Here I am, playing catch-up again, per my usual. This time I am only jumping back to April, so that’s not as bad as I have been. April 2013 was pretty fantastic for us. It was Joel’s second semester break but the difference was that the first time all our friends left for Christmas. This time nearly all our friends stayed around. It was a lot of fun being able to hang out like real people without all the pressures of school weighing down on everyone. It rained a lot over the break, but that didn’t stop us from having fun. The first few days it absolutely down poured on the island. It was pretty terrible actually. Right before that the island was having some unseasonable warmth, it got much hotter than it should have and the locals were even weirded out by it. It was so hot it caused a bunch of the roads to crack. Then when these rains and crazy flooding came it washed out chunks of roads and resulted in a few deaths, really sad. We were safe inside though.
After a couple days we got cabin fever and ventured over to campus to play in the Rec room with a bunch of our friends. Joel and I couldn’t believe how high the river was when we were walking by it. Normally it’s just a cute little, clear, shallow river. We could hardly believe how high it got and how fast it was moving.
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| Before |
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| After |
At the school Joel and I played the Xbox with a bunch of friends, some people brought games for the kids, a couple group ping pong games went down, we had a lot of fun.
It didn’t stop raining for a few days, which meant we couldn’t venture out of town, especially with the roads the way they were. At one point a couple of friends and I attempted to make a slip and slide for the kids.
Joel and I also took the opportunity this break to move apartments. We took a bigger unit in the same building. The unit certainly is bigger, but I can’t say that it’s any better. It is an end unit and has a lot more windows. I thought that would make things cooler, but actually I think that gives the sun more opportunity to shine in and makes it warmer. Plus there are way more bugs and spiders in this unit, again I think due to the increase in windows. Also everything is a lot louder now, we can hear every little conversation from our neighbors, the incessant barking of the new puppy down the street at all hours of the night, as well as the neighborhood weed-whipping sessions that start at 6 am. (They don’t use lawn mowers here, every bit of vegetation maintenance is done by machetes or weed whips.) Plus when we first moved in the water from the pipes stank really badly. The water issue fixed itself over time. The rest of the issues we just live with now because the unit is bigger, and the extra space is really nice. And it’s not worth the hassle of moving again.
During the April break we set aside time to celebrate Joel’s brother Neal’s birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY NEAL!!! I can’t remember if we actually called him or not. I hope we did. Either way we certainly used it as an excuse to buy a cake and some donuts from the store. The only time on the island so far that we have done that. It was pretty exciting for us. Feel special Neal.
When the rain stopped and the sun began to shine, the girls decided it was time for the boys to stay home with the kids for once, and let them get out of the house. I made sure Joel was good and distracted with his friends playing computer games and went out too. We all went out to a great restaurant called De Champs. It’s way up at the top of a huge hill, so it has an amazing view. You can rent a private balcony (which we did) that is full of lounge chairs, hammocks and a hot tub. Because it is so high up a hill, they have a truck that will come pick you up and take you there. Thank goodness or else I would never get there.
To continue the celebrating in the sun, Charlotte arranged some fantastic beach games for everyone.
Before break was over a few of us decided to head over to
the East side of the island for a day. We did the previously blogged about Aba
Wavine hike. This time I had Joel come. It was good to show him, and this time
I was a bit more in shape so it was much easier for me, but at the same time it
was much more difficult. Since it had been raining so much for so long the
trail was really muddy and the vines and things were oober slippery. The threat
of impending doom sucked just a bit of the fun out of things. I even slipped
once and was dangling on a vine, but I managed to pendulum myself back over and
grab hold of the side of the mountain again. The fall wouldn’t have been life
threatening, but it wouldn’t have been pleasant ether. It at least wouldn’t have
made the rest of the climb very easy, but no harm done. We spent the rest of
the day at Rosalie Bay which is right near the trail head to Aba Wavine. It’s a
really pretty resort. The same one we did our Christmas pictures at. It’s famous
because the beach it sits on is a birthing place for turtles. We were hoping to
see a mother come up to lay eggs but no such luck that night.
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| Tiny Hermit Crab |
