Weekend Recap

Has anyone seen the weekend? I lost it. It seemed to of skipped over me. I cherish my Saturday afternoon clothes drying on the line, cookies in the oven and sun shining bright. I miss my Sunday morning sleep in, lunch with the landlords and afternoon snooze.

Ok ok, I just missed one weekend. Maybe that was a bit dramatic but I really missed having a few days off of work. Thankfully this weekend was AWESOMELY filled with lots of fun events to participate in and keep me from thinking about white chocolate chip cookies baking in the warm oven.

Friday was our Peace Corps 50th Anniversary party. A past volunteer that served in Grenada from 1968-1970 returned to the island and was gracious enough to throw us all a wonderful dinner party, followed by open mic night at the local museum. We had amazing tapas prepared by a Venezuelan chef at the Museum Bistro. I feel really blessed to be given the opportunity to serve in the Peace Corps during the 50th Anniversary and really appreciate being able to celebrate the vast tradition of Peace Corps here in Grenada.

mmmm tapas

I love this picture because its literally four groups of volunteers. EC 4, EC 79, EC 81 and EC 83

Saturday was the International Food Festival hosted by Grenada Save the Children (GrenSAVE) at the Trade Center. Booths were represented by tons of different countries from St. Lucia to China, USA to Cuba and even some delicious Venezuelan food. Each table tried to sell a variety of different items from their country and quickly sold out. The part of the food fest that Peace Corps represented was the kids activities. Bet you didn't guess that did you?

Katherine, another PCV, with her PAM girls selling delicious sweets!

I somehow was put in charge of organizing the volunteers and convinced most of the new volunteers to help with the face painting table. They did a GREAT job for their first attempt at painting random animals at the request of 6 year olds. Do you agree?

ahhhhhh! Spiderman!

Hannah decided to practice on me. I think I'm a cat...

Cute boys. I painted the butterfly on the boy in the blue.

Katie getting serious with this little girls butterfly.

MONKEY!!!

HAHAHA. oh newbies, I really love them.

After 5 hours of face painting, the kids had enough face paint and their parents ate enough food to send them home happy. We were ready to get out of the loud trade center and mayyyyybe escape to the beach to see the sunset. I think we were successful....

I live here. 

Sunday was the annual International Women's Day event in St. Davids parish. IWD is actually March 8th, but the Ministry knew a Sunday event would bring out many more people, and it did. Protocol helped in welcoming way to many speakers, but around 5pm (after a 12pm start time) we reached the cultural presenters of the festivities. Local singers, a secondary school acting club and drummers preformed for upwards of 500 people in Belle Vue playing field well into the evening. It was an awesome show of appreciation to women and girls, something I was proud to be a part of.

The Bain sisters singing an awesome tribute to all mothers. 

The important row of people, from Ministers to Parliamentary representatives to feature address speaker and Gov. Generals wife. Great representation of our government officials in support of the day. 

Denise is a blind lady who recently published her own collection of poetry which gives her perspective on years of abuse at the hands of men.

Well that wraps up my new novel on my weekend. Sorry for all the readers who enjoy short and quick reads from me, but this weekend couldn't of been put into cliff notes. I apologize. This week is looking just as busy as the weekend so no time for rest and relaxation. I'm trying to complete my 23498230498 (there is another exaggeration) grant to send off by the Thursday. Wish me luck!

Sports Day!

Last week I got my first dose of sports day. This time last year I missed the event because we were in training and I wasn't able to attend, so getting to see it first hand this year was exciting. My students have been practicing their marching and running for weeks now (with little learning involved), so the anticipation was growing quickly.

There are no organized school sports teams here in Grenada. That would cost alot of money, which we don't have. Instead, once a year during second term, schools hold a school sports day. On this day the kids of the school compete in track races against each other, trying to determine the best running in each event. Once the winners of the school are determined they are comprised into a school team that will compete on one day against all the schools in the rest of the parish.

St. Pauls Govt School March Past

Go girls go!

So after determining the best runners for St. Paul's Govt School, we officially had our track team ready to compete. I had an old coach from back in the day (Am I really that old to be saying that?) that offered to send some old track uniforms to our school and we were ecstatic to receive them. With the kind donation from Carl Junction High School of NEW (to us) track uniforms the kids were extremely excited. They have been laid out in the school office for weeks now, and just about everyday I hear "Miss, when do we get to wear these?"

They are so excited to be in "new" uniforms

so, last week, every school from the parish of St. George's met at the National Stadium to compete against each other, every school bringing their best runners. St. Paul's Govt had the BEST looking runners of course, complete with shiny new uniforms to show off to all the other schools. I heard from many people how awesome they looked in them. :)

Shem and Raydona are ready to run!

An important part of the track meet is the March Past, which is at the start of the meet. Each school practices for weeks (again, with little school work accomplished) to make sure their march is perfect. As you will see in the pictures attached, its similar to military style marching, but there are judges who determine which school had the best march past. This year, our school placed 6th out of 13 schools, which I hear is very good for us. I thought the kids did a great job!

Overall our school placed 7th in the track meet, with one of our female runners setting a new record for the 80m 15 and under race. I think the kids showed great pride in having the new uniforms this year and seemed to be extra confident in their running. I cant begin to thank Carl Junction High School enough for the uniforms, but I think the pictures do it justice in proving how important they were to the kids. New things don't come often around here, so when they do, it brings a sense of pride and happiness that can only be understood seeing it first hand, but know when I say this...they were so proud of themselves.

The Very Wet Dry Season

While at work this morning I was talking to a coworker at the over abundance of rain during the dry season this year. It sounds funny, but it is the honest truth. Dry season in the tropics starts in January and continues through the "summer" months. When my group of volunteers arrived in the Eastern Caribbean in February of last year it was dry, hot and waterless. I remember thinking how strange it was that everything was brown and crunchy when the picture in my mind had lush and green.

Grenada experienced one of the worst droughts in history last year, with many houses without water for days on end. It was painful, but thankfully the country made it through and the plants have recuperated. During the dry season this year, which we are currently in, its still raining at least once throughout the day. Today it has been raining consistently since I woke up this morning and the weather is predicting it to continue the rest of the day. I'm so thankful for the rain, as it helps our plants grow and our bodies stay nourished, but when its raining sideways as I walk to the bus stop, nothing is going to save my dress clothes.

Check out these pictures.

This year February: Lush and Green

Last year February: Brown and Burnt

 

I'm so sore I can't move...

After rigorous fundraising, planning and implementing we have started our school murals project at St. Paul's Government School today. I successfully carried three gallons of paint on the bus and up the hill to my school this morning. That is only the beginning of my soreness.

The principal and teachers at my school decided on an underwater scene for the corridor walls from kindergarten to 3rd grade. It will have lots of fish, crabs, shells and even a pirate ship, all equipped with math facts and word families to inspire kids to want to learn. I'm very excited to start the drawing and painting of the scene and hope everything works out perfect. I can only hope right?

Today we scrubbed the walls (enter soreness here), taped off the corners and applied the first coat of primer to the wall. We hope by putting a base coat of primer we allow the colors to be brighter and stand out more. After this coat we will be applying the sea blue color and then pencil sketching the drawing on to the wall.

Things are moving slowly, but since getting paint on the walls I can feel things speeding up a bit. I'M EXCITED!!!!!

Before picture, with tape job complete

One part of the wall

Primer complete!

Looking good.

The entire hallway that will be painted

Just Call Me Rachel Ray!

I had my moment to shine in the kitchen tonight and thought it deserved its own blog post. Just a small disclaimer before I continue. I can cook fairly well (thanks to learning young), but I have a tendency to cook the same things over and over. My recipe list under my favorites tab is RIDICULOUS, most of them never making it to my plate. I'm scared of wasting food by making something gross, so I just stare at the recipes thinking "hmmm I bet that tastes delightful".

Anyways...tonight I was pondering what in the world I was going to make for supper with the bare bones in my cabinet (a little broke this month, c'mon Peace Corps payday!) and noticed a can of black beans. My LAST can of black beans. UGH. The grocery store that carries black beans is completely out of my way, so I have to be in the right mood to make the trip and buy in large quantities. I have eaten my fair share of black beans and rice, black bean enchiladas and black bean burritos in the last few weeks that I wanted something new. Hmmm...lets refer to that wonderful recipe list and see if I'm up for getting creative. Yup, in truth I was, and thats how black bean pizza came about.

I love pizza. Any way I can incorporate cheese, sauce and bread into my diet I will do it, regardless of health consequences. I'm hitting all the major food groups right? I put veggies on pizza all the time, although I haven't found a way to incorporate fruits into pizza, hmmm. I will report back on that one asap. This pizza was an experiment but TOTALLY worth it, as it turned out one of the best pizzas I have ever made. YAY for ME!

Black Bean Callaloo Pizza Recipe

Pizza dough (I make no yeast pizza dough because I don't like little creatures causing my bread to rise)
1 can of black beans
1 tsp of cumin
1 tsp of chili powder
1 small onion
3 cloves garlic (or 7 if you like garlic like me! Its good for the immune system)
1 cup callaloo (a veggie similar to spinach and native to the Caribbean, so you can replace with spinach)
1/2 cup salsa
1 cup cheddar cheese (monterrey jack or mozzarella would be better, but we don't have it here)

Directions
1. Bake pizza dough until done, remove from oven.
2. In skillet, saute onions, garlic and callaloo until tender
3. Mash black beans in bowl with cumin and chili powder, spread evenly on pizza crust.
4. Add salsa on top of black beans.
5. Add onions, garlic and callaloo to pizza.
6. Spread delicious amounts of cheese on pizza
7. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.
8. Bathe in the glory of deliciousness.

Now THAT is Rachel Ray quality pizza right there. I might go to her website and nominate myself for the next up and coming star. Just saying. Hope you enjoy my new creation as much as I did.

Before taking the dive into the oven

OH. EM. GEE.

Don't you worry, I ate half the pizza!

Helpless and Vunerable

Our office had just opened for the day. Its Monday morning and things are hectic as we prepare for the week. The phone rings unexpectedly. Maybe its a coworker saying she will be late. If only...

She is hiding in a closet whispering "help" into the phone. In the background we hear the sounds of something hitting wood, but we cant make it out. She says she called 911 and they transferred her to us. Heaven forbid the police force do their job and protect its citizens, instead they transfer cases like this to the women's organization who has no legal authority, brushing her safety off as a "women's issue".

She tells us her boyfriend's uncle is trying to kick her and the baby out. He is beating on the front door with a hammer, screaming profanities. Her fight or flight told her to take the baby and hide. He continues to bang on the door, she says he is getting closer and she needs help. What are we supposed to do? The cops sent her to us.

We calm her down as the baby screams. She has lost all hope and is preparing to die when the banging of the hammer stops. The man has given up. Thank God he has given up.

After 6 hours of phone calls, threats and coordination she is safely in a shelter on the island, baby in tow and safe. She is still scared for her life but for tonight she will have a place to sleep and the promise of tomorrow.

Its amazing the gaps in the system that cause cases like this to fall through the cracks. Prevention is not a word in the vocab for local authorities on all levels. This woman would not of been helped before the incident occurred, only when that hammer would of taken her life.

Thank you world for saving this woman's life for just one more day!

Things I've Learned in the Last Year

I took the leap. We drove 2 hours to the airport: my mom, aunt kim and best friend. I was ready for the adventure but inside I was scared to death. I wouldn't dare show that to my family who were letting me chase my dreams while they stayed behind. I hugged them tight, told them I loved them and disappeared into the airplane tunnel. They didn't see me cry. I held it together, that is until I reached my seat on the plane and the water works started. I was leaving everything I had ever known, my best friends and the town that raised me up. I had no idea what was to come but I knew it was where my heart told me to go. For an entire year I held on to the dream of living in a new culture and changing the world while maybe learning a little about myself. And then I got the call from Peace Corps that would change my life forever.

I got on that plane ride one year ago today. It seems like forever ago, yet I remember it like it was just yesterday. So much has happened in the last year I couldn't begin to put it into words. I started reflecting on all the past blog posts to travel the journey again, trying to remind myself and the accomplishments I have under my belt already. But its not enough for me, my journey is not complete. I still have 13 months of service here in Grenada. I remember thinking I could never make it 27 months of service and now I'm here 12 months later. I did it. I feel energized for the next 13 months of service.

Things I've learned in the last 12 months:

• It is ok to not know what you are doing. Swallow your pride and pretend like you do.
• When times get tough, reflect on where you have been and where your eyes are set on going.
• Support systems are mandatory for being a good volunteer. Thanks to all the friends, family and volunteers who have lent me a place to vent, cry and laugh during these tough times.
• I am qualified, I must believe in myself to use those qualifications.
• Do the best you can with what you are given.
• Caribbean rum doesn't mess around.
• Nature is what calms my nerves, energizes me for tomorrow and tells me things will be alright.
• I'm alot stronger than I give myself credit for. 
• Living alone has taught me more about myself than I ever thought possible.
• I miss home and cant wait to return to Missouri. Its honestly where my heart will always be. 
• Life is to short for many so we must learn to live it while its here. (RIP Alec and BJ)
• America truly is the greatest country in the world. We should all feel so blessed. 
• Life. Goes. On.
• Being a vegetarian is fun!
• Language is situational.
• This is my personal journey and no one but myself can define it.

Cheers to the next 13 months of service. May it be more blessed than the last year and my we all continue to remember children are everyone's future, so invest in kids!!!!