Wednesday afternoon

I'll start off with some photos from the campus of Ross University School of Medicine located in Picard, Portsmouth, Commonwealth of Dominica, West Indies. The first one is Classroom 5, one of several large classrooms holding several hundred people. As you can see there are AV monitors hanging everywhere to be able to see the professors presentations. There are at least two video cameras set up both recording the lectures for later review and broadcast into other classrooms for overflow crowds.

The next image is a shot down hill to the Campus Activities Center across the top of the old sugar cane mill. You can see the old water wheel and some of the concrete and stone aquaduct. Apparently the British and French fought several wars over control of these mills. Hopefully I don't find any unexploded cannonballs.









This is a shot looking generally northeast. Gross Anatomy is in the low building front and center. The 2 story building in the back right houses classrooms, private study rooms, etc. Low building on left in front is Information Technology. The rain you can see in the background got to camput about the time I made it to the front entrance, so I did not get any photos of that.





This photo is of the Prep School where Logan will be attending. It is located on campus, and the daycare center that Ethan will be going to is located in the room right next to it. Don't know how the teachers plan to keep the kiddos out of the Caribbean Ocean...it's about 50 yards on beyond the playground equipment.







This is a shot just missing the corner of the "Subway Deck", yes, that Subway, the one that gives us all a taste of home! Haven't tried it yet, but nice to know it's there. The deck seen in the bottom of the photo is under construction, but looks like a nice study area don't you think? The mountains in the background are the identifying feature of Portsmouth.






This is Logan's "catch". They were laying on the beach about 75 yards North of our apartment, and he picked them up one day when we went down for a swim. The gas bottle for the stove is located in the cabinet right behind Logan, and the stove/oven is at left. There still isn't gas to be found in the community, but we're getting by with our rice steamer. Tonight we had lentils, rice, and some home made salsa that Lanelle put together from fresh ingredients. Had steamed rice, brown sugar (nice sugar, much larger granules than we're used to and similar to "Sugar in the Raw" that is available stateside), and a sprinkling of Nestle Quick chocalate powder. I topped mine off with a fresh grapefruit bought from a nice native lady in the little shed down the road. She was really chatty when I bought the grapefruit....asking about the boys and my wife. We've never met her before, but she's noticed us coming and going and took interest. She asked how I liked it in "her country". That really gave me a goosebump feeling....taking ownership of this....her home....as we were about to cross the main street together, an extra surge of traffic was passing. Her parting comment was "it's so much busier now". "We" are impacting these people, and though there would not appear on the surface to be anything to lose, maybe they're losing "home". I'm loving "her country"; it has already opened my eyes in ways not otherwise possible. We Americans are a spoiled lot. I asked her if she'd ever visited the USA; she hasn't.

This photo is from last Sunday afternoon. That's cocoa drying on a piece of plywood along the side of the road to Woten Waven.











Just some shots of flora


































Rope swings and water are not a combination that can be passed up! Glad the rope didn't break and dump my fat patooty in the ocean!











Okay, here is the laundry shot of the happenings in the kitchen sink. Brian, Lanelle's brother for those of you who asked, snuck up and caught me by surprise. Sorry about the little peek-a-boo blue we got goin on here. Still have not lost the farmers tan either. We actually have not spent that much time at the beach, to be quite honest. Since it is close, it is usually just an hour or so at a time, and are usually swimming then. The water is surprisingly cool when you get into it, and takes a little bit for the body to adjust (read "pucker, baby"). It is insanely clear; I walked out out to chest deep and could see my feet yet. Course they're kinda big so maybe that doesn't count.

Another interesting tidbit for you construction types: the walls, floor, porch, stairs are all concrete construction. Roosevelt Roberts, husband of Leona our landlady, is making an addition just out our bedroom door. It is concrete block, approximate block dimension 4x8x16 inches with 3 holes. They are working on the second story now, so the blocks are hooked to a rebar piece bent into an S shape, then hoisted by hand via a rope. Sand for mortar is carried up in old fiber/plastic feed sacks and dumped on the concrete ceiling of the first floor. A not very big man carried a 94 pound sack of portland cement up a flight of stairs, across the handrail, and onto the ceiling. This mix is made right on the floor using shovels to mix, then handed up to the block layers. Roosevelt told me tonight that they ran out of blocks so didn't get as far as they'd like. The ceiling of the second story will eventually be a veranda for our apartment, which will be nice. Don't know if that will happen during our stay, though.

Looking out our East and front door toward the mountains. The little minivan you see is a "bus". This particular street is dirt. The tree that you see limbs of in the right of the photo is a mango, and the shorty on the right of the road is banana. I'm curious to know if the lady in the yellow house has a laundry service....this morning I saw through the red door at the left that it looked like she had a washing machine, and the little low flat roof shed seen just above left of the blue shed has lots of clothes hanging to dry. Quite usual to see chickens crossing back and forth across this street. I still don't know why. It was cute earlier on our walk back from Tina's, the grocery. There was a black mother hen and 3 little black peeps that was in the middle of the paved street along with us walking and a bus careening around the corner. During the chaos, the hen flew to the side of the road into the banana grove, but the little peeps were yet in the road scattering in 3 directions. The van driver screeched to a halt and let the little ones get out of his way, then passed on down the street. Very quickly and loudly momma hen came and gathered her chicks and away they went along their merry way.

Boiling water sulfur springs near Trafalgar Falls taken last Sunday afternoon.


All for tonight. Hope to do a few touristy things tomorrow. Would like to go over to Atlantic Ocean side as I've heard Calibishie is pretty and perhaps take a boat ride through Prince Rupert Bay here in Portsmouth.