7th Semester Update

Matty's Crazy Schedule

We are already half-way through the semester, people. This week, Matthew has an emergency rotation and his schedule for that is:

Wednesday: On-call: 5:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. (Thankfully, he didn't get called.)
Thursday: Work: 5:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m.
Friday: Work: 12:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m.
Sunday: Work: 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Sound like a couple of long days/nights to you? Yeah, well, this is just his schedule for his emergency rotation. He still has other responsibilities like going to class and SOAPing his sheep twice a day at 7:00 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., every single day. By the way, SOAPing stands for: subjective, objective, assessment, plan. Basically this means that the students have to check on their sheep and provide a report...at least I think that's what happens. Anyway, SOAPing occurs on the weekends too. Blah! I'd be so exhausted if I were him. Well, he is, but he's much less of a sour patch than I would be.

Soooo essentially, he left this morning at 6:15 a.m., and probably won't be home until sometime after midnight! What am I doing in the mean time, you ask? Well, actually, both Daisy and Tiffany are in California this week, so they aren't around to hang out with me. However, since Tiff is gone, her dogs need tending to while her student is in class, so I've been helping with that. I also started reading a new book series by Ally Condie called Matched. I finished the first book the other day, and am on the second one currently. I also caught up on all of the Dexter seasons. Other than that, just the usual stay-at-home daily life things: cook, clean, hang out with the pets, blog, bake, etc. 

NC State

I actually don't have a lot of updates regarding this...haha. We haven't found a place to live yet, and we aren't sure when we're going to move there. What I do know, is that he begins rotations January 14, 2013, and his orientation starts on January 9th. 

Island Life

I haaaaaaaaaate mosquitoes. I actually believe that they are little aliens. Recently, they very irritatingly made their presence known by swarming me in our laundry room, and biting me about a million times. Matty and I are also finding a lot of them in our house, which is crazy because we are usually very mosquito-free due to our intense hate for them. We don't leave our door open past 5:00 p.m. and if we go in and out after it's dark, you run in and run out! There isn't any of this 'lingering' business. And I'm telling you, our mosquito-hunting skills are now in our genes and will be passed on to our kid(s). Anyway, I think there's been an increase in numbers because of Tropical Storm Rafael and all the rain we received...creates lots of opportunities for those pesky mosquitoes to breed in the stagnant ponds of water. Also, Matthew recently cut our grass, and I think that stirred something up in their little communities. 

Okay, I think that's about it. I'll wrap up this post with a few photos of our island cat, Kitsy. He has certainly adopted us, (against our will), and has also managed to make our home, his home.

 

 

Drive Around de Island

Earlier this month, I went on a semi-spontaneous island tour adventure with two other ladies of lesiure, Daisy and Alicia. We got in the car and drove, and if we felt like stopping, we did. Our first stop was at Wingfield Estate, where we walked the grounds and admired the old ruins that used to contribute to the sugar and rum industries. As many times as I've been to Caribelle Batik at Romney Manor, I've never explored Wingfield Estate...mostly because it's always so full of tourists who are heading to Caribelle, and there isn't ever a good parking spot. Sounds like a terrible excuse, but just know that the roads in St. Kitts are teeny-tiny and the taxis here are actually large-ass vans. Not to mention that there really isn't a designated parking lot. You have to park alongside the road, and that's fairly impossible when the taxi buses filled with tourists are taking up any/all room.

After our short walk around Wingfield Estate, we shopped at Caribelle, (where there actually is a nice area for parking). Alicia was given a demonstration regarding the batik process, which I've actually seen a million times, but I stopped to listen anyway. I just love Caribelle and the pieces they create, so I don't mind lingering and watching the ladies batik the day away.

When Daisy and Alicia paid for their purchases, we walked over to the botanical garden section, so Alicia could check out the beautiful plants, flowers, and trees. Afterwards, we walked back out to the car and realized that none of us had plans for the rest of the day, so that's when we decided to drive Alicia around the island.

Our next stop was at Rawlins Plantation Inn—which was actually closed—but we walked around anyway, and nobody seemed to mind. That's one thing about St. Kitts that I really appreciate. Nobody really cares about what the hell you're doing. While we walked around, we found an art gallery on the grounds, and realized its owner is Kate Spencer, an artist that is originally from England but has lived in St. Kitts since 1978...and is apparently related to the late Diana Spencer, (duh, Princess Diana). We didn't get to meet her because she was off-island, but her husband and their little dog, Abby, (which looked just like my Trooper), showed us around. Kate has such beautiful paintings. I loved all the pieces that represent different aspects of Caribbean life. Her fine art was fairly expensive, but we settled on purchasing a few of her cards. I plan on framing mine and hanging them in our NC apartment. (Can you tell that I'm really going to miss SK?) Anyway, if you click here, you can view the studio and gallery that we visited.

Oh, I forgot to mention that the drive up to Rawlins was le cray cray. Being from Michigan, we know all about two-tracks, but this was intense. Miss Daisy has a Jeep, so we did make it up eventually, but it was quite the bouncy adventure. I'm currently laughing at the memory...

We wanted to pay a visit to Ottley's Plantation Inn next, but it was clossssssssseeeeddddd. Big bummer, because I have never been there before. However, it's definitely on my SK Bucket List. I'll make it there before December.

Instead of exploring Ottley's, we headed to the Snapper Farm, where there's a rehab section for sea turtles. Hanging out with these lovely ocean friends is always fun.

Here are some photos from the day's adventures. Enjoy!

Wingfield Estate Ruins

Jungle vines

Caribelle Batik.

Saman Tree @ Caribelle...400 years old.

Sea Turtle!

Monkeying Around

The other day, before all this Tropical Storm Rafael buzz, the boys and I enjoyed a nice afternoon of monkey watching. We have a tamarind tree on the other side of our fence, and the monkeys loooooove tamrind fruit, so we often see them snacking with their friends.

The (Green Vervet) monkeys aren't afraid of our dogs, but every single time I head outside to see what they're up to, they quickly disappear. Luckily for me, there were a couple who didn't mind me hanging around this time. Enjoy the photos!

Tamarind tree from a distance.

Get Your Skeletons Out—It's Almost Halloween!

What a day! I feel like all I've been doing is blogging about Tropical Storm Rafael. And now I've just learned that thanks to his kind visit, skeletal remains have been found at South Friar's Bay. 

See? I wasn't kidding.

I'm sure some of you stateside folks are thinking, "WTF? That's how news is released to the public in St. Kitts? On Facebook?" The answer is simple: Yes. And it's perfectly normal. And no, I don't know if we have a forensics team to find out the identity. OISK? Yes, probably.

Aftermath of TS Rafael

I say 'aftermath,' but really TS Rafael is still in full force and not letting up any time soon. Here are some photos of the damage we've experienced thus far. Photo source: The St. Kitts-Nevis Times, Keeth France

Last Night's Skies

In a previous post, I blogged about how Tropical Storm Rafael is paying a visit to St. Kitts. What I forgot to mention was that at about 6:00 p.m. last night, (as I was plopping back down on the couch to continue my Dexter marathon), I noticed the sky was not the usual color. It was pink! I rushed outside to make sure I wasn't just imagining things. Yup. Definitely pink. Matty, Peter, Audrey, and I stood outside a little confused, but interested. It was quite pretty after all, and entertaining for a minute. Eventually the sky turned purple, and then a normal shade of 'night.' Check out the photos below if you don't believe me. The first few are from during the day when the heavy rains started.

Normally, we can see the Marriott in the distance.

Our backyard.

Matty in his rain poncho. He wanted to survey the premises.

PINK!

Purple!

{Conversations}

Recently, Matthew received an email from his NC State clinical coordinator requesting him to fill out some information. In going over the options for rotations, this happened:


Matthew: Ooooh I think the raptor medicine and rehabilitation would be fun.

Me: Raptors? Like velociraptors? Dinosaurs?!

Matthew: Yes, babe, dinosaurs. NC State has a really great research program, didn't you know? It's like Jurassic Park over there. {Shakes head and rolls eyes.}

Tropical Storm Rafael

It's a good thing that I recently started to catch up on old seasons of Dexter since Tropical Storm Rafael has made an appearance here in the Caribbean, forcing us to stay inside and hunker down. We are experiencing 50 mph winds, nonstop heavy rain, and flash floods. According to an article from CNN, Tropical Storm Rafael could turn into a hurricane by tomorrow. As with all storms in our areas, I hope this isn't the case. Many of our friends have lost power and water. Some are experiencing flooding in their apartments. Our cable is out, we experienced slight flooding in our bedroom closet, and our dogs hate the idea of going outside, but we've got power, water, internet, a/c, and most of all—we're dry and safe. As you can see, Matthew and I haven't had too much trouble, (yet), and we're very thankful for that. I can't even begin to imagine what it's like for the Kittitians who live in the little tin shacks in Basseterre with very little protection from the storm. 

Someone from RUSVM uploaded a short video clip of the storm from campus. You can view it here.

And here are some photos that were taken in Basseterre. Source: The St. Kitts-Nevis Times:

Flash Flood at Bay Road.

Bus over-turned in a ghaut near West Farm.

College Street

A boat pushed up on shore due to strong waves.

Fall in the Mitten

Well...it's Autumn in the Mitten again, and this is the only time of year that I get a little homesick. While I do love my SK tropical views, Fall is my absolute favorite season. I love the vibrant colors, the crunchy leaves under my boots, pumpkin-spiced foods and bevvies, the feel of impending winter, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Fall fashion, football games, and carving pumpkins, (we carved a pineapple last year).

When we return to Michigan this December, we'll have missed Fall yet again, but hopefully North Carolina will provide us with a nice Autumn season next year. 

In the mean time, enjoy the photos. My mom captured a few great views from her backyard.

Stephanie and Rob's Baby

Yesterday, I was reading Stephanie and Rob's baby blog, which is something I do every Tuesday before heading to Bamboo Lounge for Trivia Night. She blogged about the usual updates: her weight, current size of baby, how many more weeks to go, etc. My favorite part is her week-to-week featured pregnancy photo. In her blog post yesterday, she mentioned that she was in her 36th week, and that she and Rob felt as if baby Michael would make an appearance sooner than November.

When I arrived home from Trivia Night, my friend Daisy texted me to say that Stephanie had gone into labor, which means Michael would be an entire month early. Stephanie must be really intuitive, or maybe baby Michael was really eager to meet his parents, as my friend Tiffany said. Immediately, I got online to do a little snooping and voila! She was indeed going into labor. After chatting with Rob for a bit, I got the updates, and wished all three of them good luck!

From Stephanie, October 10th, 2012:

Michael Allen Seerley was born at 1:39 a.m., 6 pounds 2 ounces, 18.5 inches.

Happy birthday, sweet baby Michael! I can't wait to meet you early next year. Now...please be a good baby and rest so that your mommy can recover and your daddy can relax. 

Congratulations and best wishes, Rob & Steph! Matty and I couldn't be more excited for you!!

Calm Waters

On our way to the peninsula this morning, we noticed how calm both the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea were. The Caribbean side is normally serene, so that wasn't a surprise. However, the Atlantic usually has a strong tide with choppy waves. Luckily I had my camera with me to capture the stillness.

Caribbean Sea up ahead. 

Gorgeous view of the Caribbean.

Atlantic Ocean view.

Donkey sighting.

Matty's Birthday Dinner

Matthew's 29th birthday came and went, (due to his busy schedule), but he managed to have a good time celebrating. Here is a photo from our Indian dinner with friends on Thursday. Thank you to everyone who attended. :)

OISK: TDC

Only in St. Kitts...

...can you go to TDC, (a hardware/housewares store), and receive a free breast examination.

Happy Birthday, Matty!

Matthew's birthday was yesterday, October 1st. Unlike myself, he's very low-key when it comes to celebrating...well, anything. So, we decided on doing a typical birthday dinner with some of our favorites this Thursday at Bombay Blues.

In the mean time, Sharon baked him a delicious pie and brought it to class yesterday. And I went ahead and created a Facebook event with this lovely photo for the main page:

I thought it was pretty hilarious. Matty kind of just smirked at me and shook his head. Whatevs. I think he was just jealous of that mustache.

This morning, our friend, Rhiannon, messaged me on Gmail chat saying that Matthew made an interesting appearance on Dr. Wallace's web site. Obviously not understanding what she meant, she went ahead and sent me here. In case the link doesn't work, here's a screen shot:

Yep, there he is! Dr. Wallace showed everyone in class today. Hahahahaha. Sorry, Matty. Your 'low-key' birthday idea has been officially squashed.