Im in looooooove!

As my time winds down here I think cant help but think back over the past 2 years. How much blood sweat and tears were shed (emphasis on sweat) and how this experience has seriously changed me. Interestingly enough, it has changedme in ways I never saw coming. I am so thankful for these little changes because, seriously, its about the journey. And this segment of my journey was a pretty fantastic time.

I just got back from taking part in my final carnival ever, as a grenadian PCV. It was great. Soooo many fun crazy happy times. Great way to head out!

I also began the locking process in deadlocking my hair. Yesterday marked one month and as far as I can tell, things are coming along... but, it's a journey too! So, yay weird hair stuff.

I love cheeze Stiks and am going to seriously miss them.

Close of Service! Eeeek!

***WARNING: signing up for Peace Corps may cause some seriously great friendship to form***

I just got back from a 10 day trip to sunny St. Lucia. Man was it a wawonderful vacation! Several volunteers and I went up a few days early before our close of service conference (cos) and got to be tourists for 5 days.

We got a 6:30 am flight out of Grenada and were in St Lucia by 8:30 and checking in to our guest house by 10:30. Travels that day were perfect! Liat was on time! taxi ride to the bus terminal was entertaining and the bus ride to the hardware store in Soufriere was painless.

Clearly, the next step was to enjoy a Piton, the local beer in St. Lucia, named after two twin peaks located JUST south of us, there. We checked in and got settled. All of us were exhausted, BUT! the theme of this trip was, gotta push through, so, we pushed through.

Located just up the road about a 10 min walk from where we were staying was a botanical garden, mineral bath, and diamond waterfall. Apparently, a scene from superman 2 was filmed there... check it out!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bobwPNVZYN0

Now compare our superman picture (below)... clearly we are superman because we have the ability to make it look like we have no bodies.

We spent the afternoon walking around the botanical gardens which was... nice... but so many of the things said DO NOT TOUCH and that is just not my scene. Stupes. We found the waterfall and had a good laugh or two back there. Then, we got to enjoy about an hour long soak in the mineral baths. They were warm and soothing and kind of perfect after our crazy busy travel day. Pretty great way to start off a wonderful trip.

Day two we got up nice and early AGAIN to hitch a ride to the base of the Pitons. We hiked Gross Piton, the shorter but fatter of the two. Pitit Piton is said to be extremely challenging and you have to use ropes and such. Gross ended up kicking my arse so that was good enough for me.

We had a guide, even though the trail was clearly marked and we could have done without one. Our guide was female and that really impressed me. I feel that in Grenada women wouldn't have that job, or be allowed to have it? Either way, she was great... in that she didn't really talk at all and every once in a while she'd laugh at us for being us.

It only took us about and hour and a half to reach the top, where the view was just great. The sun was shining up there and we got to just sit and enjoy it all. Taking in the beauty down here is mind blowing.

I really love it. At the top we could see Martinique to the north, and St. Vincent to the south.

The way down was obviously easier... on my lungs, but I was experiencing shaky leg syndrome as a result to lack of oxygen in them on the way up. All in all, it was a great hike! Glad I got to experience it. :)

Day 3! Phew! Once again, got up hecka early to go ZIP LINING! We took a bus down the west coast to Fieux Fort, the southern tip and then a next bus up the east coast to Dennery, the town closest to the zip line location.

Now, keep in mind we are still pcvs, using our precious savings on this splurge of a vacation, so, where ever we could save a few bucks, we did. We packed our little PB&J sandwiches and

put them in black plastic "trash" bags to save a little cash.

Then, instead of hiring a taxi to take us from the main road to our destination, we decided to hitch. Boy did we get LUCKY! After walking for only about 5 min a garbage truck passed. Guess who flagged that big guy down! Yep, so, here we were rollin up to this fancy pants zip line place where bus loads of tourists were being shipped in on air conditioned tour buses from the ship and the resorts, and we jump out of the back of this big ol' truck. Shortly after we decide to eat our snack out of our trash bags while we waited.

Zip lining was great. Kinda scary at first, but once I felt more comfortable (around line 2, haha) it was really enjoyable. Another thing I'm just happy I got to experience.

We were really starting to feel totally exhausted! But, our theme kicked in and we pushed through. The next day, WE SLEPT IN! and had a beach day. Where we got to just relax at the beach, in the shade, and did some swimming and snorkeling. We had dinner at a place that LOOKED expensive, but because we are senior citizens, we got there for dinner when they were still serving lunch. Perf!

The next 4 days were spent reconnecting with EC-81 as a whole. All the volunteers from St. Lucia, Dominica, and Grenada came together one... last... time. It was really great to see everyone and hear their stories. Even though we all had very different experiences we were able to relate to each others stories and had many good laughs. Of the 25 people we started with, we have an amazing 23 that made it through the entire service! Congrats to us! This has been a kick! "I have to say that I'm proud to know you, and I'll never be the same because we met." Until next time, EC-81, cheers!

Since May... I have.... holy wow cow! Done a ton! Went home. Saw tons of friends. Saw tons of family. Ate tons of food. Had tons of FUN. Then flew back to Grenada to be greeted with Camp Tufton. This year, me and another volunteer organized the came for the boys up in Victoria. It was a success and we all had a blast. It felt smoother this year but I feel that could just be because I knew what to expect. We ended the week long camp with an overnight camp out on Bathway beach. Exhausting? Yep. But completely worth it. Love those boys!

And then... CARNIVAL!!!! No words. :)

Friday night: Soca Monarch

Saturday night: White in the moonlight where we literally danced from 11 pm to 6 am (then proceeded to sleep for the next 12 hours)

Monday a.m.- Good thing we were well rested because J'ouvert starts at about 5 am.

Monday p.m.- Go home, sleep it off, get back out for MONDAY NIGHT MAS! Woi yoi yoi!

Now, last year, somehow I made it up to Sauteurs for and second Jouvert on Tuesday morning, but didnt make it to white in the moon light. Both years were a blast and really going to miss the chaos, the dancin' and copious amount of tomfoolery that takes place in these short 4 days.

School started back up and it was almost a breath of fresh air. Back to a schedule after more than 3 months off. WOW! Yep, I needed structure badly. Things first term went GREAT! My reading groups really started to fall into a groove, I knew my students names! I knew the other teachers names! And my recorder marching band tripled in size. This picture

if from Child Month March that took place in October.

Here's to one last successful term from the Fire Marching Band.

My family came to visit again in December which was such a nice treat. We spent about 5 days over Christmas in Gouyave and then headed down to La Sagesse, a pretty secluded beach on the east side, where we stayed in a hotel for the next week. THIS WAS A REAL VACATION for me. We pretty much woke up every morning and went right into the water where we boogie boarded for hours and usually had a Stag or two (stag is beer). It was a great visit and Im glad they got to experience where I am living now.

John and I on the Osprey coming back from a day trip to Carriacou.

So, it is January, 2012. My goal: blog 3 more times before I leave. Feb post, March post, April post. I think I can! That's all.

Time for a visit, eh?

I have been enjoying my time here in Grenada for the past 15 months, but I'm coming home in 50 days (to visit)! And I am just darn tootin' excited to see so many extremely incredible people! (And to walk down the street and be anonymous!!!)

Wowza! Has this last year flown by or what!? Not that I am ready to begin a countdown, but today is the first day of my count down until my close of service. 364 more days to experience the awesomeness that it Grenada!

On a fun and exciting note! I hiked the tallest mountain in Grenada last Saturday.

Mt. St. Catherine.

It was sure a beast! We started from the Grenville side (east coast) around 7:00 a.m. and reached the top of Mt. Culba a couple hours later.

This is the view from the top. Pretty amazing, however, no where near our final destination. After a short break at the top, we set off on a trail that could barely be called a trail. In Grenada we don't have to worry about things like poisonous snakes and things, however, we are blessed with razor grass.

Let me tell you, I look like I was attacked by a cat on steroids. Good thing the razor grass doesn't hurt too too bad. With bush up over our heads and looking down, not being able to see our feet, we splashed on through the mud and goop for a long long long time!

This hike was intense! Here is a picture of our legs about 1/3 of the way from Cubla to St Catherine. So. Much. Mud.

After about 4 and a half hours of vigorous up hill climbing (and I MEAN climbing! Arms, and legs and hands and feet, all were very necessary) we reached! Yaaaaaaaaaay!!! The view was

really cool. 2,756 feet above sea level, covered in mud, and starting to realize we now had to go back down.... Here was our view...

West coast view: Victoria

East coast view: Grenville

North side? Who knows? But pretty stinking beautiful!

All 9 of us made it up to the top!

Going back down was a different story! My legs were sooo tired I fell about 18 times. And, each time I fell, I laughed a little harder. I mean, what else can you do when you are shaking with exhaustion and sitting in a puddle of mud and know you still have about 1,500 feet to descend. All in all, the hike bottom to bottom took about 7 hours. Tots worth it but boy was it a tricky little beast. Until next time St. Catherine.

(Oh, and schools are on easter holiday now, so I miiiight spend my vaca time walking the perimeter of the island again. I know I said I swore on my life I would never do that again, buuut, hey! people change! We're captured on a carousel of time, we can't go back we can only look behind from where we came, and go round and round and round in the circle game. Jusayin')

(Oh, oh, and I'll be home for a quick visit in 68 days! See ya'll soon)

If you find yourself feeling a little under the weather... appreciate the journey

This past week, I was feeling slightly under par. Not enough to call in from work, but just enough to make me want to go home and sleeeeep. It was just a teeny tiny baby cold and after this weekends events, I have pretty much nipped it in the bud. Here are the events that took place that were so absurd and unbelievably incredible my little cold simply vanished from my body.

A few weeks ago I learned how to play texas hold 'em. And, surprisingly enough, I really enjoy it. I'm not great at it but no biggie. On Friday, a few of us got together for another round and because we are so used to not spending mo
ney, or we are just a bunch of chickens, the game lasted until 5:00 a.m. Oye! But all in all, it was a good time. I was the first one out but later on one of the other players was too tired so I took over for her and lost for her too. So, I managed to be the first 2 people out. It was a good night for me.

Saturday "morning" it was time to take a big fun adventure to Hog Island. Hog island is located about 600 feet south of the mainland. There is a bridge to it actually, however, getting to that bridge is a different story. So, in all of our glory, that is the morning after poker til 5, we set out.

We got to Woburn only about 2 hours after we had planned, and when we got there they wanted to charge all of us $15 each to drive us 600 feet. Some of us were more opposed to this than others but we all were not too excited about it so we thought, what the heck, we'll just walk to the bridge, piece of cake, right? Ha, so after walking for about 10 min a car passed us and asked if we needed a taxi. Generally when I hear someone ask me, "taxi", I imediately say no bc I feel like I'm going to get over charged or something. But we asked him if he'd take us to the gate of the bridge and he said yes! Haha, for $5/person (keep in mind there were 6 of us). At first we thought maybe that was a bit high, so we negotiated and said, well, how about $35 total. Hahah! We are PC volunteers, NOT mathematicians (but there really is no excuse for that haha). So, after our mad bargaining skillz were utilized, we ALL piled into a small sedan for $30! What a steal! We only made it about a mile bc then we passed Mango. He suggested that instead of having us in this tiny little car piled on top of each other, we should take the truck instead. Great suggestion bc the road to come was a dirt road but bc of all the rain these days it was basically a muddy slidy mess.

The next 30 min were spend sitting in the back of a truck, laughing hysterically driving through a magical world of nature. We drove through a bird sanctuary, where we were surrounded by the beauty of mother nature. We passed wild horses as they grazed near the sides of the road and a very old old run-down equestrian area. We almost made it to the gate when there was a tree that had fallen down in the road. We tried to move it but that bugger was heavy! So, we walked from there.

The gate was locked because prime minister, Tillman Thomas decided when he woke up that morning that it was a "gate locked" kind of day. So, we had to crawl through a hole on in a fence on the side of the bridge. But! We made it!

We set off in hopes to make it to this bar that we could see from the bridge. The hike was nice. (However, none of us were planning on actually hiking, some of us were in skirts, dresses, jeans, and all had on flip flops) It was a winding path around the island and ended up being a beautiful view. After about an hour and only one backtrack, we found the bar. Unfortunately, there was not a soul in sight. And all the coolers at the bar were completely empty. So, we took a short break and then came the rain! Holy cow, it started pouring!


Our hours of daylight were quickly fading and because we weren't sure how long it would take to get back, we decided to tough the rain (and MUD). So, wearing flip flops hiking through the mud mud mud and rain we made it back to the bridge. Only one person broke a shoe but luckily, she found one (for the correct foot) along the way and totally wore it! (Awesome)


Phew, we made it off of hog island in one piece. The nice man we met on the way in had given us his number so we called him to see if we could maybe get a ride back to the main road and sure enough, there he was! Perfect! Right? WRONG! His truck died. So, we got out and push-started it. YOU GOTTA PUUUUUUUSH IT! The sky was getting darker and it was still sprinkling. The road back was starting to look less magical and mother nature was starting to show her nasty side. After about 10 min of bumpy-mcbumperson, Mr. Truck died again. No biggie, we'll get out and puuuuuuush it again! And we did. But this time, we didn't have such luck. So they guys said they were going to pull the truck with another car and that we should just walk.

Hahah, at this point, amazingly, we were still laughing. One of those days? But fear smacked us in the face when we those lovely magical horses turned into pissed off "Thestrals". Strategically blocking the road, or setting traps for us by laying ropes on the ground until we passed over them and then pulling on them in an attempt to capture us!

Somehow, our group got split up and I found myself with Nicole at the back. But, we walked on and those demon horses were starting to get pissed! Then! Out of nowhere! A tree bush thing reached down and grabbed my umbrella and would NOT let it go! It was crazy! It took 2 of us to get it free but then it grabbed my shirt and I thought I was going to have to abandon it. But, we showed that thing who was boss!

Then, Jurassic Park happened. We were walking through the mud, soaking wet, and tired, and what comes squealing up behind us? Just the car pulling the truck (aka, T-Rex) and the road was too narrow to let it pass so we just tried to walk faster but it just kept coming! Ah! Then there was another pissed off horse! Never. Ending.

Long story long, we got back, ate some tasty food, and went our separate ways. But, thanks to these great "healthy choice" decisions, I can now say that my cold is significantly showing signs of improvement. I love my life.

Sports in Grenada!

Every year around this time ALL the schools in Grenada hold their sports day. Sports here is basically track and field and is a HUGE deal! The day itself reminds me of field day in elementary school, only instead of "everyone being a winner" they actually are quite competitive. Within sports, they hold a parade made up of the athletes who are competing, the cheerleaders who are cheering (?) and a drum corps. The drum corps is just a drum line who plays a street beat for the duration of the parade.
Since being here I have thoroughly missed several things. One, of course, being my family. I was lucky enough to have them visit for Christmas and it was a WONDERFUL time. The second thing I have found myself missing tremendously is hockey. I knew I would not be able to play here but didn't realize just how much I love playing! Since there are not many large flat areas that can be air-conditioned to a temperature suitable to keep ice frozen, and it's hot hot hot, I have come to terms with this void and will play my heart out as sooooon as I get back. The last thing I miss is marching. Now, I have marched in some sort of band or drum corps for the past 13 years (excluding this past summer, obvi). That comes out to about half of my life. (top of the cool list right there) So, I decided to take this matter into my own hands. Back to sports...

I noticed last year, when we first arrived, that parades were already held here, and that there was already a drum line in place. The next step was clear to me. I knew what I had to do. I must teach the children to play the music in the street! And so, the SJA Fire Marching Band was born.

I started teaching the recorder to kids at St. Johns Anglican School last spring. Over time, interest grew and now I have a total of about 30 kids that stay after school 2 times a week to learn that loud and piercing little plastic flute. They eat it up! And are actually learning how to read music, understand theory and seriously making me so darn proud! (tear)

In Janurary, at the beginning of this term I spoke with my principal about the possibility of teaching my recorder class to march. Just thought I would throw it out there... since our goal in PC is not to impose all our own ideas but instead look for areas of need and go with it. But, I thought what they heck. Turns out, my principal LOVED the idea! Like really got excited and waaaay into it, just from talking about it.

So, it was set. We would learn how to march! My group of musicians was cut down in size due to the cheerleaders (story of my life!) because lots of the cheerleaders also were my little recorder padawans. So, after a stressful week or 2 of establishing numbers our band was set. There are 15 members and ALL of them are extremely dedicated and so fun. Gosh I love teaching nerds!

SJA sports day was scheduled for February 3rd, but due to lousy weather and the fact the the field was a pit of mud, it was postponed one week. No biggie, just more time for us to get ready! Right? So, the following week, we held a few more practices but soon found out sports was postponed again due to REALLY nasty field conditions. Old men footballers played football on the field over the weekend and deeeestroyed it. No biggie again, now we are going to be bangin, right? Alright, so this brings us to yesterday, February 17th. On the 16th, classes were put on hold and ALL the students taking part in the march went outside and practiced for hours! (My throat is still sore!) So, we were ready! Ready to rock the faces off all the parade bystanders of Gouyave. Wellll, I got a call, yesterday, at 7:30 in the morning saying sports is postponed once again because basically it was raining and continued to for most of the morning. So, now it is Friday, and my little marchers are ready to march, they are excited and prepared (maybe a little too much of both) but there is nowhere to perform!

But, I was taught long ago that when life gives you lemons pour some sugar on that lemon and take a few shots of vodka, because that is one tasty treat. And, we will just continue to practice and practice and who knows, maybe by the time we actually have our sports day and parade, the crowd will throw their babies at us, we'll be THAT good.