Week in Review

So its been an eventful week, with the one common term: STRESSFUL!

I have been living in a hotel all week after some issues with my last host family. Although i was very excited to have an air conditioner and a hot shower, i was very ready to get back into a home where i could live the Peace Corps experience. On Friday afternoon i was introduced to my new host family. Her name is June and lives in another village with her daughter. She works in the insurance industry and is very easy going. I really like it here. She took me to the beach this morning, at 6am, for a morning walk and bath. Grenadians often get up early and walk the beach for exercise, then bathe in the Sea afterwards. They credit this ritual for the reason why Grenadians don't usually get sick. I think i will take up this practice, its relaxing.

This evening i am attending an Opera with my host mother. She invited me after the beach and i couldn't turn it down. Its very expensive (100 EC), but she said it was her treat to me. I feel i will never get another chance to see a Grenada Opera, so i might as well go tonight.

Other than that, everything else is well. I helped organize the Easter break camp at the YWCA this week. The students here get 2 full weeks off for the holiday, so the Y runs a camp for them. I asked if they had Easter Egg hunts here, and got the response of laughter. APPARENTLY they don't, but once i explained that in the U.S. its the highlight of the holiday for children, she was all on board and thought it was a great idea.

That's all i got for the week in review. I am slightly homesick but I've been dealing with it by reading, writing and facebook stalking. It seems to be working.

All bad things are followed by good....Is that correct?

I will spare my followers the details of my major setback, but just give you the short version so you are up to speed. I was transferred out of my homestay family last night, and will be living with a new family for the next three weeks. The last host family was great, things just didnt work out and i wish them the best.

Ok, moving on...

I am supposed to be thinking of a service learning project at my school attachment. Now we have only been able to visit our schools 3 times now, so i havent made much progress in that area. During our training in the classroom we are being pressured to get the ball rolling on these assignments, but how can you really make progress before you even know everyone at the school? Nothing like a big white American walking into a third world country school and saying "hey im here to save this place, and this is what we are going to do." Thats what alot of people dont understand about this experience. Is that before you can make any change you must first WORK for their acceptance, respect and understanding. Integrating into this culture is crucial to the success of my program, so progress is so moving. I use most of my time meeting people, building relationships and gaining the trust of locals. Its an exhausting process, but one that will eventually pay off.

So i set up a meeting with my counterpart (the teacher) and my principal today after school. I went into the meeting hoping for some direction with what exactly the school needed from me, but i of course had some tricks up my sleeve. The voiced the need for some serious help in reading. Kids here are not anywhere close to their reading levels they should be at, but at least the administration knows that and wants to fix it. Now im no professional reading teacher, for petes sake im not even a teacher. BUT...as we all know, when there is a need, the Peace Corps is there to save the day! So i will train myself and use my experience to figure out how to help these kids.

I was glancing through our Peace Corps Volunteerism Guide last night and saw a project called "big readers, little listeners" in which older students read to younger students. It not only builds the confidence of the older reader, but it begins the process of learning to read for the youngsters. I thought it was going to be a perfect fit for my school, and a great way to start a project. Regardless of whether it is successful or not, its a good idea and will help the school gauge where their readers are at. I cant wait to get the project started, and i hope it turns out to be a great start to my Peace Corps experience.