First time for everything.... I would say so (Part 3 of 3)

OooO Mondays... Mondays are always a little rough around the edges! My Monday was GREAT and it ended with my fourth and final “FIRST” of the long weekend! As most of you know, each Month I invite my landlord's daughter, her friend and other PCV other my house to do a Themed Dinner Night! This night was ITALIAN NIGHT!! No other way to do it up and do it up BIG was to have Lasagna! I have never made Lasagna before, I am not going to lie it was a little stressful, there was a lot going on at once and not a big enough pot of my noddles. But after a late in the game phone call to Mom, three amazing helpers, and sixty minutes in the oven, the Lasagna came out AMAZING! Room for improvement but still Delicious! I would LOVE to make it again! The girls LOVED it and we also had some garlic bread which was good! I need to put a little more sauce in it but still GREAT!

Next Month is KFC themed! We are going to have a good old fashion sleep-over party and we will be starting it will a KFC dinner while eating in on the Bay Front. Many of you may not think that is really a good deal but if you would of say the girls when I told them I would take them (after 5 minutes of trying to get out of them what they wanted to tell me)! You would of thought I told them I was taking them to Disney World, not town for some KFC! It will be fun!

Pictures from the Weekend!

First time for everything... I would say so (Part 2 of 3)

Which brings me to my THIRD First! On Sunday Morning, after walking about a third of a way to town, about 20 minutes, we made it to Roseau, to Windsor Park where they had there first every international Cricket Match. West Indies vs Bangladesh, it was West Indies “B” team, some politics were related to the “A” team not going, contract related but anyways. It starts at about 9:30AM ending around 4:30PM. Yes it is a LONG day in the HOT HOT HOT sun! Every time I learn just a little more about the game, the rules, and the scoring. I will not even try to break it down for you. If you are interested Google “Rules of Cricket.” West Indies lost by 52, which is not A LOT but it is a pretty bad lose. I would say it is about the same as if the Detroit Pistons would lost by around 15 or 20 points. It was a lot of fun! Dominica has a simply spirit to them, a local phase is “Free-Up!” It basic means, loosing up, do not take life to seriously, and enjoy yourself with no worries! Simply focus on the joys of the present, tomorrow will take care of itself. There was a little band of “Drummer Boys” in our section who were a blast and let one of the PCVs blow their horn and other PCVs was drumming for a moment! I went with all of the PCVs. We just got “Grounds” seats which is similar to “Lawn” seats at a Concert. Even with my umbrella covering me, I still got burned a little but it is healing well. Tuesday got declared a “National Holiday” because there is another Cricket game and the government wants people to attend the match. Then Monday Happened.... (See tomorrow post for the story)

Joys of 7/28

JOYS!

1. Talking to my Mother!
2. Amazing left over Lasagna (that I made) for Dinner!
3. All Day Long River Event!
4. My Best Friend!
5. Talking with my Aunt, Uncle, and Grandpa!
6. My PCVs
7. NATIONAL HOLIDAY due to the Cricket Match!
8. Being part of the event of a 16 passenger van being pulled through the middle of town by a rope and a car!
9. Hearing the excitement on someone voice when they answer the phone
10. Really Good Confetti Cake (Just for you Andrew) for the River Day!

First time for everything... I would say so! (Part 1 of 3)

This weekend/Monday was simply full of amazing first time events for me in my short 23 years of living. New adventures are also fun, they usually come with a funny but rewarding story behind them. Pictures will follow soon! Where do I begin...

…. I will begin with Saturday. Saturday was an amazing day. It started off with my first, FIRST! So... myself and 3 other PCVs and one of the PCV's friend who is interning at a Law Office in Dominica. Her dad and step mom were born in Dominica but she grow up in the States because her Dad moved to the States when he was a child but now lives in Dominica. As my feet were hanging on in the Hotel Pool (NO I did not stay in a hotel) but we did meet there to go WHALE WATCHING!! I have never really been on a boat before so that was a First and then I have not been WHALE WATCHING so it was killing a bird with two stones. There is about a 90% chase that you will see a Whale. For use we were in that 10%, we did not see a Whale but man did we see lots of Dolphins, I would say around fifty of them. They are extremely fun, energetic, good spirit animals, playing with the boat, jumping around, and splashing the boat. They were fun to watch. Most of you know, that know me, know I can make friends with almost anyone, young, old, middle, boy, girl, it does not matter. There was this very nice man from Bangladesh on the boat with me. He was an amazing man and complimented me on the work I was doing which is always reassuring to hear it from a stranger. Anyways, as we were talking, I was like “Why are you here” and he said “I do commentary for the Cricket Game!” More about the Cricket game in tomorrow post....

Joys of 6/19

Joys of July 19, 2009
1. Seeing All My Little Ones at Church This Morning
2. Sitting Next to Mema
3. A Little One That A Few Weeks Ago Did Not Want Anything to do With Me Came Running Over To Me After Church!
4. French Toast on My HOMEMADE Wheat Bread!
5. The Fresh Cool Breeze Blowing Through My Home
6. Making Peanut Butter and Almond Cookies for the PC Training Next Week!
7. A Solid Walk To My Old Village and Company for the Afternoon
8. Random Trip to Town (Also good to get out of the house for a minute)
9. Falling Asleep to the Rain!

365 Rivers!

A random little fact for all of you is, Dominica has 365 Rivers (I am Determined To Count Each and Everyone!), enough for, one for each day of the Calender Year! On Friday Dominica Added Three New Rivers to the Count!



Like mentioned previously, I had a Bi-Annual Meeting to attended in a village called Castle Bruce which is in the Southeast of the Island. On our way there it started to rain, I would say a moderate rain, while we were there it was raining moderately on and off the whole afternoon (more on then off) and when we were leaving it was raining once again. So needless to say, it pretty much rained all late morning into early evening! Our faithful, safe, reminds me a little of a driver in Western Civilization (which is a good thing), is driving the 45 minute to an hour drive back to town. We are driving, it is raining no problem, then we reach about 6 miles outside of town and we STOP! Side Note (how the island is, you can see town from where we are) OoO My... there is a TRAFFIC JAM in Dominica! This is one is bad- it reminds me of 696 (or 95 (I hope that made you Smile Mom and Dad), when they shut down all lines but one and it is 8:00AM in the Morning! People are not moving and cars are PARKED on the Side! After inquiring with individuals who are walking around we find out there is a Large and In charge 'River' who has over taken the road. Well, our faithful driver with his Western Civilization style, cuts off the people that are just hanging out so we can go through the FIRST of THREE 'Rivers'! The Pond is about 50 Yards Long and the water comes up to our Bumper! Success! 'River' One CONQUERED! Then We Wait in Yet another Line, to Take on 'River' Number Two- 'River Number Two- not So Long, and Not So Deep! Our Jeep and our great driver- went right through it like it was nothing! Then There is 'River' Number THREE- This I would say was the Deepest- about the same length as the second one- We are Driving through then traffic STOPS! So We are Hanging out in middle of the 'River' for I would say about 5 Minutes! After our little delay, River THREE SUCCESS! We are on solid ground- heading back to town with no other slow downs! After about 2 hours I was at my bus stop on my way up to my home!