Saturday, October 11, 2014

Life in Dominica

Well, after a month of being here in Dominica, we are gradually getting used to everything: the bugs, the heat, the humidity, the lack of AC, the scarcity of dairy products, the shortage of grocery items in general, etc.

We live on the main road in Picard, right across the street from the school. It is nice because Jason can come home easily for lunch and dinner sometimes and I can also go hang out in the air-conditioned buildings on campus when I can't handle the heat of our apartment anymore. The downsides are that it is a little noisy here and the apartment is a little older than others in Picard.

It is quite the adventure doing laundry here. Luckily I have a washing machine; lots of people don't. However, it is a long process to do a load of laundry. The washing machine is on our back balcony since we don't have washer hookups. So, first I load the washer with the clothes, put the soap in and all that. Sounds normal right? Then it gets exciting. I pull the hose up from where it is hanging on a looped shoelace down below and put it in the top of the washer. Then I run outside and down the stairs to the backyard to turn on the water. I wait down there and listen until I hear the washer start because that's when I know it has enough water. I go back upstairs and pull the hose out of the top of the washer and hang it over the side of the balcony again. I go do something else for about 10 minutes until I hear the water drain out of the washer and the washer stop moving. Then it's time for the rinse cycle. I go put the hose in the top of the washer again, run downstairs, turn on the water, wait until I hear it start, run back upstairs, and take the hose out. Then I wait until I hear the water drain out again and do the whole process again for the second rinse cycle. I never knew a washer had two rinse cycles until I had to fill it up by hand. :) Once the washer is done, I have to hang the wash on the lines on our balcony to dry hoping that it doesn't rain too hard that day. Anyway, that's the process. I have a new appreciation for clothes pins and washer hookups among other things. Hopefully I can get a new hose soon that will hook to the back of the washer and I just have to turn on the water once.

Anyway, I don't mean to complain. We really are doing well and enjoying our time here. Some days are definitely overwhelming and make me miss the conveniences we have in the States, but I have decided that I need to be more positive about our time here. The island is beautiful and it definitely has its perks. We have beautiful sunsets over the Caribbean Sea, beautiful views, etc. This very morning, our little family walked down to the beach for an early morning swim. The water felt so nice; it wasn't even cold. That's my kind of ocean swimming. :)

The kids are both doing well. They are both FINALLY getting over their coughs. Savannah is growing like crazy and becoming quite a cute chubby baby. She loves smiling when people smile at her and she likes to be on her tummy. William is doing well too. He is learning new words every day. It's fun to hear him talk. His favorite word is still "tractor," but he also says, "apple," "bowl," "bread," "cracker," "wawa," "bed," "truck," "car," "McQueen," "Nana" (Savannah), "baby," "ball," "cow," "dog," "hat," "toes," "eyes," "nose," "ears" and others I'm sure I'm forgetting. He also does the animal sounds for cows, horses, sheep, dogs, cats, chickens, ducks, elephants, and lions. His Aunt Camilla taught him most of those before we left Utah. He will still surprise me with new animal sounds that I didn't know that he knew. :) We'll be reading a book and he'll see the animal and start making its noise. It's pretty cute. Oh, like monkey. He does a good monkey sound too.

Well, I'm going to try to be more consistent about updating this blog to record and share our adventures here on the island of Dominica, but that's all for now, folks.

William won't go to sleep unless I lie down with him,
 so sometimes Savannah falls asleep there too cuddling with me.
You can see the empty space where I was before I got up to take the picture.

She loves kicking her legs. Sorry, I can't figure out how to rotate this video.
William threw diapers all over Savannah one day while she was napping.
He loves his Mater truck from Grandma Annie

Skipping rocks on the Caribbean Sea