in the car, but I wasn't sure how he would do on a long flight! But we got him through security and to our gate just fine. When he got on the plane, he was a little scared, so we had him lay across our laps for about an hour until he settled down. After that, Nick got him to lay on the floor by our feet and he slept quietly for the rest of the flight to Orlando. Then we had to fly from Orlando to Miami, which was only about a 50 minute flight and he did great. When we got to Miami, we found a lot of my classmates with their dogs. I took Maverick out in both Orlando and Miami to try to get him to go potty, but he was just too distracted and couldn't go. Then again, he also wouldn't really eat or drink anything. He wound up holding it until we got to Grenada, which was about 20 hours after we left LA. What a good boy! The flight from Miami to Grenada was almost all students and there were about 20 dogs and 4 cats on the plane. But since all of them belonged to vet students, there wasn't any issue with any of them and they all were mostly quiet for the whole flight. We landed on Friday night and my classmates/neighbors, Mike and Crystal, who I shared a car with last term had already gotten us a car again and picked us up. Luckily they are awesome friends and had already gotten the keys to my apartment and turned on the AC and fans so it was cooling down by the time we got here.
We're living at Grand View Inn again, but this time I have a one bedroom instead of a two bedroom apartment. It's not very big, but it serves its purpose and we enjoy it. This term we got a 1996 Honda CRV as our car. It's nicer than our Escudo in that all the doors and windows are functional, the air conditioner works, the radio works, and it has power steering. However, it's really a give and take because our car has already had to go to the mechanic, whereas our car last term never did. This car has already overheated once and it doesn't turn over every time it's started. Often you have to pump the gas a lot while you crank it to get it to start. One time, thank goodness we were only going about five miles an hour, I was driving it and tried to break, but the car wouldn't stop! I pulled the emergency brake and pumped the brakes a bit and tried them again and it still didn't work! I turned the car off and back on and they wound up being fine. Mike was in the car with me and we drove away laughing saying "TIG," but then we decided that we shouldn't be laughing at what potentially could have been a life-and-death situation but then again... TIG. Nick learned about the pot holes yesterday while driving here for the first time. He was driving us back to our apartment and hit one and learned that they are so bad they will bend your rim. Then we learned that the cars don't come with jacks big enough to jack up the car. Luckily we were able to get one that almost went high enough, plus a block of wood to add those extra couple of inches. We also learned that while on the side of the road changing a tire, every local who drives by will ask you if you are "Getting through." We weren't really sure how to respond, although I'm pretty sure we got through.
Nick has been learning ropes down here and has learned a few things through trial and error. He plugged our toaster directly into the wall and, while that is the fastest way to produce a piece of toast, it also turns converts the toaster into a one time use one and produces a lovely fireworks. He also just learned (just, as in he just came back while I was writing this and told me) that you can't leave your running shoes on the beach to go run in the sand, or Grenadians will steal them. Shiesty Grenadians. But Nick has also made a couple of friends with other husbands who live in the complex. He went on a run with the Grenada Hash House Harriers, which is a running club that is all over the world. There was a cruise ship in port that had a bunch of people who were part of their hash club, so they went on a run and Nick joined them. After the run, they all go to a local bar and get lunch and some beers. The club's motto is "Drinkers with a Running Problem." Nick had a lot of fun doing that and has taken Maverick on the route he went on a couple times. Other than that, Nick has been an amazing house fiancé; he does the laundry, cooks for me, takes care of our doggy, plays Xbox, watches movies, reads books. He's also been spear fishing, and although he's been able to hit some fish, none of them have been big enough to eat yet. He needs to find a better place to go with bigger fish.
He took me snorkeling on Sunday and he brought his spear. We had to climb down a cliff to the spot where he wanted to go. I was very scared, but he helped guide me down. The place he found is a beautiful coral reef where there are lots of fish and cool coral to see. It was really amazing to see. He called me over and pointed out this cool looking fish, which we later found out was a smooth trunk fish, and so I was swimming over it and enjoying it for a while. All of a sudden, BOOM! He shot it! I was sad because I liked that fish, but he needed to practice with his spear and the fishy was slow. We also saw a really cool eel and some other fish that was blue with even brighter blue spots. The snorkeling down here really is nice.
Maverick has been a good boy, but he has taken some patience on our ends to get him adjusted to being down here. He is a crazy Husky, so he doesn't really know how to come when called yet. We have been working with him and Nick successfully took him to the laundry room the other day without a leash, but when he tried it again Maverick got distracted and started running. He doesn't run away so much as just wanting to play, but he's very difficult to catch. Luckily Nick was able to catch him and everything worked out fine.
Yesterday we went to St. George's to go to the fish market, which is a pretty gross place to begin with. We went there last week to look for fish but they didn't really have anything. Across the street is the meat market and the day before, next door to the meat market, I had seen some cows and pigs in this building and I stopped and looked at them for a few minutes. The next day we were back in St. George's trying to set up our Internet and I told Brandi and Kim, "Oh, coming up after the meat market we're going to get to see some cows and pigs!" We got to the building and there weren't any animals. I said, "That's weird, they were here yesterday," and before any of us could put two and two together a Grenadian man walked out and said, "We keeeeled dem." Brandi said, " Oh! Well that's not very nice," and we walked away kind of in shock. It makes sense that the slaughter house is right next to the meat market, but it's just not something we expected to see in the city, I suppose. The fish market is a big warehouse with rolled up doors and locals sitting behind counters with their catches. Depending on the day, they may have a lot or they may have nothing. Yesterday all they had was shark, so we didn't get anything. They use a big machete to cut the fish into pieces and then take a big stick that's crudely carved into a club and hit the machete to make it cut through the fish. Then they take that same machete and fillet the fish. The precision they have with a machete is pretty impressive.
On the way out of St. George's, you have to drive up a huge hill before you can drive back down into the Carenage and exit. We have been having problems with our car overheating, but the guy we rent from took it to the mechanic the other day and brought it back, saying he installed a new fan. Crystal was driving and our car was slowly crawling up the hill, but before we made it to the top, the car stopped. It was still on and in drive, but we were rolling backwards. Nick got out of the car and tried pushing it to give it the last little bit of power, but it just wasn't enough. She had to put it in reverse and back down the hill to take a side street. We started driving to find a less steep route out, but all of a sudden as we were climbing a less steep hill, the car just turned off and died. It had over heated once again. We were able to get it to the side of the road, which luckily wasn't busy and popped the hood. Just then, it started to rain pretty hard and the water was flash boiling off the engine. We just sat there unsure of what to do. Crystal tried calling our renter to tell him, but he didn't pick up and we weren't even sure how to tell him where we were. An old Grenadian man walked out into his yard and told Nick to take the radiator cap off and add water, at least we think that's what he said; his local accent was very thick and we really couldn't understand him. When Nick told him it was still too hot, he disappeared and returned with a thick leather glove and removed the cap for us. No steam came out because the radiator was bone dry! Luckily, the nicest Grenadian ever pulled over and had a five liter jug of water in his car that was half full. He poured it in and it immediately boiled off. The old man took it inside and filled it and the car took the entire thing. We were finally able to start it after it had cooled down and water was added. The guy who pulled over lived here, but is training in England to become a professional boxer. He was extremely buff and very nice and asked us about living here as students. We were very thankful for him. We got home and got a hold of the owner of our car, who came to pick it up, and we're still waiting to hear when we're going to get it back.
Today is Superbowl Sunday and the weather is beautiful. There is a sailboat race happening in the Grand Anse Bay below us and we've been watching it a bit. It's funny to watch because the sail boats have to be home made and while some of them do pretty well, a lot of them tip over and the water has to be bailed out. It's pretty entertaining. Unfortunately I have a quiz tomorrow so I will be spending most of the day studying. We will watch the game in a little bit when it starts, though. It surprised me that it won't be starting here until 7:30PM because at home I'm used to the game being early afternoon, but I guess I am four hours ahead than normal.
This week will be full of classes and quizzes and studying. But I'm sure something interesting will occur and I'll blog about it next week, until then, go 49ers!
One of the stresses was trying to get Maverick ready to fly. He is great in the car, but I wasn't sure how he would do on a long flight! But we got him through security and to our gate just fine. When he got on the plane, he was a little scared, so we had him lay across our laps for about an hour until he settled down. After that, Nick got him to lay on the floor by our feet and he slept quietly for the rest of the flight to Orlando. Then we had to fly from Orlando to Miami, which was only about a 50 minute flight and he did great. When we got to Miami, we found a lot of my classmates with their dogs. I took Maverick out in both Orlando and Miami to try to get him to go potty, but he was just too distracted and couldn't go. Then again, he also wouldn't really eat or drink anything. He wound up holding it until we got to Grenada, which was about 20 hours after we left LA. What a good boy! The flight from Miami to Grenada was almost all students and there were about 20 dogs and 4 cats on the plane. But since all of them belonged to vet students, there wasn't any issue with any of them and they all were mostly quiet for the whole flight. We landed on Friday night and my classmates/neighbors, Mike and Crystal, who I shared a car with last term had already gotten us a car again and picked us up. Luckily they are awesome friends and had already gotten the keys to my apartment and turned on the AC and fans so it was cooling down by the time we got here.
We're living at Grand View Inn again, but this time I have a one bedroom instead of a two bedroom apartment. It's not very big, but it serves its purpose and we enjoy it. This term we got a 1996 Honda CRV as our car. It's nicer than our Escudo in that all the doors and windows are functional, the air conditioner works, the radio works, and it has power steering. However, it's really a give and take because our car has already had to go to the mechanic, whereas our car last term never did. This car has already overheated once and it doesn't turn over every time it's started. Often you have to pump the gas a lot while you crank it to get it to start. One time, thank goodness we were only going about five miles an hour, I was driving it and tried to break, but the car wouldn't stop! I pulled the emergency brake and pumped the brakes a bit and tried them again and it still didn't work! I turned the car off and back on and they wound up being fine. Mike was in the car with me and we drove away laughing saying "TIG," but then we decided that we shouldn't be laughing at what potentially could have been a life-and-death situation but then again... TIG. Nick learned about the pot holes yesterday while driving here for the first time. He was driving us back to our apartment and hit one and learned that they are so bad they will bend your rim. Then we learned that the cars don't come with jacks big enough to jack up the car. Luckily we were able to get one that almost went high enough, plus a block of wood to add those extra couple of inches. We also learned that while on the side of the road changing a tire, every local who drives by will ask you if you are "Getting through." We weren't really sure how to respond, although I'm pretty sure we got through.
Nick has been learning ropes down here and has learned a few things through trial and error. He plugged our toaster directly into the wall and, while that is the fastest way to produce a piece of toast, it also turns converts the toaster into a one time use one and produces a lovely fireworks. He also just learned (just, as in he just came back while I was writing this and told me) that you can't leave your running shoes on the beach to go run in the sand, or Grenadians will steal them. Shiesty Grenadians. But Nick has also made a couple of friends with other husbands who live in the complex. He went on a run with the Grenada Hash House Harriers, which is a running club that is all over the world. There was a cruise ship in port that had a bunch of people who were part of their hash club, so they went on a run and Nick joined them. After the run, they all go to a local bar and get lunch and some beers. The club's motto is "Drinkers with a Running Problem." Nick had a lot of fun doing that and has taken Maverick on the route he went on a couple times. Other than that, Nick has been an amazing house fiancé; he does the laundry, cooks for me, takes care of our doggy, plays Xbox, watches movies, reads books. He's also been spear fishing, and although he's been able to hit some fish, none of them have been big enough to eat yet. He needs to find a better place to go with bigger fish.
He took me snorkeling on Sunday and he brought his spear. We had to climb down a cliff to the spot where he wanted to go. I was very scared, but he helped guide me down. The place he found is a beautiful coral reef where there are lots of fish and cool coral to see. It was really amazing to see. He called me over and pointed out this cool looking fish, which we later found out was a smooth trunk fish, and so I was swimming over it and enjoying it for a while. All of a sudden, BOOM! He shot it! I was sad because I liked that fish, but he needed to practice with his spear and the fishy was slow. We also saw a really cool eel and some other fish that was blue with even brighter blue spots. The snorkeling down here really is nice.
Maverick has been a good boy, but he has taken some patience on our ends to get him adjusted to being down here. He is a crazy Husky, so he doesn't really know how to come when called yet. We have been working with him and Nick successfully took him to the laundry room the other day without a leash, but when he tried it again Maverick got distracted and started running. He doesn't run away so much as just wanting to play, but he's very difficult to catch. Luckily Nick was able to catch him and everything worked out fine.
Yesterday we went to St. George's to go to the fish market, which is a pretty gross place to begin with. We went there last week to look for fish but they didn't really have anything. Across the street is the meat market and the day before, next door to the meat market, I had seen some cows and pigs in this building and I stopped and looked at them for a few minutes. The next day we were back in St. George's trying to set up our Internet and I told Brandi and Kim, "Oh, coming up after the meat market we're going to get to see some cows and pigs!" We got to the building and there weren't any animals. I said, "That's weird, they were here yesterday," and before any of us could put two and two together a Grenadian man walked out and said, "We keeeeled dem." Brandi said, " Oh! Well that's not very nice," and we walked away kind of in shock. It makes sense that the slaughter house is right next to the meat market, but it's just not something we expected to see in the city, I suppose. The fish market is a big warehouse with rolled up doors and locals sitting behind counters with their catches. Depending on the day, they may have a lot or they may have nothing. Yesterday all they had was shark, so we didn't get anything. They use a big machete to cut the fish into pieces and then take a big stick that's crudely carved into a club and hit the machete to make it cut through the fish. Then they take that same machete and fillet the fish. The precision they have with a machete is pretty impressive.
On the way out of St. George's, you have to drive up a huge hill before you can drive back down into the Carenage and exit. We have been having problems with our car overheating, but the guy we rent from took it to the mechanic the other day and brought it back, saying he installed a new fan. Crystal was driving and our car was slowly crawling up the hill, but before we made it to the top, the car stopped. It was still on and in drive, but we were rolling backwards. Nick got out of the car and tried pushing it to give it the last little bit of power, but it just wasn't enough. She had to put it in reverse and back down the hill to take a side street. We started driving to find a less steep route out, but all of a sudden as we were climbing a less steep hill, the car just turned off and died. It had over heated once again. We were able to get it to the side of the road, which luckily wasn't busy and popped the hood. Just then, it started to rain pretty hard and the water was flash boiling off the engine. We just sat there unsure of what to do. Crystal tried calling our renter to tell him, but he didn't pick up and we weren't even sure how to tell him where we were. An old Grenadian man walked out into his yard and told Nick to take the radiator cap off and add water, at least we think that's what he said; his local accent was very thick and we really couldn't understand him. When Nick told him it was still too hot, he disappeared and returned with a thick leather glove and removed the cap for us. No steam came out because the radiator was bone dry! Luckily, the nicest Grenadian ever pulled over and had a five liter jug of water in his car that was half full. He poured it in and it immediately boiled off. The old man took it inside and filled it and the car took the entire thing. We were finally able to start it after it had cooled down and water was added. The guy who pulled over lived here, but is training in England to become a professional boxer. He was extremely buff and very nice and asked us about living here as students. We were very thankful for him. We got home and got a hold of the owner of our car, who came to pick it up, and we're still waiting to hear when we're going to get it back.
Today is Superbowl Sunday and the weather is beautiful. There is a sailboat race happening in the Grand Anse Bay below us and we've been watching it a bit. It's funny to watch because the sail boats have to be home made and while some of them do pretty well, a lot of them tip over and the water has to be bailed out. It's pretty entertaining. Unfortunately I have a quiz tomorrow so I will be spending most of the day studying. We will watch the game in a little bit when it starts, though. It surprised me that it won't be starting here until 7:30PM because at home I'm used to the game being early afternoon, but I guess I am four hours ahead than normal.
This week will be full of classes and quizzes and studying. But I'm sure something interesting will occur and I'll blog about it next week, until then, go 49ers!
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