I can almost taste the freedom!

Last night was another one of those nights in which, despite all of my good intentions, I toss and turn for hours. I don't know if it's a stress thing or what, but it's gotten to the place where I'll just keep up the studies and hope that I'm not a zombie the next day. Fortunately, I maintained a modicum of focus - the big, final test on the island is tomorrow (and I really should be reviewing skin and kidney pathology instead of posting). I can't wait to be done with this place!

So I'd been TAing anatomy for a few semesters, and, lo and behold, they pay us. I mean, I knew that - I'd just never picked up my check (one per semester). I wanted to get it all as one big lump sum before I left the island - I figured it'd be like sticking my hand into the pocket of some shorts I hadn't worn in a while, and pulling out a few hundred. Here's the funny thing, though - my wages for slaving over dead bodies amounts to something on the order of 0.4% of my total current debt. How's that for perspective?

There's a lot to square away before I head home - I've got to fill a barrel with the books I'm going to use to study and I have tons of stuff to give away to some of the locals I've gotten to know. I have to close out my Dominica account because, let's face it - if I was going to have an offshore bank account, I don't think I'd choose this island. There's some packing to do (which I abhor), and then some relaxing to squeeze in.

While walking around with Nicole running errands yesterday, I snapped a few more shots, just to make sure I represent a well-rounded view of my little spot on the island. This one was taken just in front of one of the little grocery stores close by, and if you squint your eyes, you might be able to see the sea in the background.

That picture on the left was taken on my walk home - you can really see how the buildings butt right up against the jungle. It's like this island hasn't yet realized it's supposed to be civilized, and the mountains are keeping urban development in check like unruly toddlers around the knees of kindergarten teachers.

The one on the right is of the Cabrits - the little mountain peaks I'm sure I've shown numerous times, and which look nothing like that from the air. I only added it in here so you can see my view - I've taken to studying outside, and this might be one of the few things I miss about this island. I'm literally right on the sea, and even though I haven't been to the beach since our lectures about hookworms, it's nice to have it close-by.

Speaking of hookworms...here's another one of those pieces of information I referred to in my last post. Apparently, mice with more lice had fewer allergies. Essentially, they had more relaxed immune systems. You see, your immune system is like a hyperactive little kid - it needs something to do. Over the course of human history, it evolved to deal with a whole host of parasites - worms, protozoa, crustaceans, etc. But now, in this super-clean society, we've taken away the constructive outlets for our immune systems, and, like bored little kids, they turn on us and become destructive, hence peanut allergies and the like. Since the biggest threat to early man was starvation and not germs on a counter-top, there's no way anyone would have been allergic to food - if they were, by some random mutation, they probably wouldn't live too long. It all boils down to this: when our immune systems develop in infancy, it can take one of two paths - one of those paths develops cells that fight parasitic infections, and the other develops into cells that fight infection, but can have a more detrimental affect on body systems as a whole. The thing is, even though everyone has both systems, they're fairly mutually exclusive; if you grow up in a place in which it's necessary to fight off parasites and deal with lots of pathogens, you won't be allergic to anything, because your immune system'll be too busy. So, ideally, as much as I hate to say it, if you don't want your kids to be allergic, make sure they grow up with pets.

Before I get carried away by more witty metaphors, I probably oughta get back to the books.