Chris has one week of class under his belt, and he's feeling good about staying caught up with the material so far. With him either on campus or studying most of the time, I'm trying to get a schedule going for myself while I acclimate to the domestic life. I underestimated how much time I would spend grocery shopping, doing laundry, cleaning, and making dinner. But that's not to say I'm not enjoying it!
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| Typical dinner: tuna steaks, veggies, garlic bread and a mango. I'm eating a lot healthier than I was in the US! |
Chris' white coat ceremony was on Friday. It was both more and less formal than I expected, in a way. The president of Dominica showed up, which was kinda cool. They also had members of the military there who did a flag ceremony... what's the technical term for a flag ceremony? They presented the flags? Something like that. By the way, those are real guns in this picture and the safety was NOT on. We were hoping they were unloaded.
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| The ceremony was held in a lecture hall, and I was sitting in the back. My best view was the tv monitor overhead! |
There were a lot of speakers there. Perhaps too many speakers. At least most of them make it quick.
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| This is the Minister for Employment, Trade, Industry & Diaspora. Unfortunately the Minister of Magic had a prior commitment and was unable to attend. |
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| Before being coated! |
I thought a white coat ceremony would involve the students being called up by name, putting on a coat and shaking hands with some people. Upon reflection after the ceremony, I realized that would have taken hours to get through. The incoming class has over 400 students. Glad I didn't have to sit through that! Instead, they went up by row and each went to a doctor who helped them put on the coat. It was pretty chaotic and noisy, not quite as special as I had hoped, but I suppose that's what happens at such a large medical school.
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| Wish I could have gotten better pictures! My camera is too slow and doesn't zoom well. Still thinking about getting a DSLR when I come back to the US for a visit... |
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| Ta da! |
Chris has been working tirelessly for so many years to get into medical school. It was really nice to see him be formally recognized as an official med student. And he loves being a full time student again! As he put it the other day, "If I can get through school, I WILL be a doctor. Everything I do here is directly related to the one thing I've been trying to accomplish." I think he put it more elegantly than that, but you get the picture.
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| Chris: handsome and professional. Me: hobo-chic. |
Tropical Storm Maria passed through Dominica the day of the white coat ceremony. It was a formal event, but all the dresses I brought here are light and airy. Great for everyday weather, terrible for strong gusting winds and a 20 minute walk through mud puddles to get there. I chose shorts and sandals to avoid 257 Marilyn Monroe moments, and thus I was the most under dressed attendee. Oh well! I'll make up for it at his graduation in four years.
Also, the whole ceremony was supposed to be broadcast live on the internet, but because of the storm, cables got knocked down and they couldn't do it. So anyone looking for live footage (I'm looking at you, members of Chris' family!) will have to wait until we get a DVD recording in a few weeks.
Last night we went to De Champs, which is basically the only bar here that students frequent, for dinner and drinks. De Champs is up on the side of a mountain with a view that overlooks Banana Trail (with a lot of housing for students), campus, and the Caribbean Sea. By the time we arrived it was dark out, so I couldn't take pictures of the amazing view in the daylight. But we did catch a thunderstorm, and I got a few great photos of that!
Tomorrow is my first trip to Roseau, the capital city in the south. I'm going with the spouses organization to do some grocery shopping and look for other essentials. When we get back I'll be dropped off at my door with my purchases instead of having to make the walk from campus... what a relief! And I can't wait to see more of the island.
Here's one more picture that doesn't really fit with the rest of this entry... kids in a steel band at the welcome barbecue for incoming students. They were really good!
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| I love steel drums. I wish there was a "learn to play steel drums" club here. |
And that's about it for now. When our barrel gets here I'll get all our possessions organized and take pictures of our apartment, so stay tuned!
