Portsmouth Market 6am

Ahh, a fresh page and where to start? Yesterday was the final day of orientation and it went by smoothly. Afterward my group of friends ( Jose, Ruth, Kanwar, Shuo, Michelle and Carolyn) all went down the Hope Chinese restaurant. It was aptly named because you needed some hope just to find it, and others would say you needed hope to finish the meal (not everyone enjoyed it). I however, greatly enjoyed my chicken and mixed veggies with fried rice (pictured below). After this we all went to the computer lab where I printed out some of the powerpoints needed for this coming weeks lectures. Several of mine had printing errors and I was fed up with it ( on top of being tired) and started on my way home for a nap. On the way, Ruth and I stopped at the market and I bought bread, butter and milk for the next few days. I took a nap for 1.5 hours and felt completely rejuvenated. I then studied a powerpoint while taking notes for a few hours before bed. I went to bed at midnight to have enough sleep so I could rise early for the opening of the market ( similar to a farmer's market back home).

I woke up at 5:30am this morning and made a bowl of oatmeal with some local brown sugar ( the sugar here is extremely inexpensive). I met Jose and Shuo for the trip and Ruth followed later on. People were selling various colors and varieties of stock including bananas, plantains (looks like a banana but isn't), oranges, passion fruit, sugar cane, yams, potatoes, spinach, coco, cinnamon, coconuts and tomatoes. These were among the items that I recognized. There were other unique fruits and things that I am unfamiliar with, but I;ll leave those for another time. A lady gave us a seminar on which things to buy and what to watch out for. Some people like to price gouge newcomers, but I got some deals. (Thanks mom for teaching me to swindle). In Dominica, we use the Eastern Caribbean Dollar which equals about 37 cents US. Or $1 US equals $2.70 in EC. I got 6 bananas for 1EC, 3 tomatoes for 6 EC, 2 pounds of fresh tuna for 16EC, Large bag of spinach for 5 EC, cucumber for 1 EC, bag of cinnamon sticks for 3 EC and a few other things. I plan on cooking some fish tonight for my friends so I'll look up a tuna recipe. The pictures of the market are below:

 Bananas

 Vendors

 Opening up shop at 6am

 Sugar cane and coconuts

 Freshest Tuna Imaginable

Panorama of one street of the market in Portsmouth

After the market I went down the steps from hell (pictures to come) to go to the gym with Jose and did a decent workout and afterward went to IT to grab my "clicker" to answer questions in class. Afterward we came back and Jose made some HOME MADE hot cocoa with real cinnamon, sugar, milk, and "cocoa turds" (It's the name we gave the cocoa because it looks quite literally like dog poo). The milk here alway comes in a box which is nothing like home. It will take getting used to. Anyway, the cocoa was delicious, Thanks Jose! Then I did my dishes and started writing for today! These are my adventures and so long for now!