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"