Can't reach the top shelf? No problem!

Update

The National Hurrican Center is monitoring a possible tropical storm heading this way.  Last night there was thunder and lightning, which would not have disturbed my sleep too much except that the neighbor's car alarm kept going off.  When it finally finished several minutes of honking and sirens, it started all over again.  This happened several times during the night.  I wonder if the neighbor took some kind of secret pleasure in keeping us all awake.  Surely he could not have slept through all that noise.

We woke up to intermittent electricity and heavy rain.  I walked with Naimah to the plaza, an ordeal in and of itself.  Firstly, the only shoes I brought are flip-flops, which do not work well when wet.  Secondly, the street was flooded in several areas, which forced me to walk in the middle of the road carrying Naimah and my computer.  The drivers in both directions were quite curteous though, passing us slowly and allowing us as much room as possible.

Now we are sitting at a cozy restaurant in the plaza, having salad and fries, and finally catching up on emails and blogs. Naimah is having a nap, and I finally have a few minutes to myself.  Ahhh, peace in paradise...

Que Sera, Sera

It always happens when you are away for a while.  Things have changed.  They happen without asking for our approval, or advice.  I wonder why we always wish things would go back to the way used to be.  That way was new and different once upon a time.  Change will happen whether we like it or not.  Better to learn to like it than to live wistully in the past, not able to appreciate the new and wonderful things that are in front of us.

The beach at my beloved villa is not the same as it once was.  Buildings have burned down, now just a shell of what they once were.  The road is blocked off and there is a new path to the beach.  It is a nice path, but not the one I used to walk upon.  I keep reminding myself that it is a nice path, and I appreciate the hard work that went into making it.  Each tile handlaid by someone's father or brother, or son.

The cuban masion that I was in love with has been seized by the FDA and is closed up and empty.  The big plasma tv at their pool bar is gone.  There will be no more pool parties there.  Now I am glad that I didn't live there.  Although I still wish I had been invited to one of thier parties.

Now it is time to make new memories here.  Naimah is very curious about her new surroundings.  There are sounds she has never heard before, new voices and humid temperatures.  For her, nothing has changed.  She was just a few months in the womb when we were last here.  Everything is new and exciting, as it should be.

On Top Of Cloud 9

3 More Sleeps!

Just a quick note to say that we are returning to the Dominican Republic this weekend!  I am very excited to return to the turquoise waters and palm trees, and introduce Naimah to her Caribbean heritage.  I'm not sure what my internet situation will be like there but I will try to update the blog as much as possible.

The Journey Continues...

I can hear the Caribbean shores calling my name.  It seems so far away, and yet it is always with me in my heart and my mind, and in the face of Naimah.  Every time I look at her I am taken back to the magical place that I am connected to within my soul.  Her passport is on its way and soon, very soon we will be back in our little tropical paradise.  My happy yellow villa (pictured here) is now home to someone else, but that is okay.  I hope they too are building memories there that they will look back on with a smile one day.

9 sunsets from a different shore

Well, it's not the Caribbean, but I finally got that photo of a tropical sunset that I have been longing for. Hawai'i is such a beautiful place, I am so glad I took the chance to go there for a little vacation before winter sets in and turns my beach bunny into a snow bunny.

I got some really great abstract photos to add to my collection, and I'm still waiting to see how my underwater photos turned out. There was a big turtle within ams reach that I hope I got at least one good picture of.

We spent 9 days in O'ahu, and for half of it we rented a car and explored as much of the island as we could. It is amazing what you find when you leave the tourist spots behind and make your way over to the places that the locals go. There are some really cute surfer villages on the north side of the island. And to my surprise, lots of organic and vegetarian foods. I tried something new at a sushi restaurant: fermented soybean rolls. Those didn't make it very far before they came right back up...but at least I tried them and I can laugh about it now. Or am I gagging?

I would love to go and see another Hawai'ian island one day, but I'm pretty sure I'll end up back in the Caribbean again before that happens. But then again, you just never know...

Moving On

Thanks everyone for your kind words and support while I was living in the Caribbean. I have started a new blog, I hope you enjoy it as much as you did this one! Please click here to go to my new blog.

xoxo
janet

Veni Vidi...

My Facebook fortune cookie says "There are no endings, just new beginings." I have been thinking about what this means for several days. I know what it means, but I guess I'm trying to figure out what it means to me.

There are so many crossroads that we come to in life, where we have to make a decision. And sometimes we hesitate on making any decision at all because it means things will change. We get used to the way things are, whether we like what it is or not. Our job, our relationships, our financial situation. We just keep on keeping on, because we don't want to take a risk that changing things might make everything worse.

But what if things could be better? We will never know unless we take that chance. Make a move in a new direction; forge a path for a new beginning.

I chose to make a new beginning for myself by moving here to the Caribbean. It meant saying goodbye to my family and friends, I had to sell my house and car...it wasn't an ending though. Those things had to be done in order to make way for my new beginning.

And now, it is time for more new beginnings. I have made some more decisions. Not easy to make decisions, like what to wear, or what to eat. Big decisions.

I'm putting the Caribbean chapter of my life on hold and returning to Vancouver.

The powers that be have spoken, and I know that I have to make way for what is yet to come. Because now it's not just me that I am making decisions for.

I think the seasons reversed in the northern hemisphere!

After 3 long flights, I made it back to Vancouver. I thought two weeks would be enough time to do what I came to do, but after three days I can already tell it isn't enough. Back to the rushing around, never enough hours in one day...so many people to see, and not enough time to see them. Oh, and the jet lag isn't helping. By 9pm, I'm done for the night. I can barely keep my eyes open. And I'm up by 6am every day. Wide awake. Ready to go somewhere.

So here's my suggestion. If you want to hang out while I'm here, meet me for breakfast :)

But really, I'm having a good time so far, except for the cold. I'm really cold. Freezing. And it's not my imagination. My uncle told me it snowed on the connector yesterday?!?!? Hello, it's almost JULY!!! Something is definately not right with that. As I type this, I am wishing I had some mittens, 'cuz my fingers are numb. Is anyone else wondering what happened to the weather here?

The List

I'm going to take a little vacation soon, to Vancouver. Lots of people have been asking what I want to do while I'm there. I started making a list, and realized that some of these things seem small and trivial. Things I used to take for granted. So here's my list, in no particular order:

* Watch a movie in a theatre

* Eat Japanese & Thai food

* Hug my Dad

* Drive on roads where the traffic lights always have electricity

* Look at the mountains in the distance

* Go shopping with the girls

* Listen to my Grandma's stories

* Talk on a land line telephone

* Cook some tofu (and eat it)

* Drink water from the tap

* Use my debit card to buy something (I hope I remember the code!)

* Walk down the street and not see any garbage or litter anywhere

* Use a public restroom that actually has a toilet seat, paper, soap and water. I have yet to find one here that meets these criteria. Lucky to see just one of these things here in any given place!

* See my friends

* Do something meaningful on Canada Day.

There it is. The list. Just a few things. But I will not define my visit by doing these things. If I don't get to do some of them, I'm not going to stomp my feet and have a hissy fit, and say that my vacation sucked. They are just things that I would like to do. I am fortunate enough to have done them all before. And if I have the opportunity to do them again, I will.

Jellyfish

One of my favorite places to hang out. On the beach they have canvas covered futon beds, where you can lay down and sip your piña colada while watching the boats in the water. There are two parrots that live in Jellyfish, they whistle at you as you walk by, and if you're lucky, they will talk to you. There is no rush here, to make you eat and drink fast, and shove you out the door with the check. No matter how busy it is. The waiter is there when you need him, and gone when you don't. I spent five hours here with my friends yesterday, just hanging out...listening to their funky european club music, swimming, talking, sunbathing, eating, drinking, laughing...it was a perfect day.

Dia De Madres

Mother's Day happens a bit later here than it does where I come from. And it seemed much more festive, with balloons everywhere, and ribbons and streamers...

But when your mother is no longer here, sometimes these festivities aren't really what you feel like partaking in. So instead, a friend of mine who also lost his mother, took me to a beautiful place where we could just be in silence, and take some time to reflect on life, and thoughts, and love...

When Life Hands You Limons...Can You Make...Limonade?

Long live limons! Actually, I think the correct plural spelling would be limónes in spanish, but who am I to say? I just live here...and on a hot day, doesn't a refreshing glass of limonade sound fantastic? If I really thought about how much work it would be to make it, I might have thought twice. I saw the all-in-one juicer jug at the supermarket today, and had what I thought would be a great idea. So I stuffed a bunch of limons into a bag, paid for my purchase and raced home.

After juicing the first limon, I was about to call it quits. It's too hot for manual labour today. I could fill the jug with sweat faster than with limon juice. But after a 20 minute rest, I did a few more limons...took another break, and so on.

By the time I was more than halfway through all the fruit, I had barely one cup of liquid. Soooo discouraging. But I kept going, and fought a raging war with the ants while I was at it. "IT'S MY FRUIT!!!!" I shouted to them. I made a line of cornmeal around my workspace as I heard that ants will take it home and try to eat it, and die. Well, we'll see about that, but it did manage to keep them away from my juice...for a while.

I finished squeezing the last limon just as the ants conquered the Great Wall of Cornmeal. I transferred the jug into safe territory (the fridge) and left it there for a few hours to chill. The ants scuffled around in confusion wondering where it went. HAH!

Much later, with a little bit of purified water and stevia, the limonade was delicious! But I will say, now that I have done this once...the next time I visit Canada, the first thing that is going into my suitcase is the Juicy Juicer.

The Ant Parade

There is a party in my house. I didn't invite them, but they showed up with all of thier friends and family. Maybe they were here first, but this is my house now, and I want it back. They have taken over.

I'm talking about The Ants.

One here or there is tolerable, but lately there have been huge parades happening. Meghan and I are very prudent about cleaning up and not leaving any crumbs behind...we keep almost every food-like substance in the fridge - I'm talking like boxes of cereal, sealed bags of uncooked pasta...but there just isn't room in there for everything. So we use ziploc bags. And we thought we had everything under control...

...but today I went to make some rice for lunch, and found a billion ants inside the sealed ziploc bag that I keep the rice in. We call them Houdini Ants. How did thy get in there?! They had formed a train inside the cuboard leading from the rice to who knows where...

They don't care that no one wants them here. They don't listen when we beg them to leave. Meghan has resigned herself to becoming friends with them, but I cannot. They are so selfish! They don't ask, they just take, take, take! And they just carry on, aggresively invading the house, slowly taking over. They have pretty much conquered the entire kitchen now, so what's next? I shudder at the thought.

On some level, I expected to come across insects, living near the beach and on a tropical island, but I think it is time to leave this apartment. I mean, if you can't beat 'em, and you don't want to join 'em, what do you do? Complain to the landlord? HAH! I have been waiting two months to have them change the light in my bedroom. (I have a vaulted 20 foot ceiling.) Thier response when they came to the house last month to take another look: "Hmmm, that is very high...I am thinking about getting a different ladder, the one I have isn't tall enough."

They are still thinking about it...

"Untitled"

I try to take my camera with me everywhere. You never know when that kodak moment is going to happen. Except for me it is a Canon moment...

I love taking pictures. It's like capturing a moment in time. And I like it even more when I take a photo that says something. One that needs no explanation. It may not even need a title. It speaks for itself. It makes you think...maybe it even asks you questions when you look at it. That is when it becomes art. At least, for me it is. And that is why I love photography.

The Joy of Cleaning

Living by the beach has many advantages, but one thing that isn't so fun is all the sand that finds its way into the house. There are no such thing as carpets here, which is good, because it is so easier to sweep and mop the tile floor than it would be to vaccum. But somehow it is always dirty. So I have made a habit of mopping every couple of days. We keep our mop on the little patio in the back that faces the jungle. The jungle is home to many creatures, and somehow these creatures end up on the patio once in a while...lizards, frogs, bugs...that's fine as long as they stay outside.

One day last week I decide to clean the house early in the morning. Laundry, dishes, sweep, mop...One thing I have to mention is that when you mop the floor here you have to ring out the mop with your hands. That's right. Whatever you call that plastic thing that you use to ring out the mop does not exist in this country, trust me I have looked. So needless to say, mopping is not my favorite chore, but if I do it often, then the water in the bucket is fairly clean throughout the entire process. So, on this particular day last week, I start mopping in the bathroom...and the mop leaves behind a wet brownish clump...with legs. I look closer and it moved!

It was a frog.

One of the jungle creatures made a home in my mop.

At this point I am thankful that I hadn't actually touched the mop yet, and I try to figure out what I am going to do to get this frog out of the bathroom. It climbs behind the garbage can. Fine for now. I don't want to look at it anyways. I continue to mop, because maybe if I pretend there was no frog, it will be like it never happened. Suddenly another bigger frog comes out of the mop! That was it for me. I screamed, slammed the bathroom door shut and escaped to the beach.

That was at 9:30am.

I did not come home until after 5:00.

I brought some guys who work on the beach home to help. They only ever found one frog. At least it was the big one. I refuse to mop now. I can't bring myself to touch the mop with my bare hands anymore. Sweep, yes, mop no. And though it has only been a week, I feel like the house is filthy.

It is not so easy here to find things at the store. There is no steady supply of anything, so you may think it would be easy to just go buy another mop, or rubber gloves but here it is not like that. I have been looking for rubber gloves for two months, and finally today I found some. I shreiked and jumped for joy in the store, and I don't care that people there thought I was crazy.

I can clean the house now.

KiKi

Remember when you were a child, and had not a care in the world? Why can't life always be like that? Why do we make everything so complicated? I think we do it to ourselves. Maybe not on purpose, but things can be simple if we let them.

KiKi spends his days doing cartwheels in the streets, and standing on his hands...having fun. He has a little puppy named Cindy. Kiki is always happy and smiling.

What is his secret?

I spend my days at the beach, swimming in the sea..having fun. I try to always be smiling. Today I was thinking that when we start having too many things to do, and too many things to think about, that is when we lose ourselves to the chaos. And then we aren't happy anymore. Things aren't going the way we planned, or we don't have enough money for something we want, or need...there are millions of things that can happen each day that don't make us happy. But if we dwell on them, or focus all of our energy on WHY things can't be a different way, how can we smile?

So today, I am going to do my best to toss all of my worries away with the trash. I am going to just be happy with everything that I have. So what if there has been no water in my house for three days, and today is a holiday, so I can't do anything about it until tomorrow? I have many things to be thankful for today, including the beautiful sunshine that burnt me yesterday. I will go to the beach, and sit in the shade, listen to music, talk with friends, and pee in the ocean.

Need A Ride?

This what I'm talking about. Imagine riding home like this in the rain for an hour. No thanks. Now I understand why they wanted to leave work early!

The Truth About Rain

If you go out in the rain, you will melt, as if you were made of sugar. That is the truth. Ask any Dominican. Umbrellas don't help because it rains sideways here. And when it rains, the streets are empty of pedestrians. The people run for cover, and wait until the rain slackens a bit. Then they scurry along to the next covered area, darting here and there until they reach thier final destination.

Yesterday it didn't rain, but it looked like it might, so all the people who work in the shops went home early. They are always out in the streets and on the beach chasing tourists, trying to lure them into their shops. They cannot earn money if they go home early, but getting wet is worse than not earning any money. I asked why they can't just sit inside the shop. But, they said this won't help when they have to go home form work. They don't have cars. They have to walk. Or drive a motorcycle. Neither of which is pleasant during a monsoon.

Meghan told me about one man she knew who didn't show up for work at the beach once...his reason for missing work was because it was raining and he didn't want to get wet. They told him if he pulled that again, he wouldn't have a job. He said again that he does not work in the rain. He lost his job that day. Maybe he was afraid he would melt...