Serendipity

The food here is so good.   It’s called Krioyo food.  It’s a type of food based on Western European ancestry mixed with West Indies.  This is fitting, since the Netherland Antilles is the perfect blend of Western Europe and West Indies.  The food is heavy and hearty and delicious.  I’ve been working out (AKA going running) everyday for about a week and I plan to continue every day I’m still here. Why? Because I’ve been eating way too much of this unhealthy food!  Everything is made locally, fresh that morning, oftentimes with ingredients grown or raised in their own backyard.

I’ve been eating: Pastechis (meat filled pastries), Johnny Cakes (cheese filled pastries), tutu (cornmeal pudding thing mixed with bean soup), masbango (a fish), stoba (stewed meat), sate ku batata (chicken kebab and potatoes), worst salu (a deli meat similar to hard salami but way better), broodje hagelslag (see my earlier post) and so much more.  Expect me to weigh an extra hundred pounds next time you see me.

At work I'm doing all the leg work before I can start the "exciting" part of my research. The groundwork should be ready to go by the 1st of July.  In the meantime, in addition, I've also been doing the job of a lab tech.  For the past two days they've left me in charge of some of the testing (they have way more trust in me than I do).  I'm terrified of screwing up and someone ending up with a blood transfusion that does them more harm than good!

 On another note, in order to still be available 24/7 to my parents they’re making me carry my normal Droid phone (for international texts), a magic jack (for international calls), a local phone I got here (obviously for local calls), a Verizon Wireless Mobile Hotspot (which has stopped working) and my dad’s iPad (for emergency Skype sessions I guess). I may be bogged down, but I can contact anyone, anywhere in the world, from anywhere in the world...only by phone though. Since the hotspot broke, I still can't find reliable internet anywhere on this island.  So, I just keep moving around from place to place. This blog brought to you by the business center of a hotel that would probably kick me out if they knew I wasn't a guest here.

The lowest bill is the 10 dollar bill.  I HATE coins and I usually just toss them in a jar something…but I'm not rich enough to fill a jar with coins worth 5 Gs each (though in this case the, G stands for gilder).

Sate ku batata. Deliciously unhealthy

Broodje hageslag

From about 4 inches above my ankles and down hang over the edge of the bed :/ And as you can see my desk is already a mess. Typical.

Room until July 29th…Tiny

Decided to draw some blood and do a blood group test on myself. I hope I don't get yelled at for misuse of resources.

Shout out to Christine Terminello from The CAT’s Meow for giving me a cat-themed birthday card (in January) that I thought I had lost, but then found in my suitcase when I arrived in Curacao! Weird, right? Anyways, it’s now decorating my window sill and people think I’m weird for having it, haha! Hope to see you again in real life soon Christine. Have fun this summer, you’ll be a great OL!