Break is almost here! Countdown: 3 days

FAREWELL, SEMESTER 1!! (or almost..)
I can't believe that semester 1 is almost over and we have been in Dominica now for almost 4 months. Time has just flew by!! Martin wrote his 3rd mini on Thursday of last week, and has one more final exam to write on Tuesday. He is studying hard for that one, because its cumulative!! I (and he) cannot WAIT until the break. We have just over two weeks until Semester 2 begins, so we will finally have a chance to do some things on the island together. Beach, snorkeling, cliff jumping, etc. etc. so many options!! The students are ready for a break- they are starting to go a bit nuts! I suppose I don't blame them when class, anatomy lab, studying flash cards, and reading textbooks is your entire life for 4 months straight.. I would be going crazy too (but that would have happened a long time ago!)

Here are some updates on my end:

I LOVE THESE KIDS!
Inlightin was awesome yesterday and the week before last! Yesterday we did an activity called "helping hands". The kids all traced their hands out of paper and wrote positive, respectful words like "love, peace, joy" etc. They also decorated the hands with rings, nail polish, and fun designs. They taped them around the plate and wrote their name and the date. It was a fun activity, and they all really enjoyed it!!
The mural and instrument activities were really awesome too. I am so impressed with their focus and creativity when it comes to arts and crafts projects!!
Here are some pictures (taken by me and a few of the kids..they love playing with my camera!)








SHHH.....
I went on an awesome trip to Secret Beach with my usual "Thursday day trip" group. It is my favourite place to swim on the island so far. The water is so clear that you can see exactly where there are rocks, which makes it easy to avoid them! I took the boat there from Coconut Beach, and then kayaked back. It was fun, but it wore my muscles out! I took one of the kids out on the kayak too and she loved it :)
Here are a few pictures of Secret Beach:





LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!
Yesterday we did a photoshoot with a very talented photographer named Genoveva Wayment. Her husband is a student and they are moving to the Bahamas very soon. I am so glad she could fit us into her busy schedule. Martin and I had a lot of fun! We felt like models :) Photos to come soon!!


Peace, love, happiness, (and art),

Stef xoxo

April Fools!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyone do an awesome prank??? I didn't.... but Martin is gone for a couple hours...hmmmm ;) Shall I introduce Mr. Saran wrap to Mr. toilet seat perhaps???? ;)

Okay, so once again I must apologize for my crappy-ness with updating the blog! I have no excuse... at all. I am just lazy sometimes!!

Nothing much has happened in the last little while- I have been dabbling in snorkeling, which I never thought I would love in a thousand years (I used to hate sharing my swimming space with fish). I actually do love it though!! It is amazing to see, if the conditions are good. Unfortunately, the last two attempts we made didn't really work out so well! First attempt, we went on a trip to Champagne Bay and Scott's Head. We did get a chance to swim in Champagne Bay which was INCREDIBLE! The volcanoes create these bubbles which are fascinating to swim in. And there's beautiful fish :) The water was a bit murky, so we couldn't see everything. The water at Scott's Head unfortunately was far too rough to swim in. Jenn and Victor (our transport driver) were brave enough to go in, but I hesitated, because at one point the water pushed me back (on my back) across a bed of rocks to shore.. yay... that was fun! We did see a turtle swimming though, which was really cool to see. I want to definitely go back to Scott's Head though! Let's hope the conditions will be better!
Second attempt resulted in pure craziness!! The girls and I (Jenn and Grace) decided that we would try at the "PBH", which is the beach in Picard, where we all live. Conditions again were not ideal! The waves were just HUGE! So what did we do?? As a throwback to our childhood, we decided it would be awesome to ride the waves a little bit.. so I saw this massive wave coming at me, so I swam over to it, turned around, and just let it take me to shore...well, it kinda sucked me down which was totally weird and a bit scary!! For a split second, drowning definitely entered my mind. But I eventually swam back up and decided that my wave adventure was probably over after that one! Just got some watery ears, salt water up my nose, and a great story for the blog! I think Mother Nature reminded me that it was WAY bigger and WAY more powerful than me. Wave: "1", Stefanie: "big fat zero". I think the other girls had a better experience :)

So now I'll "surf away" to another subject (cheesy much??)

As some of you may or may not know (depending on whether you know me personally, or are just snooping on my blog..which is totally cool as long as you don't post creepy nude pictures of yourself or something...and no, that is NOT an invitation to do so..) I volunteer with an organization called InLightIn, which was started by a spouse a while back, who worked with youth back home. It is an after-school activities program for Dominican kids. Basically we play games, do crafts, and just hang out with them. Oh, also, we feed them (which is their fave part I am sure!) Usually we make spaghetti or mac and cheese (which they LOVE!)
This week I am planning on doing a mural with them, which I think they will really enjoy. They have an issue with respecting each other sometimes, so we might make that the theme!!

Here are some pics:

Using the new markers (thanks Mom!!)




Me and one of the little girls:



One of the boys (and Tricia, one of the leaders, in the background):



So that's about all the updates I have!!! Martin is coming home with pizza soon, so I am excited about that, though it won't be as good as the homemade pizza he and Asif made :)



Peace, Love, Happiness (and Pizza),

-Stef xoxo