Chad's Sculpting Contest

Okay, so every year there is a giant contest for all the dental students in Chad's school. The contestants are given small 4-inch blocks of wax to sculpt into whatever they want. Chad wanted to sculpt his into a naked man! (weird.) Last year, Chad made an awesome guitar. He won second place, and earned 75 bones.

This year, Chad spent many hours re-creating this amazing wax guy. (Sorry for the nudity--at least he's got a leaf on, right?) One of Chad's teachers is always showing a slide with a picture of the Statue of David with his a picture of his own face pasted on it labeled, "The Statue of Carmine" (his first name). Apparently everyone loves this particular teacher, so the statue was an instant hit. Wednesday was the day of the convention, and Chad won first place!! Isn't that amazing? Not that I was surprised, mind you--look at the amazing detail on that guy! I am so proud of Chad, dental student/sculptor extraordinaire! You can just imagine how good he is getting at drilling and filling with utmost precision. I'm excited for him to start seeing patients in a couple more months!

Friday's Musings and Our New Bedroom!

Today is Friday and I didn't have to work today! Well, other than writing some casenotes from yesterday's sessions. I have several co-workers who work 4-day weeks, and I've always been jealous. This week I set the goal to get it all done in 4 days, just to see what it was like. Yesterday I got 8 hours of therapy in! (I realize that may just sound like I worked an 8 hour day, but when you consider meetings and driving, it was actually a 13-hour day with no breaks). I actually don't know how I did it... but today has been nice. It may or may not ever happen again.

I've had some experiences with therapy this week that felt like setbacks, but I am trying to view them as learning experiences. One client's parents dragged her to a residential treatment facility one night when she was "out of control." It was so disappointing, because I really felt like we had started getting somewhere, and I had to close the case because insurance would consider mine a duplicate service (if I were to continue seeing the parents while the girl is in residential, that is). If the parents would have called me, I know I could have helped them to work through the heat of the moment and make a more reasoned decision about what was best for the girl. But then again, maybe mom and dad didn't want to be talked out of it. Sigh.

Anyway, it was a day off and I got to spend part of it in the dental lab with Chad. I drilled little shapes into a practicing board, sanded stuff, used a little mini saw to sort of "floss" in between some fake teeth, and mixed up some cement-y stuff to make an impression. Oh, it was fun. And now I  need to go train. Must train. Don't want to train today. Will. Must.

The bedroom makeover is complete. The rug I ordered arrived yesterday. I like how it turned out. Do you think I did an okay job pulling the browns and black together? (black rug/black bed frame; brown door frames and furniture; blackish brownish ottoman and pillow cover)

I have to say I'm super pleased with how it turned out. I'm not much of a seamstress, but I had such a fun time making the curtains and the pillow cases (thanks, Duane & Andrea for letting me use your sewing machine!). It feels so much better being in that room now than it did before--oh, how I wish I had some before pictures. It was pretty blah.

Aruba, Again. Also, Christmas 2012.

Being in Aruba for Christmas was awesome in some ways. I can't say there is anything particularly magical about the island during the Christmas season. Yes, there were Christmas trees at every roundabout, and we made a visit to the Cas di Lus (a fake little traditional house they build up on a hill and decorate with lots of Christmas lights). We also noticed it was Christmas when our beloved pan keshi (cheese bread) was sold out by the time we got there at noon on Christmas Eve. But otherwise, it felt a lot like being in Aruba at any other time of year (which is AWESOME, by the way).

The perfect part, though, was going to Church on Sunday, and going to the branch Christmas party on Sunday night. Several people performed Christmas musical numbers, we ate great food, and TONS of people were there. I have never seen that branch building so full before. Chad and I sang, "Merry Christmas, Baby," with Chad playing guitar and me playing piano. I'm really good at agreeing to musical numbers and forgetting that I get really nervous and embarrassed when I actually perform. But overall, the party was great.

Going back to Philadelphia on Christmas Eve was a great choice. We had so much fun being there for Christmas morning. I spent most of the day Christmas Day playing music with Kaitlyn and Ainslee--Kaitlyn got a ukelele for Christmas, and Ainslee plays guitar. We did some mad Taylor Swift and Ingrid Michaelson covers. It was so fun!

This was my first year not going home to Colorado for Christmas (other than on the mission). I definitely missed my family, but altogether, I'd say it was a great Christmas. Also, Chad and I decided a couple months ago to celebrate Three King's Day (Dia de Reyes) like they do in Latin countries, so that we wouldn't have to lug all of our presents with us to Philadelphia. So the season continues! Except, we lost our reserve to save the presents and have opened one or two every day, pretty much. Now I think there are...two left. Good thing Dia de Reyes is tomorrow!! :)

Aruba, Part 3

Warning: Lots of pictures today. I could spend the rest of my life documenting this trip on my blog if I only go 2 pictures at a time.

So our second day in Aruba, we woke up and drove to Bright Bakery to pick up one of my favorite treats of all time--pan keshi (cheese bread). It's got Gouda cheese stuffed in the middle of a loaf of slightly sweet bread. (side note: I'm glad we got it that day. We tried a day or two later, and Christmas Eve, and both days they were sold out by the time we got there.) Anyway, bread in tow, we headed to the Hooi Berg (which I had always believed to be the highest point in Aruba, until we went to Arikok National Park on this trip and found out that the highest points are actually within the national park. Boo.) There are stairs all the way to the top, and it takes about half an hour if you don't stop for breaks. It's worth the hike, in my opinion, because you get a good view of most of the island, including the shorelines, the refinery, all the red-tiled roofs, and the cactus. 

The Hooi Berg looks much less puny in real life. Bad angle, I guess.

A view from the top.

Another look from the top.

Made it!

After our hike, we decided to stop by "the Waf." I don't know if I'm spelling that right, because I've never seen it written out. The Waf is where you would probably spend a lot of time if you were a tourist on a cruise ship--it is a strip of little outdoor shops near where the cruise ships come in for the day. It feels just about like any other flea market with trinkets and souvenirs. We stopped by to pick up some gifts, but mostly in hopes that we would run into my dear friends Carlo and Jela, who I got to teach as a missionary years ago. And we were not disappointed! Jela and her son, Carl, were there running their shop. They sell beautiful hand-painted canvases. It was fun to see them again.

Across from the Waf, in front of a fancy shopping area.

with Jela and Carl! 

 We spent some time taking silly pictures and trying pastechi--a typical local food. A pastechi is basically a fried calzone filled with Dutch cheese, or sometimes with cheese and meat. Yum.

pastechi. tastes better than it looks here.

And finally, we headed off to do more snorkeling. As mentioned in an earlier post, we first snorkeled at Baby Beach, which is a fairly popular spot to snorkel. On this, our second time snorkeling, we went to the far west end of the island (before you reach Arashi Beach), which was a spot recommended to us by Bill (a native). Chad was more impressed with the snorkeling here than at Baby Beach, but I got kind of cold and my mask wasn't working great, so it wasn't my best day. But we also stopped by one of the shipwrecks on our way back to San Nicolas, and snorkeled there. It was pretty awesome to snorkel right around the ship, where lots and lots of fishes like to hang out. 

While I'm talking about snorkeling, I'll share what I learned about snorkeling in Aruba. Just in case you're ever in Aruba, or snorkeling in Aruba. :)

Where and How to Snorkel in Aruba:

1. Ask local people where to go. There are certain places marked on the map that attract a lot of tourists, that don't seem to actually be the places where you can see the most fish. A good example of this is Baby Beach. Lots of tourists snorkel in the cove there, and you can see a fair amount of fish. However, someone recommended that we drive just past the Baby Beach parking lot to an area where this is a narrow channel flowing towards Baby Beach. We hopped in and just floated down for half a mile or so. We saw SO MANY FISH. 

2. Sometimes, just stay in one place and stop swimming, but keep your head underwater. I'm not sure if the fish forget you are there, or decide you're not a threat, but sometimes they come out from their hiding places if you just idle for a minute or two.

3. It seems like you find more fish closer to the reefs, so if you are swimming in an inlet with a barrier reef, you might just swim along the reef. 

4. Our favorite places, in order: 1. The channel just east of Baby Beach (tons of fish, NO swimming required, but you do have to walk through some rocks to get to some deep-enough water). 2. Mangel Halto (feels like a neighborhood beach, big area to cover and plenty of fish in some areas). 3. Baby Beach (nice area, especially if you want to lay on the beach when you're done snorkeling). 4. The beach between the shipwreck and Arashi Beach, near the west end of the island (I can't remember much about this one, but I think there was a nice beach area to lay out on and plenty of fish).  

5. It would be so awesome to have an underwater camera. We saw so many amazing fish and we wished we could get pictures. Although, sometimes it is nice to just enjoy something without focusing on documenting all the time. 

6. Your experience could be totally different than ours depending on the time of day, the weather, or your personal preferences. Just explore and have fun!

Aruba, Part 2

So, where was I? Snorkeling, right?

Much of our trip was spent going to church functions and also visiting people I had gotten to know as a missionary.

I had a blast introducing Chad to Sister Dowling. I had explained to him before we went that she is sort of... mean. Okay, not really. She just pretends to be mean, most of the time. But you know she secretly loves you, because after she spends one or two hours delivering berating comments, she'll usually say, "I love you, dushi," as you're on your way out the door. (You can guess why, when I described her that way, Chad wasn't sure how excited he was to meet her.)

Anyway, her advancing age and continued health problems have taken their toll, and she is now confined to her home most of the time. She uses a walker to get around the house, and a wheelchair if she ever leaves the house. So visiting with her was bittersweet, because it is hard to see someone with so much spunk be so limited by her body.

The first day we visited, the exchange went something like this:

Sister Dowling: Who's he?
Me: My husband!
Sister Dowling: Your husband?!
Me: I told you I was bringing him to meet you.
Sister Dowling: You told me you was bringing someone special, you didn't tell me about no husband.
Me: Oh, well, the special person was my husband. This is Chad.
Sister Dowling (turning to Chad): Oh, so you love the ugly woman?
Chad: Er, I think she's pretty...
Sister Dowling: Well, I see you does wear glasses, so I can forgive you for that.

She totally won him over, though, in spite of (or because of?) her sassiness. The hardest part about being there was hearing her repeatedly express the feeling that no one (particularly people from church) cared about her enough to visit. While I know this may have been exaggerated somewhat (several church members reported having some contact with her, if not frequently), it made me sad to think about her living out her old age a lonely, bitter woman. I think I needed the reminder that there are probably people around me who feel no one cares. These pictures aren't the greatest, but the hours spent in her home with Chad will always be a special memory for me.

Mi Dushi Tera: Aruba, Part 1

I'm going to dedicate some time over the next few days to blogging about our 6 glorious days in Aruba. We arrived in the afternoon, so by the time we got through customs, out of the airport, into our rental car, and to San Nicolas where we were staying, it was late afternoon. 

We stayed in a little apartment on the Buckleys' property. Bill and Johanna built the patio area and the apartment (and, I think, their home as well) themselves. It is fairly common in Aruba for people to build their own homes of bricks and stucco. The Buckleys and Sherman were there to meet us when we got there. Sherman had brought us some bread from the bakery, and Bill couldn't wait to show us his massive orchid collection (195 plants, including the one we brought him). Here's the cute apartment we stayed in (although its hard to see for all the huge plants and trees in front).

After getting settled in, we headed for Rogers Beach, a little beach on the east end of the island that rarely sees much traffic. I'm not sure why, other than that maybe people don't like how close it is to the oil refinery. Whatever. It's beautiful. And I LOVED going out there and basically having the beach to ourselves (there were two people there, who left not long after we arrived). 

I was happy for a pretty afternoon on the beach. For me, there is nothing like beautiful white sand, that clear ocean water, and the incredible cloud paintings in the sky.

The next morning, I got my running clothes on and we headed towards Baby Beach. On our way there, we got sidetracked when I remembered a cool area where the water crashes violently against the cliffs and sprays up like a geyser every few seconds. First we took some pictures from a distance, but then we decided to shimmy on down to the sandy shelf just above where the waves were crashing. We got totally soaked. It was awesome!

We headed to Baby Beach afterwards, and went for a little ocean-side run. Then we enjoyed our first day of snorkeling. Okay, "enjoyed" is an understatement. I had been snorkeling once before, so I knew it would be cool. Chad, however, hadn't been and he was like a little child on Christmas the first time his head popped out of the water. So many fish! I wish we had an underwater camera. Really, it was incredible. I was just happy Chad loved it so much--I wanted so badly for him to love my little island like I do. This became the first of several snorkeling excursions on this trip.

After snorkeling, we left the beach and passed a man who had created a makeshift stand with graffiti-like letters spelling "Coconuts" on it. I want to be respectful, but the man seemed a little crazy (only adding to the experience, I might add). He had his giant machete and chopped us up a coconut for us to drink out of.

Fun, fun, fun! More trip pictures to come.