Cut Your Losses

I am fully aware that I talk about food a lot.
It is quite possible that maybe... 75% of my journaling in past years has been devoted to explaining the food I consume.
And I am willing to let everyone know that my number one priority during wedding planning was a big, fat delicious wedding cake. Not the dress, not my hair, not the venue, the CAKE (can't even see all three tiers!). Just thinking about it makes me hungry.

I like eating good food, so kill me!

A little over a week ago I was geared up to prepare this meal I found, "Lemon Garlic Spaghetti" over on inomthings.com.

I was excited because not only would I save money on a meatless dish, but I love lemon and it would be something different! I made sure to get everything I needed at the store when I was there a few days prior.

BUT

Come Sunday night when I went to make the dish, I couldn't find my fresh garlic!
I looked for it everywhere. I mean, my apartment is that BIG, there aren't many places where it could possibly be right?! Took everything out of its place, search every corner of the fridge. (@Pip, make you think of a certain box of Noodles & Co. leftovers?!)
But unlike Noodles & Co. leftovers, I knew my roommate probably hadn't eaten 2-5 cloves of garlic.
Frustrated, sweating, stubborn, and blowing things out of proportion, I decided to learn a valuable lesson that night:

Sometimes you just have to cut your losses and make Mac 'n Cheese!

Because it is more important to eat than to be a drama queen or gourmet cook.

Getting Settled

A few weeks into my new life here in Grenada I wrote this post and wanted to gather some pictures for it... so I bring it to you now!

A couple days ago I had a visiting SO ask me... what is the biggest adjustment for you?

And even though I have been here for a few weeks now. I think I kinda cocked my head and stared off into the distance. Granted, maybe it was the heat exhaustion, or just plain exhaustion that set me in a trance, but it took me a couple minutes to try to sort it all out in my head.

The heat & humidity.

Which is legitimate. Lots of people have trouble adjusting to the heat and humidity. Sweat pours. And on your face and arms and neck there is this mixture of sunscreen, sweat, soap, and perfume. Perhaps we should recall the Facebook status update I provided about these things:

My friends claimed they were a necessity, so I bought some (obviously not the expensive fancy ones). And in my first few days here I used one to try to absorb the oil on my face.

It got stuck. And ripped.

Looks like I'm going to have to upgrade to microfiber cloths and a sham-wow.

BUT

More than the heat, I wondered why I didn't answer with something else, anything else. Hanging out with SOs and reading blogs it is interesting to see what other people have to say.

I could have said those dang reggage buses.

I tried to take a sneaky shot... didn't turn out so well.

Here is how you get a reggage bus driver/ money collector (cobrador?) to harass you:
Walk. Anywhere in this country. And they will call at you, or flash their lights at you, or honk at you, or get out and follow you around and try to convince you that, yes, actually, you DO want to go downtown, so please drop everything you thought you had to do and get on this bus. right. now!

Lots of people here cannot get used to that, and it bothers them.

Last Saturday I was walking with a group of SOs to the Limes beach day when a reggage bus guy was calling at us to get on. The van slowed down and he was asking the usual, "ladies, pretty ladies! Saint George's? Saint George's?" I shook my head no. But then he asked, "playboy? want a playboy?"
Umm, good sir, fortunately I cannot imagine all that your potential service offers ... but I can assure you that, even more than I do not need to go to Saint George's, I also do not need a "playboy." Thanks though. Nice to know variety is out there.
We just shook our heads and I turned to my friend as he drove away, and just had a "What?!" moment. Love it.

I could have said those wonderful kind young men around here.
Who act like, despite the huge population of medical students, they have never, ever seen a white lady. They cat-call, whistle, stare, honk, and hang out their car windows and yell.
Last week I was waiting for a bus and this guy stumbles over to me and starts leaning in, too close for comfort. He rubs his chin then blows me a kiss. It was so odd and creepy at the same time that I had to turn my head to stop from just laughing so hard! Love it.

The scene of the crime!

I could say the lack of fast food, or convenience, or not having a car, or the high price of groceries, or "island time," or even never getting to see my husband (nah, doesn't bother me!). ;)
But for whatever reason or another, I chose the humid, sweaty, sticky body that I now permanently live in!

And I think a big part of my ease in adjusting here I owe to my wonderful parents and family. My parents who walked us down skid row, past the man in the mumu. My parents who took us to BBQ places in Compton. My parents who rode the train and buses with us down to Union Station walked us down Olvera Street, and the back alleys of Chinatown where a woman chased us, offering us the duck special. My parents who patiently rolled up the window as a bum fight occurred across the hood of our car. My parents who conversed with those in need, and not having millions themselves, and gave some change without questioning where the money might be headed. My parents who took us to Tijuana, Mexico and let us experience "chicle? chicle?." My parents who remain in the same neighborhood, even if our neighbors had an old toilet on their front lawn. My parents who supported me traveling and living abroad, although I am sure they were quite worried and terrified.

Momma and Poppa!

My parents who pushed me out of the nest when I while I was young and taught me that I needed to make my own path. My parents who didn't tell me how, but taught through example, the principles that should guide my life. They showed me how to deal with uncomfortable situations. They taught me that not everyone is the same, and that diversity in circumstance or appearance is a fantastic thing! And best of all, leave the porch light on for me to come back when I need.

I will love them forever for that.

But maybe they could have taught me how to deal with humidity a little better.

Break Time

I realized I have a bunch of drafts I have yet to finish, so today I am putting some finishing touches on long over-due posts.

Monday, September 17th, 2012

Today was a big deal, Ross had his first final and quiz of his medical school career!

He wrote a post about it!

And here it is: 

"So today I took my first Final and the unified quiz. I was really anxious about the whole thing as it was the first measurement of what I have done so far. Bioethics didn't seem to be too hard but apparently they frown on using mechanical pencils for some odd reason. I used the one provided to me by the proctors but others brought their own and several were told not to use them if they were mechanical. I have no idea what it was about but the guy sitting next to me had that problem, got the replacement wood pencil, then promptly broke the tip off when he tried to bubble an answer. It was a little funny. Then some macaroni and cheese and about an hour and a half later it was time for the unified. I have had lots of prompting and been informed by several people of all the resources and tips and tricks to studying so the unified wasn't too big of a shock. It was still a test but I felt prepared."

Turns out he did great on them! We both feel like he is in a really great position with the grades he got, and word on the street is that grades on midterms are even higher. Midterms are October 8th-12th.

But before I lose your attention... Pictures!

After Ross was done with his tests, we decided to head to downtown St. George's, because Ross hasn't been yet. But by the time we got some lunch and caught a bus out of our neighborhood I had a feeling we were too late... And we were!

Late? For what?

Well, right around 3:00 or 4:00pm things start closing down. By the time we arrived downtown it was really busy with everyone getting out of school and stores starting to close, and to add a little more variety some very very dark clouds began to roll in.

We tried to do some running around, but it started pouring rain! Here is Ross by the corner where the Spice Market is, that he still hasn't gone in, good thing we'll be here for a couple years!

We ran for cover and waited a little bit, you can kind of see in the picture below how hard it was raining. And yes, I have seen a few KFCs down here, but no other American chains. Haha.

We wanted to try this food place I saw in my Frommer's guide called, "Deyna's Tasty Food," luckily I knew where it was so we ran over to it but not for stopping for a second to hear a room full of young students pounding out tunes on a steel pan! It was pretty cool. I don't know if it was an afterschool music program or what but there were about 20 or so students crammed in a room in their school uniforms, with their pans. We both immediately thought of our good friend Mike and how amazing he is at playing in and all types of steel drums! :) His concerts were always so much fun to go to.

Deyna's Tasty Food is a "closely guarded secret among locals," says Frommer's, and it is located almost exactly across the street from the bus terminal. As we entered the restaurant the people looked at us like we were crazy and I think laughed a little, but we were seated.

We were the only ones there and I am wondering if maybe they are more busy around lunch? It looked like they had an Al a Carte deal for lunch. The Frommer's guide said she had the national dish, "Oil Down" as well as things like savory stuffed crabs. She told us the menu so I don't know if we missed those, but we didn't hear her mention them, so we just got a combo-type plate.

This is my plate! So let's start with the easily identifiable rice and beans and work clock-wise. The green stuff next to it is callaloo, a leaf vegetable that I didn't much care for. Next too that is a breadfruit pudding type thing that was really pretty good! I definitely want some more or... I suppose I could cook it myself since they sell breadfruits. Then you have classic veggies, and the orange/yellow chunks are pumpkin. Fresh pumpkin is really popular here! Then at the bottom is stewed pork! It was really good. Then hiding in there somewhere are some cooked green bananas. Grenadians pluck them when they are green and use them in cooking. I wasn't too crazy about them.

Ross got the same thing, but with a BBQ type chicken. They chicken was really good!
And the juice was a passionfruit- guava mix.

It was fun to try local food, but maybe I would go back around lunch time so I could pick the parts I like in an Al a Carte fashion. And maybe they have a lunch price, because it was also a little pricey for my liking (I think it was $15-20 EC a dish).

BUT also saw they have manicou as a meat option.
What is manicou?

I, unfortunately, do not own the rights to this photo.

Opossum! Yum! Next time.

The rain let up a little and we did some exploring by the Fish Market. Across the street they have an ultra scary Meat Market I have heard horror stories about.
Pretty sure Upton Sinclair would be all over that.

My favorite part was when Ross was like, "but they don't use it anymore right?"
WRONG. People were buying meat within those scary blood stained walls with dangling hooks and chains not but a few hours ago! To think we missed out, shucks!

But to make up for the manicou and meat market photos, I will give you a lovely one!

I am really happy we bought a camera at the last minute because for a point and shoot camera it takes pretty incredible photos.

Then we headed back to our tiny home, but not without some photos taken out of the bus window as the sun was setting.

So even though it was kind of a bummer trip, especially being Ross's first trip downtown, it was fun to be able to spend time together! Maybe after midterms we will have to take Deyna up on that manicou!

QW #3 It's a Good Day

QW #3
Quote Wednesday #3

It is still Wednesday in places like California and Hawaii. Well, depending on how fast I write this post it may only still be Wednesday in places like Hawaii, but that counts.

"It's a good day to have a good day"

It may sound ridiculous, but Tuesday night I planned to have a bad Wednesday. 

I was determined to lay in bed and be grumpy and lazy and unhappy.

Fortunately lots of better ideas and moods come to me after a night of sleep. By Wednesday morning, when the sun was shining through the window on my face, I had decided,

"Hey, let's have a good day today!"

And I had a wonderfully fantastic day that was filled with nothing spectacular, just productiveness, friends, and some fun. 

I didn't have outrageous expectations, I just had some positive ideas of how to fill my day in a good way. I wasn't hoping to eat rainbows and ride a sparkly unicorn to Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory, I just thought I could have a good day, in some way. 

The best days I have had on this possibly lonely island were the days I made a plan to surround myself with things that would keep me from feeling lonely. Whatever it took, listening to the funny morning radio, starting a craft project, or just hanging out with my friends and their family. Really anything that keeps me from negative thoughts and self-pity suffices. 

Even though 365 days x approximately (hopefully) 90+ years can = an overwhelming amount of good days to be had, I choose to take it one morning at a time. 

Because as it turns out, it was a good day to have a good day. And I have a feeling that tomorrow might be too!

Recipe Swap

I can't decide if I am a cook or not.

I know for sure I am a baker. Because I love to bake, and if it involves sugar, then hey, I'm there!

But I still can't decide if I am a cook. I cook. And I cook well. But man oh man, I make quite the disasters in the kitchen. I get flour everywhere, I wreck stuff, I spill stuff, and I make a disaster every time. Bar none.

It is hard getting used to my new "kitchen." Mostly because I am still in denial that it is mine. I don't claim it, yet somehow I'm the only one who uses it. I have next to nothing when it comes to utensils and cooking gear. Which is hard for me. I currently have no oven (the landlord says it is forthcoming). And I cook on a tiny little electric cooktop thing. Last night I confirmed my fears that now I only have one burner, the second one crapped out.

I should have prefaced this post with my fear of hot oil. Some kitchen tasks always end up in the hands of Ross. Like frying. I decided that if someone is going to get burned with hot oil it can be him (nice right?). I mean, if I can't even measure a cup of flour without getting it everywhere, imagine cooking food in a million degree oil.

So with my temperamental electric burner, disdain for frying, and wok-less kitchen... naturally I choose a new recipe that involved all three!

Classic me.

I decided on a recipe I found for Crab Rangoons, courtesy of I Breathe... I'm Hungry:
http://www.ibreatheimhungry.com/2011/10/better-than-takeout-crab-rangoons.html

Last night I went over to my super fabulous friend Lizzy's house to use her magic bullet to mix up the crab, onions, and cream cheese so it would be ready to make in the morning.

Then this morning I woke up to try my hand at my feared task...
And it went great! They folded up fantastic, the oil stayed just the right temperature, and they were golden and crispy!

So I waited a little bit to fry up the rest so they wouldn't be so limp and cold (no way to warm them up in an oven remember). And that's where things got crazy. The oil got too hot, it was smoking everywhere, it wouldn't cool down, and in the process I made some nice little pieces of charcoal.. YIKES!

I found a small frying pan that I used as my wok. Good thing my kitchen has lots of windows, because it was way smoky.

But! I worked through it out of the batch only wrecked those three!
I took them to the Recipe Swap and everyone really enjoyed them. I was scared at first because people could be allergic to them, so I made the warning card!

The recipe swap was fun. There were maybe about 10 people, with some children. But it was fun to get together and share some food, with the beach just a few feet away! :)

QW #2 Happy Thoughts

Second Quote Wednesday!
We're on a roll!

I am postponing the original quote I was going to do.
I love this quote and before I misplaced the paper I printed out, I was going to mount it on some cutesy paper, pack it down here, and hang it up on the wall as a fantastic reminder.
Recently online I found this version with a cute little giraffe design. And since Cass's birthday was this week, I had to opt for the giraffes!

If you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely -Roald Dahl

I love happy people, because they are so contagious! My past few weeks in a new country have been filled with happy, smiling, helpful people. And I appreciate it.

But deep down inside, I ENVY it. Because I really want to be one of those people. I want to be the person that others want to be around because they can feel positive and comfortable around me.

And these individuals and families that I meet that are so good and positive, look lovely!
They are the most beautiful people I have ever met, because they have a smile that you can see in their eyes, and hear in their voice and feel in their hugs and handshakes.
The good thoughts really do radiate from their being and shine forth. And it marks them as a person who you can trust and turn to, when you need a friend, like a light in a storm.

As the lyrics of a children's song go,
"If you chance to meet a frown, do not let it stay! Quickly turn it upside down and smile that frown away! No one likes a frowny face, change it for a smile! Make the world a better place by smiling all the while!"

I hope that the more I try to seek out good thoughts, I can have them shine out of my face like sunbeams, because it isn't a bad thing to always look lovely!

Christmas in September

My in-laws told us that they put together a package for us, and after spending a ridiculous amount of money to send it (no REALLY, IT WAS SILLY $$$). It began to make it's journey across the WORLD (dramatic much?).

It came really quickly, which I'm not complaining about, just surprised about.
I am the type of person who, when gifts and surprises are involved, I CRAVE them. I think most of the thrill in getting gifts is seeing a wrapped, unopened packaged sitting there and knowing that there is something for you! You don't know what it is, but it is going to be awesome, and you can just feel it. Because you can only open it and be surprised once!

Ross picked up the package at school and I was pleasantly surprised that we didn't have to pay any dues or customs on it. Maybe the postal worker in the U.S. passed along the message that the Petersens had already promised their first born grandchild as payment for shipping, so they decided that would suffice. Sorry about that Gabi.

I asked Ross if the package was heavy and he shrugged and said, "Kinda." I guess he must have been trying to be tough because, it WAS heavy! :)

We had to wait a long time to open it. I went to a meeting/lecture on campus, met Ross afterwards, waited almost and hour for our bus, came back to the apartment, then ran over to an incredible friend's to use her magic bullet for a recipe for the swap Wednesday morning... then FINALLY came back.

Ross tried to open it before I left to use the magic bullet and I got a little crazy and yelled that we had to wait.
And we opened the box... it was like Christmas, Christmas everywhere! I got to work reading the note they included and throwing stuff around my un-made bed like a 6 year old.

They sent us a TON of popcorn, which makes me happy because popcorn just distinctly reminds me of both the home I grew up in AND the Petersen home. I got to work right away popping some popcorn.

And Ross got to work, getting back to work, but happy he had a buttery salty snack.

As I was looking through the package and figuring out how to ration it over the next months I realized that this package is full of all my favorite things. I'm not a female who is overly crazy for chocolate, instead I LOVE gummies. I absolutely love Red Vines and Mike & Ikes. It really touched me when I realized that my mother-in-law remembered! It feels good to be the favorite. Not just daughter-in-law, but also the favorite of all the Petersen children! ;)

I ate them all at the same time, boxes included! Kidding. I'm even rationing these, but I couldn't resist diving into one of the boxes of Mike & Ikes.
And they sent my favorite chocolate chips! Should I stare at them in the fridge? Or eat them plain? Or try and decide what to bake with them?
I'll just cuddle them at night with my teddy bear while Ross stays up studying.

I told Ross to hold up what he was most excited for in the package. Of course the Peanut Butter Kid would choose the cookie packet! And popcorn.

Also we got some pretty sweet magnets to decorate our boring fridge. We used them to hold up a card we got from the Petersens. Guess which magnets are my favorite... you only get one guess! Super awesome right?! :) They make me smile.

I love everything in the package and Ross and I talked about how we are excited to eat and use everything inside, except for maybe the Mountain House packets of freeze dried emergency food. We are absolutely grateful for them, but if we use them, we are probably in a pretty bad situation. Lasagna with meat sauce and Beef stroganoff? Mmm!

As you can tell, I am really happy and excited and grateful for the box. Thank you so much Petersens! We really appreciate it and the sacrifices and effort you made to put it together for us.
Life is good, Ross and I are happy and busy in our own ways!

Saturday Morning

I love Saturday mornings!

Because I get to hang out a little with my stranger husband.
This morning he cleaned up the kitchen and washed all the dishes.



And he made us breakfast! Little tiny pancakes, and we tried out some nutmeg syrup.

One thing I have always liked about Ross, is he is never above any chore. He doesn't think it is the woman's job to cook, and I don't think it's his job to change the tire. I love it. We work together to get things done, it is so nice.

I really appreciate that he respects me for all that I do. 

I may not be on campus studying all day and memorizing the millions of nerves and muscles and functions of the upper limb, or stressing about tests and reviewing lecture slides, but he understands I am busy and working hard to keep our family healthy and happy. 

It's a two way street.

I really appreciate and respect all that he does for me.

He may not be braving public transportation and haggling over the price of a single tomato, or stressing about the rapid consumption of expensive peanut butter, but I understand that he is busy and working hard to keep our family healthy and happy. 

This is how we are surviving on never seeing each other, T.G.I.S! (morning at least)

Grocery Shopping is Hilarious

You may know this about me...

I have a strange obsession with grocery packing?
Mostly like off-brand names for things. For whatever reason or another it just cracks. me. up. Let's take a moment, for those of you who have been with me on this journey, to remember "cheese wow" (Dollar Tree squeeze cheese), or "patella" I SWEAR to you that is what it is was called (99 Cent store nutella -not bad actually), or the "Woman Sweet" slippers (who the heck knows where from).

Living in Grenada has provided me with wonderful opportunities to keep me laughing in this manner.

Ross didn't get this, so I guess this is the SoCal girl in me. But I just thought of a late 70s/80s surfer dude marketing these hangers. Like, duude! Of course I had to get 'em!

Don't like boring ol' Mac n Cheese? Well, how about some MAGIC-ARONI AND CHEESE! It even says, right there that it is "scrumpdelious!" How could you turn it down?! Not to mention the very brand seems to be called "MagicTime." My only question is does it come with a magician?

And maybe be asking for a magician is unfair, but here they have some incredible grocery deals. In the U.S. a deal is like, buy one get one free! Or save all these proofs of purchase and give us money and you can have this mug! Or something like that. But here it is a little different, and though some find it odd, honestly, it makes perfect sense.
Box of cereal? comes packaged with a box of milk!
Bottle of disinfectant? comes with a bag of laundry detergent!
Today I saw a bottle of wine with a scotch glass taped to the top of the bottle. Keeping things functional AND classy!

I even once bought cookies, that came with a free food container! Why not?!

To be honest, I was so excited to go back today and get more cookies with this killer deal, only to find they had NO free food containers nor kiddie water bottles, both of which were previously offered! -See, you start to feel entitled.

Probably the pinnacle of my love for this type of ridiculousness lies in my love for soda names. Dr. Pepper, Mr. Pib, Dr. Thunder, now I have a new one to add to the list.
"Dr. IGA" I think it is doubly funny because all the students studying to be doctors shop at IGA, so yeah... get it? HILARIOUS!

New Address

I keep forgetting to write my new address!

Here in Grenada there is no home mail delivery! Students are allowed to have a mailbox on campus where mail is delivered directly to their box*. So without further ado, here it is. I am not sure how imperative it is that you put Ross's name on the first line (because I want mail too!).

Ross Petersen, 3089

St. George's University

P.O. Box 7

University Centre

St. George's

Grenada, West Indies

*I know everyone is dying to send us packages ;) and pay their first born child to ship it! Just a word on that, I was told that if you send it DHL or FedEx the package will ship directly to the school and we can pick it up there. If you send it USPS, we will still be grateful and happy, it will just go downtown and we will have to catch a local bus to go down there and pick it up. The mail here is kind of random that way. I have also heard FedEx sometimes goes to the FedEx office downtown. Who knows. 

Also, depending on the day we get to pay taxes and customs on whatever they have deemed important when the package comes and they rip it open and go through it. Haha. Not U.S. kosher, I know! I overheard the mail room manager telling someone all the different rates they have for items. Like a certain percent if the clothes are new, or nothing if the clothes are used. :) 

The cool thing though is that students/ SOs have family visit. And everyone is so nice about getting the word out so if you need something you just have it shipped to so-and-so's mom and they can bring it down for you. Super helpful! 

There is the address! Feel free to write away, right away (couldn't resist)!

Quote Wednesday #1

I have decided to do Quote Wednesdays!

I am a person who is really big into quotes. I have a quote book where I collect quotes. I love finding new ones and thinking about the meaning and how I can use them in my life. Some are deep, some are funny, some are cliche. But I like collecting and filling my mind with things that continually keep the wheels moving and turning and make me change something in my life for the better. I'm never static for long. It's a good thing, and a bad thing.

What I want to try and do is every Wednesday post a new quote and talk about it a little bit. Feel free to share your own thoughts about it!

"There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind"

I found this cute little nugget on Pinterest.

I like it because it is kind of a promise of what we can have, if we choose correctly.

I read into it like this: 

"There can be, far, far better things ahead than those that we should leave behind." 

We don't always choose to move forward in positive directions. Often, we might leave good things for poor choices, or poor choices for even worse choices. I don't encourage, but I hope that we have all made at least one bad choice, sometime in our lives. 

Because we can always return and move forward for better things. No matter how far we think we fall, we can still move forward for better things. But, it requires leaving behind something (sometimes someone) for something better. 

It is up to use to make this quote true.

*Obviously* I just made a huge change in my life, leaving behind lots of people, things, and ideas for ... hopefully something better. But it is up to me whether I have left all those things behind for the worst two years of my life, or two great years of my life!

I can choose to move forward and make my days count or not bother.

,

In the Beginning

This is a big deal for me! Three weeks living in Grenada!
So it is appropriate to write a long overdue blog post!

A day, three flights, three countries, 7 hours worth of layovers, countless hours spent in customs, dozens of forms and two airplane meals later.... we made it missing only one bag!
I was expecting the worst, I mean really terrible things so I was pretty pleasantly surprised at how far my patience and flexibility got me!

Ross's 50 lb checked bag!

Mom, Dad, Kyle, Ali, and Cassie packed in the cars to drop us off at the airport. Everyone helped to lug our bags down and get them all checked in. I was really happy at how quickly we were able to get it all done. Then we sat and mad dawged our bags until we saw the cart with them move out to be put on the plane. Haha. Not sure if having them out of my sight was a good thing or a bad thing! :/

With my mom & dad. Miss them already! :(

Siblings! Rissa, Ryan, and Jen were there in spirit! :(

Shout out to Ali for the pictures, totally stole them from her! If you think I look tired at this point in the trip -you have no idea! Obviously I deemed this not to be a make up worthy day(s).

The thing I can't stand about having to check in 3 HOURS early is just sitting in the airport thinking about all the things you forgot or errands you could be running when not but two hours before you were running around trying not to forget your toothbrush. Ugh. So instead I watched people get off planes and guessed where they were coming from or where they were going. Also, I helped I girl from the Dominican Republic who was trying to talk to Ross in Spanish. And wow, I am rusty. She might have been better off talking to Ross!

At midnight ish we boarded the plane -Miami bound- in the sweet comfort of First-Class. I kinda felt guilty watching everyone walk past... but I was still hungry for my First-Class meal. Can you tell from the photo?

They give you a fancy warm dish with mixed nuts! Yes, I am a dork for taking pictures.

Our fancy little meals we had, with mini salt and pepper shakers that really cracked me up. 

It was a pretty good flight, we got pillows and blankies but the seats were kinda uncomfortable so we couldn't sleep much. We arrived bright and early in Miami, ready to board our next plane to Trinidad!

We rode business class from Miami to Trinidad and they had incredible seats! We could lay totally flat! Also, they had great movies like The Avengers. It was a really hard choice... sleep... or The Avengers. But since I couldn't get those huge earbuds in my tiny ears, I fell asleep after a little bit of watching. The plane ride was too quick. We also got fed but you know, that whole being treated like a princess thing gets old fast. Hehe ;) I loved looking out the window and our plane had a screen that showed the path we were flying! So I kept updating it to see us flying over Haiti and the Dominican Republic. It was really pretty cool.

My favorite part was when the pilot came on and said we were preparing for landing and I couldn't see any land!! All I saw was a funky strip of land that I can only figure is the weird top part of Venezuela. Like, I just saw South America out of my window, no big deal. 

And we landed in Trinidad. Sad to say my experience with the country was mass confusion. Ross and I were trying to figure out what the heck we needed to do with our bags since we were changing airlines. Everyone told us something different and our heads were spinning. When we originally checked them back in L.A. the lady said they would go straight to Grenada. Long story short... we collected our bags, went through customs and immigration, left the airport, had paid a porter to haul our bags for about a 5 minute walk back into the airport. We waited in line again to re-check them and I about passed out when the lady asked me how many "additional" bags, beyond one each, we had to check and pay for. Luckily we cleared up that confusion and got all of our bags, fee free, checked in again.

*HUGE SIGH OF RELIEF* 

And then waited for a few hours in the airport to board our plane to Grenada. All around the airport they have these posters warning people to not carry drugs in their luggage and how their families will be hurt if they do. I know it isn't funny but the posters were all super dramatic and it reminded me of sixth grade drug prevention classes we had. 

I read some of my new book The Poisonwood Bible (funny timing?) and looked through some of the 2007 Caribbean travel guide I bought for $1 back home. It was funny to slowly see the airport fill up with students. We knew exactly what plane they were getting on.

(wow this post is getting long)

When it was time to board we went out on the tarmac to board (first time I had ever done that -I felt like a president or something and I just wanted to wave once I got on the stairs). It was so tiny! And I fell asleep right away and before I knew it we were already landing in Grenada. It is only about a half hour flight.

This picture is actually taken after the fact -it was too dark when we arrived, but this is taken with creeper zoom, from Saint George's campus, the airport is that close!

The airport is complete and absolute chaos. There were students everywhere and it was getting late so everyone was cranky. There were lines going every which way and everyone was clueless. Three hours later, 1 lost bag form filled out, a passport entry stamp, and $120 dollars in customs later we exited the airport relieved we made it and embarrassed that our poor friends Amber and Peter had been waiting so long for us.

But honestly, the biggest blessings of the day were Amber and Peter. I cannot thank them enough for what an instrumental role they have played in helping us get an apartment with a fridge... AND a full size bed (better than a twin!) AND hopefully an oven. Amber has been there, emailing me and comforting me every step of the way, answering my millions of questions and just being absolutely the most helpful person I could have ever hoped for! She even got my keys to my apartment!!!!

They live in the same complex so they gave us a mini tour on the way to our new home and gave us the keys and made sure that our internet worked and even outfitted us with some toilet paper! Woo hoo!!! It was a long day but having smiling faces to greet us made it all worth it.

I'm excited for what new adventures will make the trip even more worth it in the long run, (two-years and beyond)!

**Be Smart Travel Tip: Pack a few days worth of clothes in your carry on and sheets so you can make up your bed quick when you arrive. Also a towel, some travel size toiletries, and a shower curtain and hooks! Oh, and apparently some toilet paper**

***We only ended up missing one of our bags! Because when you fly on a tiny plane like Caribbean Airlines, not all the luggage flies on the plane with you, so it takes a couple days to arrive at the airport for pick up!***