Oh the things kids say...

"Miss, do white people peel dey skin cuz dey related to snakes?"

This is what I heard from a first grade student today regarding my peeling forehead. I tried to explain to him that white people's skin peels when they get sun burnt. He wasn't interested in that part, but really why white people are related to snakes and he is not. He was visibly shook up til I told him that in truth we aren't related to snakes, only monkeys. Thank goodness, that was a close one! :) Life is beautiful. 

 

SURPRISE!!!!

I'm sure my die hard blog followers (I see you North Carolina, Wichita and Pennsylvania) are wondering where in the world my random posts have been, but I promise this time I have a great excuse...

I boarded a plane to Miami, Florida on Thursday to surprise my sister in Florida. She currently plays softball for Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana as a shortstop. She is a junior right now and I am missing her prime years of playing at the collegiate level (enter guilt here). So...with the help of my ever-so-awesome Momma we planned my surprise trip to Florida to watch Molly play at Florida Atlantic University. Keeping my mouth sealed tight from the blog world, facebook friends and family members was nearly impossible, so by the time Thursday reached I was beaming with anxiety.

I'm in Miami B*^#@*

Molly was to arrive at the hotel around midnight Thursday and BAM! there would be her sister. It happened exactly that way, after a bit of delay, and the look on her face will forever be one of my greatest moments. She was so in shock that I was physically there that all she could respond was "OMG, that is my sister" to her teammates. It took her about a minute of complete shock before she even came over and hugged me. Epic success!

A night at The Melting Pot

Purdue Softball was playing a round robin tournament at Florida Atlantic University so I was blessed enough to get to see quite a few games. The first game Molly stepped to the plate, loaded and blasted a homerun over the fence. Im convinced it was for me, but she told me her bat has been on fire recently. Yada Yada. The Boilermakers played really well and I was so excited to meet all the new players and parents.

I wasn't going to venture to Florida without seeing some beach and enjoying the necessities of culture (ie: Coors Light, fast food and air conditioning!). My mom and Aunt Kim were both in Florida for the games, and coinicidently one of my best friends lives in Florida as well, so good times were sure to come. We enjoyed the Jungle Queen night cruise one night, which ventured down the New River of Ft. Launderdale past all the millionaires with nothing better to do but sip wine on the veranda of there $239842304832 dollar homes. We saw the recently finished $18 million dollar home of Wayne Huzienga, who started Waste Management,  Blockbuster Video, owned the Dolphins, Marlins and practically the rest of Florida. 

My friend and her roommate frequently spend time out on the river with a boat and beer, so of course I had to see what that was all about, which turned out to be an awesome time. After losing keys at the bottom of the ocean (AND FINDING THEM), introducing Grenadian rum to Florida and soaking up some rays I was in heaven. I also got the opportunity to see way to many wasted college students on the beach for Spring Break, venture to a Mexican cantina for mango frozen margaritas, feel the freezing cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean and sit at a bar without creepy men constantly hitting on me. 

After some more amazing softball, a sad goodbye to my sister/mom/friend/aunt, I am now safely back in the Caribbean, thankful for a quick rejuvenation from America and ready to get back to work. 

Until next time... 

Miami sunset

Caribbean sunset from the clouds

 

These kids are adorable!

You know those cute adorable pictures all over the internet of kids and their parents looking in the mirror as they brush their teeth? Today at my school reminded me of those pictures.

The American Dental Association recently made a trip to Grenada on humanitarian status to deliver a toothbrush and toothpaste kit to all students in Grenada's primary schools. I must commend the ADA for coming to Grenada and seeing the real need for dental care in our children. They even took the time to have a dental hygiene crash course for the kids and an adorable demonstration on the importance of clean teeth.

Today was my first day back at the school after the toothbrush extravaganza last week and man was I in for a surprise. I was busy all day griding the wall for our school mural project so I didn't get very much time in the classroom to interact with the kids. The students get an hour lunch break (crazy right?) and I was preparing for a million questions like "Miss why you doing that?", when a little boy came up to me and asked if he could brush his teeth. I giggled and said well of course, forgetting that all the kids had new toothbrush kits.

About twenty minutes later I walk back into our classroom to eat lunch with my counterpart and what did I see? 25 students sitting quietly in their seats, hands quickly brushing their teeth and giggling away to each others weird mouth noises. I couldn't help but just start laughing, which caused them to laugh and spew foam all over the place, but regardless, it was funny. For the next 10 minutes I heard my counterpart keep reminding them "kids please don't eat d toothpaste", "brush up and down and round and round", and "get those rotten teeth in the back too!".

Alot of these kids have never been taught the importance of brushing their teeth and many of them have rotted teeth from lack of brushing. They were so excited to get a new toothbrush and couldn't wait to brush away that I thought them might brush their enamel right off.

Today reminded me just how much we take for granted the ability to purchase basic necessities and the lessons we were taught as kids. No I sure don't remember the day my mom taught me to brush my teeth, but I'm sure these kids will forever remember the day the Americans came to their school and gave them new toothbrushes and taught them how to "brush round and round".

Its little things like today that remind me just how lucky I am and how much I have to repay to our world...

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