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"