Visual Recap: 2013

I’ve gathered some of my favorite shots from 2013.

In 2013 I experienced Haiti in March, and the Bahamas in December. I witnessed the beauty that is my stubborn and exquisite hair growth. I successfully completed 75% of my graduate program in Speech language Pathology. I inked Costa Rica’s unofficial motto on my hip. Life was great to me in 2013. Cheers to an even more delicious 2014!

#WANDERLUST

Lignanore Wine Fest: Mount Airy, MD

Chart Your Path

Read more about my exquisite goddaughter here and here.

Mural Before

Mural After…#Haiti

#JUSTSHE

“I’ma wear this mask to church, ‘cuz that’s what people do in church anyway”

#GeorgiaAvenue

The Mecca

Short hair, don’t care (March 2013)

Branded

Walk With Me

What I Ate, Saw, and Did: Nassau, Bahamas

This was my second time visiting Nassau, Bahamas. The first time was in 2010, and it was for vacation purposes only. It was a quick get-away trip in the middle of summer to get away from the monotony of work and life as usual. The second time I was there was only a week ago, I went as a student to provide speech and language evaluations. There was some down time for extra-curricular activities as well.

What I Ate: (Restaurant names in the caption)

Oh Andros Restaurant

Grio Haitian dish (pork) and fried plantains with rice and peas.

Conch fritters

Oh Andros is a Haitian-owned restaurant in what’s known locally as Fish Fry. Fish Fry is also known as Arawak Cay (located on West Bay Street), it is a gathering place for islanders and visitors seeking Bahamian food such as conch salad, conch fritters and fried fish made fresh.

The food pictured below is from Bahamian Cookin’. I visited this restaurant back in 2010 and I was glad to see it was still there with renovations! I enjoyed the broiled grouper, plantains and rice and peas (although the rice and peas were tomato-based, I preferred the rice and peas from Oh Andros)

Bahamian Cookin’ Restaurant

My friend had more conch fritters with fries and rice, macaroni pie, and rice and pies. Macaroni pie is the same thing as macaroni and cheese except the pasta is typically the larger, thicker pasta and the consistency is more pie-like, if that makes sense. It sticks together more like a pie.

Official beer of the Bahamas

Cracked conch

Drifters Restaurants at Fish Fry

 We got a boat of roasted corn, chicken wings and fried conch fritters.

What I Saw:

Lobby of the British Colonial Hilton

View from private beach, British Colonial Hilton

Nassau Straw Market, downtown

inside Straw Market

Government buildings, downtown

Street art

 

What I Did:

We worked at SeaHorse Institute, a school for children with severe disabilities. From Monday-Thursday we provided hearing, language and speech screenings and evaluations for families in need.

Work area

Riding through Nassau neighborhoods:

Highlights from Nassau, Bahamas

Hello lovelies! I am back from the service trip to Nassau, Bahamas. Four graduate students traveled from December 14th to December 21st to provide speech and language evaluations and hearing screenings to families on the island.

After our in-service workshop to parents

What I learned:

• Although both are islands in the Caribbean, Haiti and the Bahamas are distinct in many ways. By many standards, the Bahamas is wealthier. They are economically driven by tourism and there is access to services. Whenever there is a shortage of those specialized services, parents have the option of flying to Florida to receive the care that they need. In Haiti, they are still struggling to rebuild their economy after the disastrous earthquake of 2010. Not only are the services scarce, but people don’t have access or the opportunity to seek the care their children need as it relates to speech and language services.
• When I took into account the fact that “service” is relative to where you are traveling, I had a clearer perspective. In the Bahamas, there is a shortage of speech and language therapists. Families wait on long waiting lists to receive evaluations and diagnosis, early intervention efforts or laws to protect children with disabilities do not exist.
• I grew so much as a clinician as I was afforded many firsts: family intake interviews, learning how to use iPad apps for evaluations, early intervention (0-3 years old) evaluations and an in-service workshop for families in which we talked about what a communication disorders are and how they affect special populations of children (for example; children with Down Syndrome, Autism Spectrum Disorders and strokes).

Language evaluation using an iPad app.

How I grew as person:

• Patience. Working in a group and learning when to speak up and when to fall back. My whole graduate school career has revolved around group projects, and although I understand their importance, I also can’t wait for the independence that will come when I’m a certified clinician!
• Learning to take constructive criticism on the spot and applying it.
• Learning that I shouldn’t be so eager to speak for others. Allowing people to learn how to speak for themselves.
• Understanding the type of traveler that I am, and the type of people I feel most comfortable traveling with.
• Choosing my words wisely, and maintaining something I learned while working in hospitality called “charitable assumption”– the idea that I will think the best of someone, and not the worst, when a situation arises and their motives are not known or clear.

Overall, I am thankful for the experience. I grew professionally and personally. I have one more semester left in graduate school, can you believe it? I started here, and now graduation is in sight. These two years have not been easy, and I still have some hurdles in front of me, but nothing I can’t handle without my great team of support, God, and hard work.

Thanks to all my faithful readers on the journey! I appreciate all your words of encouragement, your silent prayers, and your belief in me!

Happy New Year,

She

7 Facts about: The Bahamas

Sandyport Beach, circa 2010

Things you may or may not have known about the archipelago that is know as the Bahamas.

7. Lucayans (Indians who are believed to have migrated from South America) ruled the Bahamas for several hundred years before Columbus arrived in 1492. When he did arrive, he abducted and enslaved all the Lucayans to work and they died in the gold mines of Cuba, or diving for pearls in shark-infested waters. Spain had little interest in the islands, which had no precious metals or stones.

6. On October 12, 1492 Christopher Columbus (in search of China) changed the world when he dropped anchor on the island known as San Salvador (Holy Savior). The island was claimed for the King and Queen, Ferdinand and Isabel.

5. On July 10, 1973, the Bahamas became a sovereign nation, being previously under British rule.

4. Its government is based on the Westminster model– including Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition, a 2 chamber Parliament and an appointed Governor General, representing the symbolic head of state.

3. The archipelago (cluster of islands) consist of 700 islands, most are which uninhabited.

2. One of the local delicacies, known as the “snail of the sea” is conch. Conch is the firm white meat of a mollusk, and cooked any way you want it. It comes in conch fritters, conch chowder, conch salad, conch burgers, and even cracked conch. (Source)

1. Tourism is the driving force of the economy in the Bahamas. The tourism sector is worth an estimated $2.3 billion. A new resort mega resort, Baha Mar, is scheduled to open in December 2014.

EXTRA FUN FACT: The Bahamian tri-color flag: black stands for a unified people, gold is for the natural resources of the land and aquamarine is for the country’s ocean water.