Things are great here! Jared's been studying for midterms and it's the busy season in editing land, so we've both kind of been running in circles like chickens with our heads cut off (and by "running around" I mean "sitting in the same chair for 10 hours a day"). But there are two really great things about this weekend to make up for the craziness as of late:
(1) It's been hecka dry here lately. Like, crunchy leaves all over the ground, feels-like-fall dry. We haven't had a good storm in ages, and Grenada's fresh water supply was getting concerningly low. But ever since early yesterday morning, it has been raining on and off nonstop! As much as I love sunny beach days here, I looooove the rainy days the most. The sound of rain on our tin roof is so relaxing, and on days like these I like to draw the blinds and light up a candle and just read (or edit).
(2) Jared's taking his last midterm as I write this. He feels great about his physiology and genetics tests, and today he's knocking out neuroscience. We find out his scores tonight. But no matter how he did, we are going to party it up. Test weekends are the best because there's no new material to study so we just get to hang out. This afternoon we're either going to go see the Grand Etang monkeys (if it's not raining) or drive up to Grenada's forts and check out the view (if it is raining). Tomorrow we're going on a roadtrip around the whole island. We're so excited! I can't believe we've lived here for seven months now and we still haven't made the mere 2 1/2-hour trip around the rock.
None of that has anything to do with these pictures. I just needed to put them and the memories that go with them somewhere so I can delete them off my little travel camera. So without further ado, a bunch of random pictures and their accompanying captions.
^^Waiting in the Miami airport to catch a little plane to St. Lucia in January. It's really interesting--the Miami airport is pretty big and crowded, but this quiet terminal was hidden away down this tiny staircase by a bunch of other terminals leading to tropical islands.
^^Our favorite burger on the island, at the Merry Baker. Friday is build-a-burger day for $10 ec. A cute European couple runs the bakery, and they grill up the
best burgers and make the most delicious almond rolls.
^^This guava nectar is thick, but a swig or two goes great with the burger. The nice thing about med school on a remote island it that even though it's usually busy, anytime we do happen to have a free afternoon it immediately feels like we're on vacation.
^^Fresh fish market. I think these are red hang? One of these days I'll be brave and buy some mahi mahi at the market.
^^One of the many decked-out establishments (KFC!) around the time of Grenada's Independence Day. You guys, these people know what it is to have national pride. Every single building is elaborately decorated with the colors of the Grenadian flag for like a
month before and after independence day.
^^The opening SO social for this term. It was held on the open main floor of the gorgeous new building on Jared's campus. They served roasted pork and golden apple juice (my favorite Grenadian drink). The SO board hired Grenadian drummers and dancers for the entertainment, which I was a huge fan of but which gave Jared a headache.
^^This is the view from the new campus building(!!!!!), and it's usually full of students on benches or chairs, studying as they enjoy the view and the breeze. Jared teaches a histology review session in this building once a week, and I sometimes like to come with my laptop and just sit here and watch the sunset for the hour that he's in the classroom up above. Also worth mentioning is the drink that Jared is holding. It's called Ting, and it's my other favorite beverage in Grenada. In fact, forget golden apple juice--Ting takes the top spot. It's a grapefruit soda, but not at all like Fresca or Squirt. It's crazy refreshing, and probably one of the things we'll miss most when we leave this place.
^^One of the dancers pulled me away from dinner to give me a dancing lesson. FAIL. It looked really simple, but my hips would not catch on. Maybe if I had a dress like hers?
^^A Friday-night reading date on Grand Anse beach.
^^Funny story about this swimsuit. Before moving to Grenada, I had only ever owned one swimming suit at a time, and that was plenty! But I knew that living on a forever-sunny tropical island, I'd need a few more. I got most of my Grenada swimming suits on a fun shopping trip with my sweet grandmother, but I also scoured the internet to find a unique, vintage-looking swimsuit to wear. I fell in love with the swimming suit above and snatched it up. While the material
is gorgeous and it's mighty cute, well, I can only wear it sunbathing with Jared, because if I were to wear it swimming, I would risk flashing everyone. Apparently the online model of this one-piece was bustier and shorter in the torso, because man, it is a struggle to keep this thing up! I shortened the straps and sewed them in the back to hold the suit up better, and I have "fashion tape" that I wear with it to keep it in place, but it's still a struggle. Such a bummer! Maybe when I get pregnant someday it will fit better for at least a bit. I guess I'll hold on to it for a while.
^^One of the super-skinny horses that often grazes by the Hog Island trail. They're very friendly, and very rib-cagey. Poor horses!
^^Ok, this is actually really rad. About a month after we moved to our new apartment, we discovered that there was a hidden beach right around the corner from us. It's not great for swimming, but it's got fine black sand and is a great destination for walks. Well, last week we found
another hidden beach a 5-minute walk from our house. How does this even keep happening? This one is reached by walking down a narrow, hidden dirt path, and it's a surf beach! The waves are nice, and some days there are dozens of surfers riding them at sunset. After watching them for a while, Jared and I were obsessed and decided that we would get a surfboard and learn to surf, because when else will we have a surf beach 5 minutes away??
Unfortunately, surfboards are surprisingly difficult to come by here, and we weren't able to find one for several days. We did run into some New Zealenders one day walking away from the beach who "would be leaving soon and had a few surfboards on their boat to sell," but after giving them Jared's number we never heard from them again. We decided that we should at least go snorkeling at the beach to see what it was like. Come to find out, it's terrifying. Oh, not the waves or anything, and the water's actually really shallow, but the ocean floor there is covered in sea urchins! Mostly they're small and harmless, but there are a few huge ones that have 8-inch-long black spikes. We decided that since we have no surfing experience and would probably wind up falling down often, that we would save the learning-to-surf experience for another time at a less creepy beach. There's always an adventure to be had here.
Bonus Picture visible here:
https://instagram.com/p/z4FMtNAvir/?taken-by=justinbieber
Justin Bieber stayed literally three miles from our house for his birthday. Apparently he arrived at the Grenada airport half naked, with bags and bags of alcohol. What a classy dude. You can basically see our house in this picture--it's on the far peninsula. Also, we totally creeped on him and the private island he was visiting with binoculars. We're not sure we actually saw him, but we did see a white guy walking around, as well as several sundress-wearing girls. The takeaway message it that we are creeps. Also, we saw the Biebster's birthday fireworks in person. Also, I pinky swear I don't follow Justin Bieber on Instagram.
