John Roberts Foundation

Skipping ahead to something a bit more recent!  Last week some friends and I volunteered with the John Roberts Foundation which was founded to provide youth in England and the Caribbean with sports programs.  Last week the foundation focused on youth in Grenada with special needs.  My friends had so much fun with one of the schools during the week so I decided to tag along on Friday for the big event where all three special needs schools would come together for a sports day in Grenville.  A group of people from England had flown in to oversee all of the week's events.  Hearing that accent gives me some bittersweet feelings!  I really miss England sometimes!

We made a few stops before heading north including a beverage distribution center and the Carib Brewery.  Between these stops we obtained bottles of soda for the kids (tons of glass bottles), a crate of Carib, and free Carib plastic cups...SCORE!

On the drive to Grenville.  This is the Atlantic side of the island.

After about an hour drive we made it to Grenville.  Our bus driver somehow knew everyone on the roads and stopped every few minutes to have short conversations.  It was exciting for me to see another city on the island.  We then pulled into a parking lot alongside a huge field.  As we got off the bus we saw the kids who were already there.  Talk about feeling welcome.  We got so many hugs just when we walked up!  I instantly knew these kids were wonderful.

Slowly more and more kids unloaded from buses and gathered under the Digicel tent.  The main guy from England running the show divided everyone up to play Football (the soccer kind), Cricket, and "other".  I was in the "other" area which turned out to be a blast.  In our section of the field we did all sorts of exercises to get the kids involved who were not playing in the games.  It was so much fun!! After several games we made our way back to the tent for a break and drinks.  The kids who played football LOVED it.  They were so good!

The highlight of the day was the track and field races.  Different age groups from each of the schools were called out to run in races.  We cheered everyone on and they all did so awesome!  A boy I had been passing the soccer ball around with earlier (I paled in comparison to him) dominated his race and I think he looked so much like Kirani James!!  This is him running his race.

Something amazing I noticed was how nice all of the kids were to each other.  They all wanted to help each other out and cared for one another.  So incredibly inspiring.

This group is patiently waiting for their turn to run.


One (of many) of the most touching parts of the day was when a little boy (on the left) was running in a race and another little boy ran in and took his hand from the teacher and encouraged him to keep running and they finished the race together. 

And then we had the wheelchair and volunteer races!  (notice the little girl helping to push one of the wheelchairs)

Then we said goodbye to everyone and received many more hugs.  It was such an incredible experience with wonderful kids and volunteers!  I wish we could do this every week!!

The Infamous Crate Day

 Just to give a little background to this whole ordeal...

When we went back to the states for the holidays, I tried to do the right thing and applied for a visa to go back to the UK to live there the rest of the year.  Sadly I was denied so Phil was on his own for Term 2 in our large freezing apartment.  He was also on his own to send me back many of my belongings including an iMac and to pack up the entire apartment.  Yes, I felt terrible!  But he did an amazing job considering he was studying what seemed like 24/7.  At the end of Term 2, the students in the Newcastle program load all of their stuff in a "crate" that will be shipped to Grenada over the summer.

When we got to Grenada, all of the students from England were very anxious to get their things from the crate.  Finally, after much debate with customs regarding taxes, we had a day that the crate would be arriving on campus.  I had heard horror stories about boxes being everywhere such as here so we made sure to be there right when it arrived! 

This was the truck carrying the crate.  It was huge!  We couldn't believe it maneuvered it's way to the very back of the campus. 

Everyone was so ready to get their stuff and get out of there!  It was so hot and humid.

Unloading the crate.  Great teamwork so it went fast!

And then a random plane went by that was taking off.  I didn't realize the campus was so close to the runway!!  We also had a random cow behind that fence mooing at us the whole time.  TIG (this is Grenada - I will be using this term a lot probably).

We shared a taxi with the Daves and completely filled the van.

Yayyyy!  Unpacking the boxes!  It was like Christmas for me especially since I hadn't seen our things in over 6 months.   Phil was excited too but probably more excited to be done moving boxes.

"Before" pictures...

"After" pictures.  We did this all in one day because we were so excited.  It looks so much better!!

Back to school!

Hello again!  I am officially behind on the blog posting.  I have been so busy enjoying island life and working while Phil has been enjoying Term 4 (ok, he's not enjoying it at all). Since I last posted, Phil finished Term 3, my mom has come to visit, and lots of old and new friends have arrived on the island!  I will get to all of that in later posts. Right now I would like to give you a tour of the campus that brought us here.

So!  When we first got to the island we went and checked out the SGU campus and oh boy is it glorious!!

The view from the higher part of campus. So pretty!

First day of school for my Felipe (and Dave)!

 Studying here looks pretty rough, right?

Bus roundabout where we spend quite a bit of time waiting for buses...

Mont Tout School Bus.  Oh so many stories revolve around these crazy buses but at least they are big and air conditioned!

This is the cliff at the end of the campus peninsula...no cliff jumping for me, thanks!

Can you believe this water?? So beautiful!

The end.  Just kidding!  Next post to come soon.

Ridin' de Reggae Bus

We have been told quite a few times since we arrived how amazing the fresh fish is at the fish market in St. Georges.  So our first Saturday we decided to recruit the two Daves and head over there to check it out.  Let's just say the entire endeavor was...an experience.

Side note: I will be posting pictures from the next weekend as well when we went with a bigger group because the pictures are better!

It started out when we headed out of our little apartment complex walking towards the main Grand Anse road to catch the public bus.  A random guy gets out of a bus (buses here really are just colorful vans blasting Caribbean music) and starts yelling and walking towards us.  He met us half way down OUR road and asked if we were going to St. Georges.  Naturally we said "yes" so he walked us over to a very bright red bus and we piled in.  Talk about service!  Upon some investigation, I learned that each reggae bus is a two man operation.  This man who came over to get us (or who yells at you out the window as the bus drives by) is the "fare finder".  I more think of him as a recruiter and the students here joke that they must be great at Tetris because of how many people they can pack in their bus.

Notice the tv's in the seats and red/black leather interior...amazing.

As soon as the bus started moving we knew why it is called a "Reggae Bus".  We were jammin'!  I had the pleasure of sitting on the subwoofer but I didn't mind because I loved the music.  It makes you feel like you really are on an island in the Caribbean!  None of us (ok at least me...) were even bothered by the fact that at every stop on the way to St. Georges more people piled in like sardines.  In a very humid country with that many people in a little bus...it can get sticky.  But I didn't care because the music was great and the views of the ocean, the harbor, and St. Georges were beautiful so it was a great ride.

When we got to the city, we meandered the streets finding the fish market (a big room with tons of people selling fish), the meat market (a big room with stalls of...interesting meat), and the spice market.  We saw so many amazing spices, syrups, sauces, fruits, and veggies.  There are some incredible fruits here that I have never seen in my life.

We bought some goodies at the spice market and then headed back to the fish market so we could buy fish right before heading back.  We basically chose our fish and then had it cut/cleaned however we wanted.  Phil and I got half a Yellowfin Tuna for about eight dollars! What a deal!  Then we got to see how they cut up the fish.  Let's just say I'm not ready to try that myself yet.

How awesome is this guy?  Represent!

The bus ride back was not nearly as fun.  There were even more people packed in and the music was less audible (therefore less distracting from the body heat).  We have been told that personal space on buses here is a rarity and it couldn't be more true!

We spent the rest of our first Saturday on the island lounging by the beach drinking Carib beers (brewed locally) from the nearby bar.  The bars are very competitive for beach patrons.  We met a kid who calls himself "Creative Design" the other day who desperately wanted us as customers so we had to oblige.  The bar gave us buckets of beer with ice for a great price!  It was a very hot day but the ocean felt amazing and it was so relaxing.

That night we cooked our tuna and it was AMAAAAZING!! The next week we got Kingfish (more commonly known as King Mackerel) which is a delicious white fish that puffs up when you cook it.  We can't wait to try other kinds of fish here!

Welcome to Grenada!

On June 24th after an overnight layover in Miami, we arrived late in the evening on the island of Grenada...our new home!  Here is a photo tour of our first few weeks here.

Our new apartment building.

On our balcony at sunset

Le Chateau - A restaurant very close to where we live.  we ate there twice the second day we were here because we had no food and didn't know where else to eat.  It's alright but there are other places we would rather go!

This is the little mall right by where we live.  There is a supermarket, hardware store, yummy cafe, and a few other random stores.  Keep walking straight and you run into the Grenada Grand Beach Resort.

This is the resort we can cut through to get to the beach.  It's beautiful and there are Plumeria trees everywhere so of course I love it.

And straight ahead you will see the amazing Grand Anse Beach...we were stunned!!

So we spent some time walking down the beach, playing in the crystal clear water which I would say is probably between 70 and 80 degrees...perfect!

We discovered a great little spot with huge trees which we later learned is right in front of the SGU Grand Anse Campus.  A great place to nap really...

Then Phil ran into some fellow Newcastle students who are a term ahead of him.  Not a bad setting to chat about school.

They invited us to happy hour at Laluna Resort & Spa for "the best sunset on the island".  I was super excited because I had heard about Laluna and knew all about it.  It was spectacular!

Over the next few days we went to the beach, grocery shopped, hung out with Phil's two friends named Dave from Newcastle, discovered a restaurant/bar on the beach called Umbrellas and tried to adjust to island life.  I also met a wonderful gal named Laura whose husband is in Phil's term.  She has been showing me the ropes around here, which has been so helpful!

  Food fair - our new neighborhood supermarket!  It took four women to get us signed up for the rewards card haha.

Just had to share this.  Look at all of the amazing jam/jelly flavors!  Guava and Pineapple!

Here you can see one of the many random downpours.  They last about 5-10 minutes but it rains SO hard!  Kind of hard to tell from the picture.

The Daves enjoying the beach with us!

Phil doing some yoga...

We decided to walk down the beach to Umbrellas to enjoy the sunset.

Ahhhh so beautiful!!