Getting it done

Our time in the Bahamas is just flying by and Christopher's 3rd semester is almost over. One more semester of book work and we are back to the US to begin his clinical rotations. We are so thankful for this experience we have had. It has allowed us to understand that we shouldn't take anything for granted and that no matter what our plan is God's plan is what we should be looking for. We shouldn't be planning months or years in advance but learn to live for today. This has been quite a task for myself because my entire life was planned out before I went to college. So I am learning to live a life that is unplanned.  While Christopher has been learning to be a doctor, I have been learning to be a better cook. I have learned that the way to my husbands heart is through lebanese food in his stomach. I think it is probably in his blood but because this is the case I have been working very hard to cook the things he likes. I have learned to make cabbage rolls and spheeha (meat pies) and many other things. It has been a really good chance for me to take my time and learn to make things because if I would have been back in the states I probably wouldn't have taken the time to learn to do these things. 

Here is a timeline of what Christopher has done and has left of school. Hopefully this will clarify what he is doing.

October 2007-February 2008- Medical Education Review Program in Miami, Florida

May 2008- December 2008 - Basic Science courses in Dominica, West Indies

January 2009- August 2009- Basic Sciences courses in Freeport, Grand Bahama Island

August 209 - December 2009 - Advanced Introduction to Clinical Medicine in either Saginaw, Michigan or Miami, Florida *location to be determined in July 2009*

January 2010 - January 2012 - Clinical Rotations *location to be determined*

Easter!

Easter, although different this year, was a really great day. Christopher took off the day studying and we just spent the day together. We woke up and the Easter bunny had come. Which was really exciting because it made us feel like we were still at home. On the Friday before easter we kept the tradition of dying easter eggs. It was a lot of fun and things like that alway give us a sense of home as well. On Easter we went to the pool and laid out and just enjoyed a day of relaxing together. Then that evening we had all of our friends over for dinner. Everyone brought something and it was a great dinner. We had a great time celebrating Christ's resurrection with all of our friends. Although it was hard not being with family, we made the best of it and enjoyed the day. 

Dating a Medical Student

This is an article about dating a medical student. It is absolutely hysterical to Chris and I because it is so true. My friend Ralna found it but I hope it gives you a laugh.

How to Date a Med Student

Friday, November 14, 2008 | FoxNews.com
Marissa Kristal

Dating a med student? Check out these tips for a "healthy" relationship.

1. Don't expect to see them. Ever.

2. Accept the fact they will have many affairs. With their books.

3. Learn to hide your “ew, gross” reactions when they tell you all the stuff you never wanted to know about your bodily functions.

4. Support them when they come home after each test, upset because they failed—and gently remind them after they get their well above passing grade how unnecessary the “I’m going to fail out of medical school and never become an MD” dramatics are.

5. Each week they will have a new illness. Some will be extremely rare, others will be more mundane. Doesn’t matter. They will be certain they have it (no second opinions necessary.) Med school can, and will, turn even the sanest into a hypochondriac. Date them for long enough, and you’ll become one too.

6. There will be weeks you'll forget you even have a boyfriend—friends will ask how he is and you'll say, “What? Who? Oh....right. He's well...I think.”

7. They'll make you hyper-aware that germs are everywhere and on everything. Even though you used to walk into your home with your shoes on, and sit on your bed in the same clothes you just wore while riding the subway, or sat on a public bench in, you'll become far too disgusted to ever do it again. Believe me, it's going to get bad...you'll watch yourself transform into the anal retentive person you swore you'd never become. And when you witness others perform these same acts that, before you began dating your med student, you spent your entire life doing too, you'll wince and wonder, “Ew! How can they do that? Don't they know how many germs and bacteria they're spreading??!”

8. Romantic date = Chinese take-out in front of the TV on their 10 minute study break.

9. A vacation together consists of a trip down the street to Walgreens for new highlighters and printer paper.

10. Their study habits will make you feel like a complete slacker. For them, hitting the books 8-to-10 hours a day is not uncommon, nor difficult. You'll wonder how you ever managed to pass school on your meager one hour of studying per night.

11. They're expected to know everything. Everything! The name of the 8 billion-lettered, German sounding cell that lives in the depths of your inner ear, the technical term for the “no one's ever heard of this disease” disease that exists only on one foot of the Southern tip of the African continent. But ask them if your knee is swollen, or what you should do to tame your mucous-filled cough, or why the heck your head feels like someone's been drilling through it for oil for two weeks straight, and they won't have a clue.

12. “My brain's filled with so much information, I can't be expected to remember THAT!" will be the standard excuse for forgetting anniversaries, birthdays, and, if you get this far, probably the birth of your first-born.

13. You'll need friends with unending patience who pretend never to get sick of listening to your endless venting and complaints. Or, you'll need to pay a therapist who will pretend never to get sick of listening to your endless venting and complaints.

But take this all with a grain of salt. It's not like I'm speaking from experience or anything...

Blogging Slacker

I have been a very bad blogger lately and I have come up with the reason why that has become. I have never been one that has enjoyed writing and most of the time I don't feel like I have that much to say. But when we moved to Dominica I think that blogging was a way of therapy for me. It was a way to get through the tough times. I think it encouraged me to be a better person and to continue to work on the things that I need to work on as a christian, a wife, and a friend. When we moved to the Bahamas it was kind of like we went back to our previous life before we were stripped from everything we ever knew when we moved to Dominica. So it makes life much easier. You begin to forget the things like clean water, hot water, or even the grocery stores you shouldn't take for granted. I think that moving to Dominica and experiencing what we experienced there was something I would never give back and I am so thankful for everyday. But although I am thankful for that experience I am extremely thankful that the Lord brought us to a new place. We absolutely love the Bahamas. It feels like a home a place where we can both relax and not have to worry so much about other things. So I think because life has gone to a simple life and not so stressful I have less to blog about because now life is like it used to be and not crazy weird things happening on a daily basis.

Yay for Visitors!!!

Betsy came to visit last week and we had a great time. The weather was a little crummy but we made the best of it and enjoyed our time together. It is always fun for me to get visitors because it gives me something to do during the day while Chris is studying. Betsy got here on Monday and on Tuesday we went to the beach all day. It was so fun and we both got really burned. It was a great beach day. We went to eat at a Sushi place and it was delicious. It was Betsy's first experience with sushi and thankfully it was a good one. Haha! She love it. If you come visit you have to go to this place because it is awesome. Along with our sushi we had the best lobster and soft shell crab. Mmm... it was delicious. On Wednesday and Thursday it rained all day. It was kind of a bummer but on Thursday we went shopping at Port Lucaya and found Betsy some great souvenirs. We also went fishing and caught a couple of small fish. I had a great time with her here and it has really been nice having people come and visit because it makes our time here go by so much faster. 

Check out some of our Bahama's pictures

http://candkshadid.shutterfly.com

Mom and Dad came to visit!!!!

To view a slideshow of pictures from my parents visit to the Bahamas

CLICK HERE

My parents came to visit Christopher and me last week, and we had such a great time. We went to a great sushi place to eat dinner the night that they got here. It was very good. I didn't think I liked sushi but apparently I really do. After that we went out and watched some of the shows that they have down in the tourist area. They have a guy that can limbo and a fire dancing lady. It was a great first night having them here. The rest of the weekend we just relaxed, went to the beach, and we even fished in the canal behind our house. We caught a few fish and ended up cooking them for dinner. It was nice because Christopher was even able to come to the beach, even though he studied a little bit while being there. What a great time we had. I actually felt like I was on vacation a little bit. I have learned that after living at the beach for almost a year now we can really take that luxury for granted. 

My parents stayed with us for about 4 days and then my parents and I went to the island of Green Turtle Cay. My grandpa owns a house out there and they were there so we went to visit them for a few days. The flight that we took over there was a 9 passenger plane. It was so small my head was hitting the top of the plane. But when we got there it was really fun and even more relaxing than Freeport. It was really a neat place. Everyone there drives golf carts and the conch that is available there is way better than what we have had in Freeport. I also learned that I really like looking for shells on the beach. Timi has a great collection of shells at their house in Green Turtle and I have decided that this might be my new hobby to go look for shells on the beach. 

One of the days we were in Green Turtle we went fishing with a local that my grandpa has become good friends with over the years. We caught really awesome fish like Grouper, Red Snapper, Yellow Snapper, Parrot Fish, and Porgi. After we caught the fish Lincoln our captain took us to an island and cooked all the fish for us along with some lobster, potatoes, and salad. It was delicious. But the best part was when he through the fish guts in the water. There were sharks that came and ate it. It was the first time I had ever seen sharks and they were definitely as scary and cool as they seem. We had our feet in the water and the sharks were probably about 2 feet in front of us. It was pretty cool. We also had sting rays eat fish out of our toes. It was really neat. It was a great experience that I would hope to do again.