six months

wow i really suck at writing regularly here. time's going fairly quickly. i never think it's a month, but it usually is. oh well.

so things are still going well. school started back up yesterday, so everyone is back in "work" mode. i use the term "work" loosely.

should be getting the money for the biodiesel project fairly soon. handel will be coming from barbados to help which should be fun. i am really feeling good about this project. if nothing else at least i'll have this to show for my two years.

i've been really super frustrated lately with people not caring about their jobs. it's led to many dead ends and not sure how to motivate underpaid adults to do more work. trying to remain calm and address it with people who can help. it's going ok. i hope the move into the school year will help.

also frustrating: current water situation. we had no water for about 2 days, which might be the longest so far for me. and it wasn't even raining! usually when we get heavy rain, landslides block the water source, so we are left with dirty or no water. but it was sunny all weekend and no water. the lack of real shower for 2 days here = very sweaty and greasy and unpleasant. and now it's been unclear for almost 2 days. i can shower at least, but still not nice for dishes, cooking, and drinking.

last week we got the outskirts of tropical storm ericka. lots of heavy rain and such bad thunder and lightning! it hit at night and i slept through most of it, but some of the thunder made me sit up straight in my bed with my heart pounding a mile a minute. that being said, i hope we don't get any serious weather; that was enough for me.

today, after 4 1/2 months of living in my house, i finally hung up some pictures (from my current calendar happiness by a french photographer and some pics sean and i have taken of the sunrise). it took a total of 10 minutes. not sure why i waited so long, but it looks nice and i am happy to see them.

so amanda (my next door neighbor and good friend), evo (host sister), bernel (host nephew), and arthurton (another neighbor, bernel's best friend), and i are walking every other morning to train for the boiling lake hike. it is the hardest hike on the island - 6 very strenous hours. part of me thinks it can't be as bad as everyone makes it out to be, but doesn't hurt to be in better shape. unfortunately for me, the walks are at 5:30 a.m., not a time i would've chosen for myself, but i'm doing it. well this is only week 2, so only 4 walks so far...but i've been on time for all of them so far. we're going on the hike in 4 weeks when rob is visiting. some other volunteers will be coming too. should be fun.

that's really all for now. nothing much new to report. after 6 months in dominica, things are beginning to settle into place, even out. i am learning to be okay with this as my normal life, not just some short stint full of the new and exciting all the time. i'm working on it.