Whirlwind of a Week

It’s hard to believe it has been almost a week since my last update. My apologies! I know that a few of you check my blog daily to see what is new on the island. This week has been such a blur. It still feels like it should be Monday or Tuesday. Let me see if I can recap the week for you…

I think I already blogged about last Sunday evening, but I neglected to tell you that both Ana and I brought coconuts home from our walk! We had a very difficult time opening them and were very disappointed when we realized that they were rotten! What are the chances? Monday, new lessons began and went very well with the exception of one swimmer who definitely had way too much sugar before he came to lessons. Monday afternoon, after lessons, Fish stopped by to check in on us. We told him about our rotten coconuts, and without hesitation, climbed the tree in our yard and brought down two coconuts which he proceeded to open the correct way… We had no idea the process was so involved. I wish I had taken a picture of him climbing the tree and husking the coconut with his teeth!

Tuesday, Ana and I went for a walk to try and find lettuce. We had heard rumors of a farm not far down the street, but discovered that since it is summer, they are only growing herbs and eggplant for the most part. On our way back, we found a coconut on a tree that was within reach. It was ginormous! Looks can be deceiving though…

Before lessons on Wednesday, Ana and I went for a walk down to the Cove Resort. We had been there once before on a jog, but wanted to come back and take some pictures. We made good use of their hammock while we were there! Wednesday evening, we went down to Long Bight to catch the sunset and to crack open the coconut. We pounded the coconut into the rock to make the outside layer crack, and then husked the coconut within. We definitely broke into a sweat! It was hard work! I have developed a newfound appreciation for coconuts. Ana and I decided we didn’t mind if we didn’t drink the coconut water and threw the coconut against the rocks to crack it open. Success!!! And yes, it was worth it.

Thursday morning, we made the trek over to Holiday beach. The surf was rough, but beautiful. It was nice to just sit and listen to the wind and the waves. Thursday was the Bahamian Day of Independence, so only one of our lessons showed up. Everything here is closed on Independence with the exception of J.C Discounts (which was open until 3pm). Ana and I keep our eyes on J.C. to look for the delivery trucks so we will be sure to get food before others come and wipe it out. We made a trip over after they were done unloading and were, once again, ecstatic to find lettuce! We grabbed a loaf of bread as well, considering the last time we said we’d come back for it, we did, and it was all gone. Ana and I made our way around town to check out the Independence activities, but didn’t see too much. It was nice to see everyone wearing yellow, black, and blue though!

We had a great group of kids this week for lessons. We were worried about the extremely hyper boy, but he has proved himself to be an enthusiastic student and is also quite comical. During one of our lessons, I had told him that when I was under water, I saw a black and white stripped fish and it was really close to my nose- he told me I should have snuffed it up. I wouldn’t even want to imagine what that would feel like; for me or the fish! Yesterday afternoon, we worked on endurance swimming and tried to get him more comfortable with floating on his back to take breaks and with the idea of swimming in deeper water. Our goal was to swim to the buoy and he was literally three feet away, turned around, and said he would do it on Monday. He was so close! He was getting a little nervous, but still felt accomplished! I have spent the majority of this week trying to get one of the little girls to put her head underwater and she finally did it! I’m so excited! This was actually her second week of lessons. I’m interested to see how she will do if she comes back next week as well.

Takio is back from Nassau! Although he was a handful in the beginning, Ana and I have missed not having him around. He found us this morning and wants to do lessons again next week. This is good news for us because almost all of the other kids have gone away to visit family in the states or Nassau, so whoever we get will be great! Ana and I have also been trying to plan a “Fun in the Sun Day” for next Friday for all of the kids that have taken lessons so we can review everything and have one last day with them all. I can’t believe we only have one more week of lessons…

I finished reading A Million Little Pieces by James Frey. It was a hard book to put down. I feel like I need something a bit lighter this time around...

Plans for this weekend are up in the air. We may try to go to the Bluff Homecoming, go to a wedding in Hatchet Bay, hitch to Governor’s Harbor or wherever else we feel like going… I like
not having a plan. Life happens!