Beginning of the End: Semester 1

So as I sit here and type we are one day and three weeks away from getting on a plane and heading back to the states.  I can not even explain how excited I am to get back home for a little while.  I am sure most people think we are so lucky to be able live where we do for a while, but I beg to differ.  It is very true what Dorothy says, "There is no place like home."  The phase, "Island life is much slower" is true, but not very suited to the way us Americans are use to living.  Now some of the you might think that you would love to live like this.  Hanging out on the beach, never have to worry about cold weather, flip flops all year around, beautiful views; all in all paradise.  NOT!!  We currently live in an over priced apartment complex that is not yet complete, but that is the norm here.  It takes five times as long for construction projects to get done.  The landscape is scattered with half finished homes.  The groceries cost twice to three times as much then back at home.  When going to the grocery store you have to check the dates on EVERYTHING because you never know if it is out of date.  I have yet to buy crackers that don't taste stale.  Milk day is Wednesdays, and all of it has the same sell by date.  So if you don't get to the store until Friday or Saturday you run the risk of not getting any milk or having to buy milk that will be out of date in 3 days and cost you twice as much.  Nothing is made down here as far as groceries, so everything is shipped in once a week.  And the beef selection, oh the beef selection is horrible.  I think Josh is going to consume at least 4 whole cows by himself when we get home.  His school has some people from the island that sell "Grade A beef" at school on Wednesdays at lunch.  Well we bought it a couple of time and thought it tasted a little strange, but thought it was just because the cattle are probably grass feed.  Then there was the night that I made hamburger steak, and we determined that it had to be goat meat!!  Needless to say we have not bought it since and have been eating ground turkey which Josh is just loving.  There are three fastfood restarants here: Subway, KFC, and Dominos.  We have been to two out of the three and were not impressed.  If you go out to eat, here a again you can expect to pay twice as much for your dinner and it may not even be worth eating.  I could talk all day about why we can't wait to be home, but I will not do that to you.  I will close by saying as much as we wish we could be home, we know that God has placed us here for a reason, and we are eagerly waiting for Him to show us what it is.  So keep the prayers coming!!!