jenniferhawke.com

dear Nevis,

today is the day we ring in not only a new month, but an entirely new year. 2007 has been such a great year, i’m not sure i’m ready to say good-bye just yet…

but i have a sneaking suspicion this coming leap year of planet earth, intercultural dialogue, the scout, the potato, sanitation, and the rat has some pretty incredible things up its’ sleeve. i have been so blessed on this island for the past four months, it’s hard not to look ahead with a huge goofy grin on my face.

this time next year, i will be tromping through snow on my mom’s winter prairie acreage with Maddy or curled up indoors sipping hot coffee with french vanilla pseudo-dairy creamer. i will be preparing to return to Nevis for one last semester of MED 5. i will have four semesters successfully under my belt and so many textbooks, i have no idea how i’ll get them all back home.

this year, i spent the holidays tromping through sand on windswept beaches with Jonathan and was curled up in the hammock sipping hot coffee with french vanilla pseudo-dairy creamer (not something i drink year-round) nearly every morning. i am excitedly awaiting the return of the rest of my MED 2 classmates and am looking forward to hearing all about their Christmas adventures, while giving back their dogs and cats and cars.

as un-Christmasy as it sounds to some folks, our December 25th was just perfect on Pinney’s beach with a gorgeous meal at Coconut Grove. even friends and family felt close with interweb inventions like video chat.

2008.

each new year feels like it deserves a proper introduction, with polite farewells to the last. i never feel my New Year’s celebrations are appropriately up to the task.

… maybe standing in the ocean with a Killer Bee rum punch in one hand and the man i am head-over-heels for in the other will finally do the trick.

happy holidays to you and your loved ones. may the horizon of 2008 have wonderful things in store for you.

while i wait on a book order from Amazon (ordered in October!), some turtle lights (from a bicycle angel back home), and a couple of other misplaced(?) deliveries that are more than a month overdue, a few Christmas cards and a care package with my name managed to get through.

thank you so much, Brigette! you really know the way to my heart with those tasting-like-home Oreos and a book to supplement my dwindling holiday reading collection. still scratching my head at how lucky i am to have such wonderful friends across Canada and around the world.

thank you!

… the holidays continue. but it is starting to feel like the less i do, the more tired i am. sleeping solid 10+ hours each night and loving it.

wishing you all a very merry Christmas filled with friends, family, and deliciously fattening food. i hope you are enjoying whatever version of the holidays you prefer and are looking forward to great things in 2008.

`J XO

PS: this photo was taken last year before we headed to Tulum. today promises equally sunny and sandy Christmas sentiments.

you have always been one of the strongest and wisest people i know. but only as an adult have i really been able to appreciate your courage, resolve, empathy, and generosity.

you give me the courage to be the best i can be.

[note: i decided to change this post's title because i noticed it is the THIRD post titled *SIGH* in as many months. time to stop sighing already, Jen!]

from the UBC Clinical Clerkship Electives for Visiting Students webpage:

“Student must be attending an accredited medical school in the United States, or an approved medical school in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand or South Africa. We will not accept Canadian citizens attending medical school in a country not listed above.”

(their emphasis)

i knew i would be stuck in the USA for all of my core and elective rotations. it just sorta sucks to know that programs like this Visiting Students thing exist and explicitly exclude us. as in, we can’t even try to apply.

this little island has come a long way in its’ almost-a-million birthdays.

In geological terms, Nevis in its present configuration is a relatively new island. Nevis Peak is approximately 980,000 years of age, but older rocks have been found elsewhere on the island. Nevis has been home to at least thirteen volcanoes at different times in its history. During the last Ice Age when the sea level was around 200 feet lower than at present, Nevis, St. Kitts, Statia and Saba were one island.

and some of the battles that have unfolded here are blockbuster movie worthy.

It is difficult in today’s context to understand why tiny Nevis was a focal point of European Imperial adventures in the 17th and 18th centuries. It was basically because of the vast riches generated for a time by Caribbean sugar production. As an example, from the years 1715 through 1717, the value of goods produced in all of Britain’s North American colonies was 382,576 pounds sterling. The value of goods produced in the British Leeward Islands of Nevis, St. Kitts, Antigua, Montserrat, Saba, and Barbuda was 403,394 pounds sterling.

~ Vincent K. Hubbard

as most of you know by now, i’ve developed a bit of a soft spot for this darling island. and while Hubbard’s writing is a little chronologically confusing, you can tell he’s done a lot of research in this recent (2002) book. it was recommended to me by a good friend and i’d pass it along to anyone interested in learning more about this 36-square-mile corner of the world.

shortly after this shot, she rolled over the keyboard with a message to the world that went something along the lines of:

“;lkj:doisuf0o99999999999sajk“““““”