Propane Problems!

One of my biggest frustrations with living in Dominica is the darn propane. We use it for our stoves and ovens here and I'm not used to using it. In our last place I would have to light the oven and stove every time I wanted to use it with a match. It was always a big "woosh" of flames and I thanked God for not singeing every hair on my head, although I do think I lost a few hairs from my eyebrows a time or two. In our new place, we have a pilot light with both the oven and stove so I don't have to use matches, they just turn on as I turn the knob. We all have propane tanks either under the sink or on the side of our buildings. These wonderful little tanks, and I say that sarcastically, don't have any kind of gauge and can only be filled at a few places in town. The fact that there is no way to know how full it is, aside from estimating in your mind based on how muck cooking you did, is very frustrating and it never fails that mine goes out over a holiday weekend, meaning all stores are closed for 3-5 days, or as my meal is half cooked. Conveniently, the propane guy doesn't deliver on Tuesdays or Thursdays and quite frankly it's too hot and humid and the tank is too heavy for me to do it myself. What's the bottom line...take-out Chinese for us tonight.

Blogging

This whole blogging thing is really quite new for me. I've always been turned off by the whole idea of writing about all the boring stuff in my life and sending it out there for the whole world to see. Don't you just roll your eyes when you read about someones Thursday: "We both worked and I made meatloaf for dinner"? How lame! Not that we all don't have days like that, I just don't want to read about them. Anyway, enough of my frustrations with bloggers.
With Kyle and I being so far away, I knew blogging would be the best way for our friends and family to hear about what's going on in Dominica and see some pictures. So far, it's worked out pretty well. I believe there are some of you who read our blog who we don't even know and those of you who are dedicated readers, I really encourage you to become a follower and LEAVE COMMENTS! I love nothing more than reading your responses to our posts. It helps me know I'm not just writing to the empty black hole of the internet. Well, I hope I am doing at least an "ok" job with this blogging thing. I want to give you all a sense of life here. If you have any requests for a post or any questions I haven't answered, please let me know. I'll be happy to fill you in!

Test Time is Upon Us

In just over 24 hours Kyle will take his first exam of this semester. It seems like it has creeped up on us and some how they have managed to squeeze in more information in the past 4 weeks than I currently have in my brain (no laughs please). He continues to amaze me as he studies daily from 8am to 11pm, managing to squeeze in a meal or two. One of my friend's husband described a student's life like the movie Groundhog Day. It was such a light bulb moment for me! They truly wake-up everyday to a never ending pile of material that they study over and over again. I don't know that you ever feel like you know everything. It truly would be impossible. No matter the outcome, I feel so proud of his hard work and quite frankly I am ready for the test to be over. For Kyle's sake, I just want one afternoon to hangout and relax. This semester, more than any other, I feel like we are roommates with opposite schedules. I was warned by other spouses, so I knew it was coming, that this semester is their busiest and most challenging. I have all the faith in the world in Kyle and I know these sacrifices we are making will pay off one day and it will make us a stronger couple. I wish him the best of luck on Monday and send out a prayer request to all of you for another 4.0 semester.

Our Blog Gets A Makeover

I decided that with the start of a new semester (actually we are about a quarter of the way through it, but who's counting) we needed a new look. I did love our page before, but something in me, which I believe I got from my mother, has always given me the desire to rearrange, rework, and change things frequently. This is something I think my dad can attest to after years of returning home from trips, only to find the house is a new color and the couch and tables are switched around. I hope Kyle knows what he's getting in to. Luckily, for him, we'll be renting for a while which inhibits my natural desire to paint every white wall a beautiful, rich color. So, enjoy our new look and as always please comment on our posts or just leave a note saying hi!

Pioneer Woman I am Not!

Alright, so I've lived down here in the jungle for a little over 4 months now and I have learned to adapt to live without some of the conveniences of home in exchange for some darn beautiful beaches and spectacular waterfalls. I do, however, believe I was getting a bit cocky in my abilities to quickly whip up meals with the few available ingredients at the market while still having time to tutor at the prep school, go to yoga, go on as well as setup trips around the island, and make it to weekly Bible studies and meetings. With my ego and my ambitions high I decided it would be a great idea to do our own laundry. It would be a good way to save money too. Plus, our new place has a tub (great for washing clothes) and a big balcony (great to get an ocean breeze to dry things) which would make this a simple task. So I thought...
I couldn't have been more wrong! I slaved an entire day bent over the tub trying to manually produce the same motions a machine would produce...swishing and swashing around and around. I must have done 30 pairs of underwear, 8 shirts, 10 pairs of socks, a few bras, and some small hand towels. After I did the "washing machine waltz" it came time to wring out as much water as I could from each article of clothing. I had blisters on my hands by the time I was done! Then I had to lay all the pieces out so they could dry as quickly as possible. I had Kyle's britches hung on clothes pins on the balcony (he appreciated that) and the rest of the stuff was placed neatly on top of 2 large towels on the floor in our bedroom so the air conditioner would dry them. When you live in high humidity, like 93%, it's still going to take DAYS to dry. Three days later, the items seemed to be dry...finally! One small problem...they smelled like pond water and were crispier than a piece of bacon put into a microwave for 15 minutes! Is it normal for a sock to stay horizontal when you pick it up? I didn't think so.
Bottom line, we called a laundry lady! She picks up at 8 am and drops of at 8pm. She charges 12 EC per load, which is a large grocery bag stuffed to the brim and beyond, and they come back smelling like fields of fresh daisies. I think she is my new best friend! My hand washing days are over!