White Coat Ceremony - October 8th

The White Coat ceremony normally takes place in early September when classes are starting, but because of TS Erika everything got delayed.  We finally had the ceremony on October 8th at the Annex, which is just a few hundred yards from our apartment.

Kim and the students sat inside and listened to the various speeches while the families sat outside and watched on a projection screen.  Normally, the Prime Minister attends these, but he was tied up with recovery efforts.  There were other representatives from the government there, including the Portsmouth rep Ian Douglass.

The highlight for us was the huge spread of food and fruit juices afterwards!

This is by far the most dressed up we've been since getting here!!

Some of Kim's MERP buddies

AKA

Great job Kim!  We are so proud of you!!

Fort Shirley at Cabrits National Park

Another awesome school field trip!  This one took us to Cabrits National Park which is just 2.5 miles from us, just north of Portsmouth.  Lots of pics below!!

The historic Fort Shirley was a British outpost in the late 1700s and early 1800s.  It was abandoned in 1854 and restored in the 1980s.

Kids were warned to stay away from these poisonous trees!

Starting the hike - the dock behind us was where we first landed in Dominica.  Kids had iPads to document erosion and erosion control methods for Science class.

Noni fruit

Some mammoth trees and beautiful vegetation we saw

Guarding the entrance

Cobblestone paths up to Fort Shirley

This is inside the building shown at the beginning of the blog.  They have turned this into accommodations.

This is upstairs of the same building.

And a kitchenette in the upstairs rooms

A view from the upstairs window.  This is Prince Rupert Bay, the fort was built to protect.

We took a snack break under this impressive mango tree!

This was officer quarters

Plaque on the Officer Quarter's Building: "On this spot the Mutiny of the West India Regiment broke out on the 4th of April 1802 and lasted for three days.  This plaque is in memory of those members of the Regiment who were killed or executed in their fight for freedom.  As a result of their actions here some 10,000 Slave Soldiers in the British Army were freed in 1807.  It was the first act of mass emancipation in the British Empire."

Inside the officer quarters building - Commemoration Plaque for the Jamestown settlement of 1608 - they stopped here in Dominica for two days on their way to Virginia.

The officer quarter's building has been set-up for entertaining, with a large dining area upstairs and this bar area downstairs

18th century paintings show an idealized version of life here while the Fort was active

Upstairs overlooking the canon battery and Prince Rupert Bay

These are a beautiful little bird I've seen with bright yellow chest.  They are very hard to take pictures of because they are so jittery and fast, so this is the best representation I've found!

The Waitukubuli National Trail ends here at Fort Shirley

A piece of the external wall of the weapons rooms

I got separated from the kids and ended up at the top of this hill where somehow they dragged this massive 24 pounder.  The school group went on an easier hike to some of the nearby ruins.

In the distance you can see Guadalupe from here!

Food!

Picture diary of some of the food experiences here!

Authentic Dominican fish soup with provisions and dumplings.  So good!!
The fresh fruit juice is one thing everyone loves.  We finally got a blender and made our own passion fruit juice this week.

Of course we have plenty of fresh fish!  This is the Portsmouth market - 1 mile from us.  There is also a "fish truck" that comes by the house occasionally.  We order eggs and organic lettuce on the phone and they drop off at the house!

There are quite a few Chinese Restaurants, but one good one we've found is next door to us.  "Golden Dragon" - Chicken Lo Mein, Chinese Broccoli, Fish with Vegetables and steamed dumplings.  

Another restaurant has good Chinese, Thai dishes and bubble tea.  They utilize a customer service model that is typical here.  Food takes 45 min at least and they generally ignore you.  These signs are posted at the counter.

Lemon grass and cinnamon are locally produced

 

Portsmouth Market - lots of fresh veggies and fruit always available here, but often hard to find at grocery stores

I use the bread machine a lot - we go through 3-4 of these loaves every week

Dad's veggie-carb cooking!  Pasta and cheese toast!  Elijah loves the local pepper sauce

Here's what we use for powdered milk.  You can buy "regular" milk, but it's about $7 for a half-gallon

Sweet plantains are really easy to make, cheap, and delicious.  Kids haven't taken to it yet, but I could eat these every day.

Beer comes in 10oz bottles: Kabuli is Dominican, they have lager and shandy that is good, Dragon Stout is from Jamaica and  Makeson Stout is from St. Kitts.  Carib is from Trinidad and similar to Corona.  There is also 10 Saints from Barbados that is aged in rum barrels.

Fried chicken with Jerk BBQ sauce & plantains!  Most of the meat is imported from the States, which I find odd since there are chickens and goats running around everywhere here.

Some "provisions" - plantains, yams and green bananas.  I made a green banana curry that was good - they are very similar to potatoes and have to be boiled before you can peel them.

There are often "double-take" moments in the grocery store here.  Ketchup is commonly sold in bags here, for example.