Volcanos and Football!

Rob had quite the weekend. Saturday he hiked up to the summit of Mt. Liamuiga and today his football team played in the playoffs!


Yesterday Rob woke up super early for the hike.  The summit hike is different from the hike to the crater of the volcano that I did in October. When I went, we hiked up Liamuiga to the edge of the crater, but not the highest point. Rob, and some VIPs and students, went ALL the way to the top of the volcano. He was gone for 12 hours. I asked Rob if he would write a blog post about the hike up, and this is what I got:

Rob on the Mt. Liamuiga Summit Hike. In the rain/cloud forest.

I went with about 10 others on a St. Kitts VOLCANO hike yesterday! We left school at 6:15am and came back at 6:00pm. It stared with a 15 min drive through the sugar cane field, then about 1 hour through loose understory, about a half-hour on an elevated land bridge (2 ft wide mt. ridge) that led into a denser understory. THEN about 30 min on a washed out rocky-mud path before we left the canopy and spent 2 hours on a STEADY HAND-over-FOOT scramble up the steepest slopes with thin foot paths, some 70 degree inclines (many with ropes up the muddy/slimy rocks), but mostly about 50 degree inclines. We finally made it to the top but the cloud layers were so dense that we only caught 2 seconds of the view as the sun burst through the clouds (out of a 45 min lunch break)! I guess I'll have to go again and get that view! The was down took about as long due to the rain, mud, and poor conditions of the trail. YES! IT rains in the rain forest!... Who knew?


Rob also told me there is no way I would be able to do the hike- to intense for my wimpy arms!  He took tons of pictures, and you can see them here. 

Playing in the football playoffs. Rob is in the red shirt.

Today was playoffs for flag football.  I haven't been to any games, and since Rob's team was playing the VIP team I went along to cheer on my hubs and my friends. During the regular season, the VIPs won by a single point! This game was just as close, and pretty intense.  In the end the VIPs won by just a touchdown or two (I can't remember exactly).  The Red Rockets (Rob's team) were bummed out, but in January we have semester Olympics again and then a new football season. They can kick more butt soon enough. Pictures from the football game, as well as some recent pictures around the island, can be found here!

Sunset from campus, over the Caribbean Sea. One of Rob's classmates took this picture.

As a side note, Rob had heard that there was a place to smoke shisha on the island. Even though we aren't smokers, we really enjoyed shisha while we were living in Egypt. Last night we found the place! Kate, Trevor, Rob, and I smoked strawberry shisha, which wasn't so bad. I would have preferred rose or peach, but hey, I'll take what I can get here! I got pretty nostalgic for Egypt, and think that koshary and bird tongue soup will be on the menu this week! YUM!!!

Weekend Recap

What a great weekend! Rob and I are really enjoying our time in St. Kitts, and this past weekend was a great example of that. Friday night we had a couples night with two other first semester couples. Brayton and Leann are from upstate NY, and Trevor and Kate are from Massachusetts. Friday afternoons are when intramural volleyball games are played, and Leann, Trevor, and Rob are all on different teams, so after everyone was clean and fresh we headed to Ciao- an Italian restaurant in Frigate Bay. Our date night was really nice, I felt like a grown-up!  After dinner we went over to the Marriott Casino where some of our friends were trying their hand at the slots and roulette. Jessica even won $70 bucks at roulette, which is awesome considering she had no idea what she was doing! If I was better at gambling (or had a job and money to waste) I would have given it a whirl. Unfortunately, I do not have a job nor money to waste! It was still fun to hang out and socialize with my vet school friends who I don't get to see much.

Saturday morning Rob took me to get my driver's license! I was very excited, I couldn't wait to get behind the wheel again... just on the right side of the car, and the left side of the road!  Saturday afternoon Leann, Rob, and I went to a fundraising 5k (or 2k walk) to support the St. Christopher Children's Home. The home is a safe place for children to live if they have been orphaned, neglected, abandoned, or abused. Over $150,000 was raised. Leann and I opted to walk the 2k path, and Rob ran the 5k. He ran it in 16:43 (ish) minutes. He beat me and Leann to the finish line. In fact, he beat all but one other guy! Rob placed 2nd overall!  Leann and I were approaching the 2k side of the finish, and we saw Rob run across, stagger, flop down on the ground, stand back up and rip off his shirt, sunglasses, ipod... He was pretty hot, and dehydrated when he finished. He said the final minutes of the race he had tunnel vision and was really out of it. After the race, the Marriott held a bbq and gave prizes to the people who raised the most money, and to the winners of the race! Yep, Rob won himself a super sweet trophy! Yay Rob!

Cooling down after the race!

Rob's cool trophy!

Post race bbq

On Sunday I went to the beach with Jessica while Rob played intramural football. Rob missed last Sunday's game because he was really dizzy (turns out my crazy husband partially tore his ear drum while snorkeling...). Rob's team not only won, but Rob made several interceptions! Next week Rob plays against Trevor's team, so I am going to tear myself away from the beach to watch them. Rob spent the remainder of the day studying for his physiology test on Wednesday. I headed to Kori's apartment pool (she's a VIP), because she was hosting water aerobics! It was great, I had fun and felt the burn!

Today, Rob headed back to class and I went to scope out some possible apartments. I found a place I love, but it's expensive. I plan on doing some more searching later in the week. Hopefully we find something perfect for the rest of our time here!

Olympics, Mustaches, and Tropical Storm Maria

When last we spoke, I told tale of Rob and the Red semester's soccer prowess.  Since that first day of the Olympics, we have been having more fun! Thursday was kickball day, both Rob's team and my VIPs were out first round. Rob was a good boy though; since we got home early he went and studied his butt off at the anatomy lab with his friend Brayton.  I watched TV and ate cookies. My life is hard too.  Friday was flag football. Red won their first game, lost their second, and was SUPPOSED to play for third place. However, they skies opened up, and people scattered. Unfortunately, the rain didn't last and Red had to forfeit because they did not have enough players.  The Yellow VIPs played a great game against the 7th semester Orange team.  However, flag football turned into tackle football. We were winning, then close to the end of the game Orange scored to grab the lead. Yellow was able to make a last second touchdown, only to be told, oh sorry time already ran out! We never win.

After football was the BOSP, or the beginning of the semester party. It was located at the "Dome House" which is literally a house in the shape of a dome. It was a bit weird. There is a theme each semester, and this semester's theme was mustaches (I have no idea, don't ask). If you wanted to get in, you had to have a mustache. Rob, Brayton, Leann (Brayton's wife), and I all banned together and made matching 'staches. They were very fancy. We were some of the first people there, and it looked like it was going to be quite lame. After an hour or so, things really picked up and tons of people were there.  We hadn't eaten dinner, and I was starving. Since other people also mentioned being hungry, we decided the only course of action was to order pizza. To a stranger's house, in a neighborhood we didn't know... After about 45 minutes and several phone calls from the delivery boy, we finally got our pizzas and promptly scarfed them down. Best idea ever. We headed home around midnight, which might have been the second best idea ever because it started to pour after that.  Rob and I went to bed assuming that Tropical Storm Maria was upon us.

Mustachioed friends.

When I awoke Saturday morning, I saw the clear, blue, sunny sky and immediately thought I was dreaming. We were told Maria was coming Saturday, and I was prepared to spend a rainy day in my pajamas watching movies.  I was not dreaming, it was, in fact, a clear, blue, sunny day. I called up our friends and we planned a beach day. We figured we wouldn't waste a beautiful Saturday just because a tropical storm was headed our way! The Marriott beach, on the Atlantic coast, was our destination, and we were not disappointed. We spent several spectacular hours in the nice warm, clear water. The waves were a bit choppy, but not the worst I've seen.  The Marriott beach is artificial, so there are several areas where they have placed rocks as barriers. We stayed in front of the rocks; the water was calmer, and the waves crashing on the rocks was really pretty. After rinsing in the pool, we headed back to Ross via the grocery store. Due to the alleged tropical storm, everything was shut down and we had to try three store before we found one open. Oy Vey.

Waves at the Marriott Beach

Last night Brayton and Leann had some people over for what was supposed to be a hurricane party, but Maria failed to make an appearance. We drank a lot of rum, ate salad, guacamole, and buffalo chicken dip. We also played a lot of card games; Rob and I realized that out of the five card games we brought we forgot our beloved Phase 10! Devastation. Despite the lack of Phase 10, a good time was had by all (especially the boys).

It's like we're back in college. Yikes.

This morning when I woke up, I realized that Tropical Storm Maria must have gotten tired of all the trash I was talking because it was cloudy, rainy, and the surf in the Caribbean was pretty high. My first thought was, "hey, why don't we go down to the beach and take some pictures and video?" Luckily, I have a wilder-y husband and off we went with our friend Trevor. The rain had slowed, but the wind was so strong I needed help opening the door to our building!  We made the trek down to the water meeting some angry looking cats and millions of very adorable hermit crabs along the way. Once down at the beach gazebo, we were not disappointed by old Maria. The waves were really cool, exploding into mist upon hitting the rocks. The water was neatly split into three colors: murky green near shore, bright aqua just off shore, and deep dark blue farther out. After we had our fill of splish-splashing we headed back home. On the way we met a super cute lizard hanging out upside down on a palm tree. His body was bright green, but his tail was reddish brown. Rob took about 100 pictures of him; Hurricane lizard likes to model.

Ross Beach during Tropical Storm Maria

Same shot as above, different wave!

Now we are all settled in for the day. Rob is studying like the vet school nerd he is, and I plan on watching food network for the next 8 hours! Hopefully Tropical Storm Maria will spin out today and we'll be back to beautiful weather!

Close up of Lizardo the fantastic Hurricane Lizard.

For all of the pictures from the last few days click here.
Side note: my cousin Lia has booked her trip down here for my birthday! I can't wait to see her in October!

Semester Olympics!

At the beginning of each term, Ross hosts the Semester Olympics. For four days each semester AND the VIPs compete in various sports. Different colors represent each of the semesters and the VIPS. Rob's class color is red, and the VIPs (my team) is yellow.

The Olympics began today with soccer. Initially, I planned to make one post at the end of the games with general recap. However, plans had to be changed.

Red made it all the way to the finals, beating Pink (5th semester) and Green (3rd Semester). In the finals they faced Blue (6th semester). Unfortunately they did not win first place, but given this was Red's first semester and first Olympics and had the fewest supporters, I think they did great!

Go Red!

Rob was an enthusiastic part of the soccer team, playing in each game and earning a skinned, bloody knee. Yay Rob!

The VIPs did not fair so well, and we were eliminated in the first round. Tomorrow is kickball. I am considering playing... A scary move for an "athletic supporter" such as myself.