Limes my loves :)

Yesterday was my last day at Limes until fall. Waaah! Gonna miss those kids so much!! I was hoping to go today as well, but by the time I finished errands and made some food, there was just no way it was going to happen. Not to mention I am trying to finish up everything around the house today so that I can relax tomorrow and for the most part just enjoy my last day here for a couple months.

Anyways, as always, the kids were cute and hilarious and to make it even better everyone was really well behaved... even Miguel one of our more rambunctious kids got a sticker for good behavior!! It was seriously a big day! I knew there was a chance that yesterday would be my last day, so I was just trying to take in as much cuteness as I could, and of course get some pictures of their silly faces - especially the little ones, who I feel are going to grow a ton over the next 2 months and not be so "babyish" when I see them next.  I just want them to stay little FOREVER!!! I asked Jada if she was going to get big while I was gone, and she said "nope." If only that were true. But I know they will always continue to be super cute sillies- just with extra sass and opinions on everything...

I also asked Jada if she wanted to come home with me and she said "yep" and that she was wanted to play in the snow. That would probably be hilarious. These kids know nothing other than heat and Laura, one of the other volunteers said they get super excited over the AC in her car... so I can only imagine their reaction to snow. I told her it wasn't winter so there would probably be no snow in Michigan anyways, but she was not convinced... she said to bring it back as a present. Yeah, we'll see about that Jada girl... how about a necklace instead. 

One heartbreaking but bonding moment was when Tammy was coloring with one of the girls and telling her about how her daughter was going to come and visit because she loves playing with kids. The sweet little girl looks at her and asks "does she even like playing with little black kids?" So precious and cute, but so heartbreaking that even at 8 years old they are aware of the differences and discrepancies in race.  Tammy did an excellent job explaining to her that we love all children and that we don't pay attention to skin color. While explaining this Tammy used crayons as an example pointing out that the white crayon did not match her own skin, and asked her if the black crayon was a perfect match to her own skin. The little girl said no, and this led to further discussion about the topic and how everyone looks a little different and it isn't just black and white. I thought this was a very creative and touching way to explain it and immediately following the explanation the little girl cuddled up to Tammy with a smile on her face. So sweet! How could they not melt our hearts?? Great job Tammy! It's moments like these that really warm my heart.

I will miss them sooo much over the summer, but am thankful I know I get to come back and spend another year with them. I am definitely not ready to leave for good yet, and my heart goes out to the volunteers who are at that point. The SO organization does such great things for these kids and the SO coordinators work so hard to keep it running smoothly. Sadly this semester both of our coordinators are leaving, but I know they will forever be in the hearts of these kids and we see that every day as the kids ask about old teachers who showed them so much love! 

Oh Jada girl.... I need to take her home with me I think. I just love her too much. 

Isn't he so cute? He loves to color, but not  by himself.  

So silly all the time!!! I was so happy to have a smile out of her though... now just gotta work on the eyes open... at the same time... <3 

Yay! Probably the most she's ever cooperated for a picture! She was busy telling me to bring her back lots of "tings" so she must have been trying to butter me up. It worked.  

Need to take her home as well. LOVE THIS FACE! Seriously, it does not get any more cute than this. 

She's so sweet, I can't even stand it. 

Melts my heart. Over and over and over again.  

Skippin' 

I literally laugh every time I look at this picture. What a goofball. 

My boyfriend. Add him to the list that are coming home with me. I can't get enough of him. 

I already can't wait to come back at the end of June and squeeze them!! 

Unity Ball

Every term SGU puts on a semi-formal event "Unity Ball." This is a chance for students and their guests to get dressed up and enjoy a night of fun.  Living on an island, where I have no hair dryer or straightener and constantly rock a frizzy fro, and live in sundresses and flip-flops, the idea of getting dressed up seemed like a lot of work. However, when you literally only have one semi-nice dress here, and only brought flip-flops as a shoe option, it takes away any decisions about what to wear for the night! Also, without said hairdryer and straightener there were few decisions to be made as to how to do my hair as well. Half up half down frizzalicious-do? Perfect! I did need to decide whether to wear my black or brown flip-flops, so after walking around the house to make my decision, I almost left the house wearing one of each... oops! So out we went, with Nick dressed to the 9s and looking handsome as ever and me in my mixed-matched attire.  Although I felt a little strange sporting my flip-flops I was actually really glad I was wearing them after watching girls attempting to navigate the huge hills and walk through sand in their heels. I can't walk in heels on flat surfaces, so that would have only ended poorly for me! Besides, while everyone else's feet were killing them after a night of dancing, I felt great! I guess it pays off being the one girl who literally packed only clothes needed to be on the beach. Note to self- bring down nice outfit next term. Or, don't. Maybe I can just make that "my thing."

Our friend Jen is SGA Vice President and worked super hard putting the event together and I must say it definitely showed.  In true Grenadian fashion, they made her jump through hoops and even cancelled the event on her the day before due to mix up over the noise permit needed, but she managed to get it all sorted out and threw a great party! In my opinion it was definitely one of the most fun nights out we've had here. It was at Mt. Cinnamon, which was really fun and an outdoor venue, which I thought worked out perfectly and we enjoyed a night of drinks, dancing, and fun with friends! 

Something was obviously very funny!

The boys with Jen the party planner! 

Now it's back to the grind for Nick as finals are quickly approaching. He has done a really good job of staying on top of things, but regardless the long days are inevitable. On the plus side, that means they are that much closer to finishing their first year of medical school and that much closer to spending summer at home! See ya in 4 weeks boyfriend, oh and please remember to take me to the airport in 2!! :) 

Oh, and we have another mouse. Are you surprised? I am not. But it was a nice 2 weeks being mouse free, now back to walking around using chairs to keep me elevated off the ground. I wish I was kidding. 

Happy 25th Birthday Nicholas Andrew!!

This post is a week delayed, but better late than never right?? Last weekend we celebrated Nick's 25th birthday, and due to it conveniently falling on the same weekend as Easter, he had some extra time off of school to enjoy himself! SGU had both Friday and Monday off of school, so we were able to thoroughly relax and enjoy his birthday, while also allowing him a couple days to study as well. Friday was his actual birthday and I think we were able to combine our favorite things on the island into that day. First since there was no class he actually got to sleep in (very exciting for him!) then after getting our house ready to have people over in the evening we set out to enjoy some beach time. We were met by huge waves, which was icing on the cake to a beach day in our eyes. If you know us, you know we love, love, big waves! They were breaking directly on the sand, so I have to admit, although fun, they were a bit painful this time around! 

The waves were so intense I legit lost my pants in the one. Luckily, I reached back in time to scoop them up with my hand before they got swept away and was able to get them on before it was too awkward... but the picture was snapped with my white booty just hanging out for all to see.... nice!  

The beach can go from rough to calm and vice versa so quickly! 

Such a fun day :) Love it when he can relax and enjoy himself on the beach!

Later on in the evening we had a group of friends over to BBQ and hang out before heading out to The Owl. As always it was fun to have everyone over to just relax, play some games, and eat yummy food! And of course we had to walk over to the cliff to catch the sunset- it never disappoints! 

The night continued with karaoke at The Owl. What more could the birthday boy ask for? Seriously he was in his happy place. The bar was relatively quiet too so we were able to take over the karaoke machine and sing whatever our hearts desired all  night - much to the dismay of the few locals who were there! If I had to guess I'd say our group sang somewhere around 20+ songs ranging from hardcore rap songs to Journey to NSync and Backstreet boys to songs from Grease and Aladdin.

All in all, I'd say his 25th birthday was a great success! It's hard to celebrate so far away from home, but luckily he is surrounded by great friends who helped to make his birthday very special. And, it's not every birthday us Michiganders get to celebrate on a Caribbean Island and one of the most beautiful beaches in the world! Cheers to being 25 years young!

Aquatic rescue mission

Just another day in our battle against bugs? No. Not so much.

We recently realized that the ants are nested in our ceiling and therefore the previous spray had not been as effective as it could have been since they only sprayed the floor. So after attempting to get the pesticide people out here for days (with us always missing them because they never come at the time they say they will come) they randomly showed up yesterday and thankfully this time I was home.

However, for the life of me, I cannot understand the one guy when he talks. He talks super fast, doesn't move his lips, and mumbles. The conversation consists of him talking and me nodding and say "yeah" (unless he looks appalled at that answer, then I quickly change it "no.") Anyways, after about 45 minutes of this, they seemed to be done, and the other guy who had been running around the outside of the house doing who knows what- comes in and asks for 2 plastic bags. Seemed a bit random, but hey why not- I gave them to him. Then he asks if I would mind him leaving his shirt on my back porch. This seemed strange so I had him repeat himself, and that still didn't seem right so I simply said "sure." 

Well- I had heard correctly. The next thing I know I look out our window and see him without his shirt on running down toward the water. And a minute after that, he was down to his whitey tighty style undies. Only in Grenada. They were far down near the water and so I simply laughed and chose to continue about my day leaving the pest control guys to whatever it was they were up to (and of course quickly jumped on the computer to inform Nick of the latest TIG moment.) They continued in whatever it was they were doing for a good 40 minutes, and so I eventually stopped watching and continued on with laundry etc. So the next time I looked out, I saw the one guy on a rock kind of far out in the water. Hmm they must be fishing maybe? I still wasn't sure. After a couple minutes however,  I heard the guy on the rock yelling to the other one, and his tone just sounded different to me. So I poked my head out our back door and yelled to an older man who was with them and who stayed back a ways and was just spectating if everything was okay. I expected it would be and that as usual I was just not hearing them right and that they were just yelling about fish or something... but for peace of mind, just wanted to make sure. Well, much to my surprise, the man responded with a panicked "NO, NO, DIS IS NOT OKAY!" 

Turns out the one guy was not fishing or playing on the rock, but rather a wave had come and knocked him into the water- and no, he could not swim, but had somehow managed to climb himself onto the rock out in the water, but was now stuck there. Great. So after running to where I could yell to the guy on the rock (I found out his name was Dave) and making sure he was okay enough for me to run and get other people I ran and got our neighbors Dan and Dana, Kimoni (our Grenadian neighbor who lives across the street), and Kerrie.  When we got back our other neighbors and Dr. Sobering were also on their way down to help. Kimoni took one look at the situation and informed me he could not swim and that he was "very nervous" so I told him to watch for Nick (who thankfully was on his way home) and to send him down as soon as he got off the bus. 

After some quick problem solving Nick and Dr. Sobering grabbed their surfboard and hopped in the water to swim out to perform the aquatic rescue.  Poor Dave was pretty terrified and exhausted from holding onto the rock while continually getting pummeled with large wave after large wave- and was literally holding on for his life. Luckily, despite being panicked he followed directions very well and was able to stay calm, which made it much easier to get him out. When he was back with us on "shore" I asked if he wanted to sit down for a second, to which he quickly responded "no, I want to get away from de water." I think that will be the last time for quite awhile that he goes anywhere near the ocean without knowing for sure he won't get tossed in. 

So thankful for the speedy response of all the neighbors who helped get him out of the water. There is no doubt that without everyone's help the outcome would not have been such a good one. Also, very thankful for the many years of swimming lessons. 

I've been a horrible blogger lately...

So for a little update on our life these days.

We have been enjoying the post-midterm slower schedule lately. Although classes did not slow down much, the amount of hours needed to be spent in the library every day has. For the past couple of weeks I have enjoyed having a boyfriend who studies all day, but is home in time for dinner and a walk to the cliff to catch the extra beautiful sunsets we've had here lately!  We even got brave and sat on the edge one day... talk about an adrenaline rush! It was so fun, but super scary! The wind was really intense which added to the excitement, and the feeling of the wind between our toes was super awesome! And hey- it made for some cool pictures too! 

I'm obsessed with sunsets normally, so the fact that they have been even prettier than normal has made me even more in awe of them! So many colors that literally just paint the entire sky. It really makes you stop, think, and appreciate living here. 

We still got to participate in March Madness here in Grenada :) I finally managed to find a website that would stream here with limited lag and interruptions so that made me a happy camper! Also, our friend Marty is a die-hard Kentucky fan (luckily I had them winning in my bracket, so we avoided conflict there) so we went out to Bananas, a local bar to catch several of the final Kentucky games with him and a large group of friends. Oh, and yes, Kentucky did indeed win :) 

The countdown until I head home is officially here! 3 more weeks! How crazy is that? I really can hardly believe it. I am very excited though! It will definitely be weird to be so far away from Nick again and I am not looking forward to that, but with it being mid-terms I'm sure he'll hardly notice that I'm gone- and it's only 2.5 weeks. I will also miss all the kids at Limes, I so love seeing their little faces every week and have become so attached to them! However, with a few big things happening at home that I am missing in the next couple weeks- a funeral and a wedding, it has made me a little homesick. I love Grenada and my experience here has been a great one, and I will definitely be looking forward to returning in a couple months- but missing out on big life events is the hardest part of being away.  It is hard to miss out on the celebration of child's life and courageous battle with cancer and harder to grieve and get closure when so far away. It is hard to know her family is hurting and going through something no parent should go through, and I can't even give them my condolences and a hug. And it is a bummer to miss my best childhood friend walking down the isle to her soon to be husband and the official beginning of her new life as a wife.  These are some of the sacrifices you make when living so far away, and these are the times I just hope that even in distance they know I am with them in spirit.... And when technology and pictures really helps make it a little bit easier. Shesh, how did people honestly do this before Skype, Facebook, e-mail, etc?