Before getting on the with blogging challenge, I have a very special announcement:
When I started this blog last June in preparation for moving to Dominica I never imagined that blogging would become such a big part of my daily life. Thank you to all those who have been faithful followers of my Priceless Adventure for your encouraging words and comments along the way. I couldn't have done it with you!
Now, without further ado, I present Day Three of
Day Three- How does the weather affect you?
The weather affects every last thing about my life here in Dominica. When it's hot, it's boiling. When it's raining, it's pouring. For the first few months I was here people would say that it would cool down in the winter but I refused to believe them. The heat made me grumpy. I hated leaving the house because it meant walking through the heat or rain down a dirty muddy road.
And then we came back from Christmas break. It turned out everyone was right! For the months of January, February, and March the island is significantly cooler. You can walk to campus without sweating your make-up off. You can sleep through the night without waking up in a sweat. It was a huge revelation, and changed my opinion of this place.
Something else I've learned is that even if the temperatures are highly predictable "rain" is its own independent variable. Here on the island "rain" does not equate with "cool." Sometimes, all the rain does is make it even hotter because the humidity skyrockets through the roof. And you never know when it's going to downpour. There need not be clouds in the sky for rain to fall. It's no use checking the daily weather forecasts because there is almost always at least a 20% chance of rain. You learn to always, always carry an umbrella or else risk being caught in a downpour.
The weather here is just another part of life on a tropical island. Some days I love it, some days I hate it. But in the end I'm glad to be here.
This week has been miserably hot. Burning forehead, sweat dripping down my back, even the AC only takes the edge off hot. It's 11:00 at night, and the only reason I'm not sweating is because I have a fan blasting 4 ft away. In my year of living in Dominica, I have discovered that I can pretty much predict the weather on any given day based on the following information.
"But what about the rain?" you ask. From my experience, if it was hot before it rained it will be hot after it rains. This chart is 99.9% accurate, I guarantee it or your money back. Why else would Dominica be the 10th least populated country in the world?!
3 things to be happy about today: 1) my classes are done!
I feel like summer vacation can finally begin. Getting a masters degree is no joke. 2) my website is done!
After many many hours of hard work my global learning project website is finally done. Want to check it out? www.globablog.com 3) the internet is back on!
For most of this week, the internet was out at my house. It was not so fun dragging my laptop up to campus so I could finish up writing papers and my website.
The bad news is that there is another storm coming in a few days. When I say storm, I really mean possible hurricane. Check this out:
via Stormcarib
I've never been one to really check the weather, but hurricanes scare me. Dave at Stormcarib says this wave gives off a bad vibe. Eek. Storm, Tropical Storm, or Hurricane, any way around it we will probably lose internet, water, and power at some point. Guess I need to start filling those water bottles!
I have my own personal mud run 2 or 3 times a week. Also known as: My Walk to Campus. This picture is what Moo Cow Trail looks like on the average rainy day, like today. I wish I had a picture of what it looks like on a really rainy day to share with you. Just imagine the puddles overtaking the entire road, and flowing downhill. It never occurred to me that when we moved to the Caribbean, we were actually moving to a tropical rain forest, but that is exactly what Dominica is. A tropical rain forest. Betcha didn't know that!
The good news is that very soon, we will be leaving Moo Cow for Lizard Trail! Chris and I decided to, well more like Chris gave in and let me, move closer to campus. It's going to be more money per month, but we are going to get a much nicer apartment with air conditioning in both rooms, real couches, and a walk in closet! A far cry better than where we are now. Anyone remember my Bad Bed post? This is a big improvement!
Yesterday a local says to me, "Put away your umbrella, it's just Dominican snow!"
Do people who live in snowy parts of the world use umbrellas to keep it off them? Or do they just let it fall on their clothes and melt? I guess I've been rather weather-spoiled living in California.
Thank you Target Online for showing me your fabulous collection of rain boots! I think I need a pair for my long, muddy walks to school on rainy days. Especially since they are only 24.95, and BOGO! The only problem is, which pair?!
Never have I ever been so close to a Hurricane before. Tomas is knocking on our door.
You can see Dominica is inside the "scary" circle right now. Funnily enough, it's not raining outside right now, just windy. Although, it does look rather foreboding. They shut the school down and sent everyone home. We are pretty lucky, and our apartments have a generator so at least we will have power tonight. Wish us luck!
It's rained in Dominica before. It's rained in California before. Never have I ever seen rain like this for so long. Sure, every now and then you might get an intense thunderstorm with a downpour. The rain here though, it goes in every direction, it pounds, it pours, it dumps. Yesterday morning when I left the house I literally had to splash through the river our road had become. There were no puddles to walk around because it was one large flowing stream. Now the rain has let up some, but it's been continuously coming down for the last 48 hours. The only bonus is that the mercury has dropped. Ironically, I'm still just as wet as soon I head outside : /
There's a saying here at Ross that the days may go slowly, but the weeks fly by. How true that has been! My week was full of outings and adventure.
Monday: I got up early for the free shopping trip to Roseau. The Ross Spouse Organization pays for a taxi to pick us up at the school library and then drive us to the capital of Dominica, Roseau, which is an hour away. We stopped at the Coke Factory where you can get a case of soda for about 1EC a bottle, which is great but they didn't have any Diet or Coke Light. Too bad so sad. Once we got to Roseau our wonderful driver Bruno took us from store to store, helping us load up our groceries as we went. I wish I had gotten a picture of the van on our way back.. it was jam packed with bags! The other great thing was that we each got dropped off at our apartment when it was over. So you could buy as much as you like, not as much as you could carry. I spent about 1,000EC which my handy dandy converter tells me is 370US. I know this sounds like a lot, but I basically bought what I thought would be what we need for the month, other than produce. Hopefully I guessed right because the next Roseau trip isn't for a month!
Tuesday: I went to the prep school early to meet with the director because she said she had a tutoring job for me. It is such a tiny school! So, so different than Fairmont. The director then talked me into volunteering once a week, hinting that if I did I would get tutoring jobs. I agreed and she sent my phone number to a parent, and I got an afternoon job. I have dreamed of this situation for years! How great it would be to tutor in the afternoons for money, but not have to teach all day. I'm so lucky! I'm not going to make the same rate as in the states, but I will make 5 times as much as any other job I could get here.. so I'm happy. The rest of the day I hung out with friends and went to the pool!
Wednesday: Our laundry came back. There aren't laundromats here, so when the bags are full I call up Hermina and she comes and picks up our laundry and drops it off the next morning. It costs about 7US dollars a load. Everything is folded nicely and smells great when it comes back!
Wednesday was also our trip to Bense Pool. It was a short hike down to an amazing pool and waterfall. I made a video from the trip, but what I didn't get on tape was the natural water slide that you could take down from above which shoots you out at the waterfall. It was a really fun adventure!
Thursday: It was ridiculously hot. I spent the majority of the day hiding out in the CAC playing board games. The CAC is like a rec center, with big TV's, pool tables, video games, and mostly importantly: air conditioning. Then it was off to the Scuba Social, and then the girls game night/clothing swap.
Friday: Up early again to go to the Moucherie Rum Distillery. The tour was okay, they showed us the 19th century machines they use to crush the sugar cane, and the boilers they use to extract the alcohol.
The best part was the end when we got to do a tasting. The guide brought us to a table of Rum and let us try whatever we wanted!
Saturday: Bright and early we took a cab to the market. Very oddly, there is next to nothing in produce at the local stores, you can only get it at the Saturday Morning market between 6 and 10am. I came home with a huge bag of fruits and vegetables for less than 10US dollars. Pretty awesome. I even found basil! So we had creamy pesto pasta for dinner last night, and it was delicious. Also, I went to a "garage sale" where the 4th semesters who are leaving in December started selling the things they aren't taking with them. I scored on a rug, bug spray, and several kitchen gadgets. Mostly importantly, an oven thermometer because my oven is measured in Celsius. Now, if I could only figure out how to turn the oven on...
Today/Sunday: I was pretty excited about going to the beach today, but about noon it started with the thunder and lightning. Hurricane Julia ruined my plans. Knock on wood, hurricanes usually pass right by our little island and tend to hit the more northern islands, but we still get plenty of rain as they go by. Instead of beaching, I spent time Skyping my mom and Kristen and then went to the CAC to play some games and watch a movie. Then I made some yummy homemade cheesy chicken and broccoli rice for dinner. My dinners have improved dramatically in the last few weeks as I collect more spices and staples in my cupboards.
All in all, it was a great week. Chris has his first test tomorrow, and is still up studying. Wish him luck!
What a lazy, rainy Sunday here in Dominica. I spent most of the day catching up on The Real Housewives of New Jersey, and then reading. That show cracks me up. I don't know who annoys me more, Danielle from NJ or Kelly from NY. It rained on and off all day.. but that doesn't mean it was much cooler. I tried to take a video of the rain... but it might be too small for you to really see.
The good news is that I finally made a decent dinner! Homemade mac and cheese, Katie-style. Milk here is either powdered, or boxed. I went with the boxed milk that has probably been sitting on the shelf for months, but it worked! I cooked the mac and drained it. Then I used the same pan to saute some onions and hot dogs in butter. I know what you're thinking, does she put hot dogs in everything? And the answer is: only when it's the only meat available. Although, I do think hot dogs and mac really do go together. Once they were nice and browned I added the flour to make my roux and added the weird warm boxed milk. When it started simmering I threw in my crumbled cheddar cheese, added the mac and stirred. Viola! Served with a little fresh onion on top, it was the best meal I've had in Dominica yet!
Tomorrow is Chris's first official day of school. I don't think either of us are quite prepared for what's ahead.. but that's part of the adventure!
Hi, my name is Katie! I'm a lover of graphic and web design, educator, and live in the CaribbeanCalifornia Michigan with my med school husband & our kitty cat. Life isn't perfect, but it's wonderful!
