Ugh Monday.............

Happy Monday Everyone!!!
 You know when you wake up Monday morning and all you can think of is this..........

You know you are tired; but your teacher says Buttress is class and all you can think of is Beavis & Butthead.....................

"hehe hehe; she said Butt!......haha Ya!"  *sigh* 

Boy how much I disliked that show back in the day; yet I can't help but think of them from time to time.   On a side note; I did not realize the Garfield picture was an animated GIF~!!.  Alright; Monday got a bit better haha.  Thank you Garfield; I knew you were one of my favourite cartoon characters for a reason :)
So start off; I have to say that I am very touched by the reaction of some people to my current situation.  I kind of have been ignoring facebook for the last little while; as I have been trying to concentrate on my schooling as well as dealing with things back home and my current situation over here.  Not to mention I am still having to deal with tutoring and my TA sessions for the school.  What I saw when I logged in last night was a bunch of people sharing my story and asking their friends and family to help out if they.  I cannot say how much I appreciate it and how warming or soothing it is to the soul to see such a response.  What is even more impressive is the generosity of some; I would never judge on the amount given for any charitable situation; what may seem like nothing to one person may very well be quite a bit of money to another.  So I thank everyone for their donations and I will definitely keep you posted as things progesss but as of right now; according to my ChipIn page I have raised: $1,265~!!!!  One person donated $500 and a couple of my friends donated $100us.   Plus a couple of the people I tutor also made quite generous donations to my cause.  Just really amazing and I thank you; and I thank all of you for your donations and the time you have put in on behalf of my cause.   On top of the random facebook posts all over the place of late, my girlfriend and one of her better friends have been apparently writting to the Ellen Degeneres show to try and get my story noticed by her.  Apparently she provides aide to worth people in need.  I cannot say that I am in more need than some amazing people out in this world who are probably in a worse situation than myself; as I would not like to compare the cost of my educational future to the cost of just pure living but still it would be quite impressive and amazing if Ellen did not me and did look into my situation to help me out.  Plus on top of it; I just love Ellen; i think she is hilarious and I think it would be pretty friggin awesome to meet her in person.  Although I know she is a very busy person; so I guess a check would do just as well haha ;)

Speak of the Devil; okay not really because it is not like a bad thing has shown itself just as I was talking about the situation.  Mini-subject change, but have you ever met someone that uses those types of expression poorly or just waaaaay out of context?  what i find even more humeous is that most of the time they have been saying that way for a long time and no one has ever corrected them.   Anyways; my apologies; so what i was saying intially; just as I was mentioning my gf and writting to the Ellen Degeneres show; my friend Nely write me on Skype and say to me: "hey hope u dont mind. i signed you up for this: http://www.ellentv.com/be-on-the-show/433".  What are the odds?  Plus once again I am touched deeply and no not in the way some of your dirty minds may be heading but in the way of just feeling overwhelmed with the way people are reacting around me.  I expected a bit of a response but I did not expect the internet to explode with my name all over the place.  Ive said it before and I am sure I will continue to say for it some time to come; but thank you so much to everyone for your time, effort and money :)

Hence my past last night on FB was "Just logged onto facebook after being AFK for a couple of days to see messages posted left and right about my current situation. From the bottom of my heart; thank you to everyone for the effort you are making on my behalf. I cannot say how touched I am. Thank you :)".  Which I cannot say enough and that will increase exponentially the more funds I raise for my cause.  

Unfortunately every time I plan on logging into my blog and plan on talking to you about my past experiences at this school; I end up side tracking about something else and then feel as if it would be too much to start talking about my experiences after babbling for the last little while about other topics.

That being said it is Monday; I will hopefully be done all my tutor and TA session by Thursday; I still have to write like a 2000word essay for December 13th about my VIDA trip to Guatemala as it was paid for by SCAVMA (our student school body); hence I need to write about my experiences while on the trip or else I'll have to pay the money back to school; which obviously I cannot do :P   So this week will be a bit for me; but I will try and post a little mini-something later on in the week just giving you an update.  Once our final exams are over (last one is on December 13th); I should have plenty of time to tell you about all of my amazing experiences on and off this island.

Until then; have a great day everyone and hope to blog again soon :)

Just because it always puts a smile on my face :)

 Much love!

Jonathan =) 

TGIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

TGIF!!! I mean TGIS!! (works for the other two days) :P

I just wanted to write a quickly post; as I know you were all anxious to read more about what I have to say :) Unfortunately this next week and a bit is exam week; so it will be quite difficult for me to post anything on a regular basis or to at least describe all of my trials and tribulations over the last year. 

As I was thinking to myself about that thought; I had a side-thought (which tends to occur quite often with that brain of mine); which was just a general thought about the people I have met or have come to known while being on this island. 

 

I have to say that there have been many ups and downs over this last year and a half; some great people have come into my life and some other great people have sadly left us.  Not as the way you may be thinking originally but if you have read my previous posts you will understand the hardships that we as students incurred while being and living on this island.  Unfortunately this island is sometimes too much for some people and I think that more than anything is what gets people.  This school is amazing for giving us all the opportunity to be here but it is a harsh master as well in that there is very little leniency in regards to failure.  Fail one class you get a warning, you fail another class the following semester or you fail two classes in one semester and you are out.  I can understand the strictness employed by the school due to the over-whelming amount of students they accept but I do not think the school takes into account the effect this island has on all of us.  It irritates me so much to know and see good people that would have made GREAT veterinarians leave this island due to unfortunate circumstances that the school did not deem important enough to allow them a second change.  Threatened on a daily basis by a member of the local community? Sorry not good enough.  An error in prescription that resulted in excessive mood swings and anxiety attacks? Sorry not good enough.  Failing a class by one percentage point after going into the final with an 86 because you were sick all morning with a migraine? Nope, not good enough.  I know some of you disagree and that is okay, but this is my opinion.  What is even more frustrating is that the people that got kicked out were good, hard working people who would have made a difference in this world as a veterinarian.  Yet some of the people I see throwing their education and money away on a weekly or daily basis get to stay because they get a fake ass note from their doctor saying they have ADD and voila! Welcome back to Ross U.  Obviously the school is not aware of this situation and I would not ever expect them to encompass that into their process of re-acceptance.   I do personally believe that should definitely take into consideration what it took for most of us to come down here and how much time, money and effort we invest to move to a new country to try and achieve our goal of becoming veterinarians.  Plus now that Ross University is corporately owned by DeVry Incorporated; I doubt the process will ever change or become more empathetic to the obstacles we faced to come down here and continually face on a daily basis.

As for myself; I agree with one of my reader’s comments (thank you Judy for sharing your thoughts) in that I should describe my situation to you a little more.  Unfortunately like I said finals are just around the corner; so I am doing my best to deal with school; while dealing with problems back home; while dealing with ways to try and stay in school here.  I was planning on giving you; my reads more detailed insight into my life and tribulations I have encountered over the next couple of posts.  Considering her questions were quite valid questions and I am sure there are others asking the same thing.  So to respond to her questions………………..

Grants: I have searched left and right in regards to grants; the ones available are either for US residents or minorities.  Which unfortunately I am none of those.

3^rd party service (ie: personal loan; student loans or companies that lend money out to students): unfortunately some of them will not give money to a school situated in the Caribbean and the others demand a US co-signor with the credit to back me as it more of a personal loan than anything. 

My own backing system back home; I am tapped out.  I have a $115,000 student line of credit (maximum a Canadian bank will give for a veterinary student) and mom took out a personal loan of $25,000 to help me.  So  unfortunately she can no longer help me anymore as well.

As for the “plan”; it is difficult for me describe my plan.  As I am not entirely sure how much I need; it is an ever evolving situation that is constantly shifting.  If I get no help from anyone (including family + banks back home); then I need at least $20,000 to pay next semester, and this is not including the rest of this semester that I have not paid as of yet.  Which is another $10,000.  So around $30,000US to raise enough funds to be able to pay for my last semester on the island.  Then that leaves my last year of clinical year; which I am not planning on trying to raise money for but if people so want to donate my cause; then I would forever be grateful; as it would save me from having to stop my school for whatever period of time to be able to raise the money to be able to pay my clinical year.   So at the moment; it stands at $30,000us or if I need to break out down to the bare essentials; which would just cover tuition fees; then that would be around $25,000.   I am hoping to get some more help from back home and so if that occurs; obviously that amount would drop.   I figured if someone was truly serious in helping to that degree they would ask those more finite questions; such as how much I pay per month for food, gas, rent…etc.  I suppose it would be of a benefit for someone in my situation just to divulge everything and avoid having someone take that step which would involve contacting me to get the information first; rather than just choosing to make random donation in the moment.

As for currently salary; well I am a vet student; so technically it is Zero.  Although I am employed by the school as a TA (Teaching Assistant) for Vet Prep Physio (like intro course before starting vet school) & for Physio I.  I also tutor all three physiologies and from time to time will help out if I can.  So even though it sounds nice; the amount of money I make from the school barely makes a dent in anything and at the moment it is probably the only thing allowing me to eat or pay for my gas to get to school on a weekly basis.  I just made my last payment on my electric and internet bills; but as for the December payments……..*shrugs*; I am hoping I get lucky between now and the end of December.

As for how animals affect me and what is my life story as to why I want to be a vet.  I think that is explained relatively well in my previous blog posts for those who are curious about my life before I came to this island and for the first 4mths on this island.  Just on that quick read you can see how animals affect me and what I am willing to do for them.  I am an active member of many clubs, I was part of the Sea Turtle Conservation Project as well as part of the Bat Conservation project on this island.  Any more details will come as I blog, I thank you for your comments; but it would have been the longest blog post ever if I would have discussed all those things in one sitting.  One things about humans in this day and age (and I do not mean to offend); but we have SHORT attention spans and many people would not have been willing or able to read more than a 1000word essay about my plight.  So I thought a short intro was better than a long drawn out story.  So……………………………..more to come :)

 To all Rossies come and gone; to anyone who randomly comes across this blog, I wish you all the best and that you continue to follow your dream despite whatever detours or roadblocks appear to stop you, for without effort there is no success.

Much Love!

Jonathan =)

The calm before the storm.......

Good morning!

The sun rises on a new day is what I thought of as I walked out of my house this morning……..at least that is what I initially thought of.   You know when it looks like everything in the world is crumbling down around you and then for a moment, you get a break in the storm and you see the light at the end of the tunnel.  You think to yourself, maybe today will be the day things start to get better. 

That is what I thought this morning; when I came out of my apartment and saw this:

Beautiful! Even more so when you see it with your own eyes.  Then the universe reminded me of my situation; like waking up in the middle of a battle field and forgetting for a moment where you are and then looking down and realizing you are at the bottom of a ditch with a broken leg.    

I get to school, I open the  back door of my car and then I see probably the one thing I was really looking forward to this morning was spilt all over the back seat of my car.   My delicious amazing coffee, all gone; how sad :(

So onto the original reason I was going to going to Blog this morning, to give all my wonderful readers and fans and update on my current situation. So here it goes…………………

I am now officially broke!!! no bueno indeed :(.   

I initially started this blog right before I came down here to hopefully bring my situation into light, to try and raise some funds for my departure from Montreal to help make my move to a new country a little easier.  

Unfortunately this blog never raised the funds I thought it would; or to be more precise it did not raise any funds what so ever.  The only donation I’ve ever gotten was from a client of mine; which to this day I have not forgotten (merci beaucoup M. Corbeil!!!!!!!), nor do I ever think I will ever forget the amazing charitable act that client did.  There are some things or situations in life where the world spits back at you the results you expected and there are other times where certain people amaze you.    The downside to that is that it is normally the people you least expect it that step forward and impress you the most; yet the people you expect to have your back normally let you down the most.  It is odd how the world works and even more odd is what drives us as humans do kind acts or what we deem we have time for.  

I do not know how many times I have heard comments such as “I do not have the money” or “I really do not have the time” yet if the proper situation arises then they all of a sudden they do have the time or they do have the money.  I know every situation is different from one person to the next; but do not say you cannot help someone out if you are broke but then the next weekend you are out taking a trip for fun to another island or you are going out on a rum run or skydiving, or whatever activity suits you. For those of you who do not know; a rumrun is you and up to19 of your friends, dancing and partying all night long while drinking alcohol on a moving bus that spends the evening touring the island.  Pretty friggin amazing if I do say so myself.  I blogged about my own experience on one in one of my earlier posts (if you feel like reading about it *wink*).  

I could have actually went on a RumRun last weekend for my friends’ birthday (sorry Michele!!!!), unfortunately I had to kindly decline for obvious reasons;  as when I say I do not have the money, I truly mean it.  If you do not feel like going; then be honest and say “I do not want to go”.  I think honesty goes much further in life than dishonesty.  I do not see why our society feels that it is better to lie to spare someone’s feelings that to be honest and maybe hurt them in the process.  Personally I prefer honesty, sometimes I may hurt people and sometimes they may hurt me but at least it is the truth.  Nothing hurts more than someone close to you lieing to you and then you finding out the truth later on down the road.   Not that I am not guilty of such things as well but it is something I continually strive to improve on.  

Which brings me to another random thought about something we all do; Procrastination!  How many things in life do we push aside and say to ourselves “I’ll get to that later”.  Something I have said to myself a many a times and that is exactly what I did with my blog when I decided I no longer had the time to spend on the computer.   It goes to show you what procrastination and laziness can lead to.  I remember it just like it was yesterday, me telling myself “it has only been a week since you last post; after this weekend for sure”; next thing you know it was it was two weeks, then a month, then several months and now, well now I’ve successfully completed another four semesters of vet school with hopefully successful completion of my 6^th semester.  So it has been close to a year and five months since my last blog posts; which to be honest when I saw the date I said to myself:

“F**k me; has it really been that long?!”.  

After re-reading my stories and experiences from my first semester on this island; I have to say that probably one of my biggest regrets is not having spent the time to continue my blog on a daily or weekly basis.   Which only emphasizes the last point I was making; don’t be a procrastinator!!!!!!!!!  If you got something to do; do it NOW! Not later!  Or at least do the best you can haha :P

Unfortunately despite my best efforts and the best efforts of many back home; this may be my last semester or I should say more this will most likely be my last semesters.   One of the hardest things to admit openly to people is the fact that you need help and it is even more difficult to ask for financial help from others.   I did that last semester; I openly spoke to a few of about my situation at the time and the kind of muck I was standing in.  I even went as far as to openly admit on our class (Greenies) website; that I could no longer afford to be on this island and the way it stood I had just enough money to pay for 6^th semester but that 7^th semester was greatly in doubt.   I decided to try and throw a party to have my entire semester together to have a good time and at the same time raise enough money to hopefully pay my cost of living on this island and ideally a part of my tuition.  In the end, it was a lot of effort for not much return.  I made only 1000ec (about $370us); obviously any amount helps but in the end it barely made a dent or contribution to my cause.  I think part of it was bad timing (there was the 7^th semester banquet, which is like their graduation party) but part of it comes to what I was saying at the beginning of this blog about how people make time or have money for the things they so choose.   I poured my heart and emotions out and the people that stepped forward to help me were the people I least expected (Courtney B. + Samantha S. you will forever have a place in my heart) and some of the people I expected to be there disappointed me the most (which won't be named on a public forum). 

Money drives this world and most of the people in it and it is unfortunate that Americans do not know how lucky they are in regards to the amount of money their government is willing to give them to fund their educational futures.  On the flip side, the sad part is how expensive it is to fund their education;  so I guess it is a bit of a trade-off.  Still; what I wouldn’t give for that negative trade-off at the moment.   The Canadian financial institution is a little different and they have a cap or a limit on how much they give.  Sadly that cap is only about half of my total tuition and as stated I am tapped out!

So as it stands today; I have exhausted all possible sources back home to try and get money so I could at least finish my time here on this island and at least get to my clinical year before being forced to stop.  Not sure what else to do and I no longer know who else to ask; I feel like I have tried all possible options besides selling my body for those other kinds of services, which has been recommended to me by a couple of people in the past :S 

Although one of my friends; recommended I try emailing a bunch of rich people explaining my situation.  Which I thought it wouldn't hurt to try, or perhaps if I am lucky one of those amazing rich entrepreneur which just stumble across my site and say; WOW this kid deserves a break.  *sigh*  Wouldnt that be sweet; soooooooo just in case............. Bill Gates; Warren Buffet; Larry Ellison; Charles &David Koch; Jim &Alice Walton; S. Robson Walton; Michael Bloomberg; Richard Branson; OPRAH!!!!!!!!  Who knows maybe one of them searches their name on a regular basis haha :P  This same friend also offered to give me a part of his savings (Shaunt! you have no idea what that meant to me or how it reflects what kind of person you are; thank you from the bottom of my heart!); which brings me back to that comment I made previously about how certain people can just completely amaze you; or forever change your perspective on an idea or concept.

So when life craps on you, you need to just clean yourself off and keep on trucking.  That is all I can do and hope in the end that one day I can still complete my dream of being a veterinarian; a dream that I started all those years back and at the time it seemed quite impossible (heck; my school counsellor even said so; so wrong; but thats another story) but there is one thing I have always believed and I still believe and that is if you stop trying you’ll never get anywhere but with enough effort and time even the impossible can become possible.   Such as the concept of a drop of water slowly carving its way through a giant boulder.

So I am hoping that the impossible will become the possible again; until that time I shall keep on blogging and describing the rest of my time on this island; whether it be for a month or until the end of April, I’ll keep doing what I have always done and hope that things will work itself out.

To all of my friends who have helped me in the past; you will never know how much you have touched my heart and I will never forget the kind acts you have done for me.  

My next post…..I shall try and recap for you my comings and goings for the last year and a bit.  Although to be honest probably anything other than this semester may be a bit hazy haha :P

Much Love!

Jonathan =)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!! :)

HAPPY GOBBLE GOBBLE DAY to everyone in the US of A ;)

May we all gives thanks for what we do have and not what we want!


Jonathan =)

I'm Back!!! :S

I’m back!!!! Wow, it’s been a little over a year and a half since my last post; how time flies!!! :S


"It's been a long time; I shouldn't have left you; Without a dope beat to step to; Step to, step to, step to; Step to, step to...." :P

My biggest regret is not having continued my daily/weekly blogs of my continued on-goings on the island. I know I still have many moments caught on film or in my mind but after re-reading my previous posts; I truly wish I would have continued to put in the effort to describe to you my life on this island as there are many moments that could only have been properly expressed in words and in the telling of the story.  So I will do my best to keep you updated on a regular basis again :)

Now I wish I could say that the reason for me coming back to my blog was under the best of circumstances but unfortunately it is not. In case you just got concernered about my comment, do not worry, besides my darn aching neck again; I am in tiptop shape :)

Let's just say for now that short of a financial miracle I doubt I will have much time left on this island. So if anyone or anyone who knows anyone would be willing to make a small donation I would be forever grateful as I am so close to achieving my dream of being a veterinarian; please help me at least get off this island before having to take a momentary pause.

That's all I have to say for now; more to come shortly.  Much love to all.

Jonathan =)



 If you would like to help share this link or my blog to bring my circumstances to the attention of others; it would be greatly appreciated.  http://stayinvetschool.chipin.com/help-pay-the-rest-of-vet-school

If everyone did one small act of kindness on a daily basis we could change the world ;)

Exams done with, its Miller time! Well at least for 2 weeks :)

As my lovely title says, exams are done with! Phew what a relief that is, I have to say I am not one who stresses much normally, but that exam final week, definitely put some tension through the shoulder and neck muscles.   I think i was popping tylenol every other day just to avoid getting a major headache.   It is done and over with and I am soooooo happy, even more so to say, that i passed all of my classes with relatively good grades.  Unfortunately it seems I lost my A in Physiology, which is quite the surprise to me considering I thought I did fairly well on that exam, or as I said to some, I killed that exam.  I am curious to see if the final notes get curved slightly hopefully bringing my marks back up to an A.  I am not counting on anything, but that would be nice considering the marks currently out are tentative marks until the professors finish looking over everything to make sure all is kosher and what not.  As for my other classes, well I went down two grades in Nutrition, going from an A to a B, but that final exam was rough and was worth quite a bit so I am not surprised.  In Anatomy I maintained my B and in Micro, well I passed, which is what I was aiming for, so yay for that! :) 

This first semester was definitely an interesting one and overall definitely an enjoyable one.  I look forward to the start of the next semester.  One thing I did learn, is to try and keep on top of things a little better, that way the next exam finals week will not feel so overwhelming.   A bit more studying on a daily basis and I should be just A-Ok! :)  

On to, what I am going to do during the break, which I have to say, I am not sure whether I will be bored out of my mind or thankful that I can enjoy two weeks on a tropical island without any stress of school running through my brain.  At the moment, unfortunately I am leaning slightly to bored out of my mind, but I am hoping that will change as I plan on keeping myself busy.  I will be working at the school clinic, 7 shifts over the next two weeks, the first one starting tomorrow morning.  That is all dependent on the case load the clinic has because if there are no sick amnimals (yes I did right amnimals) then unfortunately no point in me coming in to work.   Which I am assuming means not getting paid either which would kind of suck. :S 

Other than that, I will be feeding the school horses a couple of times, which should be a lot of fun, I get to take them in, feed them their oat bags, clean there feet  and in the process get some experience working with horses and getting to know them a little better.  Especially since in later semesters we will be working with them a little more intimately, why not make friends with them now ;)  I will also be hopefully going for my scuba license during this break, which is something I have always wanted to, apparently I should be able to get it before the end of the break, which would be totally amazing as I would love to go scubaing, considering there are so many amazing things to see around this island, I would be silly not to get my scuba license over here.  Much better than getting it back home where you would do your training in a pool and perhaps go into the Fleuve Sainte-Laurent, which is unfortunately to say, a disgusting river that I do not think I would very much appreciate.  

So hopefully all of these things will keep me busy enough, in between these activities I plan on working on my tan and perhaps actually going to the gym once or twice to try and burn some of these extra calories I have around my waist line.  Although going to the gym is always a hard one :P

That's about it for now, so what do you think, will be busy enough over these two weeks? or just insanely bored?  Ill try and keep you updated so you can make a better judgment for yourself ;)

Thanks Y'all for reading.

Jonathan =)

Wow what a weekend.......

Just like the title says, what an amazing weekend! :)

Before any weekend, is always the week.  In regards to my week, I have to say it was a pretty laid back week, it was spent pretty much catching up on my work as I promised myself I would do, although it came at the loss of certain class time, but in the grand scheme of things it was well worth it, because not only did I catch up, I am actually ahead now.  Although this is also partly because I got quite a bit of work done sunday evening and unfortunately I got woken up this morning at 4am and could not fall back asleep, so I decided to make myself  a delicious breakfast: nice size western style omelette, a hashbrown, coffee, and some sliced starfruit....delish ;)  Plus I didnt have to be in class til about 9h30, which gave me close to 4 hrs of study time.  Even though it was a nuisance to be up so early and being tired most of the day, it was nice to be that productive and actually be caught up on most of your classes.  Now i can just dedicate myself to learning the information rather than worrying about retyping notes or stressing that I have not looked over anything.  

Speaking of looking over information, we had a mini-quiz in anatomy which was worth 8% of our total grade, i was hoping for a 90%, I got a 90.9%, so pretty much on the ball, although a 100% would have been all that much better as I am hoping to finish with an A in Anatomy.  Actually I hoping to finish with an A in all of my classes except for Microanatomy, which realistically I do not think is really possible.  Even if I got 100% I think the best I could do would be a B, so oh well for that, but lets not concentrate on the negative, lets concentrate on how well I will do in the other classes.  This does not mean that i wouldnt appreciate a 100% in Microanatomy though ;)

So finally to my weekend, so it all started with Friday night (obviously), where unexpectantly I  was allowed to take part in a night turtle watch, something that i was not really expecting as usually they do not allow first semesters to take part in the night watches.  The shift was from 20h00-06h00, so for all of you who can do math, that is a 10hr shift.  What is involved in turtle watch: pretty much walk the length of the beach keeping your eyes out for any turtles coming to beack, take a 30minute pow wow break and then do it again.  Initially I was quite excited, by like midnight, was getting tired, by like 1h30 I was saying to myself, why did I sign up for such a crazy shift.   My legs were burning, my back was sore, I was really tired, I scraped the shit out of my toe on a giant log, and then boom!  There she blows!!  Okay so no one actually said that, it was more like "we have spotted a Leatherback coming to nest".   Boy I have never so quickly regain my energy, the adrenaline kicked in and i was sprinting up the beach to meet up with the other group.  I have to say, upon seeing this massive 900lb female turtle digging her nest and laying her eggs, I was like "wow this was totally worth it".  We then proceeded to take a blood sample, a cloaca sample (a fecal sample), checked if she was tagger, took her measurements (shell size: 117cm wide / 157cm long), and implanted her with a microchip for future reference.  Although all I really got to do was watch and take measurement, apparently in the future I will be able to do everything as well, as our leader + instructor would like to train everyone to be able to do all the skills necessary.  Which is totally amazing!!! So I cannot wait to do my first blood draw on a sea turtle, it will be an experience for sure. 

So we counted a total of 122eggs, not to mention right before the leatherback sitting on our beach, there was a leatherback spotted at another beach (near Ziggy's = the party bar for most students on the strip) where apparently they have not been seen in over 8-9 years.  Unfortunately people were parading around taking pictures and bothering the turtle, so they sent a massive Kittitian over there along with one of the head scientist and a armed police officer to take care of things.  Apparently one man was arrested for threatening a girl who was trying to keep everyone back, but from that nest (which needed to be relocated) we collected 107 eggs (I believe) and brought them to their nice new home on our beach.   Momma turtle was allowed to safely return to her watery home, without any more annoyances from students or locals.  Although shame on any students who were disrupting her, tsk tsk tsk.

Back (shell) of a leatherback :)

Pointing to where the microchip should be implanted.

Implantation of microchip.

Head of the turtle (quite impressive how large she was).

That was my Friday evening, I got home, took a shower and passed out till about 9h30, then cleaned a bit of my house and went to school to study and to check on my the little kittens that I helped save as they were being put up for adoption.  Two of the four kittens got adopted with most likely a third, the fourth, Chester the Molester is still up for grabs unfortunately including Mamma cat (Gaby Abby), although I am still not sure if her foster momma is going to keep her.  So we will find out, but at least three of the kittens have good homes now.  It is always hard to say goodbye, but it makes you feel warm inside when you know you've done a good thing and that you helped socialize your foster animals to a point that is acceptable for most. (hint hint) ;)

Gabby Abby + her little kittens :)

After studying for a few hours, it was Night Cat Trip.  We were celebrating four birthday's that night, so it was sure to be a crazy night.  Which indeed it was, especially considering that on a Night Cat trip, you get as much alcohol as you want while on the boat, you travel for about an hour and half to another island (Nevis), party over there for a couple of hours, which involved more drinking and a bone fire. Then another hour and half trip back to Saint Kitts.  Obviously everyone on the way there and on the island were having a jolly good ole time, on the way back.....hmmmm not so good for some.  Boats + Waves = slow rocking motion = puking off the side of the boat for a few :P  One of them I will forever have in my memory, as he did so just as we said "Hey!!! How you doing?" and then blah! haha.  It was actually quite funny.  Unfortunately my camera with all the BRAND NEW batteries I brought to this island were all dead, which meant I got like 3 pics out of each pair, I brought 3 pairs.  It just totally sucked ass!!  Not sure if it is the humidity, or passing through multiple x-ray scanners, but all of my batteries are dead, such a shame :(

So we finally get back to the island at a little over midnight, some people still actually had it in them to go and party at the strip, not I, I called it quits.  Went home and slept the night away.  Woke up in the morning, has someone make me some delicious eggs in a hole or whatever they call it, but it is buttery + eggy mmmm :P  I then proceeded to go and play a Soccer Tournament at 1pm when the temperature outside was just hitting +30oC (this is without humidity factored in, yay bring on the summer :S).   Unfortunately even though it was a really tight game for the first half, they just had players who were a bit better at the short quick sprint and it payed off for them in the second half as myself and my entire team started to slow down.  Although i did score one pretty ass goal assisted beautiful by one of my players ;)  So even though we lost in the first round, it was an excellent season and I look very much forward to the next season.

On a side not, even though this doesnt have to do with the weekend, i got sworn in today as New Class Representative along with one of my other fellow classmates.  Next semester should be quite interesting, lets hope I am not stretching myself a little too thin, but if I feel that way then I can always drop one of my extra-curricular activities, at the moment, I think I can handle it :)   As new class rep, i did however put forward a motion to get a new fridge up in this badboy, because one of the current fridges is falling apart, the other one is way too small and both of them are always ridiculously full!! When I say ridiculously full, I mean f***ing ridiculously full!!! :P  Also, this Friday, we are having a special treat at school for our last bake sale: Johnny Cakes!!!!!! So delicious, the best way i can describe it is like a deep fried doughnut cut open filled with some lettuce + amazing BBQ chicken (not to mention the hot sauce, so good)!  For anyone in my family, it is like les beignes de mami que on mange pour les fetes.  It is just pure deliciousness and has become pretty much a Friday tradition for me.  So lets hope they sell like hot cakes, or should I say like Johnny Cakes (ha ha ha) this Friday ;)

Mmmmmmmm....!! :)

Anyhoo, that is the just of the week, and my most amazing weekend, hope y'all enjoyed the picture, sorry the quality is not the best, but we are not allowed to use white light and well they were taking with my Ipod.

Thanks for reading.
Jonathan =D