Weekend in Review

So early last week I informed Josh that he would be taking me out to dinner this past weekend because I had been cooped up in the apartment for far too long and I needed to get out.  Seeing that we don't have a car I told him early enough in week so he could figure something out as far as our means of transportation was concerned.  Friday afternoon was the usual for Josh, going to play volleyball at one of the many beaches here, then he and some other guys from his semester meet to play cards (not something he normally does on a Friday night, though).  Oh wait Friday afternoon Josh did get home early from school so I talked him into going down to the beach that is below our apartment.  Now some of you might think, "Hope why don't you go down to the beach and quit your complaining about never being able to get out of your apartment?"  Let me explain.  Our apartment is situated on the cliffs of the beach, and the trail down to it can be quite dangerous if you are not careful.  But the main reason I do not venture there by myself is because it is just not safe for me to go alone.  Example: periodically I will see local men walking by our apartment to go down to the beach with machetes in their hands.  Now this is quite disturbing, but the more disturbing thing is, when they come back up from the beach they have nothing but the machete in their hand.  My question is, "Where is the animal or fish that they killed with the machete, and if they weren't going down there to get some animal or fish to take home for dinner why do they need the machete?"  I don't know and am not planning on finding out.  Anyway we went and did some exploring before he had to go play volleyball and here are some pictures.

 This is the lovely walkway down to the beach from our apartment.  Nice huh??

View when you come out of the bushes.

This is a "Black Sand Beach."  It is volcanic rock.

Goes from sand to pebbles to rock.

That is our apartment in the distance.

So on to Saturday.  It started out like most other Saturdays.  Josh got up, ate some breakfast and then headed up to school for some studying.  He came home in the afternoon and my first question to him was, "Did you get a car for us to go out tonight?"  Luckily Ryan, one of Josh's friends from MTSU who is in second semester down here, offered to drive us.  He is super great because he picks Josh up every morning for school and always tries to help us when we need to go somewhere and have no way of getting there.  So me, Josh and Ryan headed to the Marriott for some dinner and after, a movie at the local (well only) movie theater.  At the Marriott, I was trying to decide what to get and I knew that I wanted some french fries, as I had been craving them early in the week, and was torn on whether or not to try the "Marriott Burger."  As I have said beef can be kind of sketchy down here even at an "American" hotel, but I decided to go ahead and chance it.  I was so happy that I did!!!!  Although it was not what I would consider a great burger by American standards, it was wonderful for here and especially for someone who hasn't had a burger in four months.  After we finished dinner I went down to the "Pizza Shack" beside the pool and got some chocolate ice cream in a waffle cone!!!  Yummy as well.  We then headed to the Caribbean Cinema to see "I Am Number Four."  I am pretty sure that was out in the states a while back, but we just got it down here.

Sunday, Ryan, came and got us for church, just as he does every Sunday morning.  Didn't I say he was super great?!?!  We got back home and watched a little bit of TV and then I talked Josh into going back down to the beach to walk the other side.  My argument was that I probably would be stuck in the apartment  for the next three weeks because all of Josh's time is going to be devoted to studying as he is preparing for finals.  This time we went the other direction towards the vet school.  We had a great time and got a few souvenirs.

Josh's green rock.

Later that afternoon Ryan came yet again to pick us up for the men's and women's bible study we attend on Sunday nights.  At the women's bible study we celebrated one of the girl's birthdays and so another girl brought chocolate cake with chocolate icing.  Luckily there were leftovers and I left with a few pieces to get me through the week!!!  All in all a great weekend, but what's even better about the weekend was that is marked only two more weekends here on the island!!!  Continue to pray for Josh with his upcoming finals and my sanity to live with him!!