Want to buy some fish?

Today we had a girl come by to check out our apartment for next term. WEIRD! It was a very bittersweet and kind of sad feeling to be showing her around OUR house and trying to sell her on things, when part of me hasn't even come to term fully that we are leaving in less than 3 months for good... It was cute to see her so excited about the view and how spacious it is here though because I remember feeling the exact same way not too long ago! Time flies!

And... our house is currently spotless because I decided to be nice and not give her a tour of Nick's piles of clothing, notes, and Tupperware containers (okay, okay mom and Nick- AND my bathroom counter clutter)... exam week really does a number on our house. I swear even when I actively try to combat it- the mess still wins! But when I have a reason to be extra on top of things- look at how it manages to work out where a clean house wins... but I digress.

Anyways.. the main point of this post was to post about the highlight of my day which started with a random knock on the door. No one ever knocks on my door. Ever. The lawn people just start their annoying weed whackers and yell and break things anytime they decide they want to. And other maintenance people stand at the windows and yell "HELLO" until I finally realize they are talking to me and answer and other people just decide to lay on my clean laundry on the side of the house out of the sun... so this was a new experience in and of itself... but little did I know just how much excitement stood on the other side of my door....

So obviously I open the door and there I see a man with a bunch of fish strung up on a stick wondering if I wanted to buy some. He was a nice man and didn't push too much, but I pretty much just stood there in shock. First off, it did not look or smell fresh and there had to of been 8 or 9 on the string just chillin. I must have stood there wide eyed trying not to laugh for a good 30 seconds so he took the lead and asked if I knew how to cook fish, I must admit that my response was "not one with skin and eyeballs still." He laughed and walked away muttering "silly white girl can't cook de fish!"

Awesome... I hadn't been the crazy white girl on the street in awhile... And I am absolutely kicking myself for not being even crazier and running to grab my picture of him!

wedding pictures!

We recently got our professional wedding pictures back and so needless to say, I am currently pretty obsessed with them! Our photographer was SO talented and captured our day and so many special moments perfectly! Due to the lack of sunlight on our wedding day- being one of the shortest days of the year- we also added in a Rock the Dress session and boy, am I glad we did! #1 it was so much fun to have an excuse to put my dress back on #2 they turned out a-m-a-z-i-n-g!

Here are just a few of MANY from our special day(s):For more check out our photographer, Marek Dziekonski's Website. Also here are direct links to each of his blog posts with pictures of us:  wedding blog post (lots of pictures!)      Rock the Dress blog post (lots of pictures!)

Orange Juice

When you're sick for more or less a month straight on a small spec of land in the middle of the ocean....you get to splurge at the grocery store and buy orange juice for 21 E.C or approximately 8 US dollars

 And, it's NEVER tasted SO good!

Oh, and when you're married to a medical school student and your kitchen table looks like this for the entire month... you simply eat on top of it or somewhere else... and accept that until all that material is in his brain- that this, is life.

Grenada Sailing Week!

January 31st- February 5th is sailing week here in Grenada. Even before I had heard that this is what was going on, I knew something was up because of all the extra awesome boats that have been sailing by our house on a regular basis for the past day or so. Such a cool part of living right on the ocean!

There have been sailing festivities and races almost every day in honor of sailing week and we saw some of the set up begin for the larger weekend activities while at the beach on Friday. Lots of tents, boats, and hustle 'n bustle! There was just an overall feeling of excitement in the air and you could tell that it was going to be a weekend filled with fun on the beach. 

Since Nick did crew throughout high school, I knew this was up his ally and I hated to see him miss out all together so I gently pushed him into taking a study break for a couple hours to head down and check out the boats! We are only here for a few more months so this isn't something we will get to see again, and I am SO glad we went! Unfortunately, just as soon as I started to walk to the catch the bus, clouds began rolling in super fast, and before I even made it to cover at the bus stop the rain began to fall. Thinking it would be a typical Grenada rain and only last a short while, we proceeded to head to the beach where we eventually came to accept that the rain was not going anywhere. The races continued though and at the end of the day the rain made for a little extra excitement. There were several different food vendors there as well, so we got fish patties and some other local foods to snack on for lunch!

At one point, a boat flipped over and we watched as they struggled to turn it back over before a rescue boat went out to help pull them in.  In a scary change of events, one of the men sailing on the boat got tangled up in one of the boat's ropes and was pulled under water. All of a sudden many other sailors and bystanders were rushing into the water to try and assist- one man even went running into the water with his huge machete prepared to cut him loose. Nick and his friend Minh almost had to break out some Dr. skills and perform CPR but thankfully, once on shore the man began spitting up water and although seemed disoriented, it appeared he was going to be fine.

All in all, it was a fun day and one of the many times that we stop and think to ourselves "wow we really live here!?" It's not every day 2 Michiganders like ourselves can stroll down to the ocean and watch hundreds of boats race and fill the horizon- it was pretty darn cool! 

5th term for the Doctor-Man

So, what does 5th term have in store for the Doctor-Man-To-Be? Here's a little run down: 5th term consists of 4 classes, with the big one being Pathophysiology. Although you spend most of your first 2 years at SGU hearing about term 4 and Pathology the 13 credit monster- don't be fooled, Pathophysiology may be a slight step down, but it's no easy walk in the park. It rings in a close second at 12 credits and is not lacking for material. The other 3 classes are Pharmacology (drugs, drugs, drugs!), Intro to Clinical Medicine (5th term students go to the a local Grenadian hospital twice a week to get some actual hands-on experience. The hospital in Grenada is not exactly what we are used to in the States, which adds to the experience! But, there is no AC and Nick will be wearing dress pants, a dress shirt, AND a white coat (he's a doctor!)... so to say he will be a bit toasty during his couple hours a week there is putting it lightly! Nick's super excited about the hands-on work though and has missed interacting with patients, so it will be a nice change and break from sitting in a desk for a couple hours, two days a week!) and Foundation to Clinical Reasoning (something along the lines of applying what they've learned so far to clinical vignettes.)

Whew, that was a mouth-full.  Besides classes, Nick has also been bumped up from VP to Mr. El-Presidenté of the Emergency Medicine Club at SGU. This has already been keeping him busy as he plans events, speakers, clinics, and does all sorts of President busy work and running around. He loves it though. What can I say... the man loves to be busy and continues to love Emergency Medicine!

And last but not least, with the USMLE Step 1 Board Exam quickly approaching, Nick is also dedicating a few hours each week to reviewing and studying test prep materials. The big push for studying will come in May after 5th term is complete, but he feels that getting his bearings and attempting to stay on top of all the material now, will help him during those overwhelming cram-weeks later on :) He has also already submitted his application to take the test so we are just waiting to set an official date! Crazy! I think it's safe to say 5th term is officially in full-swing and the glorious days of having Nick around the house are over for now! Let the good times crazy hours of lecture and studying in medical school roll!

The Doctor-Man-To-Be himself, sporting his nerdy totally awesome, and crazy accurate anatomy shirt! He came home from school SUPER proud because all his classmates thought he was so cool... oh medical school humor! I must say, it is pretty cool though!

Limes 2013

Today, was our first day back at Limes for the term and boy was it great to be back! The loving squeals and hugs that we were met with as we walked up to the Limes structure were so darn cute and never, ever, ever get old! Upon seeing my sweet baby girl Jada I grabbed her for a hug and our conversation went something like this:

Me- "Oh I just missed you and love you so much!" 

Jada- "you love me dis big?" (holds up fingers about an inch apart) 

Me- "I love you lots bigger than that!"

Jada- "Nooooo, dis big?! (points to her shoe)

Me- "Bigger than that!"

This game went on for several minutes with it finally ending on that I loved her to the moon to which she said with a big smile "miss dat far!" And she instantly had me wrapped right around her tiny little finger all over again. The icing on the cake being when I was getting ready to go she said "Miss give me squeeze to the moon!" Love that baby!

As is usually the case with Limes, it takes a few days for word to get out that we are holding class, so the turnout today was pretty small. It's always kind of nice though because it allows us to get a little more one on one time with those that do show up! It was so fun to see each and every one of them and to hear how their Christmas and break from school was. Oh, and of course gossip with some of the older girls who were quick to ask for details about my "new husband" and who would erupt in giggles at anything I said in reference to Nick! Classic. Definitely looking forward to spending a lot more time with these kids this term!

We had a few new faces out today also which is always super fun! If you are in Grenada and looking for something to do, please come join! We meet 3-5pm Tues/Wed/Thurs we (and the kids) would love to see you!

I brought a new book to Limes today: The Hungry Little Caterpillar... it also has a matching game with what the caterpillar ate... naturally, it was a huge hit! :) 

Term 5 ponderings

"You're term 5?!?! Wow, you've been here forever and must be so excited to be almost done with Grenada!" 

I can't tell you the number of times I have heard that just in the past week! What's the saying? If I had a dime for every time someone said it, I'd be rich? Yes. Yes I would be.

The thing is though, my feelings about being term 5 are not so one-sided or black and white... but how would I even begin to explain this to someone who has only been here a handful of days and is still transitioning to island life and the thought of completing 2 years and 5 terms of medical school (or whatever program or alotted time frame for your situation) is still overwhelmingly daunting... Yes I am thrilled to be term 5! This means Nick is one step closer to achieving his dream. This means he has so far conquered the basic sciences portion of med school like a freakin' champ. This means 4th term is behind us. This means I am one step closer to a job that includes a paycheck. However, we've been here a year and half- not forever. Yes, at the end of each term does it sometimes feel that way? Certainly. But really we love Grenada and all in all when I think about our time here on this wonderful little island, I think good things and that time has literally flown by! And when it comes to leave for good it will absolutely be bittersweet.

Another thing that always sits with me funny is the "done with Grenada" part. Will we ever really be done with Grenada? I don't think so. And I sure hope not. It's hard to top the feeling I get when I see the kids with big smiles on their faces racing toward me like it's the greatest thing in the entire world. And they react that way every time! It's unconditional love at it's best. At the same time, as much as I will miss being hands on with the kids, and seeing pictures of other volunteers with them will be wonderful but also make me miss them entirely too much- there is almost more I can do to help these kids from the United States. In the U.S I can do fundraisers and help in many ways that I am unable to here due to financial restrictions and distance from those I am hoping to reach out to for support once we get home. So, it's 6 in one- half a dozen in the other. For my own personal fulfillment, I will miss their cute faces and squeezes every day... but at the same time, I find solace in that I know there are many volunteers here who will continue to love on them, and I can take my talents and help them even more from a distance. Oh, and of course hopefully visit again in the not too far off future when Nick comes back to SGU as a guest lecturer and I can come back and play... hey, a girl can dream right? :)

To me- living abroad... more specifically, living in Grenada comes down to this: it is what YOU make of it. You have control to decide what type of experience have here. You are in charge of the extra activities you seek out to fill your time. You control your attitude. No one else is going to make Grenada be a certain way for you, but you can choose to make it the best couple of years possible.

Does this mean it will be amazing 100% of the time? No. I doubt it. I think you could have the most positive outlook on life ever and still have days that drive you bonkers... but honestly, that is just life in general- not just life here on this tiny island. I think it is easy to forget that sometimes.

Change can be a good thing- try to embrace it!
There are things to do in Grenada- go seek them out and explore!
Meet people & make friends- there are many other people in your similar shoes!
Start a new hobby- something that a hectic life in the U.S may not allow time for!
Remember the grass is always greener on the other side- in a few years when you are working a 9-5 job, sitting in rush hour traffic, surrounded by buildings and congestion- this life might seem more glamorous!
Volunteer- the kids in Grenada will undoubtedly steal your heart, or find some other organization you are passionate about. Whatever it is- Get involved!
Keep an open mind- your own small life box is not all the world has to offer, learn from new people and experiences!
Laugh at things beyond your control- tomorrow, next month, or next year... it will make a good story!

Look at me being so bossy... ha, but seriously. 2-3 years... is not forever. And with a little effort, positive thinking, and a little less focus on the negative, you just might find these few years go by super fast. You might find you had some fun. You might find you grow a lot as a person by stepping outside the box. You might find that Grenada steals a piece of your heart that you don't ever intend to leave completely behind.