We can rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,and hope does not put us to shame.

Locust Pod

What’s that you’ve got there, David?

Why that’s a roasted locust pod.

A locust pod? I thought locusts are insects!

Yes, but this is the legume, which I think is called the honey locust.

How does it smell?

It’s very pungent, not unlike the smell of a durian. And it sticks to your hands.

How do you eat it?

You have to break apart the tough outer shell first. The guy who sold it had to bust it open with a hefty rock, too! But inside is soft and powdery pulp that you eat.

How does it taste?

First it sucks all the moisture out of your mouth, like trying to down a packet of oyster crackers. But after that, you start to taste its sweetness and the strong flavor.

Would you eat it again?

Only if you paid me to do it.

whisk

Haroon just called me bc he spotted someone selling a whisk. He always seems to make me day. :)

"“The world makes way for the man who knows where he is going.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

purple pie

I crack myself up! It's simply beef pot pie with mashed malanga on top, but look at that color.

pie pans

How excited are you supposed to get about pie pans?! For me, it might be the equivalent of snagging a large umbrella to protect me from the skin-aging sunshine. It was an especially super sa-weet find at the 5th semester sale because I was looking for them.

I'm having an excellent weekend, full of free food. It began yesterday with MP, who is converting to Judaism. He cannot eat the toast, pancakes, or sausage that comes with his breakfast, so I get them! Then, N from Hawaii called me to give me green onions. What a total sweetheart. I went to H's to watch Food Network and eat his delicious pasta casserole. Though, I was saddened that I had to leave before his banana bread was finished baking. I had to go to Golden Dragon restaurant-- the island's bestest!--for free dinner. I had a lime shandy Kubuli and it was killer! Red-faces all around, but it was so much fun!

Oh the simple things

I made baguettes and they turned out totally cute! When I made a starter of yeast, flour, and water to set overnight, I found an entire spoon in the mix the next day!



Check out the pretty fresh-cut flowers for my kitchen!


The maid likes to leave me mangoes sometimes. :)


H claims to have never had a pot pie. His first response: 'It actually looks like a pie! But where's the pot?'


He makes up for his incessant teasing by saving me cake! In a labeled bag!

Fadipe clinic

Some seriously medical business happens here.


The clinic is gorgeous! It was opened in February 2006.


This is the view from the front door.


There are only two floors, but the building sits on a hill. This is the side view from the road.




Yesterday, I visited the Fadipe surgery clinic with AMSA. It was simply a-mazing! The way procedures are run are completely different from the States and I enjoyed the bigger role I am permitted to play.

For instance, the first case was a ten year old with a growth on his penis. He was also circumcised to prevent future incidences. The poor guy was in such agony! A local anesthestic was used for the surrounding tissue, but he had feeling in the penis itself. To exacerbate the situation, Dr. F was teasing the patient to no end: with the foreskin was removed, he said the the penis was chopped in half. That boy cried with such passion!

I held his hand the entire time. There were three volunteers: Chris, Megan, and me. Megan stood far, far away in the corner the entire time. However, as soon as all of three of us walked into the room, the patient was prepped, the staff was ready, and the crying had already begun. Poor guy. I went straight to the table to hold his hand and didn't let go until after it finished.

The next cases were removal of abcesses on a man's face and another on the back of the neck. There was a six year old girl that was actually put asleep for the umbilical hernia removal. The last case was buckshot sprayed allover a man's body.

All in all, in was an excellent opportunity to see, learn, and visit. I'll be back.

Salybia Health Fair

Today, I went to Salybia in Carib Territory where the natives live to volunteer for the group Salybia. It was awesome! I'm exhausted, but there were so many patients and I adored the ones I worked with:

Michael, 21, chest pains that was given antacids and some doctor's orders for healthy living

Ophelia, 53, back pains, headaches, and blackouts, was given something for her weak blood pressure

Rachiel, ?, edema of left foot from previous infection

Brianna, 5, atopic eczema was given corticosteriods and preventive measures for calm the itch.

I loved them! There are so many patients to be seen and only two doctors, so that I end up spending much time talking to them. I love getting a glimpse into their life; thank goodness I've been lucky enough to have people that like to share.

Plus, the people I work with are amazing. The only downside to working with Salybia is time: that one-hour drive each way is long! Also, I know that if I had signed up with AMSA health fair this weekend, I would have snagged a T-shirt for a few hours of work! That's another missed free shirt even. :: sigh ::

In the morning, I went to market with Nick and picked up a pound of marlin for $7EC! I marinated it for the entire day while I was at Salybia, but it was still tough. H, I'll make it up to you, I promise! Though, I still maintain that honey ginger dressing is an okay mix.

Diabetes Clinic

This morning, I went to Portsmouth hospital to shadow Dean Coleman in her diabetes Clinic. My trip was sponsored by REMA, the Ross University Emergency Medicine Association.

It was awesome!

Today was her last visit to see patients, as she will be moving to Miami soon to oversee clinical education. How lucky am I! As a first semester student, I got to interview patients and sit-in on their sessions with the doctor.

Salybia clinic

This is the group that went to the first clinic of the semester. Check out the huge lymphoma we watched be removed. Then, the doc let us stitch him back up! I was so jealous of that girl - she's also a first semester! I snapped that pic.

can opener

I destroyed it; what can I say? That left part was flush with the handle bars when I started using it.

chocolate

Looks great, right? Tastes terrible. I didn't take the time to slowly temper out the bits of cacao and you can feel the grainy texture in your mouth.

By the way, these are the first fruits that I picked off a tree on the side of the road!

dinner

Nothing like a plate of rice to make a homesick girl feel better.

bug bites galore

Bugs that bite: please, please go away! I count 5 on my arms and 15 on my legs right now. Ick.

sugarcane

Today, I had crushed sugarcane juice with lemon zest/juice. It's the bestest cold drink yet!

I yam what I yam

Guess these starchy vegetables that I mixed with onions and peppers!

Market haggling

It's official: I heart haggling prices at the market!

These sugarcane were $3/bag but I got 3/$5. Sco0o0o0re!

Portsmouth market

I went to the market this morning! gots lots o' goodies:

Raw cocoa pods
plantains
bananas - 24/$2
green beans - $2/ handful - this seems to be the going rate?
sugarcane 3/$5
fistfuls of rosemary and thyme
2 kinds of chinese cabbage - with herbs, for $10
cristophene/alligator pear - $5
tomatoes and peppers - for $5
dasheen/taro and yam - for $5

I am certain that I get the "foreigner's" deal, but that's what I get for not looking local. On the other hand, people do mention that "people who look like me" like this or that. Namely, dasheen. (It's true! I do like dasheen back home.) Also, I ask for the price of bananas by calling them 'figs' because that's the term used here. I am excited to absorb the local color of the language.

I suppose I'm a walking advertisement with my big bags of STUFF.

I decided to go with nothng imported this week, which I will assume is much cheaper. Who eats apples and grapes on a tropical island, anyways?

EDIT: Just to be thorough, this is some more stuff that I bought later in the day. I figured it wouldn't be worth that $1-2 in savings to buy eggs far away from home because they come a dozen in a plastic bag; N broke 8 out of 12 when he bought them in Roseau!

eggs - $9/dozen
1/2 lb black forest ham - $11
1/2 lb turkey - $12
white bread - $3.50/loaf

Interestingly, H mentioned that the local bread here is made with LARD. This sounds disgusting and I'm now so much more motivated to make me own.

To digress, I footed the bill when H and I went to Tomatoes Restaurant to buy deli meat, bread, and my order of fries. Apparently, marbled rye bread costs $27/loaf. Ri-dic. Whole Grain Sa-weet Crunch bread is calling my name! I'm excited to fork over $30 for a muffin load pan now!

Locker

My locker has been squatted! Who wants a freshman locker anyways? It was disappointing to arrive on Friday to find the lock had not yet been cut. It was supposed to happen the day before and I had to borrow a friend's locker on for anatomy lab.

Fruits from a truck

I picked up some citrus fruits from the back of a truck on the way on home from school: 4 grapefruits, 2 oranges, 2 hybrid tangerine-orange things, plus one unknown. I'm guessing it's the taro-related malanga. All for $4 EC (2.67 EC = 1 USD). He also has chayote, which I'll pick up later.

Fo0o0o0o0d

I woke up this morning with the urge to make some rugaleh cookies! Yum. Yum. Then I realized that I'm in the Commonwealth of Dominica and I have seriously no cooking supplies. Bo0o0o.

depths of my backpack

My backpack is so big that I just found some crop pants and toothpaste at the bottom of the bag! I've been hiking up and down trails, traveling all over the island with my bottles of water, toothpaste, and pants!

water pitcher

Items that died en route: space saver and my now duct-taped Brita water pitcher. Bo0o0o0!