Just about lunch time I heard a commotion across the street at the local bar. Now cricket is on the telly and that leads to lots of heated and boisterous discussions. But people were moving around a lot and then Juice ran over to my gate and came in.
I was curious, but Juice is a harmless guy who the others often put up on, with jokes and menial labour because he is developmentally delayed. Next thing I knew there was a pounding the front door. But not up high down low. Juice was saying "It is OK Miss Sara. It's OK" . And then there was a sound like an animal thrashing.
Funny how when people tell you it is OK, you immediately know something is wrong! The people across at the bar were yelling to open the front door. I was pretty sure that was a very bad idea.
And here is why...
Very sadly he is going to be lunch. I tried to convince everyone to let him go. But that option was definitely not on the table. It is really too bad, they are beautiful animals and harming no one. But meat with dinner sounds better than dinner without.
Part of me wishes the boys saw him, but Aiden would be crushed that people would kill him. So maybe it is better this way. And really even if I could save him today somebody would have the same idea tomorrow. By Costa Rica standards this guy is wee, but then when you are hunted you don't get much chance to grow big.
Juice with the iguana
Juice giving him water because he was very scared (rightfully)
Iguana in Costa Rica
Hanging out not worrying about being lunch in C.R.
Today I realised that this would be my 100th post and I really wondered what I would write about. And then it hit me- literally. Today we were in a three car collision. Perhaps the most angry I have ever been in my life.
Car we were shoved into- yes that is how hard we were hit!
We were on our way home from La Sagesse when we encountered a vehicle at the round about who pulled ahead of us into the intersection. Since he was now blocking our path we waved him ahead. This would be something we would sorely regret.
Farther down the road we encountered the same vehicle stopped on a flat section of the road about 2 minutes drive from our home. We came to a stop as there wasn't any other option as he was speaking to someone in a bus on the other side of the road. And then all of a sudden there was a tremendous crash and I was thrown forward. I looked up and realized we were about to hit the vehicle in front of us which then threw us back in the other direction.
The boys were screaming, I mean screaming that their necks hurt and were really confused. I was furious that someone had hurt my kids, but at the same time knew I needed to get them out of the vehicle in case another car became involved. I know I was yelling at the driver of the car in front of us. In that moment I really wanted to hurt him. But when I pulled open the back door I saw the boys were not bleeding or broken and then I just focused on them rather than being angry.
I actually felt sorry for the driver behind us, I could see it was a work vehicle and it was badly damaged. Even though I knew he was the one who hit us, I blamed the car in front.
Vehicle that hit us from behind
With both boys out of the car they were crying and both were shaking. Thank God there was a sidewalk so at least I knew they were out of traffic. I had the camera in the car so took photos, but I was shaking too and I gave the camera to Brent who seemed a lot calmer- although also yelling. Owen said he thought he was going to pass out and have a bloody nose. Brent suggested we walk home and get the boys water and Motrin.
For the first 15 meters I didn't think I would get the boys home. They both needed support to walk and the sidewalk is not wide enough to do so. Once they realized I couldn't help both, they both just sucked it up and started to march up the hill, tears in their eyes, but up they went.
Owen was definitely the worse for wear. He vomited for about an hour. Aiden called one of his best friends Yana in Canada and that helped a lot. We also called auntie Ceilidh who helped Owen understand that he was allowed to feel scared and cry, because it was really scary.
Our amazing little SUV- licence plate smashed but not much damage
We are all really stiff and sore and I think tomorrow will probably be worse than tonight for soreness. Right now I am super thankful for my Honda CRV. I know it saved the boys serious injury and I am thankful to my Cuso colleagues who have rallied around us. I know my NEWLO colleagues will do the same.
Things are a bit different here. No one was charged. The driver who hit us was not wearing shoes, no problem- only bus drivers have to wear shoes. Beer bottle in the vehicle again, not a problem- not a crime. Yes that is right drinking and driving is not a crime here.
I know our families feel helpless and are worried, but we have been incredibly lucky yet again. A different location, a different car and it could have been much worse. So for tonight I will take lots of Motrin and rub on a muscle and joint pain reliever which was a Christmas gift from my beloved chiropractor in Brighton, Dr, Shaw, and be thankful that post 100 has a happy ending.
On Trip Advisor it lists the Spice Basket as a site to visit and we have wanted to it is just hard to do. It mainly caters to the cruise ship crowd and that means shows are usually during the day and when I am working. We took a visit out in December to see if we could find a time o catch the show. There was one today, perfect! We marked it on our calendar and hen broke the news to Aiden that he would be missing his technical drawing class to go. It was a very hard sell, since he just got Auto CAD and wants to learn how to use it. But he agreed on a family trip- and he was really glad he did.
Junior Murray's Blazer
Typical of me, we arrived 30 minutes before the cruise passengers. Owen has a project on Junior Murray a Grenadian Cricket player and The Spice Basket happens to have the only cricket museum in the West Indies. So we headed down to the museum with our guide Keron.
The museum is much more than a museum on cricket. We went through exhibits on the soil of Grenada 99% volcanic 1% limestone. They had samples of the sand from different parts of the island. We didn't realize there was a beach that was pure black sand, so now that is on our to do list.
They also had an exhibit on the slave trade that was fascinating as they also had a "book of Negroes" like Canada did. Amazing to see entries indicating whether they had any marks, their age and only first name. The youngest 1, probably the one that hurt the most was a 7 year old. Old enough to be scared out his mind. Just sickening what people are capable of doing to each other. There was a great exhibit on the revolution and I saw tons and tons of photos that are certainly not captured anywhere on the web. So it was fascinating.
Th cricket part of the museum was quiet large with lots of displays, blazers, sweaters and Keron I believe may have known everything there is to know about cricket! He was really helpful to Owen in learning about Junior Murray and we got some photos with his memorabilia. By 11:30 we could hear the steel drums and another worker was coming to collect us.
Since we were not part of the cruise we needed to pay. While the boys and I listened to steel pan drums Brent sorted things out. It turns out this cruise was full of German tourists, so parts of the show would be in German! The manager was very sweet and, as is so typical of Grenadians, made his best effort to accommodate us. It was actually really interesting to watch the crowd who barely grooved to the steel drums. We were all given yummy fruit punches and we relaxed to the melodies and the beautiful sunny day.
Next it was time to go to the theatre where there was a short 10 minute movie on the history of the Grenada. Before it started the manager told us he had arranged to have his staff replay the video in English after the German tourists left- so kind!! The narrator was our cultural interpreter for Cuso Mr. Peters!
Then came the singing and dancing. It was wonderful. Lovely costumes and two of the songs the boys were learning in school for Independence Day. While the crowd remained reserved we loved the beat and Aiden got in on the limbo dance. Then all of us got in on the Congo line with the carnival inspired dancers.
Aiden told us that he was glad he missed his lessons to come, so that
is about the best endorsement I have heard from him. We will definitely
recommend it on Tripadvisor.
I
have also got a plan to introduced the Mt. Zion Library to the Cricket
museum as they have a huge library on cricket that could perhaps be
shared or loaned. I know boys and men would love to read those books on
cricket. I can just see waiting lists to read books about West Indies
Cricket. Here is hoping there can be a partnership that benefits both
organisations.
Brent has been working on a project to streamline the storeroom at NEWLO. Mr. Thomas is responsible for the storerooms and the system in place just isn't working. So he and Brent have been looking at a way to automate it.
In the background Mr. Thomas has his other worries as he needs to physically move the house he resided in to another location. So today staff and student's pitched in to make that happen.
Brent went along to help out too, even though he was dressed in work clothes. It was a scorching hot day and without sunscreen Brent is a little but crispy. Sadly the truck broke down or the house would have been moved to the new location.
The house in pieces ready to be moved
Dismantling the floor
Loaded up but it just won't go! Piping for water lines being lifted.
You know that feeling when you just don't want to stop working? No, not really?
This morning I did not think that would be me either.
My day started at 4:20 a.m. when someone called my cell. Then they called again at 4:40. My number is very similar to a local doctor and I get calls for him all the time, but never this early! So I was a little grumpy to be woken up not once but twice.
Tuesday and Wednesday are my work from home days, and they are days when I get so much done.
So I really did not want to get off on the wrong foot. A cup of tea solves most things, so I orange pekoed up and got to work.
When I work from home, Brent and I carry the dining room table outside and I work on the deck. Yes it is beautiful, but it also means I don't have to have a fan or lights on in the house! My other habit is to start when I would have left to go to NEWLO. So I start at 7:00 instead of 8:00 and I don't finish until the boys come home around 3:00 p.m.
Today however I stumbled upon a great resource and didn't want to stop working! I did stop for a promised hike up the hill at Port Louis and for dinner but other than that I have not stopped!
A big reason is the awesome staff at NEWLO. They have been so amazingly kind to me. One of the other volunteers from Cuso told me that people at her placement called her "the tourist". I feel so lucky that the staff have always treated me as a partner and many as a friend.
Sadly I have to set work aside for the evening as I have a call from Canada I have to take, but I will be right back at it bright and early tomorrow. I must say I really do love my work.
My boss Sister Margaret (left), my bus BFF Sister MaryAnn (center), Mrs Douglas (top left pale blue), Birthday girl Ms. O'Farel (center purple). And too many to name but they are all dedicated amazing people who I look forward to seeing every week.
We knew coming into our trip that volunteering was going to cost us money. What has surprised us is two things; how fast you spend money and how any single person makes ends meet.
Cuso would cover the costs for a single person such that they should not be out of pocket while living in country. Now this supposes that you do not have a mortgage back home and can simply put your things in storage, if that was the case I would think that you could manage. However being a family of four it is different for us. We knew we would be losing money every month and the price is worth the experience.
When it comes to consumption, prices are really not that much different than in Canada for most things. And since our consumption is the same we definitely spend more than we make. Of course some things are a lot less- I can buy soap for about $0.40 a bar, half dozen buns for $1.20, a pair of sandals for $10, a skirt for $14 and a haircut for about $20 at a salon, fresh tuna steaks that feed 5 for about $9.50. Some things are ridiculous - a colour photocopy is $2.50, a cup of yogurt can be up to $3.00, a binder was $6.50, and $3.50 for a cup of tea. But generally things cost about the same. What is not the same is the salaries.
This past week I was very fortunate to have two people talking frankly to me about their financial situation. One person was making $1,000XCD a month and the other was a single mother making $700XCD a month. This would be about $440 and $310 Canadian. One of the people I was speaking to had asked for some help trying to figure out what they should be doing and when we did an income versus expense statement (before food and clothing and without electricity and water), this person should have been in the hole $200 XCD every month. I asked how they were eating? Answer-by the grace of God. How can I argue? There seems to be no other way.
A major problem is transportation. If you live in the northern part of the island to get into St, George will cost you about $8XCD Then if you needed to work by the resorts it would be another $2.50. So let's just say to get to work is $10 and then $10 to get home. If you work five shifts a week that is $200XCD a month! So between 20-30% of your income goes to just getting to work.
And then there is the time you need to get to work and when you get home. Many people are up at 4:00 a.m.so they can be on a bus at 6:00 or 6:30. The problem is that buses really are not public transportation. They are operated by private citizens who are regulated by how much they can charge a passenger but can choose their hours and their routes. Generally speaking, the buses do not run in the country side much past 6:30 or 7:00 p.m. So if you have a shift that ends at 10:00 p.m. finding a way home is very difficult. The hotels do have shuttles that take people part of the way, but often this leaves a half hour or hour walk down unlit roads to get home.
For both the people I was speaking to it seemed impossible to make ends meet.
I often hear people say you will never starve in Grenada and it is true, there is fruit everywhere and for a couple of dollars you could buy some bananas, a mango, ginups
or an orange. But this is not a balanced diet. Your body needs more than this to thrive.
To me it seems the biggest obstacle to employment is the cost and timing of transportation. As I was brainstorming ideas on how I could help find work, transportation was always the stumbling block.
That and the wage system here. In Ontario the poverty line is $20,000 or $45,000 XCD, yet most people I know are making $10-15,000 XCD. Yet expenses are extremely similar to living in Ontario.
Except electricity- that is four times higher than living in Ontario at 40 cents a kilowatt hour! So even though we have no furnace, air conditioner, dishwasher, or hot water tank we still pay about $100 Canadian each month for electricity!
I have done the math and none of it adds up. When you ask Grenadians how they do it they almost unanimously they say by the grace of God, and they must be right, because scientifically it doesn't add up.
Sendall tunnel was flooded for pedestrian traffic, which I knew before we even got to the tunnel. How? Well, there was a well dressed business man standing just before it trying to flag a ride. I think that is the shortest distance I have ever carried a hitchhiker! So a wet, wet day on the roads.
Brent normally picks me up on the Carenage side of Sendall tunnel but today it was rainy so he came right into the town to pick me up. I get in at about the same time the boys get off school so it is either get me or get them. Turns out today would have been a good day to get them. Owen slipped and fell trying to get out of the way of a car backing up and got covered in mud from his toes to his knee. A passing car saw him fall and pulled over to offer him paper towels to help clean his hands- so sweet.
The problem we were facing was cleaning his school pants for tomorrow. We had tried to buy a second pair 2 weeks ago but they needed to be made- imagine a ten year old getting tailored pants!! So we have no back up school pants.
Laundry is a lengthy process of manually turning on water, draining water- rinse and repeat. Once you have the clothes clean we have to hand wring the clothes and hang them out to dry. This is always done in the morning on a sunny day and takes about 30 minutes if you stay with the machine (a lot longer if you read a book and forget about it- no buzzers here to tell you that a cycle is done!) So starting at 3:30 on a rainy day means Owen's pants won't dry outside- and he needs them for tomorrow.
Brent is no quitter and came up with this solution....
The rest of the laundry is out on the line in the rain- it will dry when it dries, hopefully tomorrow but maybe the next day.
Let's hope the pants are dry by 10 pm because that is when the fan will be moving back to our bedroom for a goodnights sleep!
Sunday mornings are awesome. They are so much quieter than the rest of the week. Every Sunday someone in the community just below me starts cranking out the gospel or soft rock at about 6:30 a.m. This morning it was Bob Marley. So I took a video of just sitting on our deck on a Sunday.
It has been a rainy week here and I normally don't have time to look for the beauty in the rain, but today it was screaming "look at me". Showers keep rolling through, but each time they come with a new rainbow, or rainbows!
I am blessed and cursed to be sitting in Mrs. Douglas's office. Blessed because she is such an amazing woman and cursed because her office is right beside the tuck shop where the smells of the days lunch start around 10:00 a.m. and make you long for fried chicken!
local green seasoning
Beko and Daniel are the cooks. When I first arrived I asked them how they made such flavourful chicken. Their answer, I needed to get "local green seasoning". When I pressed as to what that was they said it was sold everywhere.
So typical Canadian, "everywhere" means the super market. I did find a "local green seaonsing" sauce by Baron's and snapped this up. It was OK, but I felt like I was missing something.
So I went back to ask. Not at the supermarket from local vendors! So you can buy local seasoning either fresh or as a puree. We do both, puree when we are having fish, fresh when we are cooking chicken.
Each vendor will have a slightly different mix depending on their garden. One thing it will always
Shadow Beni far right
include- green onions. So Brent got a really nice green seasoning package today. In todays batch I had thyme, basil, oregano and shadow beni. Shadow beni tastes and smells (only when cut) exactly like cilantro. Just like cilantro you only use a tiny bit otherwise it overpowers all the other herbs.
One thing about Caribbean cooking is you almost never cook chicken breasts. In fact when Brent brings them home as part of a whole chicken I struggle to remember how or what we make with them! (Quesadillas) So since I have chicken legs I thought I would show you how to make stewed chicken with local green seasoning.
Sometimes you will get a couple of seasoning peppers included in the green seasonings, and sometimes not. In Grenada you always have some on hand though. My problem is when sold, vendors don't always tell you if the peppers are scotch bonnets. I am one of those folks whose skin reacts to everything, so if I cut a scotch bonnet my hands will burn for at least a few hours if not days. So I use a plastic bag on my hands to cut all peppers even if I have been assured they are harmless.
Could be Scotch bonnets who knows?
Basically you cut everything up, and a healthy dose of crushed or chopped garlic and toss it on the chicken. You let it sit as long as possible, overnight is great, but I have yet to be that organized. Mine sat all day.
You put some oil in a skillet and brown some sugar and then start browning your chicken. Before you put the chicken in the skillet you scrape off the seasoning, but reserve it. Once the meat is browned you add enough water to cover the chicken and the seasonings into the skillet. You let it simmer until the chicken falls off the bone. You can add curry or jerk seasoning- probably any seasoning, but it is nice not to add things that are man-made.
Sometimes when we make this we add potatoes and carrots to the skillet, but Aiden is in the mood for rice so rice it will be.
Brent isn't too keen but I want to build a flower box just for green seasoning when I get home. If we are coming home in March my herbs will be ready for the summer. It is truly amazing just how much better things taste when they are seasoned ahead.
Libraries have always been like a second home for me. I can remember story times at local libraries, trolling the shelves looking for just the right book and finding a beanbag chair to plunk into. University was no different. I often retreated to the library for some much needed peace and quiet. Now I am lucky to have access to both Brighton and Quinte Library- my problem is never finding books I want to take out but rather limiting myself to what I can reasonably read in 14 days!
Freighter at port
So Mt. Zion Library has been a magical find for me. They are a little library with a big heart and even bigger vision of what they can be. Since I have been here they have expanded rapidly and are now at 500 members! Books are literally flying off the shelves and sometimes being pilfered from them as well (most notably books on baking & decorating cakes, and other high culinary endeavours).
Line up to get barrel
For the boys it has meant being able to read at school. Even though they attend a private school there is no school library! (Don't worry we are working on that too.)
Both boys will spend free time in class with their nose in a book. Obviously the selection here is significantly different than back home, which has been fantastic. It means both boys have pushed up their reading level rather than read "little kid" books. Aiden just finished Dan Brown's The Symbol (a totally creepy book- pretty sure there will be nightmares). But at over 650 pages and lots of historical references, new words and big ideas, Aiden has put teen series behind him and is playing with the big boys. Owen has moved on from Harry Potter, I believe he read all 7 books in less than 2 months, to Percy Jackson. Not as far outside his reach but still admirable for a boy who didn't really start reading for pleasure until last year.
Oonya, founder of the library, waiting for her turn
So we are very grateful to Mt. Zion Library for enriching our lives here in Grenada.
And I am also extremely grateful for the people of Quinte West who have taken an interest in our journey and have supported Mt. Zion by sending a barrel of books. Not just any books. Tons of books that were on their wish list, that can now be crossed off!
I have not met any of these wonderful people who made this happen(except my mom who shipped it); they are just amazing people who like Oonya are committed to literacy.
“Grenada has the highest poverty rate amongst the English Caribbean countries. Children and youths make up the majority of that rate.” (UNDP: 2009 Human Development Report) A past Minister of Education stated that the nation’s secondary school graduates are unemployed and unemployable. “Grenada’s unemployment rate currently stands at 40 per cent.” (The Commonwealth Media, web 2013) A high poverty rate and low functional literacy rate is affecting the future development of Grenada and seems to contribute to an increasing number of disenfranchised youth, a perceived lack of options and lack of motivation for self-development.- source Mt. Zion Library Website http://mtzionlibrary.com/
I am so heartened that Canadians, Ontarians and my local community are directly contributing to the
Oonya outside the library
development of another country through literacy. When you think about it, it is pretty amazing. I had to travel here to try and make a difference in young people's lives and many of you are doing the same just through your generosity.
The library has recently started programs to improve reading and writing for adults. They just don't stop doing amazing work.
I hope you will be inspired to do something for literacy, it doesn't have to be here. It could be bringing a few books to where ever you are vacationing and leaving them for a local library; volunteering to read with children at a local school; or volunteering to run a craft or skill program at a local library. Anything you do will help.
If you do want to help here you can contact me or Mt. Zion Library directly to find out what their current needs are.
My intention was to write about a typical day volunteering in Grenada because I realized I hadn't ever described a typical day. So I set out with the intention of capturing my day.
Work days start at 5:45 a.m. and if you are my colleagues who live in Grenville or Woburn it starts much, much earlier. But for me I can get up and grab a quick shower. My shower was fixed before Christmas and without the effects of Chikungunya I can actually get in and out without going down the hall to the boys shower. You have to turn on the shower before you get in because it is heated with an electrical coil- as crazy as that seems to mix water and electricity!
99% of the time I put on a dress, but today I wore pants because it poured rain last night and my office doesn't have glass or screens on the windows so mosquitos love to hang out after a good rain.
Brent is a sweetheart and lights the stove and puts the kettle on for a cup of tea. So by the time I am out of the shower and dressed the kettle has usually started to boil. Breakfast is pretty easy. Eggs are readily available and always free-range! We buy three dozen at a time. Now that we have a toaster I can have eggs and toast.
Aiden and Owen are up by 6:30 so I get to chat with them while I pack a lunch and pack my bag. My backpack for work always seems to weigh a ton. But after you get the laptop and 1 litre of water it starts to add up.
Brent and I leave by around 7:00 a.m. where he drops me at the bus station. I have learned to be picky about what bus I get on because I could end up with squealing tires and soca played so loud I think my head will explode. I was lucky this morning the bus with a female conductor came by a recognized me so they stopped to pick me up. (Some buses wait at the station for passengers and others only pass through to start picking up fares outside the city- so this is a pass through bus) I like this bus, usually it is slow and I also like that she is the only female conductor I have seen in Grenada, so if I am spending $4XCD I like it when she gets a cut.
The bus ride is about 30-40 minutes, with hair pin turns up steep cliffs, lots of blind corners and narrow bridges. I sit on the drivers side because then you aren't looking out over the side of the road at the vertical drop that awaits one little mistake. I try to preoccupy myself because it never feels safe, so I count stray dogs or goats.
Sister MaryAnn taught me that you don't pay the conductor until you are almost at your stop because buses break down or they randomly decide to go back to town and not finish a route. My trip is $4XCD. I am really lucky to live in St George because this is where all the buses end or start. So I only have one bus to catch, but if you live in out lying areas you will often have to catch a bus into St. George (the wrong direction) so that you can get going in the right direction.
NEWLO always has staff there when I get there. Gone are my days of being first to work! Usually we hold a morning staff meeting in the staff room, but today we had to evacuate. A fish had been left in the fridge for three weeks and the fridge had been unplugged!! The smell sent us all heading for the exits. We held the meeting in the computer lab.
The day starts off with prayers, scripture reading, often a parable or story to reflect on and sometimes singing. Today we had singing. I dread singing because we are all not singing from the same song book. Presbyterians in Canada only know slow painful hymns that absolutely require an organ. Here they have upbeat happy songs everyone knows the words to but me!!
Monday's the students have assembly in the court yard. It starts with the raising of the flag and singing the National Anthem. Then a staff member leads the assembly it is also a mix of spiritual songs, scripture, motivational words and information for students. Then the students head to their departments for a rap session. Rap sessions are where the students talk about topics of interest or are guided in discussion by staff. Today Ms Francis caught me after the assembly and asked me to do a session with her students on setting goals.
So I did some quick prep and then led an hour session on goal setting.
Mrs Douglas, who I share an office with was not at work, so we connected by phone and I was able to get a couple of things accomplished for her. I then proceeded to review a bunch of curriculum to make sure the table of contents were correct before we published them. Mind numbing but needed to be done.
At 1:50 Sister MaryAnn called me to see if I wanted to catch the bus with her- which I always do because she is so awesome. However on my way out Sister Margaret said she could give me a lift to town! In the end Sister MaryAnn got a lift with a new staff member and I left with Sister Margaret, who proceeded to cross herself when we got in the car. I told Mr. Felix that it did not bode well for his driving skills! Sister says she does this whenever she gets in a car, but I think this may be a cover story!
We got back to town around 2:40 and I needed to meet Brent at 2:45 on the other side of a hill that separates the Caranage from the downtown. Unfortunately there were two cruise ships in which makes it crazy busy. Ironically it makes walking through the Sendall tunnel easier because traffic moves slower- not slow, slower. I actually caught myself marvelling at how close I can walk to a moving car and not freak out. In Canada if I was that close to a car I would be screaming at the driver, here it is just what you have to do.
Brent and I have a spot to meet and he was on his second pass when he picked me up. As we headed home I spotted a friend from work who normally doesn't come into town so I gave a holler. I really love seeing people I know in town, it makes you feel like you belong when you aren't just a stranger to everyone.
Tonight by the time I had got home I was tired. Just getting back to work and reading pages and pages for errors was tiring. I was also worried about some of my colleagues and I could feel the weight of not knowing what was going on pressing on me.
So not really a typical day, but then no day is typical. They are always changing, but I really love being at NEWLO, I love the staff, I love what they do and I really enjoy getting to know some of the students.
I found this Youtube video and it is basically my ride home from the bus station at 8:49 you would turn to the right and we would be at the bottom of that road.
As a mom you just want your kids to be happy and healthy. Thankfully both boys have avoided Chikununya and any kind of cold or flu. So that just leaves happy.
Both boys are generally happy. Aiden has made some friends here but not like back home. He has had a couple of Skype calls from friends back home, but he (and I) had been missing one in particular. Yana and Aiden are like two peas in a pods. They both love being outside and don't mind getting dirty and wet so long as there are things left to explore. I adore Yana and her family they are just so down to earth and the kind of people who when they say drop by they mean it. We had been having trouble hooking up as they are Mac and we are PC- it feels like those awesome commercials Apple does. But we finally realized we could do Facetime on Brent's ipod.
So today Aiden got a call from Yana and Tatia (sorry I know I probably misspelled that). Aiden got to see their new puppy Fisher and hear about what they were doing. And of course show her our view and the bananas and anything else he could think of.
He had as big a smile after her call as when For the Love of Music played his request at Le Phare Bleu. It is so nice to see him genuinely ear to ear happy.
Of course when we get calls from home it brings up both really happy emotions and really sad ones. Aiden was torn all day about whether he wanted to stay until July or whether he would be happier if we came back in March.
Missing friends and family is a good part of this process. I am definitely more cognizant of the fact that I really loved my tea time with Erin or Alistair and that seeing Nelly would make me happy for days. Thanksgiving isn't the same without Jay and I am not up-to-date on my friend Trish's new man. So I am definitely missing all my girlfriends this evening and will be setting up a big dinner party at my place when we get home with good friends, good food and good wine (I have a book out from the library- How to Love Wine) and lots of laughter. Jay we have a date (hopefully for October).
I also realized I miss the kids friends too. I miss Max, Noah, Georgia, McKenzie & Mykala, the Geens boys, and Jade they are all such great kids. I can only imagine how much they will have grown and changed by the time we get home.
I would be remiss not to note that I am lucky to have made some really good friends here too. I try not to think about the ones I will leave in Grenada; and am happy to have a couple new ones in Toronto thanks to Cuso.
Being grateful for what you have is an awesome benefit of volunteering! If you are missing us too and want to Facetime or Skype just send a message and we'll figure it out.
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