Fish Friday

Part of our cross-cultural training is going to cultural events around the islands. We are usually escorted by our hilarious trainer named Michael, who enjoys singing the Grenada national anthem, wearing little kids yellow hats, and making terrible analogies. He decided that in order to become Grenadian, you must attend Fish Friday. This is a weekly food fest held in the small fishing village of Gouyave, pronounce Guh-wah-v, approximatly 30 minutes north of the capital. We ventured in Michaels scooby doo looking van (picture attached) up there around 7pm, which was a big deal to us, because we havent been out after dark anywhere yet. Its not governed as "safe" to be out after dark, so of course we felt like big kids.

They close off about 3 blocks of streets for Fish Friday, where vendors from all over the island set up their tents and serve up DELICIOUS food. Anything from fried fish, shimp, fish cakes, bread fruit sticks, and nutmeg ice cream. There is also a reggae drum band there making some good dancing music and plenty of Clark's Court Rum to go around. After a great plate of shrimp lo mein noodles, some nutmeg ice cream and a quick shot of rum, we were tired and ready to go home. Us old volunteers arent used to staying up past 9pm, so when 10 came around we were dragging.

Overall i thought i was a great chance to see the local culture on the island. Though the entire island is only 20 miles tall and 12 miles wide, there are distinct differences in the villages. Gouyave is coined as the town that never sleeps and from what i saw last night, i can only imagine.


Our APCD (associate Peace Corps director)

Reggae band

Vendors lined up selling delicious food

Scooby Doo mobile

Amanda and I

Cause of death today: Inhaler!

Ive decided that if im going to die, its going to be in a beautiful country, so why not Grenada?!?! Now, this is a total joke, so everyone RELAX! But really, after the King iguana incident yesterday i figured that was my one scare for the week, but man was i wrong...

I get up this morning with intentions of walking to work today. The other volunteers sometimes tease me about the fact i have to talk myself into walking long distances, but then again, they are all teeny boppin things with no real Midwest meat on them. But none the less, the walk to work is about 3 miles and not quite on the flatest land of all time. So as im getting dressed im thinking of the correct outfit to wear today, thinking of what to eat for lunch (thats practical right?) and what i need to get accomplished today. As i finish getting ready i remember that i should take a puff of my inhaler before i leave, to ensure that i dont pass out on the side of the road, only to be the butt of every Grenadian joke for the next century. "Dude some white girl passed out on the side of the road today." Yea...not the headline im looking for here.

So i am searching frantically for this dumb inhaler and finally find it farrrrr down in the bottom of some random bag. Of course i wouldnt keep a life saving device in close range, its just how i work. I go to take two puffs, in a hurry, and literally INHALED a balled up gum wrapper. Now if you have never used an inhaler then you cant quite understand how serious this was. I could of died! haha. I inhaled the darn thing, causing me to choke while gasping for air. I thought i had swallowed a rock and was thinking of how ridiculous this would be for a cause of death, but low and behold, i coughed it back up.

After two days of near death experiences (call me dramatic), ive decided my life is just one big drama, with each day being a new episode. So i hope you guys are in for a great show that will probably win a Grammy, no biggie.


This is what an inhaler SHOULD look like...

This is how i almost died...

King Iguana tried to kill me!

Some say im dramatic, but this is real! I was heading out to the verandah with wet clothes to hang them to dry. I stepped out and BAM! This MASSIVE green creature looked up at me like "i wanna eat you!" I might or might not of screamed bloody murder and ran inside. So here is the pictures, for my lovely followers so you understand just how big this creature was. But im alive, my Peace Corps service goes on!


He just looks mean!

"GRRR i wanna eat you!!!"

First attempt at hitching a ride...

CULTURE LESSON #1: When a Grenadian says "just now", that means 2 minutes or 2 hours. So if i say "i am going to pick you up just now", that really means i could pick you up in ten minutes or ten hours. Now to a woman who is VERY punctual about time and really respects time, this causes some serious anxiety.

Another volunteer came to visit me at my new home stay today and we decided to walk down to the playing field to see some football (American soccer). My friend Crystal, another volunteer lives very close to here, so we found it a good place to meet up. My fellow volunteer called our friend Ryon,as he was heading our way and figured we could hitch a ride. He said of course, and that he would be there "just now." So we are waiting, waiting, waiting and then BOOM, Ryon comes around the corner....ON A HORSE. Now, let me convey just how funny this is to me. First off, i haven't seen a horse on this island since I've been here. Second, the roads are NO PLACE for a horse, as they are one car wide. Third, he promised us a ride, on a horse. hahaha. Oh Grenada how i love thy.

So today i went to the beach with my host mom for a Sunday swim. Now I'm not sure if people realize this, but Grenada is a HUGE tourist destination for cruise ships. Before i came here i had no idea that cruise ships ventured to Grenada, i thought it was just to the cayman islands, Jamaica, Aruba, St. Lucia, etc. But when we are talking massive cruise ships from everywhere but America, this place is a hot spot. After Hurricane Ivan in 2004 destroyed much of the beaches, resorts and hotels, the tourist industry has been slowly rebuilding. They recently dug two new spots for cruise ships to dock, and the resorts are slowly beginning to pop up on Grand Anse beach.

The last couple of times we have been to the beach has been pretty quiet, with locals being in the majority. But today i was completely shocked at the amounts of people on the 3 miles of beaches, known as Grand Anse. There were three cruise ships in today, our maximum capacity. Britain, Swiss and French. Now i have never been to any of those places, but i must add that it was interesting to watch these people vacation. Maybe its because i am striving constantly to live as Grenadians for an extended amount of time but these people had no shame in their game. Children running around naked, men in speedos and women changing their suits in the open. I decided to take a step back and observe (from the water of course), and noticed how Grenadians reacted to these foreigners. I found myself hysterically laughing as they stared these people down like "what foreign place do you come from." I got a huge kick out of it and managed to laugh so hard i got salt water in my nose.

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.

What's a mongoose? I thought it was a bird!

We ventured into the land of the unknown today, of course with a tour guide. Wouldnt want 8 new volunteers wandering the island with no sense of direction, that could be interesting...

We had a wonderful tour guide named Michael, who is actually our cross cultural trainer too. He is a flamboyant gentlemen who works at the ministry, and knows the history of the island like the back of his hand. We started by going to Fort Frederick, one of the biggest forts on the island, where the Grenadians fought the French and British. It was such a beautiful concrete/stone structure that has sustained many hurricanes, and war of course.

We then moved on to Fort George, in the capital of St.George. Its in the prime of the city, set atop a mountain that overlooks the gorgeous Caranage. There were still the huge canons, hidden tunnels and even a basketball court. Back in the times they built the fort, they didnt know the word reinforcement like we do in modern day building. They instead "reinforced" by making the walls around 10 feet wide around the entire fort. Its sold concrete with stone rocks and such. Now THATS reinforcement, probably why it hasnt been damaged since being built in the 1800's.


Here is where the rest of the pictures will have to be uploaded later, as my camera decided it was not necessary to take pics, and died.

After both forts we decided to head out of town to the small village of Gouyave (pronounced Guh-wah-v). Its known for being a fishing village that never sleeps, and its so true. People line the streets constantly, and there is always a party going on. Thank GOD im not in this village, i have way to addictive of a personality for the village. haha. On the way there we stopped at our tour guides sisters shop. She is an artist, and her entire shop is filled with beautiful art, and some locally made jelly, candy, candles, shirts, etc. I wanted to spend WAY to much money there, so we moved on to lunch. Most of the non vegatarian volunteers had been dying some something that even resembles American food, and we found it in the form of a fried chicken sandwich!

Next we continued up the west side of the island coast to the village of Sauters. This village is more rural, but has some amazing history. Once the military realized it had made a mistake in trying to win the war at hand back in the 1800's, they decided to jump to their deaths rather then surrender to the French. This point is called Leapers Hill, and fits its name well. You first walk through a graveyrd to reach the point where they jumped, and its literally a cliff that resembles the scene in Little Rascals where Alfalfa has to make a choice to be with the boys or girls, and he falls off the cliff in his dream, only to wet his bed. You all know exactly what scene im talking about.

This is the point in the trip when i realized just how beautiful the island is because the southern part of the island is very dry and brown, whereas the northern parts where we were just resembled a postcard. Lush greenery everywhere, beautiful mountains and stunning beaches. We trailed down a path outside Sauters to a beach called Levera. It was so peaceful, not many people there and the outlook is just beautiful. After Michael tried to save some ignorance Englishmen from drowning, and watching Amanda's shoes float off into the sea, we were satisfied with getting to see the beach, and we moved on to our trip back home.

Highlight of the trip...we got to tour the rum distillery called Two Rivers. This centuries old distillery uses real sugar cane to make their rum in a 17th century mill. The machine was HUGE and old looking, and everything was practically done by hand. They moved the cane through the mill, into fermentation and then onto bottling. It was the coolest process i have ever seen, and so awesome to get to see it done just like the old days.

On the journey back to the capital we traveled from sea level up to 1910 feet, and then decended back down into St.George. We got to stop quickly to see an area where there are African monkeys, and spotted where our next hiking trip will take place.

Side note: funny story... On the bus ride home we were all a little tired and ready to be done, but somehow we got on the topic of mongoose's. Now im not sure what i thought this animal was, but my fellow volunteers got in a halarious discussion about what it was. I assumed it was some rodent when my friend Amanda burst out, "i swore it was a bird," as our tour guide bust out in laughter and informed us it was a squirrel looking thing, right as we passed one dead on the road. hahaha.

So...we finally arrived in St.George 8 hours after starting, but feeling like we got a great history lesson. It was nice to see other parts of the island that isnt easily accesable to us poor volunteers. This island is so beautiful.

OHHHH.....i need to make a little statement not regarding Grenada:

CONGRATS WEBB CITY LADY CARDS BASKETBALL on a state championship today!!!! Great work girls, you deserved it!!!!