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

DONATE!!!!! please?

See that new really cool orange-ish colored button on the right side of this screen? It reads....DONATE!!!!

I have set up an account to accept donations for my reading program at St. Paul's Government Primary School. Our vision is to paint the room with kid friendly animals, beach scenes and vocabulary words in hopes of getting the children even MORE excited to read. The students currently LOVE laying on the reading mat (see previous post) that I recycled from the hallway "dump", but its not enough. We want the atmosphere to be much different than the rest of the school so kids want to come in and read, learn new vocab and play reading games. With the help of your kind donation, the paint and supplies needed to update the room WILL BE POSSIBLE! My initial goal is 1,000 US dollars. I know that sounds like alot, but if we reach that goal we can not only paint, but get new posters and furniture for the room. The kids are going to be SO excited!

So, I'm kindly asking you to open your hearts and wallets and donate to this great cause! Its a tax right off right? haha. C'mon my people, you have supported me through this crazy journey, now support my school!

Thanks in advance and now GO CLICK DONATE!!!!!

Reading Program Update

This is a photo blog of the reading room at my primary school. Things are finally getting organized and it's a great feeling.

Moment of Gratitude #4

Over the years I have learned alot through my work with children but if I could name one of the most important things to remember it would be this: You must celebrate the little moments to appreciate the big moments.

I have been working really hard on this reading room at my primary school. Between ordering books, receiving donations, cleaning and preparing resources I have been up to my head in work. My counterpart and myself have been wandering the school attempting to find anything we could put in our room to make it kid friendly. Its been a fun little treasure hunt we have embarked on and it lead to some big winners today. We found two old tables that were the perfect height for our little readers, a teachers table with plenty of room to work and the BIG treasure, an old gymnastics mat that will now be in our new reading area. It was piled under tons of books and filled with dirt but I was determined to clean it up and make it work.

After unloading the new books I received from Darien Book Aid (thanks guys!) and rearranging the room, I really felt like the area was starting to take shape but was still worried about if the kids would really enjoy this "nontraditional" set up. This is where the beauty of my job comes into play...

The lunch bell rings and I felt like I was back in the Midwest on a farm herding cows. In a matter of two minutes I had 20 children in my little room jumping up and down ecstatic at all the new stuff. They were like children in a candy store, admiring the new pictures on the walls, the new books and furniture lining the walls. After settling them down I got myself caught up in helping a student with her math. I look up a few minutes later and nearly burst into tears. I saw four children at the easel with magnetic letters making word families I had just taught them moments before; I saw three children admiring the new books I brought in while trying to determine which to read first; I saw 6 kids with their shoes off lounging on the new reading mat peacefully reading books to themselves; and a group of girls quietly coloring pictures as they smile from ear to ear. I was truly in awe as I watched kids chose to come to my room instead of running around the school like mad men for an hour.

It's these small moments that make me cherish what I'm doing and realize just the gift I have been given.

This truly is "The hardest job you'll ever love"

PBC Presentation and Camera Hijack

Did you know that high school boys are STILL immature, giggly and disrespectful to authority? no way right? well...I learned the hard way today.

Myself and another volunteer designed a workshop for secondary students on "Building Healthy Relationships" in hopes of raising awareness about domestic violence. Grenada and most of the Caribbean isn't well known for their healthy relationships, with violence and infidelity deeply rooted into the culture. It is going to take a drastic social movement and shifting in thinking for the rates of domestic violence, rape, incest, etc to decrease, but with each workshop and awareness drive we hope to begin that shift in thinking. We are here to bring about change right?

Today we introduced the Power and Control wheel to the students, gave them scenarios and had discussion about what they felt were the proper ways to express themselves in relationships. It was shocking to hear high school boys truly believe that hitting their significant other was absolutely acceptable because "they deserved it" and "thats just what you do". It was tough to swallow, but I tried my hardest to keep an open mind to the cultural differences while explaining the correct actions in relationships. It was a true test of my ability to bite my tongue.




After my tongue was bleeding from biting it for an hour (kidding), I rushed to my primary school to see my sweet innocent little angels in the 1st and 2nd grade. They seemed to be more out of control then usual, so I decided to have a bit of a "do whatever" day in the reading room. We played ABC memory and I read them two story books. They LOVED it. I worked with 4 children who are struggling readers. At lunch time the children swarmed my classroom as usual, wanting to color. I thought "ok, whatever, as long as they are having fun". At the end of the hour long lunch (i know what your thinking, an hour lunch is ridiculous), I had glitter EVERYWHERE, seven cards that read "Happy Teachers Bay" (still working on the difference in B's and D's) and books spread out across the floor. Thankfully, I'm the non traditional teacher that gets to send kids back to their normal classes when the bells rings. THANK GOD!

Oh yea....And they got ahold of my camera also. They LOVE taking pictures for themselves. Here is the aftermath. I love my life.

Down for the Count

I have risen from the dead...officially. I returned to work today after a short illness that hasn't been identified. Last Wednesday I was sitting at my desk at work and all of a suddenly started feeling really bad. Thankfully the bus was running fast that day and I got home in plenty of time to puke by breakfast up. I spent the rest of the day asleep in bed while I shivered a 102 degree temperature. At first I was convinced that it was the water, as we have had so much rain and I got lazy with boiling my water. But then after looking up the symptoms of Dengue Fever, its a good chance that's actually what I had. I spent Wed-Fri in bed with a fever, chills, aches and of course plenty of puking. Thankfully I started to feel semi normal Saturday. I'm kind of anti-doctors, especially here, so my stubborn self didn't dare go near the place. BUT, good news is...I'm back to full health and ready to see my school children tomorrow!!!

Thank you everyone who sent their well wishes during my sickness, you are much appreciated!