Blogging Update

It's not a secret, I am not only slow and lazy about blogging, but I kinda suck at it. The formatting is always off and it drives me NUTS. Someday I might learn how to make it all look nice and fancy.

But last week I learned you can change the published date on each post.

Mind = BLOWN!

I know, how dumb right? I had figured there must MUST be a way to do it, and I swear I tried that same exact way before, but for some reason it clicked today. So now that I am finally, slowly but surely catching up on holiday break posts, I am moving them to the correct days. Which also means they will be in the correct year. Wahoo!

Amazon Woman: Hear Me Roar

2/16

When you move to Grenada, it isn't long before you turn into a monster. I mean that in a few different ways.

Today, I mean that in a why-are-there-a-dozen-pictures-of-dead-cockroaches-on-my-camera way.

Yeeaaah.

Pre-Grenada (this is how I measure all time) I killed maybe a handful of cockroaches. Yeah maybe I coulda described that differently so my hand doesn't feel itchy now. 

During-Grenada? Innumerable (besides the numerable evidence on my camera). And for some reason I feel the need to document all of this photographically? I kept the collage small, but if you would like a larger version just PM me.

What.
Is.
Wrong.
With.
Me.

I am a monster.

I am pretty sure all normal people hate cockroaches. When Ross sees a cockroach, he takes it personally. 

He has to take time to devise a plan and make sure that without a shadow of a doubt, that sucker is DEAD! His plans involve shoes on your hands and feet (his, more surface room of course), Raid, moving furniture, and plan Bs. So when I see one, I've just gotten into the habit of taking matters into my own hands (again, with the hands thing! Yeesh). 

Now whenever I see a cockroach it's kinda like, "Oh hey, give me a sec *grabs closest shoe*

*SMASH*

*The moral of that story is never put your shoes away so you always have one close.

But what I realized, is that people are starting to pick up on my special talent. When I was in California last summer my sister comes dashing out of the bathroom, alarmed that there was a cockroach.

Did I bat an eyelash?

Nope.

I don't mean to brag but I wasn't even scared. I just did what I do best, grabbed the closest shoe and took care of business. I AM A MONSTER.

See, Grenada turns you into some sort of an Amazon woman, and suddenly you are responsible for all the nasty chores like hunting and killing spiders and super smashing roaches. It's suddenly your responsibility to pick out the best mosquito repellent, smash the cockroaches, and catch the mosquitos mid-air. Have I mentioned the mosquito pictures?



Actually, living here in Grenada qualifies me for all sorts of things. I'm also responsible to give full reports on the best sunscreen, counsel how to get cheap airfare, devise how to smash 50 pounds worth of candy into your carry on, and how to cook breadfruit. People think you are some sort of formidable island woman. 

This is paradise folks! 

Just in case this post  hasn't creeped you out yet, I will leave you with this.

Double Digits Cluuub

When I was 9, I COULD. NOT. WAIT. To turn 10. I'd be in the "Double Digits Club." Of course it wasn't a real club, it felt pretty much like 9 (+ the unbeknownst doom of becoming an adult). But I could rub it in my younger siblings' faces, and brag a lot.

This past weekend I realized that I realized that I am now officially in a different kind of Double Digits Club. The < 100 days left in Grenada Club.



Man that felt good.

I know this may seem dumb, especially since I wrote and almost identical post just a few weeks ago. But c'mon now, that was back when I was in the triple digits club, which is so not serious, it doesn't even get capitalized like a proper noun. Pfft.

Some people are in countdown mode, but I'm not. I prefer to not keep track, but randomly find out how many days/ weeks are left, and pleasantly surprise myself.



It's so much more rewarding and surprising that way.

Huh?

Sunday night Ross and I were on campus for a meeting about the next step and 3rd year of medical school. This next week we he has to put in his top choices for placement for his clinical years. This meeting was just some general information and had a time for questions at the end. Luckily we got all our questions answered.

On our way to the bus after the meeting we saw this in Charter Hall,

Huh?! 

And this mess literally three feet across from this chair.

What is wrong with people?! 

All I can say is, having done my fair sure of cleaning up people's crap custodial work, you people are despicable! 

Happy 40th Grenada

Friday February 7th, 2014

Last year I was more into Grenada's Independence festivities.















This year, I think I am already just so checked out. Since I have been working a lot and it was super nice to have a day off (even if I had to go into work the next day). I was going to cook something out of my Grenada recipe book, I got the ingredients and everything! Buuut, last minute some friends invited us to go eat so we just did that instead. It was nice to see friendly faces and relax and hang out. I've kind of been a hermit lately.

I still love how patriotic this little country is. At the end of January you can see all the green, yellow, and red start popping up. Banners, buntings, lights. Painted tires, painted trees, small childrens in adorable outfits.

This year the country celebrated 40 years of independence. That blows my mind. It is crazy to think that it is an event that so many people could remember. My own parents would have been about 17!

I did end up making some treats for work on Thursday. I'm pretty terrible at cake decorating, and I actually don't much care for making cupcakes, but I just felt it was necessary. So voila! Here they are.

They turned out pretty well, except for that hilarious frosting job.

5th Term!

Well, here Ross is, in his 5th term of medical school. I wish I could say, "I can't believe it." But i'm not.

We're here and thank everything that is holy that we are.

Part of 5th term includes the students doing hospital visits. From what I gather this means they bus the students to a local hospital and they sit around sweaty while they watch the doctor do something. Sometimes the students are more involved than others, it just kind of depends.

Since today was Ross's first hospital visit (a weekly occurrence) I had to take a little picy-pic.

I never knew how absolutely wonderful it would feel to be in 5th term (well.... for ROSS to be in 5th term). Ross's study partner says that every time he sees me I have this ridiculously huge smile on my face. The happiness of a temporary light at the end of the tunnel is oozzing out of every pore of my being!



Yippppeeee!

4 months left in Grenada
< 1 month Ross will submit his requests for where he wants to do clinical rotations
< 6 months Ross will take the USMLE. THE MOST important exam of his entire life.
6 months-ish and we will be in our new location
7 months ish he will be starting his 3rd year of medical school and "studying" in a real live hospital (oh yeah, that's why we started this journey!)

QW #17 Take Time

I only have about 2 dozen posts that I should be writing to catch up to current time. But I decided to just take a break and talk about feelings.

Haha. Okay so not really, but I did want to post a "Quote Whenever"

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=692661274099038&set=a.402772463087922.99151.402701759761659&type=1&theater

"We're so busy watching out for what's just ahead of us that we don't take time to enjoy where we are."
-Calvin & Hobbes

During the holiday break, I have really felt this.

At this stage in my life it is pretty easy to get wrapped up in "what if"s and "what next"s. It's good to be prepared and forward-thinking, but most the time it's just me getting wrapped up in worry. It can be a pretty toxic way of thinking.

Here is a fact: I live in a beautiful country.

It may not be filled with friends, or family, convenience or cool temperatures, but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate it. 

Over the break Ross and I went on a mini vacation to Carriacou, an island just north of here, but still part of Grenada. It was stunningly beautiful in Carriacou and when we were done with vacation we still came "home" to beautiful Grenada.  People spend years saving up to sink their toes in the warm, soft sand and swim in the beautiful blue water here.

I realized that I need to spend less time complaining and more time appreciating. Sure I often feel like there are 23,456,789 things bad to 3 things good, but that doesn't mean there is NO good. 

In 4 short months I will kiss Grenada goodbye, probably forever. So instead of being jealous of the land of Targets and fast food (which seriously, will be commonplace soo fast), I need to appreciate how slow and quiet life is. I need to appreciate being surrounded by greenery and colorful bougainvillea. I need to look around me and realize that even though 4th term might be 4 months of the purest HELL I have ever experienced, the sun rose for a few weeks and I could breathe again.

Even a few weeks is a victory. So I should celebrate that. Keep moving forward and enjoy even the smallest of tiniest victories. The future may hold bigger and brighter things (because that is what we always hope, right?), but I don't live in the future.

I live now.