Camping on the Peninsula

Some mornings you wake up and wonder 'what the heck am I doing here?!?'
.....this was not one of those mornings

PURA VIDA

I have been accepted into the VIDA service program during out August break!!! As vet students we travel to Nicaragua and Honduras to explore new culture, volunteer services, practice mad skills, and wrangle their animals. Should be a blast!!!!!! They support sustainable development and believe in empowering communities by assisting and supporting other non-profit organizations that are based in the communities we service. The patients then have continued follow-up and support after the medical mission team has gone back home. Each year VIDA continues to advance the causes of global health care and animal welfare through our pre-veterinary, pre-medical, and pre-dental programs. Countless lives have been changed for the better due to the medical, dental, and veterinary care and education provided to these communities. We also need continued support from people like you as well. If anyone has any materials that I can bring to donate to the clinic or clients I would LOVE the opportunity to bring materials to that part of the world. I am also going to come up with a cunning fundraiser to help raise funds for the adventure... Until the plan is revealed you can still sponsor me, visit (http://www.vidavolunteertravel.org/payment.php#paynow) Fill in my name, and trip code is RNH082110.

~Pura Vida~

keep on keepin' on

Greetings!!! It has been beyond far too long since our last encounter and life is much the same and incredibly different at the same time. Time has been flying by and I try as best I can to reach out and grab as much valuable information as possible. School is getting more exciting as we are now allowed to play with all kinds of fun toys like anesthesia machines that can make you sleepy, sharps that can cause big ouches, and Xrays that can give you cancer just to name a few. Luckily, over the past year and a half I have explored every corner of this beautiful country and experienced all kinds of crazy new things. So now it just might be time to really get down to business, haha.

Roxi has been living the island life for a year now and she has adjusted beautifully. Our days are filled with adventures as she loves to hang out in the back of my jeep where-ever I go. Her favorite target of obsession are the African Green Vervet Monkeys... GIANT squirrels as far as she can deduce. This got me in a funny situation not too long ago. I was training the high court judge's dog Dixen, a young shepherd/pressa mix. I brought Roxi in for some socialization and to try to show Dixen how much fun it is to chase the monkeys out of the yard. Before I knew it Rox had jumped over a 7 foot cinderblock wall into the neighbors yard after the monkeys. Um, yeah, it was the Prime Minister's yard, guarded by 2 soldiers with semiautomatic weapons. And there was a ditch on the other side so it had become a 9 foot obstical for my crazy monkey chaser to get back over. Oops. Luck was on my side. I got on top of the wall and Roxi still trusted me to catch her and pull her up the rest of the way. I went back to training Dixen and turned around to Roxi walking along the wall 7 feet in the air. Of course then I watched, and cringed, as she lept right off the wall (ouch!) and pranced over to me exceedingly proud of her new game. Whew!

Charlie has grown into the most handsome Kittitian Coconut Retriever ever. A few think he's 'too pretty to be a boy' haha. He was diagnosed with elbow dysplasia in his right limb late last year. I am still tracking down more information to see if he is a good surgery candidate so fingers are definitely crossed. Of course he's still loving life and plays fetch like a ball obsessed border collie, only this guy has an 'off' switch =-P

Ramblings of a wondering soul

This past weekend actually marked the one year anniversary from one of the most pivotal moments of my life. I've learned more about myself and others in the past year than I ever thought I wanted or needed to know. Most people would probably assume my experience on the Appalachian Trail would fall into this category, and it does to some extent, but the physical and emotional challenges I met on the trail were miniscule in comparison, truly an insain concept.

I go through life with energy and passion but what many may not realize it that I am also fairly lazy when it comes to reflecting upon my relationships with others. I experience life as it comes and participate as I can. It is not that I dont care if I piss someone off, I do, but I dont take the time to appreciate those whom I care about. I have an independant facade that fools just about everyone. I don't share much of myself with others, I never used to have much to share. Now it is a different story but what I have learned is to shrink even further into my cocoon. Now I have a reason not to trust.

I've learned that first impressions make a difference and never trust what you see. My feet have learned to run; I run far and cycle fast, it clears my mind. My hands have learned to play guitar; I have to make my own music now, I dont have anyone to play for but myself. My heart has learned to hurt in places I never imagined possible, and the meaning of love. My mind has learned not to fall in love again, there's no place to go but down. I've learned not let down my guard, ever.

Inever before understood why friends would get so caught up in relationships and break ups. Thru high school it all seemed so superficial (exept for two and they are happily married as if from a story book). In college there were all kinds. I found myself in my first real relationship. In short, I fell in love. But we were still kids so I didnt really pay attention to what was going on. It was fun and exciting, daring and sensual but still didnt make sense. I grew up, got dull, and forgot I was in love. To fathom what my life was like 5 years before that pivotal moment meant nothing to me.

laughing @ ur neighbors

Within 15 hours I went through 2 1/2 cars. pajero #1 doesn't start, the starter broke earlier in the week, but the fun part is the clutch went too. Im talking like pumping 5-6 times hardly helped. So that was exciting because it began while I was out on the peninsula at 2 saturday night. John and I were moving speakers......we shattered the back window, oops. So, I was amaizingly able to make it all the way back to the house way up on the mountain and then stalled the very last time I had to shift to back up in the yard. So it seems logical to use pajero #2 to pull pajero #1 back up the slope so it can roll back out to start again. It wont start either.... and it wont give me the key back so I am forced to leave it sitting there in aux so the battery was then totally drained by morning. Fabulous. Now sunday comes around and Im stranded on the mountain with 6 dogs and the "Dude" Im house sitting for flys in at 3. john finally comes to the rescue at 2pm. So i pick up my samurai, it thankfully starts, great. I pick up "Dude" at the aport. he is of course expecting his truck to be there but instead I have to explain why he has no cars, and a busted window. He left the island with 2 working pajeros and returns to 0 and some broken glass, but the dog is fabulous which is the important thing. I drive all the way up the mountain and my car is now blowing blue smoke and very not happy. i have no choice but to toss the last of the dogs and my stuff in the back and we limp back down the mountain to find out my radiator cracked and I just drove up a mountain with NO coolant. At this point I am thrilled, I was moments away from destroying my engine for all I knew. Finishing up dropping all the dogs back at their respective houses, Im at john's telling him my tale of wo and one of his dogs pisses on my foot. At this point I very much need a drink and it's the night before school starts..... a school night. What did I do? Ziggy's. Definitly.

my roommates have (now unhappy) "dude" in class and he wasted no time in telling the entire class about his rediculous situation. they could hardly restrain themselves knowing exactly who managed to do all of this in not more than 15 hours. yes, the assistant dean wants my head on a platter. the interresting part is that the window is the only thing I actually broke. Everything else was an unfortunate series of events and the window was the icing on the cake.

my brother's first question was: seriously?
his second was: so do you still go to school there?

in the end I was amused so I thought Id share =-)

Mush

Two meanings seem to apply at this particular moment. A description of my brain as well as the encouragement to go faster, as is a dog team. Final exams make sense form an academic point of view but end up having a far greater consequence then simply assessing a student's learned knowledge. They ensure that you never forget you are in grad school and your last memory of the semester is dull and humbling. Being on a tropical island certainly helps the situation but in some ways it makes the contrast more apparent. I have seen 84 and sunny for eight months and will be going home to winter. I missed spring, summer, and fall. I know that's just the way the ball bounces but my perception of a home to go back to is slowly fading. I've been living in so many different places since high school that I have less and less to go back to. It is no longer a perfect little picture of close memories and friends. The friends have moved to every corner of the globe and the memories are fading.

Food Coma

Thanksgiving is not an actual holiday here on St. Kitts. It hardly feels like a holiday at all because we haven't skipped a beat in school. Classes pushed on as we are all preparing for finals ahead. Next week the beatings commence. Instead of a single day of thanks, we have turned this holiday into a week of feasts. Tuesday was a dinner hosted by Banfield as corporate bribery scheme that was well worth the drive across town. Wednesday I made a point to not restrain my Nutella consumption. And today was an incredible pot luck that could not be beat. I believe my glandular stomach has actually remained fully distended for a total of 72 hours. This is truly a feat only surpassed by my award winning accomplishments on the Appalachian Trail. In fact, that was a favorite part of mine. Having the ability to consume and entire pizza without seriously challenging my cardiac sphincter is really something to be proud of in some social circles.

Oscar the foster pup has been adopted, YAY!! A Ross Grad saw him on the internet and a current student will be flying him to the states for Xmas. He has really become a great kid. I'm sure he will miss his partner in crime (Charlie) but you can't beat a forever home from Santa!