Night of the Giant Centipede...Updated!

So It was a typical Sunday evening, Aaron and Lenny were practicing doing patient interviews over at the Riley Place (the next apartment over) and I was making supper. Aaron came home and we ate. Then after we were outside on the porch talking to Lenny, when all of a sudden Lenny says "holy crap Aaron look at this....GO GET YOUR RAID!" So I ran in the house and got our raid, unbeknownst as to why at the time, then Aaron comes running in and I tried to hand the raid to him but he ran past me to get his camera. So I went back out and handed Lenny the raid and that is when I first saw it.

You know those tiny little centipedes we have back home that hide under a rock, this was nothing like that. This thing was 8 or 9 inches long(and I promise you I am NOT exaggerating) and FAST. Brad if you're reading this, it reminded me of a snake with legs, it was awful, I thought of you and Gram both when I saw it. So add that to your list of things to stay the heck away from! I sure did! They can bite you and inject venom, these aren't your small run of the mill centipedes these things are carnivores, and Lenny found it only a few feet from our door!! Now don't worry too much Gram:), to a healthy human the venom usually doesn't do much, I've just heard the bites are very painful and you usually have some swelling. Lenny sprayed it with about half a can of raid and then it finally started to slow down. It had come to a stop and was just laying in the road when Norman (our landlords husband, they live above us) came down and chopped it in half with his knife. I was CREEPED OUT! Aaron came in and started checking the house immediately, all the corners, and window sills, under the bed, in the bed, behind the bed, everywhere. He claims he was checking for me, but I think he may have been a little creeped out too!

I am happy to say that I didn't have bad dreams about it like I was sure I would, however every time I woke up I had a very hard time getting back to sleep and I was scared to move. I'm hoping that tonight I will sleep better, after Aaron checks the the house again that is ;) I'll post the video soon.. and scare you all!

Here's the dreaded video!

Chickens and Rainbows

Friday Andrea and I walked to school cause we thought there was an RSO (Ross spouse organization) meeting, then we were going to meet the guys and watch this weeks football game. Well there was no meeting, and we decided it was way to hot to walk all the way back home so we went to the activity center and we were just going to hang out.

Luckily we ended up running into another spouse and we decided to play a game of Ticket to Ride! Unfortunately I lost, again! Andrea won again though so she was excited! Then we waited for the guys to get done with class and we went to watch the football game. It was pretty intense! Then Aaron and I went out to dinner at a beautiful restaurant called Riverside. It was a nice evening.

Saturday morning Aaron and I got up early to go to the market for some fresh fruits and veggies, I have never experienced anything like it! I had a lot of fun!

And I was really happy cause we got some coconuts that a man had cut and we got to drink the water with a straw! It was sooo good! I love fresh coconut!

Yesterday I went on a trip to a place called Crescent Moon Cabins. They have a green house, livestock, pool, Library, restraunt, and a Montessori school, just to name a few of the things on their property. It was very relaxing. My only mistake was not taking dramamine. I was fine for most of the ride but the last 20 minutes were awful, for everyone.

It felt like we were going straight down and the turns were very very sharp and one right ofter

another. Even people who didn't normally get car sick didn't feel well after that ride. So unfortunately

I had a headache all day. It was still a great trip even though I wasn't feeling the best, how can any

day be a bad day when you can see a view like the one from the cabins looking out to the sea?

I ended up taking a small nap when I got home, Aaron was at a tutor session and I didn't

have to make supper cause it was a leftover night, and I was exhausted! When Aaron got home we

ate dinner and then watched movie. It was a pretty low key evening, which was wonderful since I still

had a headache.

This morning I made Pancakes and topped them with fresh bananas, one of our purchases from the market!

It just started to rain on the clothes I just washed and hung out to dry.... yay! I hope all of you

are having a great Sunday! I love you and miss you!

Here are a few other Pictures to look at:

This is one of the road signs on campus...I thought it was funny

This was a Double rainbow that happened earlier in the week. The top one is very faint but its there

This man lives across from us, he eats there every night and that chicken sits there and waits for him to throw her some food. It is the sweetest thing cause if she doesn't show up the man walks around and looks for her.

My first week on the Island

I just got back from playing games with the spouses. It was so much fun! I played a game called ticket to ride. I'd never even heard of it before but now I want it! I can not believe i've been here for a week already! WOW has it flown by! It just doesn't feel like its been a whole week! lol.

I went on the Aba Wavine hike last Thursday, with our neighbor Andrea, and it was so much fun. Most of it was was climbing pretty much straight up and down. I've done climbing before but I've always had a harness, so it was kind of scary to just be hanging on to the side of this cliff and not actually be attached! The beach there was unbelievably gorgeous the the pictures I took didn't do it justice! It was also nice to meet some more people. Everyone I have met here is so helpful and they give me tips on where to get the best groceries and the places not to buy them, and pretty much everything. So it is really nice how everyone really tried to make you feel at home as much as possible.

Aaron and Lenny (our neighbors) play on a flag football team, so on Friday evening they had a game. It was fun to watch, and Andrea(Lenny's wife) really gets into it, half the fun is listen

ing to her! Aaron end

ed up getting hit in the mouth- I told him to stop mouthing off ;), it was an accident by one of the other teams players, but he's got a nice gash on the inside of his cheek now.

Saturday Aaron, Andrea and I went to Roseau and went to the market and some bigger grocery stores. Roseau is a bigger city them where we live so you can find certain things there cheaper. There are also things that you may not be able to find here in Portsmouth that Roseau may have. One thing I've learned that I have heard from pretty much everyone is that if you find something you like stock up cause you may not see it again for weeks or months at a time. Roseau was an adventure! Ross arranges transportation so when you get there you only have a couple hours to go where you need to and get what you need. I can't imagine what wold have happened if Andrea hadn't been there to guide me! She knew just where to go and gave me an idea of what kinds of things to get there and what to just get here. You can't take your bags into the stores there, each store has cubbies that are numbered and the person behind the counter gives you a card with the number of your cubby and then you return after you shop and get your bags back. I thought that was interesting, it's definitely got to d

eter theft. After we got home we went and had lunch at KFC, yup we have one of those! Then Aaron wet to school to study and the rest of us walked to Tina's, our local grocery store, then walked home. I was exhasted! I slept well that night!

Then Sunday Aaron got up and went to school. Andrea and Lenny invited me to go have a picnic at the beach for lunch so Aaron met us and we all ate together then we swam in the beautiful Caribbean sea. It was so nice, the water was just right not too hot or cold. I did end up getting a slight

sunburn, but not nearly as bad as some of the ones I've had before! It was fun, but again when I got home I was very very tired!

Monday was a mellow day, which actually was nice, since the weekend was so busy. I mostly cleaned the apartment. I scrubbed the bathroom from top to bottom, looks much better now! and I swept and mopped the whole place. That is pretty much something that needs to happen daily, it gets dirty so fast cause of the sand and dirt/gravel roads. And I also do a sweep around the house with bug spray daily, we have these tiny little ants and they were just all over when I first got here, its a little better now, but they are still here. I need some Terro! I also leave some cornmeal out in a few places cause they take it back to the nest and eat it but they can't digest it so they die, that has seemed to help quite a bit.

That brings us to today, I cleaned this mornig then we and played games. Sounds pretty bland I'm sure, but it was a fun day! Now I better go make supper!

I'm leaving on a jet plane.....

My journey started at 5:55 Monday morning, 5 minutes before my alarm. I got up and ready. We got to the airport at about 8:30 and so I proceaded to check in. They asked how many bags I had to check and tried to charge me 50bucks for a second bag. I asked if they could be sure cause I had just called American Airlines 2 or 3 days before to make sure I met all the specifications and they told me that i could have 2 checked bags at 50lbs each and 1 carry on. So it took them about 20 minutes but they finally waved the fee cause I was right. Then gram, gramps, and I went to find a seat. All of a sudden I hear a little voice squeal "HI!" Mom, Sarah and Little Monkey (Mia) had arrived. We sat and watched Mia try to run off, she was the comic relief we all needed that morning. Then it came time for me to go through security, that is when the tears started. I was hard to leave, harder than I had imagined it would be.

My flight to Dallas was good. The flight to San Juan wasn't as good. If that had been my first flight I don't think I'd ever get on a plane again, the first 2.5 hours was very, VERY rough. It smoothed out for a bit but then got rough again for the rest of the flight. I did get to see the most beautiful sunset ever on that flight, so that makes up for some of the turbulence...lol! When I got my bags and was headed to the hotel I noticed that one of them was pulling funny, and when I looked a little more closely I realized one of the wheels was broken so I was literally dragging the suitcase. To get to the hotel I had to walk up a really big ramp...dragging the suit cases with me. I checked in and got to my room and tried to Skype home only to realize the internet wasn't working in my room, so I went to the restaurant to eat and to call people. Needless to say I went to bed very early that night I was exhausted! I got up early the next morning and got breakfast then went and checked in and went through security. Then I waited and waited for my turn to board. Finally it was my turn and we took off for my final destination Dominica. I had been so nervous to fly over water but it was the most beautiful flight I had ever been on! When we landed I had butterflies in my stomach! I made it through customs no problem and then got my bags and went out the door and found Aaron waiting for me!! We were both relieved that I was there. We then started the long and twisty and VERY narrow ride home. I'm not gonna lie, I was terrified we were going to get into an accident, however we made it alive. We had to go to the store and get some pillows. Andrea, our neighbor made us dinner which was delicious. I, however was extremely tired and overwhelmed with everything.

I went to bed early that night, but I just ended up laying there, cause of all the new noises and the new place. I did finally fall asleep and what felt like minutes later I woke up to the sound of a rooster! I spent my first day here cleaning and rearranging the apartment so it looks more like a home rather than a bachelor pad, it was a challenge but it looks great now... Aaron was even impressed...lol.

That brings you up to speed on what has been going on in the last 72 hours! Today I am going on a hike with Andrea and a few other girls. I'm really excited! I'll post more pictures when I get back.

Love you and miss you!