Eat More Fish!

So this posting is a collection of things. The picture above is of some super cool clouds we saw while we were walking to get chinese food. It's kind of faint, but there is a huge white cloud that looks like a mountain, and then there are clouds behind it that are pink. This day turned out to be super nice in the afternoon because of the clouds. It was the first time I went to a grocery store and didn't come out sweating. None of the stores have air conditioning. There was a time when I hated grocery stores being too cold- and now I wish I had one. So in the end it was a good day.

The meat of this post has to do with the pictures below. We took these pictures on our way to church today. The water was an awesome blue and so Ben had me get into the picture. Church ends up being a 30 minute walk and so by the time we get there we are both sweating. That is all you do on this island- sweat. The real challenge we have right now is getting to church on time because I conduct during sacrament meeting. Yay.

This second picture is of one of the signs on our way to church. It is sooo funny. Ben and I always laugh at it. It makes them seem like they are savages and are attacking the fish. Argh!!!!! They could of had a picture of someone cutting a fish, or using a fork and knife. But instead it is someone eating it (probably raw) down to the bones. As if it's the last its the last fish ever. So moral of the board- Eat More Fish!

We got crabs!

So earlier this week I was walking home from lunch with Ben and I saw a shell in the road moving! I knew it would be a hermit crab and it was!!! I quick snatched it up and ran home to take a picture. I dropped it a few times because it tried to bite my fingers with it's one claw. But they are so cool and colorful. Later that day I was walking home with Ben and we found another right outside our house! It was our lucky day because I haven't seen one since my last posting. The two top pictures are of the hermit crab we caught together and the bottom two by myself. I would have to say that the little one was way more feisty and was almost coming out of its shell to pinch Ben's finger! Anyways, it was a fun day.

Ben with the little pincher.

Cool Colors!

First Hike

Me holding a hermit crab and snorkeling.

I know I am posting two things today, but 1. its because I have time and 2. I actually tried to post the other one but was having difficulties with the video downloading and it actually worked tonight. Before I continue though, I want to let you all know that I got stung by a jellyfish three times yesterday when I went snorkeling with some friends. Ouch! The water is amazingly clear and you can see all the way to the bottom I only went out about 20 feet deep. We also found a few more crabs in the brush and a hermit crab! It was so cool.


Anyways, today was my first activity/hike with the spouses club! There were 12 of us who went to Bence's Pool. It was a 30-40 minute ride from campus 2/3 of the way to the otherside of the island, high in the mountains. I don't get car sick but the drivers here are super fast, and it seems like they drive on both sides of the road, when really they drive on the left side (like in England). So when we got there we did a half an hour hike down to the pool where you could dive off the cliffs and do a water slide. It was gorgeous and a lot of fun. Then coming back we decided to take a shortcut that took only 10 minutes but was completely vertical- a great butt workout. So when you all come out to visit this a place that we will definately have to see! A ton of fun!

Bence's Pool. This was gorgeous!

Suprise! I bet you didn't think it was so high. The clif was around 15+ feet. You could also jump in on the otherside of the pool but that clif was around 25 feet.

AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

Great little butt workout to end the day. I was gasping for air from being so out of breath. And its a good view of the jungle.

Back at the top. Great view and picture with my friend Margo.

Catchin' Crab

A few days ago I tried baking in my oven for the first time. It is really tiny, gas, and I have to light it with a match every time I use it. I tried to find a long lighter torch thingy, but they only had battery operated at the store across campus. Which I wasn't sure I trusted. I did find one in town, but the lady didn't sell it to me because she said she didn't know the price and it wasn't for sale. Rude. Anyways, I made chocolate chip cookies that turned out pretty good! They taste a little different because all the sugar here is grainy and the brown sugar looks/tastes like the white sugar has been dyed. But the cookies must of been good because I lost a bet today to our friend Dylan and so now I have to bake him some. I also made super yummy banana cinnamon rolls tonight!! They have whole wheat, banana, coconut and walnuts in them. They came out super moist and not burnt! So I think I might sell them on campus- and make some money- or break even. Either way it will give me something to do. Let me know if you are interested in the recipe!

So when I made the cookies our friends Deb and Dylan came over to try them. It turned out that while they were baking a huge land crab was away from it's hole and at the gate entrance to our apartment. Their holes are outside our window along the fence, and at first I thought they were big snake holes, but it turns out they are homes to land crabs. They are huge and supposedly eat grass and mango. So the boys decided to catch it with a stick and a pot. I tried video taping it outside but it was too dark. So I did when we were inside- contemplating if we should cook it or not. Ben decided it had a disease so he tossed it back onto the lawn- we found it in the yard this evening dead. The death could be a result of its disease, the 5 foot toss into the yard, or the extreme humidity we had today.

Where to begin?

So where do I begin? Well, I hope that this blogging will be put to good use and that people will read/look at it occasionally to see what Ben and I are up to while down on the island. I know that you are all curious about the island, but it makes sense (to me) to start chronologically with the honeymoon. We have some pretty awesome pictures that I want everyone to see!! Then I will dive into island life and let you all know what goes on down here. I will also be posting videos occasionally with the super cool video camera Ben gave me for graduation. In the meantime here are some interesting details about our life so far on the island.

1. We live next to a small field with a cow (we call her Betsy-dumb) and her calf. And everyday about 8-10 other cows come to visit her.
2. We plugged our toaster into the outlet without a converter and it caught on fire! The toast actually came out perfect and not burnt. However, the toaster is busted and now we have to use the ugly one.
3. We made mac n' cheese tonight and both boxes had bugs in them! Gross! I should have took a picture.
   

Honeymoon (Lake Tahoe, NV):
So I'm actually trying to figure out how this thing works and can't get the top picture down here. But the picture above is from a hike we took at Eagles Nest near Lake Tahoe. Ben and I went off the beaten path and I quickly learned how good Ben is at hiking. We (or Ben) decided to climb up this cliff ledge thing that was steep and had tons of rock piled throughout. The picture above actually has a cliff about 10ft from the tree. I've decided to call Ben Indian Man on hikes because he never touches the ground with his hands. I, on the other hand, looked like a freaked out cat on all fours trying to look natural.

A waterfall/rapid near the path we hiked. It was gushing water and super windy while we were hiking.


Kissing. We got tired of looking at the camera obviously. Ben found two pairs of aviators on a ledge and got them for us to try on. They were pretty cool. I wanted to keep them, but Ben put them back for the missing hikers.


A closer look at the lake. It was freezing like Lake Michigan water. So we just walked along the beach and got some calamari at this really neat restaurant that was on the lake.

So I think this is a pretty good post. I'll make changes as we go along so it is more pleasing to the eye. But I thought I would get something up for now!