Days like these...

I feel very lucky to live on such a beautiful island

Where sometimes it is hard to tell where the ocean stops and the sky begins

For example, can you tell if there is any ocean in this picture?? (There is)

Doesn't hurt to have someone to share all of this with either :)

Oregon on Tuesday. Yay!!!

Sailing with Liz and Long

oh what? It's December? Feels like a looooooooooong summer to me!

Liz and Matt as we head out from shore

Matt learning how to steer the boat, or more correctly, the dingy

Looking at the "tell tails"... yes as in a "tell tail sign"!!

Liz and Long balancing the boat or having fun?? Hard to tell 

Wilbur is still living the life at Reggae!

5th

Ahhhh 5th semester... you are now mine!

Grades went up today for 4th semester. I didn't do quite as well as I had hoped for, but I am very thankful to have passed all of my classes and be moving on to the next semester. It should be a challenging semester, but I look forward to that. I'll tell you more when I know more.


Oregon bound in just a couple of days!!! It seems like so long until  I will be home, I am so excited.

I'll have some pictures to post later today or tomorrow, as a good friend here invited Matt and I to go sailing with them on a little catamaran boat (or a little sail boat, i'm not sure, we'll see). Anyway, it should be fun and relaxing, which is much needed. Today is a gorgeous day in the Caribbean and it will be nice to actually enjoy some of this island's island-ness for once!

Adios for now.

Finalsssssssssssss

are all that stands between Oregon and myself.

3 more coconuts have been opened up since our Thanksgiving adventure. Matt is quite happy.

What do you think of my new countdown?? You'll see it on the top right of my blog. It makes me smile. Just like being in Oregon will!

4 days until finals. Then 4 days of finals. Then 3 days until I leave for Oregon. :)

Thanksgiving St. Kitts Style!

complete with coconuts!

Yes, that is a coconut. More later

I trust everyone had a delicious and wonderful family-filled Thanksgiving! And that you ate an extra bite of all the good stuff for me!

Matt and I had an enjoyable Thanksgiving, but of course it was no match for an Oregon Thanksgiving with our families. For dinner we went to the same place as last year, Ballahoo's. They did a great job of re-creating a home-made thanksgiving dinner, although it just didn't seem to be quite right. Probably because we didn't spend all day preparing for it and making our house smell absolutely amazing. It is a shame our kitchens and ovens are not bigger, otherwise we would definitely be making our own Thanksgiving dinner!

At dinner in town at Ballahoo's

With good friends!

After dinner we went to a friend's house for dessert, and oh my goodness, there was dessert! Lots and lots of dessert. Yes, I did eat as much as I possibly could, and yes it was amazing. I forgot to take pictures there, sorry. As we were leaving that friend's house, I noticed a coconut had recently fallen from a tree and was lying on the ground. For some reason, I decided it was a good idea to pick it up and bring it home. Nope, I have never de-husked a coconut before, and no I had no idea how we were going to go about it, but yet it sounded like a good idea. And so the coconut massacre followed...

Tools of the trade. That is all of the husk we had to rip/pry off to get to the coconut shell. Too bad we didn't think of taking a picture of the intact coconut before this all happened.

Matt shaking the husked coconut to inspect the amount of coconut water inside. There appeared to be quite a bit!

So excite! We opened it! There was over 1 cup of coconut water inside!!!

So that was our Thanksgiving, complete with a coconut.

T minus 3 weeks until we are back in Oregon!!! :)

Sometimes this island is not a paradise...

Take now for example.

Ever had one of those weeks where you just can't win? Me too. And it is only Tuesday.

For example, the car is broken again. A little bit more severe this time. I've decided that anytime I need to buy a used car, someone else should do the buying. It has been proven that I am no good at it.

The power went out twice while I tried to write that last post. TWICE. Then I gave up for a week. So really, that last post was written over a week ago. I think. Oh, and the generator isn't working again. (Notice a pattern here?)

We had a pop-quiz Monday morning at 8am. That is just cruel.

Thanksgiving is Thursday. (Happy Turkey Day everyone!!!) I'll be on an island that doesn't celebrate, which is okay, seeing as how it is a whole different country from the US, but my US based school doesn't give us the day off either. I am thankful for many things though... a wonderful family at home, Matt here to suffer with me, and great friends to go to dinner with so none of us have to cook a giant dinner in our tiny minuscule kitchens! There will be baking though, because what is Thanksgiving without homemade pies??

Well, I suppose that isn't as dreary as I made it out to be. There is a lot to look forward to and lots of food to be eaten in the near future! Mmmmm turkey! Somebody have an extra scoop of sweet potatoes for me, and stuffing, and turkey, and everything else amazing.

Insert creative title here

That may give you an inkling of my thinking skills right now.

This post is completely food related. Unless something vet school related pops up. Which is likely.

Wait, what is this???

Yup. A Wendy's spicy chicken sandwich.

BUT HOW??? Don't fret, I'll tell you how.

My friends went to Puerto Rico last weekend to get away and enjoy the land of malls, fast food, and the US dollar. They are so awesome they took orders and brought back everyone's favorites from McD's and Wendy's. They're pretty cool people, I think I'll stay friends with them! (fast food doesn't hurt either)

Second food section is this GLORIOUS thing some people decided to call a Galette. What is that? I have no idea. But it is delicious. I can't wait to make some more and eat it all on my own.

Butternut squash + caramelized onions + pie crust =

 

If I can find more butternut squash, I'll make another for Thanksgiving. 

That's all.

The sadness that is our volleyball courts...

pictures. You're welcome.

All of this used to be nice flat and sandy. Now it is rocky. Plus a table.

New and Improved! Now with a mini-cliff!

Look down the coastline, see the grassy area?? Yeah.... that used to have sand over there covering those rocks. Also note the volleyball net pole in the water.

Well, there you have it. Really, I shouldn't complain. Volleyball is not a necessity although quite enjoyable. Lots of people had flooded homes, and some of the schools lost lots of textbooks and supplies when their classrooms flooded. The priorities should definitely go to fixing up homes and schools before they try to rebuild the beaches, but we will all be happy when we get more courts up!

It's been one of those weeks...

where I bake a lot.

It started with a chocolate craving, followed by ingestion of a horrible freezer cake (you know those boxed ones at the grocery store) which inevitably led to me experimenting with cocoa powder, baking soda, loads of flour and lots of muscle. You see, I don't have a hand mixer or a standing mixer, so all my baking is done by hand.... literally. More on baking later, but before I forget, news for the week!

Long lost picture... my first fast food in 8 months, taken in August on the way to Oregon (I think)

School is moving right along, I only have 3 days of class this week, which is more like 2.5 because I am done at noon tomorrow, so I'm pretty excited to actually take a break and get some sun this weekend. Yay volleyball! If I can manage it, I'll take some pictures of the beaches this weekend to show you all how much the weather did affect the beaches.

Matt and I had our anniversary yesterday... seven years! We had a very tame little celebration, but it was nice. We went to the Marriott for sushi which was okay, not amazing but not bad for St. Kitts sushi, then met up with friends who were playing bingo in the casino. They were the only table of people laughing and drinking... it was pretty obvious where they were amidst the sea of people. It was enjoyable, especially after taking the midterm that day. OH! Yes, my morning yesterday started with a Pharmacology 2 midterm. It was brutal. So... many... antibiotics.... and WHY must they name them so similarly??? I envy human doctors who only need to know how a drug works in one species. A drug that works great orally in a dog may not, and probably does not work so well in horses, or it could kill a horse but be safe in a dog! Or use it in dairy cows but not beef cows and the list goes on. Good thing there is this giant book we like to call a reference guide which is a necessity for keeping the drugs you don't use often straight.

After sushi at the Marriott. I'm becoming a pro at taking photos with an outstretched arm!

Back to baking....

I don't have any pictures of the chocolate cake I made from scratch, but if you're interested here is the recipe: Smitten Kitchen Everyday Chocolate Cake

I forgot about it in the oven, so mine got a bit crunchy on the outside, but having a kitchen timer would solve that. Also, the brown sugar we get here is exactly like the Hawaii "Sugar in the Raw" because well, it is. It is locally produced cane sugar granules... needless to say it doesn't create as smooth of a texture as regular brown sugar that you find in the states. The awesome part of it though, is how cheap it is! I paid 75 cents (US) for a 2 pound bag.

And the other baking project this week were these: Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

With better pictures and an alternate, more health conscious recipe here: Erin's Food Files

The finished product, fresh out of the oven.

My changes were to use fresh pumpkin puree, because you can't find canned pumpkin here, but every store has giant chunks of pumpkin with a very thin green skin for about 50 cents (US)/ pound of pumpkin. Needless to say, pumpkin is CHEAP! I like to buy a couple of chunks, boil it down, smash it, then freeze it in batches for easy recipe use. If anyone is interested, I also have a couple of other good pumpkin recipes. It is, after all, October! Oh, and I only used about 1 tablespoon of butter in the streusel topping which kept it crumbly... 3 tablespoons I would've had mush! Here is the process:

This is the pumpkin based batter

Followed by a big spoonful of a cream cheese mixture right in the center

And topped off with a streusel pecan crumble (I forgot to take a picture until it was in the oven)

Nom nom nom!

And finally, for the second ever installment of "St. Kitts-ism of the week!" (a special double feature)
1. The electric department is going to shut off any accounts that have not been paid in over 60 days, but they haven't given out bills in MONTHS (some people haven't even received a bill for July yet). Even better, they state that having not received a bill is no excuse for not paying. Yup.

2. As of November 1st, a 17% VAT will apply to EVERYTHING imported to St. Kitts. Goodbye semi-affordable food, hello starvation. Even some apartments are subject to VAT on the rent! (Luckily not mine)

I nearly forgot... major disappointment after bringing animal cookies home from the grocery store...

Yes, it is all just one big glob of cookie and frosting.

Sigh...

Enjoy, and Happy Halloween! Keep chocolate away from you puppies and kitties please, nobody likes emergency vet visits.

Hello World,

It has been a while. Why don't we reacquaint ourselves?

My 4th semester of vet school is half over. Plus, my time spent on St. Kitts is also halfway over! Can you believe how quickly it has gone?

This term is going well, it is much more interesting than previous semesters. The courses include: Pharmacology 2, Pathology 2, Clinical Pathology, Epidemiology & Public Health, and finally Mechanisms of Disease. Yes, you counted correctly, that is FIVE classes. Ooooooooof. Two midterms are down... only... a billion more to go. I exaggerate from time to time.

Let's see... what else is new.

The island survived hurricane Earl with no problems at all, but then a few weeks later, with no warning, a tropical depression formed directly over us and stayed for about 6 days leaving the island a little less inviting. Houses flooded, roads flooded, roads washed out, roads became covered in a couple of feet of sand and had to be dug out, and the beaches eroded away quite drastically. Luckily everyone seemed to come out unscathed none the less. Most things returned to normal within a few days, some activities will take longer to rebuild. Most noteworthy to the students is the lack of space for our Friday beach volleyball league. Only 2 of our 6 courts were salvageable leaving 50+ volleyball teams with no where to play. Luckily we have one awesome volleyball league "director" who has been doing everything he can to get the games back in play. Hopefully the oceans will return some more sand and we'll be able to rebuild more courts for next semester.

BIRD UPDATE! Matt reports that 2 doves came back to our porch and sat on the chair where the nest used to be. I saw the fuzzy picture he was able to take, but we still aren't sure if they are the babies who are now adults, or the parents checking out the site for nesting again. Time will tell! I'll keep you all updated. 

Back in school land, things are going well. I'm learning lots of fun clinically-relevant things, which makes school more fun. I can now tie THREE knots in suture using instruments. Pretty cool, right? Oh, and I can read blood work results and make a few diagnoses from the results. It is like solving a puzzle with lots of rules. (If this is high, but that is low, then check this, if it is high then it is this, if not, check something else, if that is low, then it is this.... see how confusing it can get??)

I really should take more pictures. The island is a beautiful place, I just keep forgetting to take my camera out of the drawer. One day....

In other unrelated news, I am going to Europe!!! In between next semester (5th) during the break, so it will be the last week of April and the first week of May in 2011. I am very excited to go have an adventure with my friends. We're planning on going to: London, Venice, Florence, 2 undetermined cities in southern France (possibly Lyon and Nimes, or Marseilles, or somewhere), then to Barcelona. Lots of planning still to come, but I think it will be a lot of fun. I haven't quite figured out how I'll manage without seeing my family or visiting home during those 8 months (because I'll be in St. Kitts for 2 straight semesters, using the break to go to Europe) but we will see. Lots of skyping will have to suffice!

Speaking of home... Zoe and I have devised a list of activities to complete when we both get home. She would have been away for 6 months in India by Christmas, and only 4 for myself. There are lots of good things on that list though. Like going to Ikea for breakfast. And Grocery Outlet. and Sushi. Yes, most of them do revolve around food. We know, we like food, a lot.

And, to create a new section to my blog, for those of your with the attention span long enough to still be reading... the St. Kitts-ism of the week! (aka Joy of St. Kitts of the week, or an Only In St. Kitt's of the week, they will all fall into this category)

So, for the 1st time ever,
Laura's St. Kitts-ism for the week!
..... finding live larva in your applesauce! (bought in sealed containers from the grocery store)

ahhhh island living....

To be fair, it could have been crawling on the packaging and crawled in when I opened it. But still! Larva should not be in your applesauce. Ever.

Pathology is calling my name!! Or maybe it is the midterm on Wednesday.... wish me luck!

Whirlwind

is how my 2 week break felt.

My birthday was yesterday, my Mom's the day before. I'm 24 now, and can no longer pretend to be "just a kid" still. Especially since I'll be a so called doctor in about 2 1/2 years. That is more frightening than being 24 years old. Good thing it is still 2 1/2 years away.


I wish I took at least one picture from my visit at home. Not sure why I didn't. My camera never even left my school backpack. There were many great experiences in those two weeks including but not limited to: my best friend for high school's wedding, visiting family, and two wonderful friends. My how we have all grown up. It is strange to realize that most all my friends are professionals now, or will be in the very near future. Wasn't I just a silly kid in undergrad a few months ago???

Now if only I can kick my immune system to the curb and start over. It is frustrating to spend half my breaks sick with a cold I picked up on the airplane. Anyone know how to improve one's sIgA antibodies??

So many friends are being missed horribly. I am looking forward to Christmas break impatiently, anxiously awaiting the chance to visit friends again. Plus, Zoe will be back from India!!!

First day of 4th semester started today. Otherwise known as 1st day of my 2nd year of vet school. Sort of surreal in that it feels like yesterday that I was starting this whole process.

Jackie looked beautiful on her wedding day. I am so happy for her and Mark. They're a wonderful couple and great friends.

7 days, 4 finals and 3 planes

until I step foot in Oregon again.

Yay!!!

Oh wait, finals. Booooooooo.

I plan on eating, lots of food, very often. Mexican, Chinese, Thai, Sushi, Local Boyz (if I make it to Corvallis) gooooood pizza, goooooood beer, Wendy's, Tillamook cheese, Red Robin, Burgerville, and the list continues. Who wants to join??

Welp, I guess this is how it goes

Tropical Storm Four.

It's a coming! Good thing we're only getting the edges. You can check it out at this website. Some of my classmates thought I was silly for not knowing what webpage to go to for hurricane information. Silly kids, do they not know I am from Oregon??? We get rain, end of story.

New car! Yet to be named, perhaps a quirky obscure 2 letter name is in order?? First came PJ, next comes....

There she is in all her beauty. St. Kitts used car beauty. Yes, that door handle is broken clean off. No biggie, there are still the corners to open the door by. BUT! If you look carefully, you'll notice TWO windshield wipers. Moving on up in the world!

Anyone know anything about car stereos and electrical wiring problems? The radio works when you turn the battery on, but when you start the engine it turns off, and will only turn back on once in a while when it feels like it. I figured it was some sort of wiring issue, but wasn't sure if anyone had dealt with this before and knew how to fix it.

19 days and counting until I land in Oregon! Woo hooo!!!! Better get back to studying....

Lovely views intertwined with disappointment and excitement

This is the view from my apartment building looking down the road of Mattingley. I walk this most mornings to my friends house to catch a ride to class. Her apartment is about where you can no longer see the road. Its a lovely walk most days, this day was no exception.

Last weekend was Trivia Night, put on by an upper semester as a fund raiser. It was fun, but took WAAAAAY too long. Don't worry, we didn't drink all those beers. But we DID come in 2nd place! Go team!

Volleyball Tournament time again. Sadly, there was much disappointment as we, the defending champions, did not even place in the tourney. Sigh.... there is always next term! Notice the sporting of mowhawks by the boys!

This is a few weeks old now, but here is one of the few pictures from our friend Brian's going away dinner. Molly is leaving us so soon too! (Congrats to Molly though!!!)

And finally... MY HAIR IN A PONYTAIL!!! For the first time since... well probably freshman year of college. Crazy, right?

To cut or not to cut... that is the question!

P.S. Matt got a job teaching Judo to the prep school kids 2 days a week starting in September!!!

Zoe up and left Oregon...

for India.


She has been there for a few days now. I miss her. Oddly. Even though we've been living in different countries now for a while, and still are in different countries, it is just different.

So Zoe is doing this awesome 6 month trip, living in rural India volunteering her time for a non-profit organization helping out at an orphanage (where she is living), teaching music and helping out the nurses at a local hospital. Pretty crazy, right?

You all should go check out her blog and read about her adventures thus far. She is pretty amazing for having such initiative, dedication, and just plain guts to do such a thing. Go check her out!

Zoe's Grand Adventure

Go, read, be amazed.

Growing up and letting go in the dark

The birdies have flown the coup. They grew up, learned to fly, and have left our little balcony. Sigh....

Don't worry, they left me a wonderful present. Lots and lots and lots of bird poo on my porch. Not exactly the parting gift I had hoped for, but they are birds after all.

We have been having some crazy thunder and lightning storms this past week. Monday night it was so crazy and stormy the entire island lost power at about 10:30pm and did not regain it until the following evening. I have never been through a storm like that (to my recollection at least) and it was quite something. Our apartment doesn't have any rooms without windows, so there was no avoiding the lightning. I think we stayed up well past midnight watching the lightning trying to count how many lightning bolts we saw touch ground. Or, touch the sky? Do lightning bolts start from the ground and reach the sky? I can't remember from high school science classes. So.... that was fun. And by fun, I mean not very enjoyable. We had to throw quite a bit of stuff from our fridge away as it had spoiled, but luckily it wasn't a ton since we hadn't been grocery shopping recently. I did have fun cleaning up the carton of ice cream that melted all down the side of the freezer and pooled under the fridge.

Classes are still chugging along... I have about 2.5 weeks of class left, then finals. Eeeeek! Getting to go home soon keeps me motivated a bit though, so that is good.

How 'bout those baby birdies, eh?

7/16 They have funny looking stubs of feathers

7/16 Much more aware of their surroundings, they were able to track me as I moved.

7/18 FEATHERS!!! Real ones! At this point they were walking around the nest a little.

7/19 No pictures, but they started flapping their wings a lot while walking around the nest. HUGE thunder storm that night.

7/20 In the morning I startled the birds, and all three (parent and both babies) flew off together, never to come back. Sigh.... no pictures either.

30 days until I fly home!

Birds of a feather...

grow up together?

My prof made me laugh the other day by saying "It's easy! It's a cup of cake! Errr..."
The whole class had a good laugh.

Now for the birdies!

 First day their eyes opened! 7/12

7/12 Stubs of feathers are showing

7/14 Feathers are growing!!!

They grow so fast....

Friday, July 9th

Today, July 11th

What could be better than one baby bird on my porch??

TWO baby birdies!!!!

The second egg hatched today. Momma and Daddy seem to be doing well tending to them. I looked back at my calendar, looks like it took about 14-16 days for the eggs to hatch after all... my previous estimate was a little short. Also, Matt thinks that the Dad bird is here during the day, and Mom at night, based on their coloring/markings. Either way, they seem to be doing a great job. Now, on to the pictures!!!

I think the one at the top is the older one, and the more newly hatched is at the bottom.

Dad is being sure to not wander too far while I'm sneaking my peaks at the babies!