Maple All the Way!!

Way to go Canada!!! Miss Universie 2005! It was an interesting experience watching the pageant here in the DR with a living room full of Dominicans. For those of you who don't know, Dominicans are a rather gregarious breed, even at the worst of times. So you can just imagine the commotion when something good is happening. Since the moment that Miss DR was called into the final 15, it was all whoops and hollers. One of George's cousins even hit her head on the hanging lamp she was so excited. Let me tell you it was a pretty tense moment when it got down to the final 3: Puerto Rico, Canada, and DR. The results being that Canada won (the purpose of this post), and that the DR was second runner up. But I was told later that Miss Canada had a shake to her step during the swimsuit competition, which is enough to qualify her as Dominican by the standards down here, so there are no hard feelings. Once again I say "YAY CANADA!!"

Now I must go and mark the remaining 51 exams from last week. I was *supposed* to hand them back to the kids today, but I didn't. Oops. Hey, I'm the teacher. I make the rules! LOL If only they had any idea how often I don't do my work...Procrastination what???

Ode to Mould

I live on an island in the carribean. It is hot and humid here (the current temp. being 32 degrees Celcius with 68% humidity---what that is with the humidex I can only imagine!). I should just come to accept this fact and quit complaining. After all, it was my choice to move here and avoid the -40 windchill factor that finds Toronto in February. But now, after extensive experience working in what basically amounts to a non-airconditioned hut with a tin roof, I am beginning to think that the cold might not be so bad after all. Cold air kills things. Cold air does not contain moisture. Cold air lets things dry. These are very important qualities for air to have. Warm, moist air is a haven for God knows what, most of which ends up growing on a multitude of things that were previously unknown to be ideal breeding grounds for mould. Yes folks, that's right. Mould is not just for food! Everything from shoes, belts, shower curtains, towels, clothes that have been in the closet for too long, my leather purse, money, my mattress (the grossest!), the inside of suitcases, and pretty much anything else that you can think of is capable of growing mould! And, it's not all green and fuzzy either! Oh no. There's black mould, white mould, orange mould, gray mould. It's a veritable rainbow of mould! Really, it is quite disgusting.

But I did make a small step in my battle against bacteria today. My latest discovery is that plastic shower curtains CAN be put in the washing machine! YAY! Once again I can shower without fear of the slime-encrusted curtain touching me. It is a good day.

Appointment Number Three

Anyone who knows me knows that I HATE going to the dentist more than any reasonable adult should. I mean, if you're 7 and practically have an anxiety attack over cleaning your teeth that's one thing, but at age 27??? Really. But one must do what needs to be done. Especially when one is a reasonable adult. So I made myself a dentist appointement last week to get my teeth checked. I knew I needed some work done, and wanted to get it over with while I still had insurance. Plus, it is about 3 times cheaper than it would be at home (in Toronto), so what the insurance doesn't cover ends up being the equivalent to a Canadian cleaning and a few x-rays without insurance. Not bad at all if I do say so myself!

So, today was Appointement Number Three: Changing the Filling in my Ever-So-Sensative Molar (Appointment 2: Filling Two Small Cavities took place on Tuesday and went smoothly). Let me tell you, I was nervous. Not as nervous as the other two times, but nervous enough. However, I must confess that "My Dominican dentist ROCKS!!!" I know you are surprised to hear those words come out of my mouth. I sure am! But the appointement was great! I am so happy! This tooth was the tooth I was dreading the most because the other times it has been worked on it has hurt, but today I felt NOTHING! Not a thing. Although at some point I think I managed to swallow a mouthful of drill water, consisting of mercury amalgam filling bits and tooth dust. Yummy. I am vaguely concerned about how that will go down in the long run. If I become senile by June, you'll know it was the mercury. I even got to check out the cavity that was festering under my filling. Not pretty.

And so all is well in the mouth of Sarah. At least until Monday when I return for Appointment Number Four: Replacing the Filling of Root Canal Tooth, soon to be followed by Appointemnt Number Five: Crowning of Root Canal Tooth. If only I could manage a way to return to the DR every time I need to go to the dentist...

First Blog

Well, I have decided to start a blog too! I was going to wait until I got to Italy to do this, but once I started thinking about it, I decided I just had to do it right away! It is just too bad that I didn't start this two years ago when I first got to the DR. Think of all those precious moments that have gone unrecorded......getting chased by one-armed men and flying cockroaches, realizing my boss is really the evil Sith Lord from Star Wars, my students from this year, etc.

Anyways, welcome to my blog. Hope you enjoy reading about my life more than I enjoy living it, which shouldn't be too hard some days! ;)