Thanks for checking out my travel blog! My husband Jade and I recently moved to the island of Grenada for medical school at St. George's University. We love nothing more than to travel and experience different things so check back often to see what new things the Kings are discovering and konquering!

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

0.003 Leagues Under the Sea



Now that classes are over I (Jade) can finally sit down and write a blog post. This will also officially be my first ever blog post.

This weekend I successfully completed the PADI Open Water SCUBA certification course. I can now freely dive to a depth of 130ft or 40m (for my international friends). I learned all about the effects of crazy amounts of pressure and nitrogen on the human body and how to cope with these effects whilst under the water. I am feeling pretty accomplished right now... some of the skills I had to learn and demonstrate were: to prove I’m physically fit enough (no easy task) by swimming  ¼ of a mile (a long way for me) and treading water for 10 minutes, taking off my mask under water and putting it back on, swimming with my mask off, and simulating out of air emergency situations. I feel a bit like the opposite of an astronaut. While astronauts and divers both have specialized equipment designed to allow a human to survive, astronauts work in a zero pressure environment while divers work in high pressure setting. I feel like I should be able to put extra letters or something after my name now. Jade F. King, Diver, BS. How does that sound? I feel like my undergraduate degree is constantly calling any other achievements into question, but such is life.

By now you are reading this hoping that I’m not just going to talk about going diving and all the cool things that I saw and that there will be pictures associated with this post. Patience, there will be pictures.

Getting certified for open water is a three day event consisting of five pool dives, emphasizing skills that I will have to master in the ocean, and four ocean dives where I will demonstrate those skills in a real setting. For each ocean dive we took about ten minutes to do skills and about forty minutes exploring the reef. Grenada has an extensive and beautiful reef that took some major damage during hurricane Ivan in 2004. After the hurricane, a very beautiful and unique area of the reef close to shore was destroyed in the area known as Dragon Bay. In order to not lose a good snorkel and dive spot and to encourage regrowth of the reef, a group of artists designed the first underwater sculpture park in the world. The sculptures found within the park are porous and are designed to encourage the coral to grow on them. So, all in all, pretty neat stuff.

Now on to the dives! For the first dive we went to Flamingo Bay and went to a depth of 40ft/12m. While down we saw lots of amazing fish and swam with a green sea turtle for a little while. We saw several scorpionfish, an eel, a peacock flounder, pufferfish, Spanish mackerel, and parrotfish.  On my second dive I saw a barracuda approximately 2-3 feet long and got to see the wrecked ship, Bassel. For the third dive we went to the underwater sculpture park and went to my maximum depth of 60ft.  The fourth dive was just off the coast not too far from where the cruise ships dock in St. George's. There was a nice reef there and the highlight was the largest red snapper that my instructor had ever seen. He estimated it to weigh between 150-200 lbs or up to around 90kgs for those more comfortable with metric. You know who you are...

Now on to the photos!  Many of the photos from the underwater sculpture park are rather ominous and eerie looking. 

                           Like I said, ominous....



This is "Christ of the Deep" and was created to for the 50th anniversary of  the wreck Bianca C



    You know, just a huge caribbean lobster...


















This little guy had so much character. Funny little fish.


This one is called "Un-still Life" There was a tube fan in the bowl.


















If you look hard you can see the sculpture of people holding hands. "Vicissitudes" Did I say ominous?

Another view of "Vicissitudes"


You know...just hanging out on a park bench


A man working busily at his desk


Just a nice shot of the reef


One of the many eels I saw


Lambie or Conch still in the shell. It was so hard to spot from above.


One of the most beautiful fish I have seen.


Well this concludes our journey through the seas, please remember to hold all hand rails as you exit the vehicle. Please, no pushing or shoving as you leave. If you enjoyed your trip you may tip the captain. 






Wednesday, December 7, 2011

10 Things I've Learned Whilst in Grenada

In honor of our first term living on the island coming to an end, I’ve compiled a list of some of my observances.  Not to be confused with a top ten list, this is a list of ten things I have learned while residing in Grenada.  In no particular order, here they are:

10.  Never assume something is safe to eat just because it resembles something edible that is familiar to you.  Never.  Read here if you want a more detailed explanation. 
9.  Sunscreen and water are your best friends.
Proper usage is also required.
 
8.  Car honking is the other official language of Grenada.  People honk to say hello, they honk when you’re driving too slow, they honk to warn pedestrians, they honk when another driver has done something stupid, they honk when driving around a blind corner, they honk at other vehicles if they want to stop and talk…
7.  Keep as many food items in the refrigerator as possible or the ants WILL find it. 
6.  You can’t predict the weather (unless of course you hang laundry on the line; you will absolutely guarantee rain at that point). 
5.  Lime is both a noun and a verb.  We all know what a lime is, but to lime is to relax, take it easy and do not much of anything.  Liming is best done on a beach with a drink in your hand.
4.  The mosquitoes have special ninja skills.  Case in point.
3.  The drinks are more potent in Grenada.
2.  There exist more varieties of bananas than I would have ever imagined.
1.  Given enough free time it is entirely possible to perfectly memorize the intro song of The Big Bang Theory.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Thanksgiving Goat


I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving (and Thanksgiving break for those in school)!  It was a little weird not being there.  This was my first holiday to be away from everyone because even when traveling for Alpha Sigma Alpha I was home for Thanksgiving, my birthday and Christmas.  Thursday didn’t even feel like Thanksgiving with all the students being in classes.  To avoid any homesickness Jade and I hosted a Thanksgiving potluck at our house Friday night for the other couples living in our neighborhood.  We filled every seat in the house and had a total of thirteen, which included one baby. 

The food rivaled any Thanksgiving I could have had in the States.  Jade and I wanted to do traditional turkey, but it would have cost us about $50USD and probably would have been much more difficult to cook.  We instead bought two whole chickens, although my family thinks we captured and cooked a Mont Toute goat because that’s what Jade keeps telling them.  But really, we had chicken.  I know I’ve griped about my oven enough that you don’t need to hear it again, but with my crazy oven I was really afraid of ruining the main part of the meal so I asked my friend Emily to cook the second chicken.  I have the oven space to cook two at a time, but if I ruined a chicken at least there would be one other one.  So backing up a little bit, I asked Jade to go with me to buy the Thanksgiving meat because I didn’t know how much would be needed.  Once we settled on chickens, Jade picked two out.  He said the innards looked like they were bagged and stuffed inside, which is exactly what I told Emily.  Emily is a five year vegetarian, but she cooks meat for her husband and just recently started eating a little meat because they want to have a child next year.  So Friday afternoon we start preparing to cook our chicken and Jade discovers there is no bag; all the guts, including its disgusting feet, are inside the body.  I never even touched the thing.  Within minutes of our discovery my cell phone rings and of course it’s Emily, horrified.  Her husband would be home too late to get the chicken cooking at that time, so I sent Jade down to rescue her.  He brought back all her chicken’s insides and gave it to our landlords to give to Vodka, the dog.  It was pure carnage. 



I used the nifty oven thermometer my parents’ sent and managed to not melt the roasting bag.  We triple checked for doneness and the USDA recommended temperature of the inside of the bird and (to my knowledge) we didn’t give anybody food poisoning.  I think that’s a success for it being the first meal we’ve ever hosted.  Jessica and Daniel brought great homemade stuffing and awesome baklava.  Sarah and David brought homemade rolls and homemade cranberry sauce, which completely changed my opinion of cranberry sauce.  The last time I ate real cranberry sauce was at my Great Aunt Grace’s when I was a child.  My immature taste buds hated it and I have eaten the Ocean Spray jellied kind ever since.  Well not anymore.  I’m bringing cranberry sauce to the next Thanksgiving!  Marieke and Ryan brought killer mashed potatoes with the skin still on and two pumpkin cream cheese pies that practically melted in your mouth.  Sayeh and Hamed brought a delicious corn casserole, juice and (thank goodness) extra silverware.  Emily and Jonathan cooked our other chicken and made a fantastic green bean casserole. 

Stuffing

Baklava

Corn Casserole

Cranberry Sauce

Green Bean Casserole

Jade carving chickens






























































































We could not have had a better evening!  The house had festive fall flare courtesy of Emily, Marieke and Jessica’s decorations.  It was hot from using the oven earlier, but not sweltering like it could have been.  All the girls ended up sitting together in the dining room while all the guys sat in the living room.  There were endless laughs, some really hilarious impressions of Jade’s southern accent when he tried to teach all the girls about NASCAR (thank you Emily) and the most adorable You Tube video you’ll ever see.  I think everyone pretty well stuffed themselves to the brim and it actually felt like a true Thanksgiving.  We may not have been with our families, but we definitely had great company and great food.  Oh and what Thanksgiving in Grenada would be complete without the ants mysteriously appearing and feasting on our leftovers?  I’m immensely grateful for the girls’ help in packing away food and washing dishes since basically every dish in my house was dirty.  I’m lucky to have thoughtful friends.  The evening wrapped up about five hours later and I’m sure everyone went home to a food coma.  It was perfect.  Same time next year gang?


Jonathan, Marieke, Sayeh (with Lilia) and Hamed

Me, Jessica, Sarah and Marieke

Hamed, Ryan, Jonathan (behind Ryan), Jade, David and Daniel
































































We also had big plans Saturday as it was the end of term social for the SO organization.  They had a buffet lunch at Ali Baba’s Bar & Grill with usage of their pool.  They also rented a boat and water toys for a few hours.  Jade went on the tube twice and got flipped off of it twice- it was pretty funny.  It rained a couple times while we were there, which made it chilly on the beach.  The food was delicious though and it was a good time!

Monday, November 21, 2011

We'll Be Famous in England!

It was an exciting weekend for Jade and I!  Thursday I found out (for sure) I'm going to be an aunt again.  I have one niece and nephew through my brother and now my sister in expecting her first, due in June!  Congratulations, again!

Friday morning Jade and I woke up to an odd squeaky, squealing noise outside our bedroom window.  I listened for a moment, not able to place the sound, before I mentioned it to Jade.  Once he was out of that half-asleep stage he said, “Vodka’s having puppies!” 

Our landlord’s have two dogs: an old, all black, pothound male with a graying muzzle named Panther and a beautiful and strong tan pit bull named Vodka.   Dogs like her are rare around here because as I said, the native dogs are all one incestuous breed.  She is Kurlon’s pride and joy and she’s treated more like a pet than most dogs are in Grenada.  She was bred with another pit bull somewhere on the island so they could sell the puppies.

We thought she was due next month sometime, but Jade said the sound was unmistakable.  He threw on some street clothes and ran upstairs to tell our landlords.  A few minutes later they all went outside and sure enough, Vodka had one black puppy in her cage with her.  We watched and talked to her for a few minutes before going back inside.  She’d had about three more by the time Jade and I left for the grocery store an hour later, six or seven by the time we got home from the grocery store, and eleven by the end of the day.  They are all tan like mom, black like dad, or a kind of grey mixture and Kurlon said they’re mostly males.  Jade told me first time moms sometimes eat their puppies if they don’t know what’s going on or if they think one won’t live.  Each time we checked on her I was scared I’d accidentally see her eat one and be traumatized, but she seems to be a good mom.  She’s really a sweet dog.  By Saturday we were down to nine puppies (but their bodies were there; she didn’t snack on them) and I didn’t check on Vodka Sunday because it rained and everything is really muddy.  I’m also not venturing out because I’ve been eaten alive by mosquitoes and sand flies, which believe it or not are itchier than mosquitoes.

So yay puppies.  Puppies are fun!  I can’t wait for them to be older and cute and playful!  I have to tell you a funny story.  So Teshawn is the youngest kid in the family (our landlord family).  I’m pretty sure he’s eight.  He is a sweet and really funny boy and he likes Jade a lot- go figure.  Kids always like Jade because he has interesting things to say.  He was really shy when we first met him, but now he will chat our ears off given the opportunity.  He was in the backyard with Kurlon, Jade and I Friday afternoon swooning over the puppies.  He had to leave for school Friday morning as soon as we’d found out Vodka was in labor so I asked if he told his school friends about his new puppies.  He looks to his brother and says, “Well, I don’t know if I can tell people about da puppies.”  (He says “well” a lot and the “da” is my attempt at his Grenadian accent.)  Kurlon says he can and Teshawn looks at me and says, “I told my friends about da puppies” with a smile on his face.  He’s so funny. 

Friday night the SO group rented a catamaran-style boat to take us to Fish Friday in Gouyave (pronounced like Guava without the last A).  We went to the store and bought AA batteries specifically to get some good pictures of the evening’s events.  Unfortunately the batteries didn’t even give my little camera enough juice to take a single picture.  I don’t know if it was the batteries or if it is my camera, but alas, no pictures still.  Anyway, Gouyave is on the same side of the island as St. George’s, but further north.  It’s a fishing village and the third largest town on the island I believe.  Fish Friday is something done every Friday night where the locals set up vendor booths to sell prepared seafood, homemade sweets and handmade crafts.  There was music set up (Celine Dion Christmas music played mostly) and a lot of people wandering around.  It was our first time to go and I hear that boat is the preferred way to get to Fish Friday.  See, the roads in Grenada aren’t great and they’re generally extremely curvy.  Combine that with fast driving and the time it would take to drive to Gouyave and even the most iron stomach would be at least a tad uneasy by the time we arrived.  The boat trip lasted about an hour to an hour and a half (wasn’t really checking the time).  We met on Grand Anse Beach and left at sunset so nearly the entire ride was in the dark.  The stars were the main sight though.  While I would have loved to see that much coastline in the daylight, the stars were just breathtaking.  Jade named numerous constellations and planets and pointed out the Milky Way.   We even saw a satellite and Jade spotted a shooting star.  The night could not have been more clear.  They played good music on the boat and had a bar to get drinks.  When we pulled up to a shore in Gouyave the boat staff escorted us through an alleyway and led us to the streets blocked off for Fish Friday.  Jade and I looked at a couple booths before getting in line to get some grub.  We wanted to try different things so we shared everything.  We got a fried fish fillet in fried bread (Jade’s favorite), noodles with a skewer of meat and veggies (not entirely sure what kind of meat it was), a skewer of shrimp and veggies, a homemade doughnut ball and a coke.  I wanted to get some homemade pumpkin ice cream, but we kind of hit our “fun” budget for the month.  It’s okay though, I’m sure we’ll be back at least a few more times in the next two years!  Maybe that’s where we’ll try lambie, also known as conch.

Photo courtesy of my friend, Andrea.  Thanks!

On Sunday Jade and I went with our friends Marieke, Ryan, Emily and Jonathan to take Christmas pictures on the beach.  The two other couples went first because their husbands had to get back to campus for an info session.  We had a lot of fun trying different backdrops and writing things in the sand.  Ryan and Jonathan left and then Jade and I began taking pictures with Marieke and Emily as our photographers.  At one point I went to the girls to look at the pictures they’d taken so far and I didn’t notice that a man had approached Jade and was talking to him.  As I went back to Jade with a puzzled look on my face, he and the man started explaining what they were talking about.  Turns out, the man works for the Sunday Mirror, a British tabloid (one of the largest in London at that), and he and another woman are on a paid holiday to write a travel piece on Grenada.  He asked if he could take a few pictures of Jade and I, and of course we agreed.  She took down our information and said she’d send us any pictures they used and make sure we get a copy of the article.  It should be out next month.  Needless to say we’re really looking forward to hearing from them around Christmas time!

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Pothounds, Lizards and Goats...Oh My!

Ay yi yi I’m bad at this whole blog thing.  I didn’t even post in the month of October, and October is a long month!  I apologize for letting down the loyal readers out there.  Please don’t give up on me.  The longer I have been here the more established I have become in my own routine and I put blogging on the back burner.  I also don’t want to post without pictures; what is a good travel post without pictures?  I’m not using my camera here because it eats through a set of batteries a day (which aren’t cheap) and I don’t have the expensive transformer to charge my rechargeable AA batteries.  Unfortunately my solution is to not take pictures.  It kills me a little to not have photos of our first term, but I will bring my other camera back with me in January and unleash all my suppressed photography desires then.  Before I begin today’s topic, let me quickly catch you up on the things that have been recently filling my time here in Grenada. 

I’ve started doing enough stuff that I actually have to schedule things now.  That is fantastic for me and more than I ever hoped for.  I have this inherent need to stay busy.  If you recall an early post in which I talked about adjusting to my new domestic duties of cooking, cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping and volunteering, use that as a base.  Now let me add some additional things I’m doing.  For starters, I am going to be on the Significant Others Organization board as treasurer next term.  I’m really looking forward to that and it means I will have even more to work on next term.  I’m also working on a project for the university.  SGU is trying to boost enrollment in a USMLE Step: 1 prep course and I am working with the Department of Educational Services to figure out how to get more students interested in taking the course.  I’m attending workshops hosted by the Photography Club on campus because one of my goals is to become a decent photographer while I’m here.  I’m attending SO support group sessions hosted by the Department of Psychological Services and occasionally joining a group for board games on Wednesday mornings.  Jade and I went to a Halloween party where we won ‘scariest costume’ by dressing as Bella and Edward from Twilight.  I went on an all day island tour planned by the SO group and had a great time.  We pretty much drove all the way around the country.  I attended a self defense class last week that proved to be really good.  I went to Prickly Bay’s bingo night a few weeks ago and won $50EC.  Jade and I are trying to work out together three mornings a week, which has been really good for us.  I renewed my visa so I can stay in the country legally until we leave for break.  (You may have wondered why I mentioned that, but it’s a whole morning process in and of itself.)  Jade and I went with a lovely group of people one weekend to hike to Seven Sisters Falls recently.  What a beautiful place that was, but again, no pictures.  We went to a talent show on campus hosted by the Indian culture group where I was once again reminded how bad I wish I was Indian.  It was an awesome, awesome show.  I’ve coordinated and am hosting our first Thanksgiving next week that includes a small group of our neighbors.  I’m pretty excited about that!  Oh, and I finished the book The Host and am about 80% through with the first Harry Potter.  I’m ridiculously giddy about getting HP jokes now and being able to make HP references.  I FINALLY joined the club!  The Help will be the next book before I continue the HP series because the next book club discussion will be over The Help.  And don’t forget the social things; I’m still going to the pool and/or beach about once a week and hanging with friends.  So I know it’s not like I’m working full time and having to take care of kids, but in my own way I am keeping busy. 

I’ve realized that I haven’t yet given much general information about our newly adopted home.  I know this will come in bits and pieces throughout the next two years as I learn more about this country and its culture.  Observing those around me and listening to conversations exchanged helps me immensely in figuring out what it means to be Grenadian.  I don’t want to get into any deep topics yet though.  I’ve come to my own conclusions and made some generalizations that summarize what I think I’ve learned so far, but I don’t assume they’re correct and I certainly won’t publish them on the internet in this stage.  I’m still just a naïve observer at this point, making assumptions that may or may not be false.

As for surface topics, here is what I can tell you.  It’s HOT.  Have I mentioned that yet?  It is hot as heck here.  For this I was not prepared.  “How,” you say?  Not because I didn’t check the weather before packing (I’m a compulsive weather checker)!  Depending how you check the weather, internet or cell phone, you see information displayed differently.  My iPhone said it was a pleasant 84°F every day with the percentage chance of rain varying by day.  It sounded heavenly to me!  I even checked weather.com’s monthly average temperatures to find out what “winter” was like here.  Winter doesn’t exist here by the way.  Well, you know that fine print that says ‘feels like__’ when the daily forecast factors in the wind chill or heat index?  I didn’t see that.  At all.  We’re in the rainy season right now and when you factor in the humidity, every day ‘feels like’ 100°F, sometimes more.  I’ve seen it ‘feel like’ 107°F many times!  Since I thought it was going to be a lovely 84°F every day with the occasional rain shower I brought some pants, a sweatshirt and a cardigan.  I also packed layer-able items.  I have worn pants twice, and once was for a costume.  I don’t wear layers unless all my other options are dirty.  In fact, every day I strive to wear as little as possible (that sounds risqué, but isn’t at all).  Shorts and tanks are my daily attire.  And my hair goes up… everyday.  It’s hot here.  And I already know what clothes are going back with me in December and what will replace them in January.

That being said, December in Arkansas is going to be excruciating for me.  Besides seeing my friends and family, being home for the holidays and eating my parents’ food, I am not looking forward to the cold and barren land that is Arkansas in the winter.  Getting used to this heat and then going to that is going to be tough on me. 

It’s HOT here.  Is my point coming across?  The only other places where I experienced heat like this and worse was Egypt and India.  Grenada has redeeming qualities though.  The breathtakingly beautiful ocean, the tropical breezes and rainfall and the rainforest climate on the inner part of the island definitely make up for it.  It may seem like I’m complaining about the heat (and let’s be honest, sometimes I do complain about the heat when I have to carry groceries up the ginormous hill in our neighborhood in the middle of the day), but I would still take this over moving to Alaska or something for medical school.  I just really want you to know that it’s pretty warm here.

We are adjusting though.  In the beginning I don’t think either one of us thought we would see the day, but our bodies are getting used to it.  The heat makes us less tired than it originally did and just recently I made coffee and drank it hot rather than making it into an iced coffee.  That says a lot.

While on the topic of weather, my other obvious thought was the rain.  I don’t think I need to tell you any more about the rain though, as it has been a common topic of my blog posts.  I believe somewhere on the island gets rain every day, even if we don’t see it.  The storms come on suddenly and it is very difficult to predict.  Sometimes they appear to be coming right at you, but soak a different part of town.  I’m sure you’ll hear more about the rain later, or lack thereof in the dry season. 

Here is a particularly fun fact about St. George’s (and I assume the rest of Grenada): there are hardly any street names and even fewer physical addresses.  Jade likes to remind me that Leslie, Arkansas was like that not too long ago.  While the town of Leslie may have been that way, we’re talking an entire country of no addresses.  It really boggles my mind.  I know when we first moved here my parents wanted to know the address of where we were living, you know, just “in case”.  Ha!  I’ve seen envelopes like our electricity bill and it literally has our landlord’s name and the general area we live in printed on it.  Apparently everyone knows where everyone else lives.  Having no street names is pretty funny, too.  We were warned during welcome week that in Grenada you use landmarks for everything, and I’ve found that to be absolutely true.  On the bus we’ve had to ask the driver to drop us off by the goat.  And yes, there are a lot of goats in our neighborhood.  And stray dogs.  And crowing roosters.

Animals are actually another good topic to help paint the scene of where we live.  This part is actually sad, but there are an outrageous number of dogs here.  Stray dogs are known as pothounds.  I have a theory that they’re all inbred because they mostly all look the same.  These dogs aren’t really pets, they’re just strays or pseudo guard dogs.  I don’t know if they get fed or if they scavenge.  They’re all really itchy and mangy looking and they’re EVERYWHERE, especially in our neighborhood.  The SGU vet school has a program where they spay and neuter pothounds to help control the population, but I can’t even fathom what it would look like if they weren’t doing that.  I don’t even think most Grenadians like dogs.  The dogs here are smart though, and smarter than American dogs for sure.  As in many countries I have visited, people drive crazier here than in the States.  You would think more aggressive driving would mean more road kill, but quite the opposite actually.  These dogs could probably dodge a speeding bullet.  Ugh that’s horrible imagery, but what I mean is that they are really good at not staying out of the road, but running out of the way when a vehicle is coming through.  American dogs just stand there and watch it coming.  I think it truly shows something interesting about learned animal behavior.

Another animal we have in abundance here is lizards.  It’s a good thing I like lizards.  There are even some huge, bright green iguanas.  I’ve seen three so far: two wild and one pet.  Jade and I even have our very own “pet” lizard that I named Reptar.  S/he hangs out in our front gated area and sometimes on our hanging laundry.  A few times s/he has been clinging to our screen door.  Reptar is about six inches nose to tail.  It’s only a matter of time before Reptar or another one of the abundant lizards or geckos finds its way into our house.  We’ve already had several frogs in our house.

The frogs are my favorite!  Call me crazy, but I absolutely love them.  Let me clarify… there are two main types of frogs that I know about here.  There are the tiny sonar frogs, as I like to call them, and then there are the giant frogs as big as your foot that are rarely seen alive, but more often seen in flat patties in the street.  My theory is that they are so large and slow they can’t hop out of the way fast enough.  This is a frog so big that you’d have to hold it with two hands if you picked it up.  Cool, but not my favorite.  I also heard that these are the kind of frogs you can lick to hallucinate, but I’m not positive about that and you’ll never see my face close enough to one to try.  My favorite is the little tiny sonar frogs that you can practically see through.  They come out the second it gets dark outside and they sing all night long.  Together they are a chorus as loud as the summer bugs in Arkansas, but if you hear one individually because of its close proximity, you’ll hear that it lets out this sonar beep.  Meep…meep…meep… all night long.  Because there are so many it just sounds like constant chirping, but individually I think it sounds like submarine sonar audio from a movie.  And how can you not love anything that tiny?  They’re just so stinkin’ cute!  They seem to dehydrate really easily.  A few have come in from under the door, but we saw them and saved them.  Two others made it in, but we didn’t find them until they were a dehydrated frame.  One had to have just been overnight, too.  I think they must be very fragile. 




Ready for the not so awesome creatures that inhabit our area?  Ninja mosquitoes.  That’s right.  Ninja.  Mosquitoes.  The mosquitoes here are stealthy I tell ya!  They’re stealthy because they often gnaw your legs up and down without you ever noticing.  They’re also stealthy because they seem to come into our house in groves.  Now Jade and I are fairly smart people; we should be able to figure out how it’s possible to have 60 mosquitoes in our house all at once, but no.  We can’t.  We’ve brainstormed every possible explanation and solution imaginable with no luck.  They’re ninjas.  The best part is that some of the mosquitoes here carry dengue fever.  I’ve been told the ones that carry dengue are the ones that are out during the day.  So there are basically rabid ninja mosquitoes here.  I’ve already come to terms with the fact that I’ll probably contract dengue at some point over the next two years.  At least the bats are plentiful and I like to think they’re keeping the mosquito population down and putting off my illness a little longer. 

There are also cockroaches.  Ugh my skin crawls just typing about them!  In the first week of living here the mother of all cockroaches came running from under our bed while Jade and I were in our room.  Jade practically wrestled it to the ground and used his hand to smack it so hard against the wall that it stopped moving.  I know the only way to kill them is with an atomic bomb and I actually don’t remember what Jade did with it after that.  I guess I blocked it from my memory.  The second one we never caught but I sprinkled poison powder around and haven’t seen it since.  The third was a very small one that went flying through our living room one evening last weekend.  Jade kicked it out of the air and then burned it for good measure.  I don’t know what I would do without him.

Grenada is also one giant ant hill with one queen ant deep in the center of the island.  I’ve never seen so many varieties of ants in one place before.  I hate the ones that bite me outside and the ones that scavenge for food in my kitchen.  But that’s life.  Everyone gets bit by ants outside and everyone has ants in their kitchen.

The last bugs I’m going to complain about are the millipedes and centipedes.  The millipedes are basically harmless and found fairly frequently around.  The centipedes are terrifying and I dread the day I come across one.  They’re long and fast and aggressive and they have about a billion legs and apparently they really, really hurt!  Ehh I don’t want to think about them anymore.  I’ll just let you know if I come across one and not talk about it again until then. 

Alright, well I’m going to quit rambling on and on.  I won’t promise, but I will try to not wait so long before I blog again.  Until then… enjoy.  And thanks for being patient.  

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Some Days You Have Water, Some Days You Don’t


Yesterday marked seven weeks that we have been in Grenada and Friday was two months of marriage for Jade and I!  It’s pretty crazy how time flies.  At seven weeks we’re both feeling much more comfortable here and acclimated.  On Monday a neighbor was driving down the street while I was waiting on the side of the road for a bus and he yelled my name out the window and waved.  I instantly felt more accepted as part of the community and it was a really good feeling.  It makes me happy to say, “morning” or “afternoon” to someone as I walk down the street and have them return the greeting.  Even better yet is when they say it first.  I like when my neighbors are outside their house and they warmly wave and speak to me as I’m walking down the driveway.  It’s nice to not feel COMPLETELY foreign here.

My landlord family is building their second apartment right now and it is due to be finished in December.  Construction started Monday and the first steps are plumbing, or something.  I’m not going to pretend I know anything about building a house, but I do know that having something professionally done here does not mean the same thing as in the states.  We have building codes and regulations that have to be followed.  I feel pretty comfortable saying those don’t really exist here.  Exhibit A is our bathroom window that allowed water to gush in during that big storm.  I failed to mention how angry Ms. Moore was and how she ranted on about how she told the window guy to slant it so the water didn’t pool.  She said he didn’t listen to her because she’s a woman, and that’s probably true.  Exhibit B is our wall that leaks water from the point where it meets the ceiling.  Explain that.  Exhibit C is how often the dorms on campus flood, and I don’t mean when it’s raining outside.  Whole floors just randomly flood. 

So anyway, they started on the plumbing here.  Sunday evening John told us the water might be out for a few hours Monday morning.  I luckily got up early Monday to take a fast shower ten minutes before they cut the water.  We went all day without having running water, but we have reserves for that.  Jade and I have learned.  Ms. Moore told us Monday evening the water was back on and to turn on the lower faucet in the shower to get all the dirt out of the water line.  The bathroom and kitchen are the farthest opposite rooms in the house so clearing the water line in the bathroom makes sure we have clean water in the kitchen.  We still didn’t drink from the faucet Monday night.  So Jade is running muddy water in the shower and realizes it isn’t draining.  Awesome.  Now we have a shower with a pool of dirty water.  He let Ms. Moore know and she said the workers would be back Tuesday.  I needed to do a load of laundry Monday night.  Fail.

So I cooked a tasty dinner (if I do say so myself) of falafel in pita with homemade tzatziki and then went on to do dishes.  I filled the sink, washed most of the dishes and went to let some water out.  It didn’t budge when I pulled the plug out of the drain.  Again, awesome.  I’ve got a sink of dirty water AND a shower of dirty water.  You may have thought that if the shower didn’t drain then of course the kitchen sink wouldn’t drain, but I didn’t.  It never crossed my mind.  I give up to another TIG moment (This Is Grenada) and open the cabinet door under the sink to put the sponge away.  There’s water all over the space under the sink!  I yell for Jade, quickly go for the mop bucket and pout.  Jade starts turning the little knobby thing at the joint of the pipe to the right.

Side story:  When we first moved in, the bathroom sink leaked a little from that same spot.  The pipes are not metal; they’re like plastic PVC or something.  I told my landlord and she sent Kurlon to take a look at it one day.  He knew exactly how to solve it with a little pipe glue and tape, but he warned against tightening that knobby thing and stripping the pipe.

We’re back at the moment when I’m getting the mop bucket and Jade is turning the plastic knob.  In my mind I’m seeing the knob crack from being turned too far and the entire sink full of dirty water gushing out all over my kitchen floor, lower cabinets and Jade and I.  I’m pretty sure I yelled at him at the point.  Oops.  We placed the bucket under the leak and Jade went upstairs to ask for pliers.  I was just relieved my awful vision didn’t come true.  Jade returned with pliers and drained the sink and we went the rest of the night having running water, but not really being able to use it.

The water was off most of the day Tuesday and the shower still had muddy water in it until about 2pm.  The construction manager had me pouring buckets of water into the kitchen sink and into the shower to help them diagnose exactly where the problem was.  As they dug behind our house it suddenly smelled like sewage outside.  Clearly, they hit our sewage line.  I was grossed out, but mostly for the guys working on the lines!  I told Jade by text since he was at school and his response was, “Farm sewage to remind me of home? Or gross human feces?”  Who knows what the rest of the week or two will hold?  All I know is some days you have water, some days you don’t.  Some days you have an excess of water you’d like to get rid of and some days the water is unusable.  What can I say?  This is Grenada.  And for the most part, I wouldn’t have it any other way.  It’s all part of the experience!

In other news, Jade has midterms starting Monday.  Can you believe it is already that point in the semester?  I’m looking forward to midterms being over so we can do something fun the weekend after the tests!  If you think about it, wish Jade luck as he’s preparing to go into the madness of next week!  It would mean a lot to him.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Our First Monsoon Experience

I do realize that by official weather terms the Caribbean does not experience monsoons. Monsoon seasons occur primarily in Asia. But oh my gosh, I have no other way of describing what we experienced this week. We didn't have a thunderstorm and we didn't have heavy rains. We had a loud, flash flood, take cover, trees blowing over, monsoon. Although it rained every day this week, Monday and Thursday were the two big ones. August was unusually dry so now I'm beginning to understand what they mean when they say we're in the rainy season.

Monday evening began with a long, heavy rain storm that lasted for hours. We discovered three leaks in our house we didn't know existed! Our bathroom window gushed water like it was open. I think the water was pouring off the roof so fast that it was collecting at the windowsill and just forcing its way in. I called Ms. Moore (the landlord/mom of the family that lives above us) just to let her know what was going on and she came down to see it for herself. She gave me extra sheets and towels to soak up the water from the window and I asked her if she thought it would go on like that through the night. Her eyes got big and she said to me in complete seriousness, "This is a depression from the hurricane north of here; this could go steady for days!" My horrified response was to laugh. Luckily, it didn't go on for days. This time.























The window leak makes sense, but the wall that runs water baffles me a little. Our place is concrete. There is no gap between the wall and ceiling; water just flows in through that seam! But no worries. We've had no major damage- just a lot of wet towels and some bubbled paint that has already returned to normal.

One funny story is that a friend of mine, another SO, was out with her husband when they got caught in the storm. They were running for cover through the flooding street and she couldn't tell where the sidewalk was. She ran right into a very deep ditch beside the road and literally went under water (and she's a tall girl)! She wasn't hurt, but they were mad they lost their takeout. She said they laughed and so did a couple onlookers.

Thursday evening was a little different, however. It didn't look terribly stormy until all the sudden I turned to Jade and said, "Is that RAIN outside?!" We both quickly moved to different windows to discover that it was full blown monsooning outside! I'll let the video speak for itself. It appears the video quality gets worse when you make it full screen so you may want to just watch it in its small size.

I maintain that it was raining even harder than the video made it seem. Water pooled so quickly! The storm was short lived, but very, very strong. So strong in fact that it brought down three trees in our backyard and part of the fence! I'm bummed to have lost our free supply of bananas, but thankful we didn't have bananas come through our bedroom window that night.

Luckily it didn't fall on the dog house; she was in there!

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Welcome Week at SGU

Friends and family, I know you have been dying for more stories and photos.  I apologize for not blogging nearly as much as I said I would.  Despite not having a job, I’ve managed to stay relatively busy.  First, doing anything here takes longer than it would at home because I have to either walk or catch public transportation.  Second, I didn’t realize how much goes into running a household!  I plan the dinner menu for a week at a time and do the grocery shopping.  But I can’t go grocery shopping just once a week.  Without a car I can only purchase as much as I can carry so I walk to the grocery store at least a couple times a week.  We also live up a BIG hill from either grocery store I choose to go to, so it takes extra effort for me (and time) to walk back from the store.  Only one of the grocery stores has good produce so I have to plan a special trip for fresh fruits and veggies.  Cooking dinner every night also takes a while.  I’ve made some really good, quality meals though!  I’m rather proud of the dormant cooking skills I didn’t know I had.  I also clean the house and do laundry, which now includes hanging it out on a line to dry.  This takes careful planning as the frequent and sudden rain showers can really put a damper on the laundry process.  That was funny, right?  I’m going to the campus gym twice a week and volunteering at an orphanage and after school program twice a week.  I also try to go to the pool once or twice a week.  Throw in those extras like baking for a bake sale last week, going to the crab races and catching a movie on the 2 for 1 movie night and I keep busy enough.  The ongoing joke here among the SOs is that you can really only do one, maybe two, things a day because everything runs on Grenada time.  Now that you know what a typical week looks like for me, let me go back to tell you some more about our past experiences.

As Jade and I were getting acquainted with our new home in that first week we were also going to campus every day for Welcome Week events and activities.  Unfortunately Welcome Week here is not like Welcome Week at UCA, or wherever else you might be familiar with that first week of college.  It could have used some more organization and structure.  Part of getting acquainted with Grenada was adjusting to the heat and part of Welcome Week was doing a lot of waiting around in long lines, usually outside.  Most of the get to know you conversations with the strangers in line revolved around the excruciating heat and how no one was sure they’d live to see the next week.  I’m happy to report that both Jade and I have finally adjusted to the warmth.  It took about a month, but being outside isn’t instantly miserable anymore. 

We took a campus tour in the heat of the day with two orientation leaders who spoke too quietly.  We didn’t learn much about the campus or its buildings, but we did learn our way around and realized how lucky we were to now call this place home, if only for two years.  Campus is beautiful.  Grenada is beautiful.

The Student Center has the gym, a bank and food

In front of the Student Center looking toward the bus stop

Campus has a lot of hills, but with the hills come great ocean views!

The memorial to the US for helping keep the students safe during the invasion

Campus is literally on the cliff side overlooking the sea- it's beautiful!

The library



My favorite spot on campus!

















We sat through a couple orientation sessions in one of the large lecture halls where, coincidentally, the air conditioning had gone out.  It was difficult to concentrate on the information being given when we were all melting in our seats.  We got a locker and mailbox assignment and picked up Jade’s term one textbooks.  We noticed students taking rolling suitcases with them to get their books and now we understand why.  We took a bus tour to show us where the grocery stores and the other campus were.  We registered for Jade’s classes and got photo IDs.  Even I get one!  There was also an SO meet and greet where I got a ‘welcome to the island’ type packet from the SO group.  It was my first opportunity to meet some of the other wives, fiancés and girlfriends.  Everyone introduced themselves to the group, introduced their student, told what program s/he was in, said where they were from, told how long they had been married (if they were married), how many children they had (if they had children), when they arrived to the island, and what they were most excited about.  At the time I was able to say Jade and I had been married for two weeks.  We were definitely the newest and the room gave us a little cheer.

One day there was an optional hike that we signed up for.  One of the ways in which the university was lacking organization is that it required students to sign up for a day and time to take the hike, but didn’t use that number to plan it seemed.  There were not enough busses to fit all the students who showed up for the hike and they didn’t use the list of those who had signed up.  It was a bit crazy.  After waiting around in the heat, we finally got onto a bus and began the journey to St. George’s (often referred to as just ‘the city’).  I believe there were six busses total.  We did not truly know where we were going, what to expect, or what to bring because that information wasn’t provided, but I had heard that there would be waterfalls and monkeys, so I of course packed a banana.  We drove along the beautiful Carenage and up winding roads where you could literally feel the temperature change as you climb in elevation.  We had a little rain shower on the way, which also made the air feel great.  We drove into this lush, green forest and pulled over to begin the hike.  We mysteriously lost some of the busses however.  Without instruction (or none that I heard) we began playing follow the leader as we passed exotic plants and flowers heading to some unknown destination.  Minutes later we arrived at Grand Etang Lake, an extinct submarine volcano near the center of Grenada.  It was very serene and still.  We took advantage of the photo op before an orientation leader started gathering the group.  He indicated the direction of the hike and warned that it would be muddy because of the rain we experienced on our way up.  Some people were in flip flops and I was just glad not to be one of them.  The large group began to slowly make their way and we thought at the rate we were going it would take forever.  Shouldn’t be much of a hike if we’re barely walking along.  Well, it eventually did thin out- just in time to discover that the trail, only wide enough for one person at a time, was one large mud slick and was only getting worse with each set of feet that passed over it.  Jade decided the school did it as a team building activity to make the students grow closer because everyone had to grab onto everyone else and support one another to prevent a chain reaction group slide down the mountain.  It was downright treacherous!  Because of where we were in the group people in the front had already been to the top and had begun coming back down.  They said the waterfalls weren’t up there at all and that it was a rather anticlimactic view of the same lake we’d just been to.  With bug bites, scrapes from unknown plants and mud-caked shoes Jade and I got almost to the top, got a great picture and headed back down.  We were told that the top was relatively small so they weren’t allowing you much time before they asked you to head back down and make room for others.  The trip down was even more difficult as gravity desperately wanted you to slide down in the mud.  I made it without falling, but Jade and some others were not so lucky.  My shoes and socks are permanently stained and I still can’t get the mud stains out from Jade’s shorts.

The Carenage in the distance, a natural bay in St. George's

A typical house

Driving up into the middle of the island

The big group headed to the lake and hike

Grand Etang Lake

Grand Etang Lake

Grand Etang Lake

The view from near the top of the hike


MUD





































We made it back to the busses (which have a no food and no wet clothing policy, but evidently mud is okay) where I learned we were now heading to the waterfalls.  It turns out half the busses went there first and half went to the hike.  With the shape the trail was in for us I felt really bad for the second group.  We arrived to another section of forest further down the mountain where it was just a short walk to a beautiful waterfall.  People were already jumping into the pool by the time we got to it.  There was a local man putting on a show for us by jumping from the rocks high above.  Jade and I attempted washing off our shoes just as the orientation leaders were asking us to return to the busses.  The hike had taken too much time and all the students were supposed to be back to campus for something.  I’d realized I never saw any monkeys and Jade said they were back at the lake.  Later someone said that they don’t often come out when there are THAT many people around.  I’ll just have to go back with a few friends!

Driving from the hike to the waterfall

The plant life here reminds me a lot of Maui; I've seen a lot of the same flowers.

The waterfall through the trees- I wish I knew which waterfall we went to!


This local man was jumping for cheers

Students jumped from this lower spot

National Cricket Stadium





































































Also that week was a bazaar hosted by the Student Government Association of SGU.  Each student was given tickets for coming to an SGA presentation that were good for food at the bazaar.  There were restaurants from around the area and various food vendors.  There were also booths for the grocery stores (to get frequent shopper cards), beverage distributers, apartment complexes, etc.  The live music was a steel drum group, which was really cool.  Jade and I shared his tickets and got steak on a stick, Indian food, Thai food, a slice of pizza and two smoothies.  It was pretty cool!  In a different area all the student organizations had booths set up for students to learn more about them and find out how to get involved.  Jade joined the surgery club and I paid my dues for the SO group.  It was a really fun evening!

And while this technically didn’t occur during Welcome Week, it was pretty close.  The White Coat Ceremony was really neat for Jade and I.  We dressed up and went to campus extra early so that I could get a seat.  The ceremony took place in the campus’ largest lecture hall.  It could accommodate all the students and some guests.  Additional guests could sit in another auditorium and view the ceremony from a screen.  I did not want to be one of those people, so we made sure to arrive extra early- or so we thought.  We went to the building where the ceremony was and there was already a large group of people waiting outside the doors.  The group rushed the doors when they opened and I had to squeeze in with Jade’s humongous backpack that he left me with.  You know the one.  His turtle shell I call it.  I just barely made it in before they started turning people away.  Whoever organized the ceremony should have marked off the rows for students and instructed guests to sit behind those rows.  Guests had already claimed seats when someone announced that rows A through P were for students only, as there were over 600 medical students.  The unlucky guests that had already sat before row P had to move to the other auditorium and I felt so bad for them.  I can’t believe how many guests there were!  I know there are over 100 significant others (I don’t know if that includes children), but I think a lot of parents moved their kids down here to medical school.  Anyway, the ceremony ran about two hours and had several speakers.  It was neat to learn the history of the school and hear a pep talk for the students.  In groups of 10 to 15 the students walked on stage after their name and home state or country was announced, gave their white coat to the person behind them and had their coat put on for them.  Each student only got a moment of glory, but it was so neat to see their faces in the process.  Jade was all smiles, and I’m sure I was, too.  The school hosted a hors d’oeuvres reception after the ceremony where we got to munch on some great treats.  

Jade making his way to a seat with his white coat

Chancellor Modica giving the history of SGU


Look how proud =)


The future Dr. and Mrs. King