This is a Lionfish. He is an exotic species and can sting you.
Today I was a fish. I am taking a scuba diving class to get my certification! I went to a sunken ship wreck at around 60 ft and we saw a bunch of stuff and it was GREAT! I saw the lion fish and shrimp and damselfish and butterfly fishes. I highly recommend getting certified because you have an entirely different experience from snorkeling when you can really get down there with the fishies. They give a discount to PC Volunteers which is great (only 230 bucks for open water dive to 60 ft), and then we will eventually be able to help out with Reef Check – an organization that has locations all over the country that need help with things like fish counts, buoy cleanings, and coral reef checks. I thought this was an awesome opportunity and therefore am aprovecharing (taking advantage). It is really important to take a class – there are basic things you need to know that are easy but don’t come naturally. The dive instructor told me that I appear very comfortable underwater. I liked that alot :)
My parents are coming really soon now! My whole community is really excited to meet them and I’m really excited to show them stuff. I feel like a 4 year old a little bit. I’m also excited to go to Cabarete to vacation. I’m going to read and sleep and eat good food and dance. I also hope I might be able to go diving. We'll see.
Here is an update of the garden! I've 90% finished it beside the fence around. The tomatos are doing great as are the squash. Basil are taking their time. One carrot bed is up and kicking while the other isn't which was confusing. I couldn't get zuchs or lavender or some of my marigolds to germinate which was weird. My mint also isn't doing great. Yet it is still a lot of fun. This week we learned that you can apply a little wood ashes to tomato plant leaves if you have a problem with flea beetles which I definitely did. The kids went and got the ashes from a neighboring Dona's fogon (Wood cook stove), then we sprayed on my garlic spray and gently applied ashes. They seem to be retaining the info from the gardening classes easily which is cool. They know alot already. The literacy club is also going well. I have abotu 5 really dedicated kids, one of which who can't read at all (9 year old) and they really like the books and participating. I really like the club now too because the kids are sweethearts and it is just really fun playing with them. I did get in an argument with a straggler student who came in and was really...well just not very pleasant to work with - and we argued over the existence of witches. Ben tells me, well Sarah, they might have that here. Ben was not helping that day.
It's 4:12pm in the DR right now and 12:12pm in my West LA apartment. And reading your post brightened my otherwise boring Sunday afternoon. Miss you terribly and hope that everything goes well for your garden and the literacy club.
ReplyDelete