Emerald Pool

I went with two other wives and their families on a trip to Emerald Pool and the Carib Indian Territory on Saturday. My camera died after one picture at the Carib Territory, but here are some pictures of Emerald Pool. The water was really cold and I got in as deep as my knees, there were only 2 people crazy enough to get in all of the way, and they didn't stay for long. We all had a really fun time and it's so fun to get to know peoples families and kind of see where they come from. There is so much diversity down here and it's been a great experience for us. We have been able to see some really cool things from different cultures and I have heard some crazy accents! All in all, meeting so many new people has been awesome!

Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?

I've had the opportunity to substitute in the elementary prep school that is actually on campus the past 3 days. What an experience. Although I was only in the 1st-3rd grade classroom, it didn't take long to realize how much I have forgotten from elementary. I thought of the game show "Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?" As of now...I'm questioning it! Questions such as: "Miss Chelsie, is China the only place with Pandas? Can you tell me all of the places in the world that have Pandas?" Sure....let me get right on that. (is 'Asia' good enough?) "Miss Chelsie, what is a homophone? What's an antonym?" Luckily I have been helping teach English class and we went over homophones, antonyms, and synonyms a couple of weeks ago or I'm not sure I could have answered those correctly either! A boy in the 4th grade asked me last week about John Deere. He was doing a report on him and asked me about the first steel plow that John Deere made......."John Deere started out with a steel plow? What?" I'm flattered that these kids have so much confidence in me, but I'm starting to feel like the next time I return to their class it should be as a student, not a teacher. Kids are so inquisitive and I love their thirst for knowledge, even if they stump me with their questions or catch me by surprise sometimes. They were able to keep me on my toes and even though I was so exhausted I went to bed at 9:00 last night, I had a good time with them. At the end of school today, I found I was sad to not be returning on Monday to teach. Hopefully I'll have other opportunities!

Beautiful Sunsets!

One of my favorite things down here are sunsets on the Ocean! (technically, it's the Sea) We went swimming at the pool yesterday and then just walked down to the beach. There has been a tropical storm further out on the ocean somewhere and the waves were huge! I wish we would of had our camera because as always, it was amazing! Here are some pictures from previous sunsets that we have been able to enjoy. The top one is from one of the times that Keith and I swam until sunset. I am still out in the water in this picture, but it was getting pretty cold. Enjoy the others!

Lately......

Well, I don't have any 'stand out' things to write about, but here's what's been going on lately: I've been babysitting 2 little kids 1-2 times a week and I'm loving every second of it! Kids are such a riot! I love teaching primary and although it can be a challenge, it is rewarding and worth every second of the chaos! I am substituting 2, (maybe 3) days next week at the prep school and I am a little anxious. I sat in on their class today and the thing I worry about most is juggling 3 grades in the same class (it's a 1st-3rd grade class). It will be such a great experience though and there isn't much better of a test to see if teaching is really what I want to do! I already know all of the kids and some of their reading levels (from tutoring) so that should give me an advantage over most substitutes I guess. I got an e-mail from the principal of the prep-school today and she wants me to go in and talk to her this week about "other possibilities"..... whatever that means. (Hopefully they are good other possibilities!)
As for Keith, he did really well on his test on Monday! We are both really excited and I am so proud of him! He got an 'A' in 4 out of 5 of the subjects, which is outstanding! The one subject he didn't get an 'A' in, (anatomy) he did well in on his first test (which is averaged in) so he's not really worried about it at all. He studies like a maniac and I can't believe the amount of study note cards he makes a week, but it all pays off in the end I guess! We just hope things will continue to go as well (and even better) as they did on this test! He is such a smarty-pants! :)

Hooray!

Which one of these is not like the other? Here's a picture from English class. This is part of the group, in all there are about 15. Dennis and Stephen are pointing to Agenor, which is what I see a lot in class. Agenor is always talking and distracting people and even when something isn't his fault, he still gets pointed at. These are the poor guys who had to witness my first teaching experience, what champs!

Today I was able to get some more babysitting jobs! One job is just for a day, the other is 2 times every week! It won't be a ton of income, but we're grateful for what we can get! Plus, what a job huh? Watching cute little kids! I taught in English class for the first time last week and it went pretty well. No one said a thing for the first little while and it made me rather nervous. Finally when I asked if I scared them, everyone opened up and started giving me feedback and things. By the end of class, it was back to normal with everyone talking and laughing. What a comical group! I ended early (on accident) and after everyone had shared their sentences for the week (they had homework assigned to them to write a complete sentence in English) I got up and shared some sentences. The French speaking people did their sentences in English, so I did mine in French. I had Keith help me put some sentences together and then memorized them before I went to class. Everyone was pretty surprised and I think they got a kick of out it. (Either that or they were laughing at my horrible accent) For the last couple of minutes of class everyone just told jokes. It was pretty entertaining. I am really enjoying being able to help with the class and on Tuesday, we are teaching them the song "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." It should be pretty fun. When we told them that we were going to teach them an American song, they wanted to learn the National Anthem. Yah right! I can't even sing it, like I could teach it! I'm excited though.

3 Nice Things

This is Keith's towel (that was clean) that he used to dry off with after his shower this morning! Yummy!



Ok, just like little kids have to say nice things to each other after they fight, here I go:

3 Nice Things about Dominica

1) It is beautiful here! Everything is green and colorful and it really is a nice place to live.
2) The market on Saturday is great. I can get all sorts of fresh veggies and fruits for fairly cheap.
3) The Dominican people are very friendly, hard working people.

Stinkin' Island Life!!

(I am not in the best of moods right now and pre-apologize for the venting!) I woke up this morning and went into the bathroom to wash my face. I turned on the hot water and while I was waiting for it to warm up, I looked down into the sink to see almost solid brown. Not just the normal not-so-clearish-brown that is typical after a decent rainfall, more like chocolate water brown. (and it smelled horrid!) I've learned to just deal with the water being a little bit dirty and I am now at the point that I just wash my face with it or shower in it and I'm starting to not think much of it. Today it was so gross, I wouldn't even put my hands in it. I am learning to better shrug things off (especially things that I have no control over) and decided to not let it ruin my day. I went down to the beach and went for a run, which was awesome until the wind picked up and it was pelting me with sand. Ouch! I dealt with it for a little while but when a native guy walking along the beach took a time out and started watching me run, (while gesturing and saying things to me) I decided it was time to go home. (the natives are pretty harmless, but seriously!) I was super hungry and planned on making tortillas and having wraps for lunch with the leftover rice from dinner last night. I get home, put some clean water (from our storage) on to warm so I can do dishes and started making tortillas. After some time the water still hadn't boiled and I found that we were out of propane. When we got here, the owners of our apartment building said that when we run out of propane, call the office and they'll have someone come and switch the propane for us. We called and the office lady said "Well, if you're out, go and get some." Uuummm....ok. So Keith hauls our empty propane tank down to the closest grocery store and they are out of propane. He calls the other store and they said they had 2 left, if he hurried he could get one. So my wonderful husband hustles down there, pays for a new one, hauls it home (which is not an easy task at all), packs it up to our 3rd floor apartment, hooks it up and starts the burner. I start cooking tortillas and after about 2 minutes, the first one isn't done (it should have been burnt at that point) I look and sure enough, the burner isn't on. Well, they sold Keith an empty propane tank. He calls to tell them he wants one delivered since it was their error and they say "Well, why did you take the empty one?" WELL DUH! You gave it to him! So, poor Keith had to haul another tank down to Tina's and he took and knife to push on the nozel and prove that it was empty. Sure enough, it's empty. Tina came out and started lecturing the worker who gave it to Keith. She gave Keith his money back and started lecturing Keith about taking a tank that weighs the same as the one he brought back. Keith started to argue that if he brings an empty tank, he doesn't think he should need to question the propane guy about the "full" tank that he just purchased. Keith also argued that if you have never dealt with propane, you wouldn't know the difference. She said it was common sense and it was his fault for taking an empty one. At the end of the 1 1/2 hour ordeal, Keith had to haul our original, empty tank back home. Back to square one! GRRR! What a frustrating morning on the island!

Photos from previous blog posts!

On our hike to Aba Wavine Cyrique Waterfall! It was amazing!







The smores we made by roasting marshmallows over the burner on our propane stove and putting them on Vanilla Wafer cookies with a square of Hershey Milk Chocolate I found at the bookstore!

Out of Peppers, but we've got Pudding!

Well, it seems like there is always something that I can't find on this island, but I never thought that I wouldn't be able to find peppers (red or green)! I wasn't able to get any at the market and even 'Betty's Fruit and Vegetable Stall' didn't have any! This makes me a little bit nervous, as Keith and I almost live off of peppers and onions (and whatever we can cook with them) but they said tomorrow they should have some (which means maybe within the next week). Oh well, I'm learning to roll with the punches. We did receive mail and a package(from Keith's parents) today and it really is like Christmas when we get things from home! Yeah! We picked up our package (and Chelsey and Taylors announcement, finally!) at lunch and headed home. Keith ate while I excitedly pulled everything out of the package! We are so excited to have jell-o, pudding, more Kool-aid, a phone, and Keith's contacts! (amongst everything else!) Keith headed back to campus as soon as he got done eating and instead of eating lunch, I made batches of pudding! I'm pretty sure that I never made pudding back home, but we had it once here at our friends house and we've been craving it ever since. It is almost like our substitute for ice cream here! Something cold, sweet, and refreshing! Yum! (and YEAH! for packages from home!)