"Most of what matters in your life takes place in your absence."-Salman Rushdie (I saw this quote and wanted to think on it myself, so that is why I posted it on here. If any of you all have any thoughts or interpretations of it, I would love to hear them on my comments board or via email.)

Moving on.... The above picture is from the balcony of my apartment at sunset. In my opinion, though I respect that of others, I find it hard to see something as beautiful as that sunset or a child laughing or listen to the ocean as it breaks and deny the existence of God. Nature is so plentiful here in Dominica that it is difficult not to acknowledge God or some higher power. I say higher power because many other of the students here are from different cultures and religions. Shruti, whom I thought spelled her name Saruthy, is Indian and has only lived in the States five years. Samaan is Iranian, and I met a guy tonight, Toro, who currently lives in Brazil with his Brazilian wife but is himself Japanese. There are many Asian, Indian, Sri Lankan, Persian, and Arab students here....all are US citizens but their heritage is from another culture. That is why I have learned such a respect for other cultures...if we were all alike life would be so boring.

As I write this, there is a cow in the hills below me that sounds quite distressed. In the States, someone would go check on it, but not here. It is ignored. Of course many of the students are from large cities such as NYC, Newark, Houston, LA, Cleveland, Detriot, Bombay, India....not Stanford, Kentucky. I had to explain the concept of a cattle guard to my friend Samaan tonight. He, by the way, set up my wireless router, which I purchased at a too expensive and nameless price. It makes my life easier. He is like JT in the way that he organized all of the wires from the jumbled mess in which I had them. Samaan is trying to talk Shruti and I into going to the beachside bar tonight to celebrate the new year. Drinking, for many reasons, has never been my thing, so we, Shruti and I, have decided against it. Thus, I sit at my computer, drinking water, and listening to the crickets as the breeze comes in from the hills and ocean. Why, you many ask, don't I turn on the AC? First, my body is adapting quite quickly to the heat...Secondly, I would rather talk on the phone and use my computer and be hot but talking to friends than be cool and lonely. I have to choose one because to do both uses too much expensive electricity. Therefore, I will settle for the breeze.

The picture below is of my kitchen. I will show pics of my apartment once I get the bedroom how I want it. I say that because the kitchen and bedroom are the only two rooms...By the way, I would love for you guys to mail or email me pics to hang on my walls. Seeing friends and family remind of home and of many reason for my impending educational and lifestyle struggle here. Lifestyle changes include mostly transportation and eathing changes. We walk everywhere. Shruti got us lost in the small town of Portsmouth today. We walked about a mile there. We then paid a $1 EC to take a bus to Tina's grocery store where I found my much beloved Otis Spunkenmeyer banana nut muffins for $6 EC. I found some eggs and rice and bought some different milk. The store delivered us and our groceries to our doorstep in a rickety old van with one small seat. The door did not shut and I do not know if it had brakes. After that Samaan and I went to Perky's Pizza and met some new people there. I had a small piece of pizza and a coke...other than that small meal I have had Passion Fruit juice, water, and a can of mushrooms to eat. Lest I not forget the golf ball sized tangerine Mom picked up at the market. Needless to say, eating and traveling is much different here. What is also changing is my hair...After taking a cold and might I add, refreshing, shower tonight I put my leave in conditioner and STRAIGHTENING gel in it...I am letting it air dry...Can you guys believe it...I have curly hair. Not curly like Misty Hurt at Beta Club convention in eighth grade (that is for you Sarah)...but wavy enough to be different from anything I have had before. Also, I have also developed some rash or bites on my legs and arms. They are small, rash-like bumps that slightly itch, well enough to annoy you when you do not have calamine lotion.

Anyway, for those of you who pray often and diligently, which I know many of you do, please remember my friend Yvie's (I call her Yvie though her name is Yvette) 10 year old son Brandon. They had to admit him to Gwinett Medical Clinic in Georgia because he has been throwing up, with the exception of eight hours, for three days now. They had to admit him tonight. I have yet to hear from Yvie, but I spoke her mother, Dina, who said that he is pretty sick. So please remember him in your prayers...(He was the Spanish boy in the picture on my blog from 12-15-2005) Also my good high school friend Jonathan Hart's grandfather passed away this week. I called him tonight and to hear a voice I have not heard in at least a year was quite nice even it was at an adverse time. However, isn't it said that in prosperity our friends know us but only in adversity do we know our true friends...He will always be a friend to me. Anyone who remembers me as Nie Nei is near to my heart.

Well Happy New Year! Maybe tomorrow I will post my resolutions after I get back from a tour to the Carib territory and Emerald Pool. That trip should be quite nice, though it will be long and curvy. And by the way, the cow is still mooing in significant distress...Happy New Year!

"Friendship is the joy, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring all right out as they are, chaff and grain together, confident that a faithful, friendly hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and with a breath of comfort, blow the rest away." -George Eliot

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.”
Charles R. Swindoll

The above picture is a view of the island's national park from the campus. Quite amazing, aye? I tried to put a picture of the sunset from my balcony. However, it would not quite work so I assumed this would suffice. So far, things are going well. I am settled into my apartment, which is pricier than I would have preferred but it was move-in ready with internet, cable, and water included. The walk to school, including the dreadful broken pavement up and down hill, is only about ten minutes. It is quite a workout, though. The building I live in is known as "Green Homes." That is obvious from the picture above. I am on the top left corner so that I look out onto Banana Trail and the ocean. I can see the mountains out of the opposite window. The breeze is nice in the mornings and late afternoons, but mid-day is brutally hot. My body is starting to adapt to the changing climate, which leaves me very sticky at times. My bed sheets appear to be that of a young boy's from 1985. They are red and blue squares with planets and stars all over them. Quite attractive, may I add.

What else can I tell you? I have met several people. Many people here know someone else....not me. I have been hanging mostly with Samaan, a Persian guy from Los Angeles. He brought his dog, Toto, a red, minature Dachsund. Of course, my mother loves the dog. I finally met a girl tonight living in the next building. I am not quite sure of her name's spelling, but her name is Saruthy. She is from New Jersey and I believe she is of Middle Eastern decent. She is going with Mom and me to the market at five a.m. tomorrow to get fresh fruit, veggies, and fish. If you don't get there before seven, most of the good stuff is gone.

Speaking of fruit, Dominica has the best fruit and fruit juice I have ever tasted. So far, we have tried starfruit juice, sorrel juice, and grapefruit juice, all of which are hand-squeezed daily. The sorrel juice is a red, sweet juice that is only ripe during the holidays. They say it's like a strawberry, but nevertheless, it is very good. The starfruit juice is both sweet and tangy and quite refreshing. Eating their bananas is something you can not experience in the US. They are smaller and sweeter and better.

I know I am making this sound like paradise, which it is, but there are down sides. The electricity is very expensive. I hardly turn on the air conditioning to save money, but I am adjusting. All of the other foods besides native fish and veggies and fruit are very expensive. For instance, a bag of Doritos is $4.oo in US money and you can't get real milk. A small can of Spaghetti-O's was $3.50. Quite outrageous, aye?! Another downside is missing JT and my friends and my family. I am not lonely but it is the not being able to see someone when you want that is difficult. Vonage, my phone service, is a life saver....by the way, any of you can call me at 706-534-8934 anytime. That is local for me and for you....God bless technology. For now, I am going to go. Please email me or call me. nataliestewart21@hotmail.com or nataliehenderson21@yahoo.com... If you have Yahoo messenger, I would love to talk to you with the above yahoo id. Love you guys and miss you.

"Live Like Children"


Aren't the children to the left just wonderful? The two on the outside are one best friend's, Yvie's, kids. The one on the far left is Brandon and Tyler is the little one on the right. DJ is the one in the middle; he is Tyler's half brother. I can not tell you how much I love these children. Tyler and Brandon's sister, Kerilynn, is not in the picture, but she is absolutely gorgeous as well. These kids are so much fun. I love them so very much. Because I have grown so close to them, I am really going to miss them while I am in Dominica. I love the way they, as kids, will say anything without reserve....I love the way they love. Children, especially small kids like Tyler, love without any knowledge of looks or color or size or finances...they love without really knowing how and that is what makes it so very special. I am thankful to have spent my time with these kids because they have been such a blessing to me.


As for what is going on with JT and I....JT leaves tomorrow for a swing trip to Portland, Oregon and Reno, Nevada to play Oregan State and Nevada. In the meantime, I will be heading to Crossville, Tennessee and Somerset, Kentucky to visit with my family one last time before leaving for school. The whole experience of leaving is quite bittersweet in that I am leaving for an amazing experience but at the same time, I am leaving so many new and old faces that I love. I will, however, not forget these people, so I am guessing that will only make the experience better because I will have my old friends and memories and get to make new ones too.....

"The In-Betweens"

Life is lived in the in-between moments not the big events. Look at the picture to the right...the small girls living in Dominica. They are so happy but nothing major is going on. It is a time spent with friends and that is enough. That is how I want to live my life, not in the flamboyant moments of praise and valor, but in the small, mundane events, the day to day moments. I want to hold hands with a friend and that be enough. Or watch a television show alone in quiet with my husband and words not be necessary. Those are the moments I cherish. But I want to take care to notice those moments more. To embrace them, enjoy them, live in them. It is in the in-betweens that adversitty happens. In the big, prosperous moments, many people want to be close to us, yet in life's smaller, adverse moments, those that are still around, those are the people that matter.

I am really going to miss a lot of people when I leave for school. Yet I am thoroughly persuaded that if the people whom I love and care about feel just a fraction of the feelings I have for them, our relationships will not falter but rather grow as a direct result of my absence. I am not looking forward to the leaving but the coming home with a greater sense of who I am and what those people mean to me. If I learn that in addition to gross anatomy, microbiology, genentics, etc...medical school will be a success.

"Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward together in the same direction."-Saint-Exupery

I am very glad that I have found the person to look in the same direction as me. The wonderful man pictured at left is my husband, JT Henderson. This is his picture from the University of Georgia Men's Basketball media guide. He is the team's program coordinator. I really love him, and today is his birthday. He says that he is getting old but I tell him that he defines what his age. He just rolls his eyes at me. I really love him because he is such a hard worker and he loves me dearly. I really do not know what I would do without him. He is truly the best friend I have ever had. We have a great time together. He is always asking me who sings what song, and of course, I never know. I always want to do silly things, like drive through big neighborhoods and look at houses or listen to him belt out his karoke version of Johnny Cash or 50 Cent or Backstreet Boys or the BeeGees. Regardless of the tune, he makes me laugh while at the same time giving me great comfort. I will miss this man, my love, very dearly. For those of you who don't know him, he is a lot of fun....for those of you who do, please take care of him for me. I will be forever indebted to you for it. I love you JT....