Grenada Parang

Grenada parang music is one of the indicators of the Christmas season. No need for 'Oh Holy Night' and such when you can still have party music, just with Christmas theme. Alot of the songs are funny and conveniently always have a sexual meaning to them. This particular song is one of my favorites. Enjoy!

Tourism

http://grenadasugarandspice.blogspot.com/2010/12/tis-season-for-tourism.html

This link connects you to a fellow volunteers blog. They are a married couple (and my neighbors) and write really really good entries. This blog about tourism especially stuck out to me and Im suggesting it to my fellow readers.

Enjoy!

ONE WEEK!!!!!

I'm mentally preparing myself to jump on that plane and leave my new life behind for 20 days while I venture to my homeland. A wave of emotions hit me when I lay in bed at night thinking of whats to come; high school friends, fast food, good beer, family time, CHRISTMAS, American culture and cold weather. I cant even begin to fathom the excitement I will feel when I step off that plane onto American territory....my home.

I can do this....just one more week...

From this...

To this...

World AIDS Day

The Red Ribbon is the global symbol for solidarity with HIV-positive people and those living with AIDS.World AIDS Day, observed December 1 each year, is dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection. Since 1995, the President of the United States has made an official proclamation on World AIDS Day. Governments of other nations have followed suit and issued similar announcements.


AIDS has killed more than 25 million people between 1981 and 2007, and an estimated 33.2 million people worldwide live with HIV as of 2007, making it one of the most destructive epidemics in recorded history. Despite recent, improved access to antiretroviral treatment and care in many regions of the world, the AIDS epidemic claimed an estimated 2 million lives in 2007, of which about 270,000 were children.

The Caribbean has reached the ranks of having the second highest rates of HIV infections, second only to Africa. Social stigma and discrimination have kept people in Grenada and the region hiding in fear and refusing to get treatment and medications. The Ministry of Health recently made a step towards helping fight the stigma towards HIV/AIDS by decentralizing the clinics that hand out HIV medications. Originally, there were so called "AIDS clinics" in which people could go for their medications, but patients were ashamed and ridiculed by being seen going into the clinics. By decentralizing the clinics, patients are able to go to clinic that treat all sorts of ailments, so that no one knows what they are actually going to the clinic for. The rates of treatment for HIV/AIDS has increased after this practice went into affect.

On Wednesday, my organization, the Grenada National Organisation of Women decided to host a candlelight vigil in collaboration with HopePals, the HIV/AIDS network. We held a forum with some teenage boys on HIV/AIDS, STDs, etc, and then took to the streets with candles and songs, spreading the word of the pandemic hitting our region. It ended up being a great turnout for last minute planning. Below are some pictures from the event.

My counterpart and I

Forum on HIV/AIDS

Showing my support.

Lauren of HopePals, speaking to the teens on STD's

Candlelight vigil

Explaining to the boys the correct ways to use a condom.



World AIDS Day!

Did you know a child is orphaned by AIDS every 15 seconds. Millions of children are going it alone. Missing their childhood. Missing their mother. Missing their father. AIDS is devastating families around the globe. Children are missing your support. Unite for children. Unite against AIDS....HAPPY WORLD AIDS DAY!!!!!!!

Laundry...UGH!

Time for an interesting blog a little off topic from the rest...Laundry! This word in my vocab is an evil evil word that I try to avoid at all costs. Example: my semi automatic "washing machine" has been broke for 2 1/2 weeks, leaving me to wear clothes more than once before washing. Ask my mother, I don't mess with laundry, and if I get to the point of cleaning my clothes they never make it out of the laundry basket and hung up.

But...since I sweat constantly here in the tropics I figured it wasn't appropriate to continue wearing clothes that haven't been washed in weeks. I broke down and decided to dedicated my Sunday to washing my clothes...BY HAND. Thankfully, during my first 8 weeks in Grenada I lived with a host family who taught me the correct way to wash clothes by hand. Never in my life did I think it was that complicated to wash some clothes by hand but man was I wrong when the next day I woke up so sore I was begging for ibuprofen.

Step 1:
Set up three buckets outside, each with water filled 2/3 full in the bucket. We have 5 gallon buckets here and I wouldn't suggest using anything smaller. Bucket one should have detergent while bucket two and three are left to remain just water.

Step 2:
Grab your article of clothing and dip in bucket one. Now its hard to explain the exact method of scrubbing so I will attach some photos. Its more or less swift movements with both hands, back and forth, causing the clothes to rub up against each other. The more force you use, the cleaner your clothes get. Each piece of clothing should take about 5 minutes of scrubbing. 20 piece of clothes X 5 minutes of scrubbing = 100 minutes of scrubbing. See where I get the ibuprofen addiction from?

Step 3:

Dip clothes in bucket two where clean water is while lightly scrubbing clothes to get soap out. I sometimes let my sit in that water for a few minutes.

Step 4:

Move clothes to final bucket of clean water and rinse clean.

Step 5:

Hang your clothes on the line outside so the beautiful tropical heat can sun dry your clothes. While of course fading them out. You can always get new ones back in the States. ;)

 

My hard work finally finished!



I hope this post inspires you to try cleaning your clothes by hand at least once. But if you would just like to live through me vicariously, then I hope this post leads you to go and hug your washer and dryer in appreciation.

20 days til I'm home Missouri!!!!!!!

Thanksgiving Celebration

I successfully completed my first Thanksgiving in 23 years away from my family and man was it tough. Thankfully there is Skype, where I got to see all my cousins, aunts and uncles huddled around one computer screen in a hotel. It made my Thanksgiving all the much better since I wasn't able to be there with them in person.

As Peace Corps Volunteers we strive to complete three goals:

• Helping the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women.

• Helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.

• Helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.

Thanksgiving celebration gave us the opportunity to complete goal number two of the Peace Corps mission by introducing traditional foods and customs we celebrate in America. Grenada has a Thanksgiving in October but it is not considered as largely celebrated as the United States does. We invited local counterparts, friends and Peace Corps staff for an afternoon of good food and fellowship. Volunteer Jon explained the history of Thanksgiving to the locals and gave them some insight on what a typical day would consist of, then we went around the room and said what we were all thankful for of course. It was nice to hear the overwhelming gratitude the local Grenadians had for letting them be a part of our special day.

Traditionally this is a day of family, but since we are all out of country we have formed our own sort of Peace Corps family and share special times together. It reminded me that family is really what you make of it and the word can be defined in so many ways.

I was so thankful to be surrounded by good people and share an amazing meal with so many dedicated volunteers, our local counterparts and the Peace Corps staff who takes such good care of us.

We had and hour bus ride and a 1/2 mile walk to our destination. Green bean casserole and celery in tow.

FEAST!!!!

Now THAT is some food.

Peace Corps Volunteers and Peace Corps Staff

Turkeys!!!

I'm Thankful For:

My family- Molly: you inspire me everyday with your hard work and dedication to school and softball. Momma: thank you for always supporting every decision I've made and the awesome care packages!

My best friends: Tressa, Ali, Tia, Sheena, Ashleigh and Katie O.

The days I struggle until I learn something new.

Skype that keeps me connected to my support group.

Grenada, who has taught me so much about myself and the world.

The ability to read and the dedication to teach others.

The global push for equal rights.

My students at St. Paul's Govt School who have taught me love, patience and acceptance.

My coworkers at the school for accepting me with open arms and teaching me all they know, while never being afraid to take some advice.

My coworkers at GNOW, who teach me daily about the culture and struggle for women's rights.

The Peace Corps, "The hardest job you'll ever love", for showing me I can do anything I put my mind to.

Caribbean sunshine that never spares us some shade and paints my skin golden.

The ocean that lends me relaxation when needed and gives me peace from my veranda.

Life: for it is often taken from us to soon as I was reminded of today. RIP BJ.

Little miracles in moments of hopelessness.

Good health that I was blessed with when I arrived in Grenada. Allergies are GONE!

Being an American. I never knew we were so blessed until coming to a third world country.

Momma's home cookin.

Coffee and rain in the morning.

Good music that keeps me sane in an insane world.

Coors Light, that reminds me of good times with great friends.

Iced tea.

Sunday dinners with the landlords.

Children movies that remind me of innocence.

Facebook, for it keeps me occupied in moments of boredom.

Pictures. They freeze a moment for later reminiscing.

Season changes. I'm missing them here in Grenada.

Desperation

despair: a state in which all hope is lost or absent.

She walks in the office with faded clothes and unkept hair. Her face shows signs of a rough life, her eyes scream help. Carrying a broken backpack, she wanders into our office and takes a seat. She is in desperation.

The market is lined with women and men selling their goods. Fruits, vegetables, souvenirs and spices. The economic downturn has forced people to enter in the informal sector of society, selling fruits and vegetables that could be feeding their families. "Miss Miss, you need some spices". "Miss, come nuh". Market square is overrun and vendors are spilling into the streets and sidewalks. She is in desperation.

The police have run her off the sidewalk 4 days in a row now. She says they told her she cant sell her snacks there because its blocking traffic, even though she has been there for months. She is the only one that gets run off. Men sit right next to her selling knock off goods, unharmed. She is in desperation.

Her children are all in school. She has 6. Head of household is her title. Her goal is to feed her kids and make enough money to send them to school the next day. It costs her 30 dollars daily to get them to and from school. She is selling onions for 4 dollars a pound. She has no time for herself. How must she make money if she cant sell her goods? She is in desperation.

She comes to us for help. Why must the police run off the women, but leave the men on the corner? The woman must make the money for that beer he is drinking. She is angry, upset, but mostly...she is in desperation.

I give her my last 5 dollars. I don't need it. She is in desperation.

Science Fair!

Who would of thought they had Science Fair in Grenada too? Not me! It brought me down memory lane, back to my days of creating the craziest things for Science Fair.

Today at school I was eagerly approached about the Science Fair project my students were preparing for. Little did I know the fair was TOMORROW! haha. So much for planning, its not important around here.

I was assisting my counterpart teacher with gathering the data and printing off the papers for the tri-fold board (that I made from scratch). Each class has to present the project they completed at the islands Science Fair extravaganza, which takes place tomorrow morning at Boca Secondary School.

Grade one's fair project was growing a cucumber two different ways: one with water/sunlight/good soil, one with sunlight and good soil.

Grade two's project involved the tongue and its different areas of expertise, as in the bitter, sweet, sour, etc sections.

After some confusion, we completed the tri-fold presentation when I came to a realization....we hadn't included the children in any of this and it was THEIR project. Why? Sometimes we get so caught up in getting things done the correct way that we forget that every moment can be a learning experience for the kids. Perfection is something this culture is strict about and its wearing off on me.I get so flustered trying to please teachers, principals,etc. I should of let those kids help cut, paste and assemble that board instead of doing it myself as they watched from a distance. I was disappointed in myself after completing the project.

Thankfully, Ms. Mitchell picked three students to present the science project they completed at the fair tomorrow. We had them act like they were on stage presenting and it was adorable! Here is some dialogue:

"This is our cucumber experiment. This one is dead because we killed it." --student
"Well how did it die?"--me
"Well duhhhhh Miss, everyone knows you have to have water, sunlight AND good soil"--student

I was so proud to see their confidence show through while they presented on "their" cucumber experiment. We quizzed them on what the process involved and they were beaming with excitement.

Petite Martinique

I have been procrastinating posting this pictures for multiple reasons but thought today was a good day to finally get them up for all to see.

Myself and four other Peace Corps Volunteers took a much needed mini vacation to a neighbor island last weekend called Petite Martinique. Grenada is a tri-island state, with sisters Carriacou and PM just a short boat ride away. I hadn't heard much about PM other than its relatively small (population: 1000) and everyone is related, but what I really learned is that the island is almost completely self sufficient, the people are extremely generous and life truly moves slower then the rest of the world.

We stayed in a nice little guesthouse on top a massive hill and had one of the most stunning views I have ever seen. We were surrounded by water and could see about 5 other islands from our house. It was truly a remarkable getaway.

Titanic anyone?

Our guesthouse. Just kidding.

Mini island

So relaxing

Our new friends

The island in front is called Petite St. Vincent. A private island, with resort rooms costing 800 US dollars per night.

Allister with a MASSIVE caterpillar

A sweaty mess from climbing that hill.

Relaxing while enjoying the view

Just having some fun.

My fishy

Quotes of the Day

Today in my Reading Resource Room I was working with some children on phonics. My classroom is right next to the Grade 1 classroom and if you weren't already aware, first graders are realllllly loud. The school is so open that you can hear just about every movement in the school at any point in time. The Grade 1 classroom was working on using "I am", "We are" and "The ____ is" sentences. I started listening in just in time for this:

"Miss Miss Miss....We are the WORLD!"

It was the most beautiful thing I had seen all day. She was dead serious and so proud of herself. haha. I just hugged her and giggled inside.

THEN...I'm walking to the bus stop with some of my students. Almost all of my students had gotten on a bus except three little ones who were gonna ride with me up the road. The oldest girl in the group, maybe about 8 says:

"Miss, how yuh get so fat?"--child
*puzzled look*-me
"Um, Ive lost 30 pounds since Ive been here"-me
"You ate to much food in America?"--child


I love my life...

Janet's Memory

It's a down day for me here in Grenada. I want to be home today. With my friends, specifically one friend. Two short years ago today I lost a great friend, Janet, to suicide. I'm not here to have a political or ideological debate about suicide and frankly that isn't what today is about, its about remembering my friend.

I'm simply sitting here in my room in solitude, staring at the ocean out my window, imagining where my friend is today. Is she pain free? Is she happy? Is she proud of me? I hope she is all of these things and though she isn't here with us today, she is always in my heart and on my mind. I have been reminiscing about times with her all day. Getting kicked out of intramural basketball, dorm days, writing emails back and forth while she was in Iraq, party nights in Pittsburg and all the times in between.

She was a good friend whose life was cut to short. RIP Janet.

"The Freedom to Roam"

The Eventful Day

Today has been one of those days that you just simply look back and say "how did alllllll of that happen in one day?" Often times, days here can be so unpredictable and no two days are ever the same. So I decided to compile a bullet list of my eventful day:

I walked into school today greeting everyone and got dropped a bombshell. "Morning Miss Garst, Miss SO and SO is ill today, would you mind teaching 1st grade?" "hahahaha". That's exactly what my response was, and then I of course said yes, skipping off to figure out what the H*#% I was going to do with 20 first graders all day.

• We transformed the room into nontraditional learning day by having painting class, coloring page contests and carpet reading time. Did you expect anything less? I love painting and coloring!
• The girls attempted to plait (braid) my hair during break time, which turned into 6 girls tying my hair in knots. I wore it the rest of the day.
• One of my girl students asked me why I didn't have long skirts, a bonnet and weird shoes like the rest of the white people (Mormons and Mennonites) in her village.
• I had a deep discussion with a 6 year old on why my skin is "different" than her skin. She settled for God made it that way.
• I witnessed ten 11 year olds and a teacher slaughter 25 chickens after school. I am now a full time vegetarian, forget the flexitarian. The teachers laughed as I stood there in udder disbelief of the process of killing a chicken. Never again.
• Five students were in deep trouble after last nights school fair for wining or jamming up on young girls. Wining is a form of dance that takes a very serious sexual approach. YouTube it and you will understand. Today they received physical punishment and had to write letters about the appropriate way to act. Below is the letter from a student, written as is:

Miss Mitchell,
I should sit outside and play with your friend and do not go in the dollar jam and wine up and drank rum and fight with your friend and cuss dem. Do not wine up with your friend, and if her friend said don't wine up on my friend and I will say Shup and go jam someone.
-Javon

What do you even say to that? hahaha. Thank goodness it wasn't my job to discipline after that letter.

This evening I got the chance to go to dinner with two officials from USAID and the Charge d'affaires. We ate at a really nice restaurant in the tourist area of the island while talking about US funded projects in the region and specifically Grenada. I was given the nice chance to explain the work I'm doing with women's empowerment and the reading program at my school. Thankfully, the two USAID officers were former Peace Corps Volunteers, and if you have ever been around PCVs, we can talk about the Peace Corps for days.

Just another day in the life of a Peace Corps Volunteer...."The hardest job you'll ever love"

Hurricane Tomas

WE SURVIVED!!!!!!

Friday was a bit of a hectic day on the island of Grenada. I was calmly sitting listening to Parliament pass the new Family Law Act (which is another post) when the Speaker announces the early dismissal of all public service workers due to "approaching hurricane storms". I'm from Missouri and we don't even know what a hurricane is because we have things like 12 inches of snow, tornadoes and blistering hot summers. I wasn't to worried when I heard we were being dismissed, until of course my counterpart rushed us out, followed by the rest of the general assembly.

We arrived in town to MAD CHAOS. There is no other way to describe it. Hurricane Ivan in 2005 had a profound effect on Grenada, ruining over half of the island. This invariably leaves Grenadians on edge when they hear the word hurricane now. I attempted to walk into the grocery store to get some staple items to last me through the weekend and walked into a mad house. People rushing around grabbing everything they could see, children crying and the constant 'ding' of the cash register. Everyone was in full mode to hunker down and ride this storm out.

THANKFULLY, in the last hour before reaching land, the hurricane took a slight turn and headed directly at St. Lucia and St. Vincent, both of which have Peace Corps Volunteers on them. We were immediately put in a Standfast warning, which means we are not allowed to leave our houses and should have our bags back and prepared to move to our safe house (a hotel). The Peace Corps takes safety very seriously and especially makes sure procedures are in place to ensure we are well taken care of in the event of a serious storm.

Unfortunately, we have gotten word that our fellow volunteers on the islands of St.Vincent and St.Lucia were not as lucky to avoid the storm and had substantial damage to their homes. Two Peace Corps staff had extensive damage to their own homes as well. I pray that things can return to normal and their projects can continue as planned.

So for now...Breaker 1-9 WE HAVE SURVIVED!

Happy Thanksgiving!

No turkey and dressing for this Thanksgiving, just a nice day off of work to catch up on laundry and house cleaning. Today is Grenada's Thanksgiving, which celebrates the Revolution of 1983, in which American troops invaded/intervened Grenada and saved the people being held against their will and later led to a more healthy democratic government.

I decided to catch up on my tan as I was getting a bit to pale for a Caribbean girl. Below are some pictures from the relaxing weekend.

Hope you all are doing well and see you in 54 short days! WATCH OUT AMERICA, IM COMING HOME!!!!

Sunday Dinner

I thought it was time for a little cultural lesson on Grenada cuisine. Sunday meal is the largest meal of the week and many women spend all day preparing for the late afternoon grub time. I happen to have the best landlords in the world that call me every Sunday with "gurl, come up nuh", signaling time to stuff my face til I am so full I cant move.

The traditional Sunday meal varies depending on the family and their preference, but this is the pretty basic meal that is served frequently:

Pelau is a rice dish usually called "cook up" which involves slow cooking rice, meat and pigeon peas together until they are soft and moist. The dish has a dirty rice flavor and is very filling. I enjoy pelau, but could do without the bones that migrate their way out of the chicken into the rice. Its not uncommon to see people picking bones out of their mouth after a bite of pelau.

Callaloo is a leaf vegetable grown in the ditches of Grenada, next to dasheen (potato). Yes, I said that correct, callaloo is grown in the ditches close to rivers and streams. Its a close relative of spinach and looks very similar when cooked, but tastes different. When we first arrived here another volunteer attempted to make a dish with callaloo which resulted in allergic reaction. Callaloo has to be handled with caution and cooked to a certain temperature for a good amount of time for a number of reasons. The most important reasons being that if not cooked properly, or ate raw like other volunteers did, it turns into a poison that causes the throat to itch, burn and potentially swell. When cooked correctly, callaloo has the looks of cooked spinach but tastes sweeter. I hate cooked spinach, but callaloo is a good addition to Grenada's Sunday dinners.

Steamed pumpkin is by far my favorite part of Grenada cuisine. No, this isn't the big orange pumpkins Americans are carving in preparation for Halloween. These instead are a sister of the orange pumpkin and are DELICIOUS. Steamed with a bit of butter, onion and spices makes for a melt in your mouth vegetable that's good for you. I eat pumpkin anytime I can get my hands on it. Often time you will find vendors on the side of the road selling pumpkin, slicing off pieces of the masterpiece right in front of you.

Pears are the name for avocados in the Caribbean and are currently in season. This makes for just about any dish paired with the fruit you can think of. Thankfully I love avocado. They simply cut open the avocado and slice it right on to your plate. No fancy guacamole here folks, just good healthy avocado.

Assorted greens also accompany the plate of goodness, from salad to tomatoes and even okra and its complimented with a cake or bun and some fresh squeezed juice. It makes for a full plate and uncomfortably painful stomach filled with goodness. I can be found taking a long nap after Sunday meals with the Gabriels which makes for a perfect conclusion to any weekend.

Stillness Speaks

"When you lose touch with inner stillness, you lose touch with yourself. When you lose touch with yourself, you lose yourself in the world."

My best friend Tressa sent me this amazing book called "Stillness Speaks" by Eckhart Tolle and I started reading it today. I highly recommend it to anyone who isn't necessarily religious but still has a since of spirituality. Its really taught me to slow down and take in the things around me by just being still. So today I decided to practice being still while sitting on the veranda drinking my coffee and I found myself appreciating my surrounding so much more. Upon further realization I thought making a list would help remind me to stop and appreciate these small moments that I take such advantage of sometimes. So below is my list, enjoy!

--The sound of buses honking their horns in anticipation of the next stop or just simply to say hello.

--Palm trees swaying in the wind

--Birds chirping new songs of harmony

--Rain falling on tin roofs
--Goats crying in hunger
--Children laughing as they skip down the road to the bakery.
--The man blowing his conch horn, warning neighbors of his fish for sale.
--The constant sound of my fan that keeps me cool
--Crunching of vegetables fresh from the garden.
--The sound of airplanes leaving the island as they disappear into the horizon.

--Ravine water splashing against rocks as it makes its way down the mountain.

--Thunder rolling across the mountains