The Leo's in Grenada!

This morning the Leo's boarded their plane back to the States :( It is sad to see them go, and was so much fun having visitors and people to hang out with at the beach every day! It was great having them here and being able to show them around this wonderful little island we call home. They got to ride the busses, experience IGA, do tons of walking, ride in a raggae bus, barter with people on the beach and much more! We were super busy while they were here so I have lots of fun stuff to catch up on! Here's a brief overview of how the last several days with them went....

Wednesday

Wednesday was a super long day for all of us, as Papa Leo, Alex, and Shelby did the full day of travel and Nick and I did our best to continue our normal routine and not just sit around all antsy awaiting our visitors! They got in pretty late and were exhausted but hungry so we got some wings at Options and then let them resign to their hotel to pass out for the night. Their hotel was smaller than expected- with only one king (aka 2 twins pushed together) so it was quite the sight to see the 3 of them all snuggled in together!

Thursday

Thursday, I met up with them at their hotel (The Flambouyant) and we spent most of the day just relaxing on the beach and swimming. The waves were pretty good sized and Alex had the great idea of renting a kayak. Turns out they are free to use for guests and it was the best decision ever. We basically played on the kayaks their entire vacation, with a few breaks to eat and drink haha. Thursday night we went to BB's Crabback for an absolutely delicious dinner! BB's is located right on the water and you can actually sit on a deck that hangs over the water- it is really neat. You can also watch the sunset and enjoy looking at the big fancy boats while you wait for your meal! It was my second time there and both times the food has been SO good. I highly recommend the barracuda... yes, I ate barracuda and it is SO GOOD!

They give you markers to write on the wall if you want, so naturally we had to leave behind our mark :)

Friday
Friday consisted of more beach and more HUGE waves. Then we met Nick on campus for cliff jumping!! Everyone jumped including Papa Leo, which was seriously awesome and impressive :)  Always good times at the cliff and we were so happy we got to share the Friday tradition with them!

Saturday
Saturday we went deep sea fishing!! This was my first time and boy was I excited! I really had no idea what to expect even though I had heard so much about it. Luckily, the Leo's have been before and knew to get dramamine ear patches to help prevent sea sickness, because without those... oye, my stomach churns just thinking about it! Unfortunately, we did not catch any fish because the waves were super rough which kept all our fishies away :/ We still had a blast though, and got to see a rainbow and between 20-30 dolphins!!! Seriously seeing the dolphins was the coolest thing ever- our boat was literally surrounded by them all jumping around! All in all, the trip was a success and despite the waves no one got sea sick (although I was very close, and I'm pretty sure my face turned green, but I fell asleep instead! Whew!) If anyone is looking to go Deep Sea Fishing I definitely recommend Gary. He is reasonably priced and just a super nice guy! We have his contact information if you want to try your hand at bringing in a big ol' fish!

Afterwards, we grabbed a bite to eat in downtown St. George and did some souvenir shopping before heading back to the beach for (surprise, surprise) more swimming! Then at night we went to The Owl and were oh so lucky to have Nick, Alex, and Marty sing karaoke for us multiple times...

Sunday
Sunday we went to the beach one last time with the Leo's, then went to Red Crab in Lance Aux Epines for dinner. I got the Jerk Pork and it was a-m-a-z-i-n-g. I absolutely recommend it. The others got different kinds of fish and all really enjoyed theirs as well. It is a little pricey, but was definitely a tasty meal! It was a perfect ending to a wonderful few days :) We are truly blessed to have such wonderful, kind, and fun people in our lives!

So that is just a quick overview, but it was so nice to have visitors from home here for a few days! They brought us tons of goodies from home, which was also very fun... we felt like it was Christmas! We definitely appreciated all the running around both our families did for us in order to get everything we wanted to send it down here :) We are very loved. Major kudos to my family for the water bottles... I was literally dying without mine for 2 weeks!

It was a bummer to see our fabulous visitors leave (we were hoping they'd get bumped from their plane and get to stay a few more days) but I suppose it is time to get back to our normal routines. Midterms are in a little over 2 weeks for Nick- so it's crunch time. Keep him in your prayers and send him lots of positive thoughts over the next couple weeks so that he can continue to kick booty in his classes! ... Oh, and feel free to Skype me extra since he will be living in the library, Taylor Hall, or Science Hall until after midterms :)

Playing around with the panoramic setting on my camera- some aren't the best, but pretty cool how you can get a full picture of our view at the beach :)  

Beautiful every time...

It is not uncommon to see rainbows in Grenada (as they are actually very frequent visitors) and yet, they excite me and amaze me every.single.time!! They are so perfect and vibrant, that it is impossible not to stop and stare in awe of them. Yesterday was no exception. We had the brightest FULL rainbow I have ever seen in my life directly over our house! It was perfect. You could see every color perfectly and you could even see where the rainbow hit the water- which was something I had never seen this clearly before... simply amazing. So there we stood- outside in the sun, getting lightly rained on, staring at this incredible rainbow and thinking to ourselves for the 483924 time "yeah... we get to live  here." 

It was perfect! You could see every color, the beginning and the end of the rainbow!

I love rainbows!

Catching the bottom of the rainbow

Our backyard... really?! Spectacular. 

Not exactly photo-ready, but rainbows don't wait for you to look good!

After surviving what was possibly my first battle with Dengue ( a lovely Grenadian virus spread by mosquitos- that of course I would get because I love to get weird illnesses...) this was exactly what I needed to boost my spirits!! 


Also, TONIGHT, we are picking up Shelby, Alex, and Papa Leo from the airport! Eeee so excited to have some visitors from home! 

An unexpected house guest

Only in Grenada do you wake up to go the bathroom and blow your nose in the middle of the night and end up with a frog in your lap!!

To make matters more exciting, the bathroom was dark, I didn't have my glasses on, and I was extra groggy from medication that I took before bed to hopefully help me kick this nasty cold I've come down with. 

So needless to say I was very taken aback when I felt something slimy land in my lap and make its way to my foot. It took me a second before I realized it was some kind of creature and hopped up super fast kicking and flailing for the light switch. Now we already have 2 other lovely house guests (Mr. Mouse and Mr. Lizard) so I was half expecting it to be one of them, and was actually somewhat pleased that it was only a frog. Yeah... only a frog!? This is Grenada. As soon as I realized it was a frog I quickly (and in somewhat of a panic) trapped him under a cup, so for several moments I stood there staring at it, half thinking "hey, good enough Nick will handle it in the morning." But, being the grown woman that I am, and realizing I was more than capable of handling such a crisis I did get Mr. Frog outside safely without making too much of a ruckus. 

It was nice to meet you Mr. Frog, but please don't sneak up on me again like that in the middle of the night, and please inform your friends that we aren't a holiday inn for frogs, lizards, and mice.

I've said it before, and I am sure I will say it many more times during our time here in Grenada, but seriously never a dull moment. And on that note, back to bed I go- hopefully it will be a little less eventful this time around ;) 

Limes Invasion of Grand Anse Beach

Today the SOs took the Limes kids to Grand Anse Beach. Yes, today we WALKED 47 kids, ranging in age from like 2 years old to 15 years old to the beach (most of whom I should mention- can not swim.) If you are thinking to yourself that that is pure madness, then you would be correct- because it was. Kids were everywhere- swimming, shouting, laughing, and playing in the sand. There were definitely moments throughout the day when I sat in awe of all the craziness surrounding me and simply wondered "what in the world is happening right now?" But it was so worth it and so much fun! All of the kids had so much fun and that was the most important thing. To top off an already fun day after swimming all of the kids got pizza lunch which was also very exciting for them. Despite living on the island many of these kids do not get the chance to go to the beach often so it was a great and worthwhile event for the SOs to put on and I was so happy to be a part of it. Hats off to the SO organization for putting on yet another wonderful event for these kids!

In some sad news: my adored camera that has never let me down is sadly starting to not work so well =/ Fingers crossed it will survive until I get home at the end of April and I can get a new one as a birthday present to myself. I will be SO bummed if it dies before then. Luckily, I was able to get a few pictures despite it being really finicky today though so enjoy a few beach snap shots of what 47 happy campers look like on beach day! :)

It's the simple things

Like waking up to the rain pounding on a tin rooftop, pouring a glass of juice, and walking out to the back porch to lay in the hammock and watch as the rain rolls in. You can always hear the sound of the rain pouring into the ocean well before you can actually see, feel, and smell the rain around you- it is really cool and so relaxing! Yes, this. is. Grenada.

You can see the rain falling out over the ocean in the distance here!

Could not have asked for a better start to the day... there is just something about the rain! :) Happy Thursday everyone! 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Definitely missing everyone at home this Valentine's Day, but very happy I got to chat with my mom on Monday for her birthday and then the whole family- including my grandma and grandpa at dinner! That was so fun, gotta love Skype! Plus, my brothers told me they would love me forever- so that was very timely for Valentine's Day :) Valentine's Day in Grenada is lower key and I absolutely loved that! There weren't a million commercials or row after row of Valentine's Day gear, but rather people wished each other happy Valentine's Day and the bus played silly and cheesy love songs all day (which I absolutely loved and was amused by obviously).

This Valentine's Day thousands of miles from home and having the unique experience of being able to live in Grenada and work with the children here for a year and half really caused me to reflect on how many things I have to be truly grateful for. I am constantly surrounded by such beauty- the crashing waves and crystal clear water and the best sunsets I've ever seen. I am constantly reminded of how much I have when I walk down the street past children and adults who aren't wearing shoes, have torn and ragged clothing, and are hungry. I am reminded how blessed I am to have grown up in a loving family surrounded by so many family members giving me attention, love, and support, and how not all children get nearly enough of this every single day. And how the lack of good role models in their life really makes you wonder what will really happen to these precious little ones as they grow up, as we leave the island, and as they stop coming to the Limes program. Hopefully we can be a positive influence and nurture them and help guide them to the a good path, but for now all we have control over is the here and now. And for this Valentine's Day we were able to share the love and encourage them to make special cards for the special people in their lives.

Valentine's Day is all about love and I got lots of it from the cute kiddos at Limes yesterday. We made Valentine's Day cards, and oh my goodness were they so cute deciding who to make them for and so serious about cutting the paper and making theirs look really cool. It was such a fun day and a perfect way to spend Vday because I got SO many hugs, kisses, and Valentine's day cards from them- it was really adorable and so sweet of them.

Nick and I also had a wonderful Valentine's Day evening. I baked way too many cupcakes and cookies, and he made a delicious dinner! We enjoyed both from our kitchen table while watching the sun set and it was perfect. Afterwards, he took a break from studying for the night and we indulged in at least 3 episodes of LOST because we are addicted. It was an absolutely perfect evening with my wonderful valentine :)

I know, my cupcake decorating skills are super impressive...

Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward together in the same direction.

-Antoine De Saint-Exupery

We've had extra beautiful sunsets the past few nights and I've finally figured out the night mode on my camera so the pictures turned out pretty well and I didn't even need to enhance the color on these! A-m-a-z-i-n-g. Happy Valentine's Day Grenada, I love you and your breathtaking sunsets. Oh, and the rain on our tin roof late every night makes me smile in my sleep. When we move back home I might need a tin roof just to help me sleep, because adjusting to life without the ocean in my backyard is going to be tough enough! I've become so spoiled by it!

Love unlocks doors and opens windows that weren't even there before.  ~Mignon McLaughlin

Independence Day Celebration Limes Style-- With lots of Videos!

We continued the Independence Day celebration with the children at Limes today. We had so much fun! Many of the SOs made rice krispie treats in Grenadian colors which was super fun and of course the kids loved them! We played lots of games, colored Grenadian flags, and even got a performance from a few of the girls who sang us some songs! One of the songs was the Grenadian National Anthem so that was awesome and so fun! It's a little loud and hard to hear at times so I posted the words to go with it :) They also include the Grenadian pledge of allegiance afterwards! (ps- I missed the first couple words in the video).

Grenadian National Anthem/Pledge of Allegiance

Hail Grenada, land of Ours-We pledge ourselves to thee-Heads, hearts and hands in unity -To reach our destiny-Ever conscious of God-Being proud of our heritage-May we with faith and courage -Aspire, build, advance-As one people, one family- God bless our nation.

I pledge allegiance to the Flag,
and to the country for which it stands, with liberty, justice and equality for all. I pledge also to defend and uphold the Honor, Dignity, the Laws and Institutions of my country.

The little ones also sang a song for me so I'll post that too! Don't you just love their little voices? I think they were still hopped up on sugar from Independence Day yesterday because they had SO much energy today and were extra silly! 

Justin Bieber "Baby, Baby" Grenadian Style! In my opinion it's better than the original ;) ! Love them! 

Another fun and successful day at Limes. These kids never fail to make me smile and make my heart very happy <3 

Sidenote/TIG(this is Grenada) moment of the day-- Today, I was getting ready to cook something so as usual I opened the oven, lit it, and was preparing to close it to give it a couple minutes to warm up. Normal and logical course of action right? Well, this is Grenada after all and there is no such thing as a dull moment, so instead of closing the oven and continuing on with my day, I just about had the oven closed and BOOM- big explosion and tons of flames shoot out of the bottom of the oven!! I've never seen such a thing- the flames probably came out about 2 feet or maybe a little more from the bottom of the oven. (No worries, I wasn't injured.) After turning off the oven and peeking inside to make sure there wasn't a fire inside it or something, I inspected my feet and legs and I have a few semi-sore/tiny blistered toes, but otherwise I just dusted off burnt hairs from my feet and legs.... that's one way to avoid needing to shave eh? Oh, and it was a good excuse not to cook and just get a chicken wrap on campus. Tomorrow, I will further investigate the situation. TIG. 

Happy Independence Day Grenada!

Today Grenada has officially been an independent country for 38 years! Needless to say Independence Day is a huge day here, and they have been hanging up colored flags and signs to prepare for today for weeks.

In honor of Independence Day I thought it would be fun to learn a little more about this beautiful country I have been living in for over a month and will continue living in for the next year and half. 

A few fun facts:

- The capital of Grenada is St. George

-Population is approximately 108,000 people
- Grenada is one of the three largest islands in the southern caribbean (along with Carriacou and Pettite Martinique). Carriacou is absolutely on my bucket list of places to visit while here and Ive heard nothing but really great things about it!  

-Grenada is approximately 20 miles long by 12 miles wide! On a map, it is seriously just a tiny little dot in the middle of the gigantic ocean.
-Grenada is located where the Caribbean Sea and North Atlantic Ocean combine. The water from each ocean is different in how rough/calm it is and color. 

-Grenada became an independent nation in 1974. Prior to that it was owned by the French, Spanish, and British. 

-In October of 1983 Grenada was invaded by the US military following the execution of former Prime Minister Maurice Bishop. The invasion was short (only 48 hours) but at least 24 civilians and 45 Grenadian troops were killed, and at least 358 were wounded.  

- Evidently there is a movie called Heartbreak Ridge that is based off the US invasion of Grenada, which I definitely want to try and watch soon.

Some National Icons that I found:

-National Bird- The endangered Grenadian Dove

-Dish- Oil Down (which I still  have yet to try)

-Drink- Rum 

-Symbol- Nutmeg (Grenada is one of the world's largest producers of Nutmeg!)

-Song- Grenada May God Bless You

More random facts:

-Grand Anse Beach (where we go regularly) has been voted one of the top 10 beaches in the world!

-There are 40+ beaches total in Grenada.

-Instead of saying "this" "the" and "them" they replace he 't' with 'd' and say "dis" "de" and "dem"... when the kids talk, it is the cutest thing ever, but they talk so fast it can also be very hard to understand them!

- Grenada has a wet & dry season. We are currently in the dry season, and the temperature has been cooler than when I visited last term during wet season and from what Ive heard this is due to the trade winds. I likey! 

-The public transportation system in Grenada works surprisingly well. Although constantly being honked at or yelled at to ride in a Raggae bus can be annoying, it is also relatively reliable and cheap and seriously there is always one around I feel like (probably unless you need it, TIG). 

-Time on the island moves extremely slow and I hardly ever know what time it is at all. Also, you learn if you are early, then you are REALLY early... time in Grenada is always behind schedule. 

- Ive seen a total of THREE traffic lights on the entire island.
-To drink on the island is crazy cheap, while to eat on the island is generally more on the pricey side.
-Grenada has both white and black sand beaches.
-There is a volcano on the island, although it is dormant there is another active underwater volcano located nearby named "Kick-em-Jenny."
-Grenada is divided into 6 parishes- St. Patrick, St. Andrew, St. George, St. David, St. John and St. Mark.
-Grand Etang is a 13 acre crater lake that formed over the dormant volcano. Grand Etang means "The great lake" and it is said that nobody has ever reached the bottom of the lake and therefore it is commonly referred to as the "bottomless lake."
-The most popular sports are cricket and soccer
- Hurricane Ivan hit Grenada in 2004 and caused a great deal of damage.
-220 volts are used in Grenada and if you don't use a transformer and try to use American appliances... you will blow up said appliance.

Anyways, I read a ton about Grenada today so I'm sure there are lots of fun facts that I am missing, but that's all I have time for for now. Also, unfortunately I didn't go down to the stadium today, due to not knowing about the activities until last minute and the busses were running very minimally today, but I definitely plan on going next year! Here are some random pictures Ive taken over the past couple weeks of all the flags all over the place. Super fun and colorful! Sadly, I don't have any pictures of their cute and festive outfits :( 

 The yellow on the Grenadian flag represents the sun and the warmth of the people, green stands for vegetation and agriculture, and red symbolizes harmony, unity, and courage. I thought that was pretty cool!

Time flies when you are havin' fun!

Hard to believe we have already been here one month! Well, I guess I should say I have officially been here 1 month! Time has passed surprisingly quickly and I stay much more busy than I expected. Nick's school schedule is really picking up, and he has had been really busy with Surgery club and Emergency medicine club lately as well. In addition, he is considering getting involved in research at SGU and is looking into a selective in Kenya at the end of the semester. I think he should take on a few more things don't you? He's such a go-getter, and I am very proud! Kenya would be a really unique and exciting opportunity and definitely be a resume builder, so I'll definitely keep ya'll posted on whether he decides to do that or not! Oh, and I don't think I mentioned before that he did great on his first 2 finals with A's in both classes! Great start to Term 2 :)

As for me, my heart continues to be stolen by the children at Limes every week. It really makes me happy that I went into social work, because this experience has opened my eyes even more to the toll poverty can have a children and their families and how much need there is in the world. It's so rewarding knowing that I went to school for 5.5 years for something I really am truly passionate about. Speaking of which, I am also (somewhat) studying for my licensing exam.  I am hoping to take it in May. In all honesty, I really need to put a little more effort into studying though. Oops. I've also been babysitting a few times a week, which has brought in a little bit of spending money. Oliver is full of energy so it doubles as an excellent workout for me as well! Yesterday, I raced him up and down the street with him on his bike and me riding one of those little scooter things. Needless to say, I haven't beaten him yet, and I'm always huffing and puffing by the time I cross the finish line, just to be asked in his innocent little voice, "Why aren't you trying to win?" Sigh. So, we ran into Nick in front of our house about to go for a jog, and so I recruited him to race Oliver instead ;) Oliver loved it and Nick got to do hardcore sprints instead of going for a jog... that sounds like a win all around to me! 

So I'll leave you with a few pictures because what's a blog post without pictures right? Many of the Limes pictures below were taken by other SOs :) Such beautiful moments with wonderful volunteers and precious children! 

We had a BBQ at our house and took a walk to the peak to watch the sunset! 

The Friday tradition of cliff jumping has continued every week so far this term :) This week we jumped during this absolutely beautiful sunset. Grenada continues to amaze me <3

Oh, and purchased my plane ticket home yesterday!! I will officially be home for 2 months at the end of April! Looking forward to spending quality time with family and friends for sure :) 

B-I-N-G-O and bingo was his name-O

Every Wednesday at Prickly Bay, a local outside bar by our house, is BINGO night. We had never been before and a few of our friends were going, so we decided to join. Oh my gosh, so much fun!! There is a real bingo machine and a guy on a microphone calling out numbers and saying all sorts of random things. Each game has several winners- you can win for a vertical line, horizontal line, diagonal line, X, and BINGO. There are cash prizes and other prizes for each win, with the bingo round being the biggest prize (last night = 700ec and 1500 ec!!) The game gets super competitive and it is hilariously quiet while the numbers are being called... until they end when everyone is hollering out the numbers they want to be called to win. The other thing about playing is that when you win you have to yell line or bingo loudly and immediately otherwise the guy calling out the number moves on. If another number is pulled before he hears you, then you risk sharing your winnings if someone else gets a line or bingo with that next number. It is so funny! We had a great time, and the pizza at Prickley is awesome as well!! Unfortunately no one from our group won it big this time, but Nick did win 50 ec for a line in his first game! That was enough to get us our money back for playing, or buy a round of beverages for everyone at our table... I'll let you decide which one he chose :) All in all,  a super fun Wednesday night and we are definitely hooked to BINGO. 

Always hot and sweaty here in Grenada, but ready to enjoy a fun game of bingo!

If you are looking for something fun to do, I definitely recommend it! It starts at 8pm on Wednesdays and costs 20 ec to play two games :)