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.

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!

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

My Near Death Experience

Last week I had my first “near death” experience in Grenada.  That’s actually an exaggeration, but I still kind of feel that way!  So here it is from the beginning: 

I had the week’s menu planned out as I usually do and Saturday was to be beef soft tacos.  I went to IGA grocery store bright and early Thursday morning for meat and produce, as IGA has the freshest selection of these items around Thursday and Friday of each week.  Last week the boat didn’t make it in on time so their shipment was late.  The selection of produce was pretty terrible and I needed lettuce, avocado and tomato for tacos.  I found some tomatoes, but had no luck with the lettuce and avocado.  They did have, however, callaloo, which is a green leafy vegetable that I’d heard was similar to spinach.  It was extraordinarily cheap and readily available so I purchased a bag of it.  Problem solved, right?  Not quite. 

Thursday night I made chicken and vegetable couscous for dinner.  I had the bright idea to try out some of our spinach wilted into the dish.  I merrily go ripping off some leaves, wash them in water and marvel at how the leaves seem to repel water.  I throw them in a skillet and cook them down, mix them into the couscous and serve it to my husband and I.  It was great!  A pretty good meal.  There was a good portion leftover so I boxed it up in some Gladware and planned to take it for lunch the next day.  Fast forward to Friday… I’m sitting on the beach with a bunch of SOs.  [Also saw the deadly manchineel tree while on the beach, but that's another story.  And reason number two Grenada is trying to kill me.]  We’re all just chatting away when the topic of conversation turns to food, as it often does when there are food items you miss from home or food you’re trying to cook here.  We often try to swap recipes and meal ideas.  One girl asks what I’m eating and I give her a rundown of what’s in the couscous.  She and her friend are curious about the faux-spinach so I pull out a piece and give it to them to try.  I rave about how it’s just like spinach, but cheaper and more abundant.  Score!

Now fast forward to soft taco day.  I’m sitting at my computer Saturday afternoon not doing anything related to food whatsoever- probably facebooking or something.  Suddenly I remember a plant that I heard about in Hawaii that is toxic raw, but safe cooked.  I ask Jade if he knows what I’m talking about.  He says taro is that way.  I jump on Wikipedia to look it up and think to myself, “hmm, that looks sort of like what I have in my fridge.”  Then I Wikipedia callaloo.  In a nut shell, callaloo is both the name of a popular Caribbean dish as well as an actual green, leafy vegetable.  The dish can be made with callaloo the vegetable or any number of other leafy greens found in the Caribbean.  But here’s the kicker: they often call multiple types of leafy greens callaloo, including taro, and what is known by one name in Jamaica or Trinidad does not necessarily go by the same name in Grenada.  That’s something I’ve already learned in my time here.  Locals can call any plant, animal, produce, etc. anything they want to and the local name is not necessarily what I would know it by.

Suddenly I’ve got this ache in my stomach because I’m afraid I’ve given the two girls on the beach bad information.  I tell Jade I don’t think we should eat the callaloo in the fridge because I’m not 100% sure what the plant actually is.  He says he doesn’t think it is taro and shrugs it off like it’s no big deal.  I’m not settled by his response so I continue to research and find this-  “The plant is inedible when raw and considered toxic due to the presence of calcium oxalate.  Calcium oxalate is highly insoluble and contributes to kidney stones.  Taro leaves also must be handled with care due to the toxicity of the leaves, but are completely safe after cooking.”  Jade asks me if I would feel better if he went upstairs and asked the family if it was taro or not.  I said yes and he went upstairs.  Ten minutes or so later he comes down with that classic Jade grin and says, “well it’s a good thing we asked!”  Turns out it is taro that they sell here under the name of callaloo.  I rush to my computer to try to find the two girls on Facebook to tell them not to eat it like spinach.  I find one, but not the other and ask her to pass on the information to the one I could not find on Facebook.

My conclusions are this:

1. I don’t know what in the world made me even question what type of plant was in the fridge.  No clue where the thought even started!
2. I can’t believe nothing happened the night I made couscous.  I handled it barehanded and evidently cooked it enough to get rid of the toxins.
3. At this point I was sure I’d killed my two friends on the beach because I basically told them to buy callaloo and eat it like you would spinach, including raw in a salad.

I just so happened to see the girls Monday after not hearing back from the one on Facebook.  Turns out she did buy some callaloo at the store and took a nice bite of it to try it out!  She said her whole mouth and throat burned like crazy and she just assumed she had an allergic reaction to it because it eventually went away.  I felt so incredibly bad when she told me!  I realize it wasn’t truly my fault, but I still felt partially responsible.  So I didn’t kill anyone with my lack of cooking knowledge here, but I sure had some close calls last week!