And all that jazz!

Our friend and former Peace Corps trainer Eugene put together a huge Christmas jazz concert at the new nightclub in St. George's and asked a few of us to help him out. We took tickets and greeted the guests for the first hour, but then got to sit back and enjoy the music. Just another day in the Peace Corps, right? It was such a refreshing change to hear classical instruments (compared to the Soca music here) and hear some old familiar tunes.

Then this weekend I went camping with some of my Grenadian friends at Window Beach, a gorgeous location on the east coast and right next to one of my favorite spots on the island (the Arch...where I like to run around and pretend I'm Maria from Sound of Music). I also ate SHARK for the first time! Who knew a predator could taste so delicious?

Happy Boxing Day!

Hands down, this was the most relaxing December I've ever had. It wasn't until later that I realized this sensation was due to the complete absence of frantic shopping rampages that take over our lives the day after Thanksgiving. This year, all we bought was food and that was more than enough time spent waiting in line. And due to the lack of public transportation during the holidays, my friends and I spent 4 straight days together (which is actually a long time when you're used to living on your own). We played card games, did crossword puzzles & sudoku, drank hot chocolate with marshmallows, watched movies, read our books, did facial peels, played frisbee, and even did yoga so we weren't completely lazy. Did I mention this was all in 85 degree weather surrounded by palm trees? Your typical Christmas, right? Yet if I had to spend another Christmas away from home, I couldn't have asked for a better way to do it. And no tears were shed!

Merry Christmas from the Peace Corps!

Parang Festival

This weekend, a large group of us volunteers took the ferry up to Carriacou to celebrate Parang...the Caribbean version of Christmas festivities. We relaxed and went to the beaches by day, then partied at the concerts by night and celebrated with the locals. Bands from all over come to play live music and perform their own funny parodies on Grenadian culture. We couldn't understand half the lyrics, but thankfully some of our friends helped with the translation. The most fun was actually just hanging out by the house playing games and spending time together. It was basically one big sleepover at Dan's apartment and was quite humorous considering 16 of us were living together for 4 days straight. It's cool to realize we're already becoming a little family down here though.

Gonna find out who's naughty or nice

I'm not gonna lie...this week has been a test of my patience. It started out great, with a gorgeous hike along the eastern coast of the island where we had to maneuver our way through the tides and scale the rocks a bit...quite an adventure! But then the same day I was cussed out by an 8-year old. Hmmm. Then the next day I had about 15 kids all to myself at one of my programs and just barely managed to keep them from killing one another. Don't get me wrong. I love kids. I just don't have to like them this week. Especially not when the approaching Christmas break is turning them into little devils.

I almost got to star in a children's Christmas play though! My friend Jordan was directing and his lead actress didn't show up so I was on stage and ready to fill in, but of course she had to arrive at the last minute and steal my thunder. Oh well, it turned out to be really funny even without my help, and got all of us volunteers into the spirit of Christmas. It makes me miss my sisters' plays back home, with them waving to us from the stage.

The weekend made up for the rough days. I took my Limes Program kids to Grand Anse Beach for the day and we had a blast! Usually the water is dead calm since we're on the Caribbean side, but in December it gets really choppy so the kids were thrilled with the waves. (Surprisingly, many people in the Caribbean don't know how to swim so I'm slowly trying to teach them water safety and basic strokes.) I was a bit hesitant to let them in too deep since we had a couple close calls with sneaker waves, but those kids were so brave, even after they got knocked over a couple times. I was very impressed with their resilience. Now for my resilience...

World AIDS Day

I love the randomness of my job here...I've been visiting the Richmond Hill Prison (the only one in Grenada) the past few weeks and talking with the men about HIV & AIDS. Dr. Szauer from the university here (a powerful catalyst), one of my community partners Mrs. Hopkin (a passionate woman who I'm really excited to work with over at the Limes After School Program too), and some medical students have been conducting the Peer Educators Program for the past 2 months with about 20 inmates who've chosen to get educated on HIV & AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections, so they can then share that information with other prisoners and encourage them to get tested for HIV. It was a huge success as a beginning program and I think almost half of the prison voluntarily got tested. I came in toward the end, but still had some great opportunities to get to know the men participating, hear their stories, and promote HIV awareness among a few I spoke with behind bars. All in all, it was just cool to interact with them because of the obvious stigma they're used to having placed on them, being criminals. Many of them asked me if I was afraid coming into the prison, but surprisingly I never felt scared. I said they were humans who made mistakes like everyone else...they just got caught. Good guys though. Would you pray for the ones I spoke with who'll be released soon, that they won't fall back into their old habits. And the ones who remain, that they will set a positive example to their peers.

With World AIDS Day coming up, my friend Megan and I had a session on HIV & AIDS with some of the teenage girls from my program. Most of them didn't know a thing about the virus, so it was a great opportunity to bring up issues and taboo subjects that are never discussed in their schools. It basically turned into a sex-ed conversation, but it was great that they felt comfortable enough to ask those questions and a great time to share with them about lifestyle choices.

We also had our first EARTHQUAKE on Thursday! It originated up north off the coast of Martinique and was a magnitude of 7.4, but we only felt a bit of the shock and no damage was caused here. The crazy part was how many Grenadians had never been through one, and that some businesses even let their employees go home! But there's an active volcano called "Kick 'Em Jenny" right off the coast so I don't blame their paranoia.