Although I'm a vet student, I must say that this first term of school has really made me miss animals! I get to work with my preserved dog, but she's not very cuddly. Most of the dogs running the island have some sort of disease or are so unsocial that they are afraid of humans, so I can't pet them. The cats here are all very feral and have diseases so I won't be petting them either. I really miss hugging my dog and my horse. Who would've thought that becoming a vet would deprive me of animals?
On Friday night a group of us went to a pizza place called Prickly Bay for one of the guys' birthdays. My friend, Maegan, and I got on the bus from campus. There are a couple different kinds of buses. The ones I usually take are just like a normal bus route that stop at designated stops to get off and on. But once it gets dark, there is the "night bus." Now, for any Harry Potter fans out there, let me say that the night bus here is exactly like the one in the book, except the guy with dreadlocks is the one actually driving the bus. The bus flies around corners, squeezes in between cars and swerves to avoid near collisions the entire time. This bus will drop you off at your doorstep if you live off of the bus route. So we told the driver we wanted to go to Prickly Bay. We were going into Lance Aux Epines, which is a neighborhood that neither of us were familiar with and in the dark it all looks the same. After driving down numerous gravel roads, up into the hills, and dropping every other student off who was in the bus, we were suddenly back at the Texaco station (the only gas station I've seen here), which is near school. We told the driver that he had missed our stop and he said, "I know, I'll get you on the next round." So we had to ride all the way back to school, pick up another round, drop EVERYONE else off again, and then he finally dropped us off. We were on the bus for over an hour, but TIG.
When we finally got there, the pizza was delicious. I have yet to have much delicious food on this island and was beginning to lose hope, but this is very good if you're willing to wait nearly an hour for pizza. The place was completely outside and there was a live band playing songs like "Footloose" and "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go." The customers there were a mix of students and white people in their 60s and 70s. We couldn't believe that coincidentally this senior crowd was vacationing and all happened to end up in the same spot. After talking to a few people, we discovered that these were all retired people who live on boats in the bay and come to the island to party at night! Several of the people I spoke with live on their boat for 6 months and then live in England for 6 months. What fun loving people! And what a cool way to retire. That was a really fun night.
Yesterday a couple of us decided to go to the beach for a little bit in the morning to catch some sun. The wind was blowing really hard so the sand kept blowing on us, but it was actually good it was windy because there was a sail boat race going on in the bay. We stood in the water and watched for a little bit until the clouds rolled in and it began to pour on us. The sail boats were pretty small; a row boat by our standards with moderately large sails. The funny part was there were five large men in each boat so they hardly fit! The boats went pretty fast, but as we were watching, one boat started to lean really badly to the side. Pretty soon everyone except two men had jumped into the water and the two remaining were bailing water from their boat! We watched in concern that their boat was going to sink and before long, the wind caught their sail and the entire boat flipped over into the water! We were all shocked and worried about these men, but no one went to their rescue! None of them were wearing life jackets and they all clung to the edge of the boat. But before long, they righted the boat, bailed the rest of the water out, climbed back in and continued the race! We couldn't believe it! The longer we watched, the more boats tipped over, and every time it was the same. You would think they would make the sail more proportionate to the ship so that they didn't tip, but maybe that's part of the sport. Either way it was very entertaining to watch.
I finally found red tomatoes at the local fruit stand down the street from me. He has the best tomatoes, mangoes, papayas, among other fruits I've never heard of. Everything I've gotten from him is delicious.
I have been looking for a good map to show exactly where I live on the island and after a long search I have finally found one. If you click on the link and then scroll all the way down, I live in Grand Anse, which is on the south west part of the island. The school is in True Blue and many people I know live in Frequente and Lance Aux Epines. You can see how close the airport is to the school. The island is only 22 miles long, so everything is relatively close. If I can't walk I take the bus.
http://www.travelgrenada.com/maps.htm#
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