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 :) 

Crocs for Kiddies!

Reach out. Raise hope. Change Society. That was the slogan I heard over and over while getting my master's in Social Work at the University of Michigan. I must admit, while I thought it was a good slogan I didn't think too much about it while I was there. Of course I wanted to help people and of course I wanted to be a part of change, but mostly at the time I was focused on simply graduating. However, since graduating it has crossed my mind many times. Living in Grenada and being involved with the children here I see first hand the impact that people can have on these children, even with the smallest acts of kindness.  The After School program at Limes is a wonderful program, and a much needed one. It gives these kids something to do after school and helps keep them out of trouble- at least for a couple hours. It gives them something to look forward to and it gives us the opportunity to shower them with love and the attention they are starved for.

Reach Out. Today at Limes we gave out 63 pairs of crocs!! One of the SOs Aunts and their church were super generous and donated the shoes and paid to have them shipped here for the kids. Now how wonderful and thoughtful is that? People who haven't even met these kids, yet have heard stories about them and seen pictures reached within themselves to do something special for these kids. Many of these kids come to class without shoes, or with shoes that are in really dreadful shape, and so this gift was perfect. All the way from another country they put huge smiles on many kiddos faces and made a small(but for the moment, big) difference in their lives.

Raise Hope. Not only do these shoes provide for the kids in the fact that they don't have shoes and need them, but they don't get gifts often and that gesture alone is a gift to them.  They got to feel special and loved, and they have a brand new pair of shoes as their very own. What's the saying... "they won't remember you for the things you gave them, but for how you made them feel." I think that is a key component to "raising hope" and being a positive influence on these kids. While they will most definitely outgrow these shoes, the feeling that people care about them may last. At the same time, Grenada is full of people, and more importantly children, who live in poverty, and who don’t necessarily have basic things, such as shoes. These shoes were a token of love and provided for some of their basic needs, put a smile on their faces, and maybe in the smallest of ways elevated their hope and comfort, at least for the day. 

Change Society. This doesn't mean we want to come in and change the way these kids and their families are living or force our values and beliefs upon them, but rather I think it is our opportunity to use what we have to help those who have less than us. By sharing our gifts, talents, and time, we can help to make their lives a little better and reach out to them with kindness. It is small acts of kindness such as these shoes that do change society, little by little, child by child.  It's the thought and actions that we all have the ability to do, in some form, that can make a difference and lead to change. 

You don't necessarily need the official title of "Social Worker" or to be officially employed as one to do social work. Social work is helping others and striving to make the world a better and more equal place. It is about reaching out, raising hope, and changing society in every day life through our thoughts and actions. So although we SOs (significant others) may only be in Grenada because of boyfriends, husbands, girlfriends, or wives, and we may not get a paycheck every week, working with these kids quickly becomes something we love doing and a part of our weekly routine.  Since it isn’t a paid job, we don’t need to show up 3 days a week, but we do because we love these kids. I think that is what I love so much about volunteer work. We aren’t driven to help because of money or obligation; we do it because we care.  And we get to give the children wonderful gifts because of others in Grenada or at home, whose hearts have also been touched. I've only been here a couple weeks, and I admire all the hard work and dedication that I see and know was put forth before I came here, and am excited to be a part of that moving forward. There is nothing better than the hugs, smiles, laughter, and happiness of kids. Let alone, kids who don’t have much, and deserve every little bit we can give them. 


Before I came to Grenada this term (and even still from time to time being here) I get looks and questions as to what I am doing here, or the popular joke of "oh, so you are just on a 2 year vacation in the Caribbean?" To answer- yes, I am in Grenada for 2 years, and I am getting to spend a lot of time on the beach, but as someone who went to school for social work, I couldn't ask to be in a better place. These kids need us, and I think what the SO program is doing is amazing. Yes, we are going to continue to be broke for many years to come, but we will get a chance to be employed, slowly pay back Uncle Sam, and make money later on. But for now, we get to play, help with reading and math skills, hug, snuggle, and love on some really special kids who need it. Yeah, I think that beats a paycheck any day. 

Waiting for their surprise and being super excited when they saw all the new shoes in all different colors!

She melts my heart. She is just the sweetest little girl.

Couldn't you just eat these cuties up?

Showin' off all their brand new shoes!!

"Miss, I no cranky butt, you de cranky butt"

Miss Julie asked to see their shoes and this is what they did... so silly! 

SO much love! 

"The place to improve the world is first in one's own heart, head, and hands, and then work outward from there."