WMS

Keith is constantly looking into rotations that he wants to do and different residency programs and internships that he is interested in doing.  Somehow, he stumbled across some information about a few different Wilderness Medicine rotations and was hooked.  For those of you wondering what wilderness medicine is, I'm not good at explaining it (because I'm not entirely sure what it entails) and I especially won't be able to explain it in 3 sentences or less, so you'll have to google it.  Not the point of this blog post though----So, through a string of events and more reading on the internet, Keith found the Wilderness Medical Society (WMS).  It's an organized society in the states but there are student clubs all over.   Keith decided he wanted to start a club here at Ross and so far it has been a great experience.

He started organizing it last semester so that it could be official this semester.  There are now over 50 members in the club and some people with really great ideas.  I like to go and sit in on the meetings, everyone seems to have a little sparkle of excitement in their eyes.  Keith has a great presidency for the club, which I am grateful for.  Everyone is really dependable and more than willing to pitch in and help with everything, which has relieved Keith of some of the stress I think he was feeling. 

Anyway, they have been able to do some fun activities so far and I am excited to see what else comes from this semester!

Their first event of the semester was showing this years Warren Miller film, "Children of Winter."  Keith was especially excited about this for multiple reasons.  The main reason being they got the film and advertising poster for free, which is a $1,500 package.  Since they had no representation down here, they sent this years film along with 2 older films all for free!

The second event they hosted was a bonfire "welcoming social" of sorts.  They roasted hot dogs and marshmallows and had a local lady talk about the herbs and other natural things found on the island that the locals use for medicine.  It was a lot of fun and the sunset was absolutely amazing!

The club also organized a hike up the highest mountain in Dominica (and in the Caribbean I hear) but that will have to be in another post!   Stay tuned......

Beaches

Dominica doesn't have beautiful white sand beaches, like some of you may imagine, (and I don't sit on the beach soaking up the sun while reading a book all day like some of you may imagine) but we do have some fun beaches and I do get to enjoy them often.  Here's a look at some of the beaches I've gone to lately.

Quite some time ago, the Ross Spouse Organization went to Batabou Bay, which is on the north end of the island.  It was absolutely beautiful and since it's mostly on the Atlantic side, we got to ride some really fun waves!

Marissa, Ben, and I out riding the waves! (Marissa's smile in the top photo was too cute not to post)

Here's the view when you are hiking down and finally come around the last corner to the beach!

View of the Bay along the trail that you hike/walk down.  

Another beach I love that's a lot closer to our neck of the woods (but far enough you still need to call a taxi) is Purple Turtle Beach. All of the other times I've gone, the beach has always been nice and clean and raked.  This time there was litter everywhere, which made me sad, but we still had a lot of fun!  I went with a group of friends that Jacquelle, from our church, has been getting together on Thursdays to go and do fun things.  (Thanks Jacquelle!)

Tamara showed everyone how it's done on the rope swing. (Don't miss her in the top photo, she climbed the palm tree part way but blends in a bit!)

This last Thursday, we went to Coconuts Beach, or PBH as the students know it.  (Portsmouth Beach Hotel is right on the beach where we often times go)  This beach is about a 5 minute walk from Ross campus and the beach that we most often go to.  I went snorkeling and was blown away with how much I saw!  It was one of my best days snorkeling on the island!  I was able to get a few underwater photo's with our new digital camera, sadly, it died after I took about 10.  Hopefully I'll get some more underwater pictures taken and posted on here before we leave!

Here's some of the Roy kids again.  I had to post this picture--look how cute little Kemiahs sandy-bottom onesie is.

My sand ball.  These things are harder to make than they look and I was FINALLY successful in making a big one!  Sand balls are surprisingly heavy too!  

And here are some of the snorkeling pictures.  It's really hard to take pictures under water.  It's too dark to really see the camera screen so you just aim the best you can, take a lot of pictures, and hope that you capture some of what you saw!

"Kick to the Crunchies!"

I know, I know---the title of this post is absolutely disgusting and inappropriate.  It's a phrase that has been banned from the Taylor household (by me) except for really appropriate occasions, which is now.  Since first semester we have been seriously considering staying in Dominica for our 5th semester, rather than going to Miami or Michigan.  Over the past year, we have really got our hearts set on staying in Dominica.  We love it here (although it may not seem like it at times) and we're nice and settled.  Anyway, if we stayed in Dominica rather than going to Miami, we would save a lot of money, close to $4,000 just in rent (between May and August).  Anyway, we put in our application to stay in Dominica and sadly we were assigned to go to Miami.  :(  We are really unprepared to leave next month but I'm sure things will come together.  So, in 5 weeks we will be leaving the life that we love in Dominica,  flying home, we'll try to find a car we can afford, pack it up, and head to Miami.  

And so the adventure continues......

Emerald Pool and Carib Territory

Here are some more pictures of our trip to Emerald Pool and the Carib Territory.  

(Thanks again Genoveva for the pictures!)

The best way to get in is definitely jumping!

Tamara, Natalynn and I-----please ignore the face I'm pulling

We had a really fun group, here they are

This is a rodent type animal that lives on the island.  I can't remember what they are called, but they're kind of a mix between a bunny, guinea pig, and rat.  They are really quick and I was so excited to finally see one.  I have been hearing about them for the past year and I was starting to wonder if they really existed or if they lived with the snipes at girls camp.

And here are some pictures I took at the Carib Territory, which is land set aside for the Carib Indians to live on.  They make baskets and a few other odds and ends and sale them.  There is also a beautiful view of the Atlantic!

OH!  We also stopped in Castle Bruce, which is a town located on the Atlantic Side of the island.  (We live on the Caribbean side)  Here are some pictures from the Castle Bruce Beach.

Jacko Falls

A few weeks ago the Ross Spouse Organization (RSO) planned a trip to a few different spots on the island.  Spanny Falls, Emerald Pool, and the Carib Territory.   Although Emerald Pool is one of my very favorite spots on the island, I have been there at least 4 times and the Carib Territory at least 5.  I had not however, been to Spanny Falls and I have a list of places I want to see on the island before we leave.  So, I committed to going but the morning we left, our driver Bruno said Spanny Falls would be too Muddy.  Bummer!  We ended up going to Jacko Falls instead, which I had never been to either and I LOVED IT!  It is a small but absolutely beautiful waterfall and the area around it is amazing!  Bruno said it would be too cold to swim so I didn't take anything but my camera to the falls.  After getting my feet in, I decided I wanted to go for a dip.  The water was freezing, but I was able to talk Tamara into getting in with me and we had a lot of fun! (Even with out having our towels afterwards!)  There is just something exhilarating about swimming at the base of a waterfall, no matter how cold the water is or how strong the current! 

Jacko Falls

Another spouse down here, Genoveva, is a very talented photographer and she brought her nice camera on the trip.  Here are some pictures she took.  (Thanks Geno!)

Tamara and I, freezing but having fun!

Tamara, Natalynn, and I

That would be my  "OH!  IT'S COLD!"  face.   

(Thanks Tamara for getting in with me!)

(I'll finish posting about Emerald Pool and the Carib Territory in my next post)

 

The Rest of It

Here's some pictures from the rest of our break.  We were able to spend New Years Eve at Dave and Tiffany's (some of our good friends) and meet their new baby, Melia.  Keith and Dave did a lot of this.......

And I got to visit with Tiff and do a lot of this........
Sarah wouldn't let me touch her until I was holding her baby sister, then she just crawled right up on my lap.  They are such sweet girls!  We didn't manage to get a picture with everyone else who stopped by, but it was good to see some more of our friends!

We were also able to go to Jackson Hole, Wyoming with Keith's parents and Keith and I went skiing one day.  I'm lacking all but a handful of skills when it comes to skiing, but we still had a fun time and Keith is an excellent teacher.   

I had my goggles on in all of the pictures we took and I just laughed at myself afterwards.  Check out the goggle cheeks!  I didn't realize it until afterwards, but I'm like that in all of the pictures from that day!  Ha ha ha.  What a dork!

My wonderful in-laws!  It snowed most of the time we were in Jackson and everything was beautiful and white!  (Driving the pass was a lot of NO fun though!)

The day after we got back from Jackson, we drove up to Idaho Falls and met our friends Cort and Kimi Leavitt for dinner at Wingers! (Our Favorite!)  Cort is 2 semesters ahead of Keith in school and they left the island in August, so it was awesome to see them again and do a little catch up!  Isn't Kimi so cute pregnant?

And last but not least, we flew out just a few hours after the newly weds flew in from their honeymoon, so we were able to visit with them, look at their pictures from Disneyland, and say good bye to them at 

 airport.  

We gave our best smiles for the camera man, who thought it was cute to keep taking picture after picture, regardless of what we were doing.

We had such a fun time being able to visit with everyone and we are sorry for those of you that we missed!  

Tobin and Whitney's Wedding

While we were home, my younger and only sister Whitney got married.  I was so happy that the timing worked out and we were home for it!  (not that I would have missed it, but cutting out an extra $1,000 trip is always nice)  It was, as I think all weddings are, crazy and a bit hectic, but everything turned out beautifully!  We are so excited to have Tobin in the family now!

They were married and sealed in the Salt Lake Temple for eternity on January 2nd.  The reception was the next evening in Pocatello and it was beautiful!  Here are some pictures (in random order)  Some are better than others, but it's all I've got!

While we were in Salt Lake we were also able to get together with some of our friends from Ross and go out to Dinner.  It was such a fun time!     We are so sad that half of the group is in the Bahamas for school now though-----want to come back to Dominica guys?  Please?