What's a mongoose? I thought it was a bird!

We ventured into the land of the unknown today, of course with a tour guide. Wouldnt want 8 new volunteers wandering the island with no sense of direction, that could be interesting...

We had a wonderful tour guide named Michael, who is actually our cross cultural trainer too. He is a flamboyant gentlemen who works at the ministry, and knows the history of the island like the back of his hand. We started by going to Fort Frederick, one of the biggest forts on the island, where the Grenadians fought the French and British. It was such a beautiful concrete/stone structure that has sustained many hurricanes, and war of course.

We then moved on to Fort George, in the capital of St.George. Its in the prime of the city, set atop a mountain that overlooks the gorgeous Caranage. There were still the huge canons, hidden tunnels and even a basketball court. Back in the times they built the fort, they didnt know the word reinforcement like we do in modern day building. They instead "reinforced" by making the walls around 10 feet wide around the entire fort. Its sold concrete with stone rocks and such. Now THATS reinforcement, probably why it hasnt been damaged since being built in the 1800's.


Here is where the rest of the pictures will have to be uploaded later, as my camera decided it was not necessary to take pics, and died.

After both forts we decided to head out of town to the small village of Gouyave (pronounced Guh-wah-v). Its known for being a fishing village that never sleeps, and its so true. People line the streets constantly, and there is always a party going on. Thank GOD im not in this village, i have way to addictive of a personality for the village. haha. On the way there we stopped at our tour guides sisters shop. She is an artist, and her entire shop is filled with beautiful art, and some locally made jelly, candy, candles, shirts, etc. I wanted to spend WAY to much money there, so we moved on to lunch. Most of the non vegatarian volunteers had been dying some something that even resembles American food, and we found it in the form of a fried chicken sandwich!

Next we continued up the west side of the island coast to the village of Sauters. This village is more rural, but has some amazing history. Once the military realized it had made a mistake in trying to win the war at hand back in the 1800's, they decided to jump to their deaths rather then surrender to the French. This point is called Leapers Hill, and fits its name well. You first walk through a graveyrd to reach the point where they jumped, and its literally a cliff that resembles the scene in Little Rascals where Alfalfa has to make a choice to be with the boys or girls, and he falls off the cliff in his dream, only to wet his bed. You all know exactly what scene im talking about.

This is the point in the trip when i realized just how beautiful the island is because the southern part of the island is very dry and brown, whereas the northern parts where we were just resembled a postcard. Lush greenery everywhere, beautiful mountains and stunning beaches. We trailed down a path outside Sauters to a beach called Levera. It was so peaceful, not many people there and the outlook is just beautiful. After Michael tried to save some ignorance Englishmen from drowning, and watching Amanda's shoes float off into the sea, we were satisfied with getting to see the beach, and we moved on to our trip back home.

Highlight of the trip...we got to tour the rum distillery called Two Rivers. This centuries old distillery uses real sugar cane to make their rum in a 17th century mill. The machine was HUGE and old looking, and everything was practically done by hand. They moved the cane through the mill, into fermentation and then onto bottling. It was the coolest process i have ever seen, and so awesome to get to see it done just like the old days.

On the journey back to the capital we traveled from sea level up to 1910 feet, and then decended back down into St.George. We got to stop quickly to see an area where there are African monkeys, and spotted where our next hiking trip will take place.

Side note: funny story... On the bus ride home we were all a little tired and ready to be done, but somehow we got on the topic of mongoose's. Now im not sure what i thought this animal was, but my fellow volunteers got in a halarious discussion about what it was. I assumed it was some rodent when my friend Amanda burst out, "i swore it was a bird," as our tour guide bust out in laughter and informed us it was a squirrel looking thing, right as we passed one dead on the road. hahaha.

So...we finally arrived in St.George 8 hours after starting, but feeling like we got a great history lesson. It was nice to see other parts of the island that isnt easily accesable to us poor volunteers. This island is so beautiful.

OHHHH.....i need to make a little statement not regarding Grenada:

CONGRATS WEBB CITY LADY CARDS BASKETBALL on a state championship today!!!! Great work girls, you deserved it!!!!

Learning to cherish the small things

Many times since arriving on this island we have been told to appreciate the small accomplishments we have, because things move SLOW here. I wasn't really sure what that meant, but after sitting at the YWCA for a full day, staring at cars driving by without much conversation, i learned things were going to move slow here. And all of my family and friends know this one thing about me: I DO NOTHING SLOW! Ive never driven a car slow, I've never taken a slow stroll down the street, I've never ate a big mac slow, I've never talked slow, I've never thought slow, and i have certainly never worked at a slow pace. So to hear the words "take everything in, enjoy the little things, and expect slow progress," was like speaking Chinese to a Spanish person. NOT gonna happen. But.....

It has. I have been given the chance to slow down. Never in my life can i say i was given the chance to slow down. From childhood to adulthood,everyone rushes to raise their kids, get their first job, get through high school, then college. Americans are not bred to do anything slow, and i am 100% American. But through this transition process, I've learned that i don't have meetings to attend, friends to go constantly hang out with (i know that sounds sad, haha), sports events to attend, vacations to plan, jobs to apply for, life to plan. I have none of those worries. For once in my life...i get to sit back and relax, let things in, and consciously decide just what i want to do here. Its such a refreshing feeling to say to myself "who cares, i have all the time in the world."

Now let me give you my funny story of just how i realized to enjoy the funny little moments here:

We went to the beach today, it was wonderful. I take the public transportation bus to and from work everyday. Today i got off at my stop, and a dad with his two young daughters got off with me. I knew which house they lived in, which was a way up the road, so i started a convo with the dad. He was asking why i was here, what i was doing, etc etc. We reach the top of the hill, no breath left, and his two year old daughter starts to bend down in a squatting position. I'm thinking, thank the LORD i am not the only one wanting to bend over hoping to catch my breath, but i was totally wrong. I look over, and this two year old girl has pulled her pants down and is peeing in the MIDDLE of the road, like its second nature. Her dad is chasing behind her as she makes a pee trail saying "honey pull ur pants up, cut it off!" At this point what do you do? Well...i looked over, made eye contact with the gentlemen and just giggled.

Its the little things...

--New Opportunities--

Through many days of frustrating/long/tedious training days i have slowly learned that disorganization is a form of organization. I know, it sounds crazy, but close to nothing is organized correctly here. But hey...i got all the time in the world...

We were told that we needed to attach to an NGO (non-governmental organization) to shadow. Now at first we thought "what? more expectations? How am i gonna have time for this?", but with more thought i was excited about getting a chance to see more NGO work around the island. There seems to be many different outlets for parents and children to get help and support, but they are sometimes hard to find. So we were told that we needed to arrange times to shadow these organizations, so i quickly got on the phone earlier in the week with GrenSave, or Grenada Save the Children.It was started by the Brits around the 60's to help parents with daycare and the proper way to nurish children, but now has turned into more service learning with children. We initially had some issues catching each other but somehow i found out i was to be there this morning at 9am. I wander my way on down to the building, on the way seeing multiple funny looking tourists from Finland. Did you know men wear capri pants there? haha.

ANYWAYS...I walk into GrenSave excited to learn about this new potential counterpart, to be reminded of yet another reason I'm learning to adapt. The lady was awesome, but had not been informed as to why i was there. She apologetically said no one had contacted her about why i was coming, but she was just so excited an American wanted to help. hahahaha. At this point i was beyond frustrated at the trainer who had promised he contacted these places with all the information they needed, but i just took a deep breath and became the best bullshitter alive. Sorry for the language, but its the only way to describe me going into a random meeting, in a new culture, with no background info and no sense of direction. AWESOME! haha. But it turned out ok, and the lady is so nice and eager to have me there. So i guess that's a positive right? haha.

Then this afternoon i went to the YWCA so i could get a chance to meet the kids in the After School Library Program. They are adorable, but quite the range of kids. The oldest being around 12 and the youngest 3. Not to mention the space i have to work with is about the size of a classroom, with half the room being taken up by a sewing class today. It seemed as if the children had no real sense of direction with the program, but rather just supervision. I hope i can integrate some new ideas into the program to benefit these kids. Wish me luck!

Tomorrow ends the week with a great day of training (enter enthusiasm here), and then we are going to reward ourselves with a nice afternoon at the beach. I really enjoy all of the other volunteers and our sense of humor. We have tons of inside jokes and little things to get us through the days. Im really gonna miss them when i cant seem them every day.

Quick Update

I came into the building for training a bit early this morning so i could catch up on America's news for the week. Yes,im still obsessed with the news, even though im 1234897234 miles away. We lime (chill) on this bench outside the training room every morning and at break times, so i decided to come in early to just enjoy outside for a bit. Its so beautiful here in the mornings, the nice cool wind, the sunshine, the peace. We have a great view from this area since our building is right off the Caranage, the tourist area. I sit here just thinking about how amazing of an atmosphere this is, and how truly lucky i am to be here.

So...to say the least, im in a great mood today and cant wait to start this day of training.

Quick Thank YOU...yes YOU!

I have been a little questionable and down in the dumps about my blogs lately. And the reason being...no one comments on my blog! So as I'm writing these blogs i began to think "am i writing this blog for my mom only?" BUT...i had a dear friend back home that i haven't heard from in a while say to me today that she has been keeping up on my blogs, and totally loves them. It gave me such a sense of clarity, that maybe people back home really do care about what I'm doing.

So...moral of the story...I want to thank each and every one of you for taking the time out of your crazy American lives and reading my blog. Because it really does mean the world to me to know that people aren't just moving on with their lives without me. You guys truly are amazing, and I'm so glad to be making my hometown proud!!!!

RAIN!!!!!!

WE HAVE FINALLY RECEIVED RAIN!!!! Thanks to all my peeps back home for the prayers and rain dances. It rained a good amount for about 30 minutes last night, which isn't enough, but its a start. We were limited to just 2 hours of water yesterday rather than three, so the rain was much needed. We are still filling every bottle we can find in the mornings in case we don't have water for a whole day, which thankfully hasn't happened.

I was not excited about starting another week of training last night. I lay in bed repeating to myself that its almost over, and that with every good thing there has to be preparation. I feel as if we have prepared ourselves so much before coming here, and that the experience we brought with us is what attracted the Peace Corps. Every situation i have been in job wise consists of learning stuff you already know and doing redundant things. But i thought FOR ONCE i would escape that trend....i was quickly mistaken. We are learning simple abstract concepts like 'what youth development is', 'how to write a lesson plan', and 'what is culture?'. Very frustrating at times to be given baby steps when you feel so qualified for what you were brought here to do, but as our motto was today..."In every positive situation there is a negative, we just chose to see the positive".

So after a morning of reluctance from the collective group, we started our jam packed day of training. We had youth development training and another session on facilitation skills, both of which went overwhelming well and we got some useful information out of them. We walked out of session with a sense of refreshment and understanding of just whats expected out of us. My plate is going to be full, and I'm so ready for it!

I am going to be working at St.Paul's Govt primary school. At the school I'm going to be trying to help with some reading. Many of kids here can reach the grade of 6 and higher and still not be able to read. The students here take an entrance exam at the end of 6th grade that determines if they get to go on to secondary school, since the slots in secondary schools are very limited. This means that if children aren't moved into secondary schools, they repeat the 6th grade and try again next year. This can happen many years in a row.

Then my initial work site is the YWCA of Grenada. Its a national affiliation, and though we don't have many in the Midwest, they are very well known throughout the States, as they are the sister organization to the YMCA. I will be helping them with multiple women's empowerment classes, and the after school children's library.

AND, i will be working with GrenSave, or Grenada Save the Children, that is fighting to end hunger on the island. They do alot of outreach projects aimed at helping kids, such as hunger marches and after school programs. I'm eager to see where i can help at this organization.

FINALLY, i plan to work on a secondary (or fourth-dary, but whose counting?) project with the G.N.O.W project. The Grenada National Organization of Women aims to give women equal rights in work places and society as a whole. I'm SOOOOO excited about this organization. I walked in the first day and saw large silhouettes with stories on them, JUST like we did in Students Against Violence at Pitt State. I told them about the great ideas i had and the lady was literally bouncing up and down in her seat with excitement. Stay tuned for an update on that my fellow PSU SAVE members!!!

That's all for now. I love and miss everyone back home. But don't worry, i drank a beer with my host dad tonight for all of you!!!!