Back on the Island!

Sorry it has been awhile since we last wrote! Time has been flying down here! Last weekend, I actually got to take a trip back to the states to be in the beautiful Mrs. Kelly O'Donohoe's wedding! It was so great to be home, to celebrate with Kelly, see friends from Miami, and hang out with my mom. The wedding was so beautiful - you couldn't ask for better weather (I mean, I thought every wedding had to have at least one natural disaster!) It was just so great to be back with my best friends for a bit!

But going back home came with a price.... last Friday I was travelling from 6:30am until midnight, and then going back home, it was from 6am to 7pm. There were 8 flights in all! And I tend to get motion sickness.... so it wasn't the greatest experience. I think the worst of all is the 45 minute ride in between our apartment and the airport in Dominica... on the way home Kyle surprised me at the airport when I thought I was going to meet him at home. Lucky him, he got to sit next to his sick wife the whole way back... Good thing I love Kelly so much :) It was definitely worth it to be there with her!

Also, both Kyle and I realized just how much we're getting settled into having our home and being with each other each day. I know it was only 4 days, but both of us realized how hard it was to be apart!!

While I was gone, Kyle had his first football game against fourth semester. His team, the "Thundercats" has been making quite the news here at Ross. (Trust me, when all you do is sit in class and study, anything that can take your attention away for a little bit is great. So naturally, sports are a big deal here!) Since first semester, they have only lost one game, and they have won the school championship 2 years in a row. They started this season off with a win as well! Kyle says he didn't play so well, though he got a touchdown. (I think it's just because I wasn't there, so he couldn't show off for me:) His next game is tonight against the first semesters, and there has been a lot of talking about their team... but hopefully I'll report back with another victory for the Thundercats!

I know last time I mentioned the grocery stores and my apprehension at cooking... well, I'm happy to say that my cooking has been a success so far!! Kyle got me a cookbook compiled by the Ross spouses, which has been a huge help. It's hard to find certain items here (like I have yet to find lettuce to make salads, or cream of chicken or mushroom soup for casseroles) so the recipes in the cookbook are great at making things simple or modifying them. I've always love baking but now I'm realizing cooking is a lot easier - you don't have to worry about having every measurement so exact! So the first dinner I made, which was Kyle's favorite, was Garlic Chicken (I'm not joking - my hands still smell like garlic!), then I made Honey Lime Chicken, Chicken Stir Fry... see a theme here... chicken. Yesterday I actually found ground beef at Tina's grocery store, so I made spaghetti and meatballs. Kyle loved them! And when I went home, I stuffed my suitcase full of Lipton side dishes, rice side dishes, and pots & pans. That made my life A LOT easier down here! It's like you have to hunt and search for every single ingredient (and hope that it's not expired!)

Kyle has been busy studying, and it was nice for him to have some "guilt-free" study time last weekend while I was gone. Though he has less classes and more time than last semester, third semester is when you actually start feeling like you're in medical school. They get to practice patient interviews, and eventually Kyle will go to a clinic here in Dominica. He's been studying a lot - and it definitely shows! Though Kyle swears his alliance to Scrubs, I got him hooked on Grey's Anatomy. There are so many times when they're interviewing a patient or in surgery when Kyle yells out something that I can barely understand, just to hear "Dr. McDreamy" say the same thing in his next sentence!

We also just found out that Ross opened up a site in Michigan where Kyle could do his fifth semester instead of in Miami! It is in Saginaw, Michigan, which would be about a 4-5 hour drive away from both of our families in Ohio and Illinois. Also, there could be the possibility he could do his 2 years of rotations there instead of travelling all over! Kyle's semester would be the first to use the campus, and they're only accepting about 50 students! We're both big fans of the Michigan idea... it would be a lot cheaper than living in Miami, closer to family, and less travel! That gave Kyle even more motivation to study! So we would love your prayers about that - if God wants us there, for Kyle to focus and have an understanding of what he's learning to keep his grades up. (His first mini - which is what they call their exams that combine all their courses - is coming up in a few weeks! If you need Kyle, he'll be at the library...)

Well, that's about it for now! I'm off to meet Kyle for his lunch break and then off the beach (for the first time!) which a few other spouses - Jocelyn, Chika, and Ashley. I'll think of you all while I'm relaxing!

Oh, and tomorrow I promise I'm going to take pictures of our apartment and just what we see everyday down here - that's for all of you who replied "I have no idea how to even imagine your life" when I told you that we have goats in our backyard and cows in the streets! We added a link on the side of this page under "Our Pictures." It's http://www.kandamorgs.shutterfly.com/. Be sure to check those out!

Love you guys!

Kyle & Andrea