The road less travelled

Yesterday when we came home from school we changed into shorts and a T-shirt because we were heading off to a party. The party was going to be at a field in Gouave. But it has been raining so much that the field was flooded. So the party was moved to NEWLO (we knew beforehand) which is in Palmiste- the outskirts of Gouave.

St Patrick's (nice and low and wide!)

The road that our mom takes to NEWLO is very mountainous, with cliffs that drop off into the ocean. There are a few towns, of about 50 or 60 houses. My favourite one is Happy Hill which probably has 200 houses and a few schools. The drive is very beautiful with all the trees. There are quite a few hairpin turns (Monte Carlo has nothing on this) and the roads are narrow. We had to avoid about 3 baby chicks and their mom at one point! There are also lots of wild dogs on the road too. Sadly we will not be bringing any home.

People here have an interesting style of driving. There is really no your side and the other side. Which is especially scary on roads like this. To let people know you are coming around a blind corner (which they all are) you honk. So if they are taking the corner wide they don't hit you! (Now you are probably thinking if they are going wide they won't hit you. But no, here we drive on the left so wide puts directly in the middle of the road!)

We passed NEWLO and kept going and reached Gouave at about 4:00 p.m. It was a lot different than St. George. The main street was narrow and crowded and the buildings were partially destroyed by hurricanes. We were too early for Fish Friday so we passed right through and went Victoria and then went through St. Patricks. We kept going to find someplace to eat. We stopped in Sauteurs. (My French teacher should like this because it is French for jump. It is called Sautuers because that is where Caribs jumped to their death rather than be defeated by the French). We found a restaurant but we were too late they close early on Friday's- everywhere!



Apparently until is 5:00 p.m.!!

So we kept going to Grenville where we found a bakery where we got "salami buns" and cupcakes (thanks mom). From we adventured on taking an inner road across the country. On the way we saw a Peugeot RCZ R- people are crazy! The inner road took us on to a very narrow road "two lane" road. It was beautiful but crazy at the same time. At one point at the top of a mountain we stopped just at trees and the valley below. It was breath taking. Then we headed down. There were even more hairpins than the road to Palmiste! And they were tighter to. Our brakes were screeching their displeasure.

We went to the party at NEWLO and I played chess, but sadly I lost. I got to meet Sister Margaret and Sister MaryAnn and other people at mom's work. The school was very interesting, they do lots of different things. I enjoyed the trip home much more, because it was dark and you couldn't see the cliffs- and
you could see cars coming because to the headlights.

Hopefully I will be sending Mme O'Sullivan and Mme McFerson's class a post card. To send me one you just write. Aiden Rylott, Belmont St. George, Grenada West Indies and our post lady Vanessa
will get it to us! OR just write on the blog comments.

10 Things that are different at school in Grenada

1. I have to wear a uniform. It feels like 100 degrees and I have to wear navy blue pants. When I get home I change my clothes into shorts and a T-shirt.

2. There is no glass in many of the windows.

3. There are no desks, but there are tables.

4. I'm learning three languages, English, Spanish and French! Hello, !Hola!, Bon jour.

5. I'm in high school.

6. Math is better because it is challenging.

7. There are lots of stray dogs in the school yard. Chickens sometimes walk into our class.

8. The classroom is old, the tiles are broken, and the roof leaks- but I am still learning a lot.

9. I have multiple teachers, a teacher for every subject. My favourite teachers are Senior Rene, Ms. Ashton and the math teacher.

10. I have to bring all books, textbooks and workbooks to and from school.

11. All schools are religious, there is a lot of praying!

12. We have assemblies everyday. We have a preacher who talks to us, we watch a video on the smart board and we pray a lot.

13. The teachers dress differently here. They never wear jeans just because it is Friday. The dress is very professional all the men wear ties and women wear dresses.

14. The school has a shop that sells lunch and snacks and during gym class.

15. The school yard is on a 90 degree angle, yet people still play soccer. My friend Levi would appreciate that!

I am having one of the best years I have ever had.  Everyone is really nice here.

Fast Cars in Grenada

A few days ago, we went on a little drive to look around the island a bit. On the way back, we saw a red Ferrari 250 GTO.  An older white guy was driving it toward Woburn. I flabbergasted because anyone who brings a Ferrari to Grenada is crazy because of all the speed bumps and pot holes!

I have also seen a grey Mercedes Benz SLK350. My Aunt Ceilidh really likes this car. It is almost as crazy to own that car here. The Mercedes has a bit higher suspension.

There are a lot of different cars here that I have never seen before. There are a lot of Peugeots, some Renaults and Citron. There are also Daihatsu's which I had never heard of.

Rain Day

On Thursday morning it rained really hard. Most storms here last 5-10 minuets but this one lasted the whole day. it was so loud it woke me up a few times in the night. Then the rain stopped for about five minutes when we walked to school. after that it rand hard on and off but was always was raining. it rained so hard my classroom roof started to leak. Luckily the rain stopped long enough for me and Owen to get home. It continued to rain all day until about 20 minutes before we went to bed.

Grenada week 1

We left for our aunt ceilidh’s house at noon on August 31. We had lots of fun swimming in the pool and watching the Saskatchewan rough riders play Winnipeg blue bombers and it was a close game but the riders won!!!!!! During halftime we had a Chinese dinner (my favourite dinner it was yummy)! At 7:30 pm we left for Pearson airport in Toronto. When we got there we put our bags on the scale. The luggage guy noted a problem one of the bags. It was ripped well dad got it fixed we checked the big bag. mom Owen and I got through customs just fine but dad had to declare our money once that was sorted out we got to our terminal we all had Gravol to make us sleep but when Owen swallowed his I couldn’t so I ate it I got sleepy very quickly. Our flight departed at 11:30 pm. I only got about one and a half hours of sleep but normally I get ten hours of sleep it was an exhausting 5 and a half hour flight (granted I was up at 6:00 am on the 31^st) when we arrived in Trinidad and Tobago on September the 1^st we watched the sun rise over the hills in Trinidad and Tobago it was amazing. Soon after we got on the smaller plane to Granada. After a forty five minute flight we arrived in Granada when we got in the airport and got through customs we picked our bags up just when the power went out. We met Samuel my mom’s CUSO in country representative after we loaded our luggage he drove us to our new house somewhere up the hill across from the gas guy (none of the houses have an address).

When we went to get our uniforms from the school, we met our principal and my French & Spanish teacher Senior Rene. Sadly the school did not have the uniform my size, so we had to go and buy the uniforms elsewhere. We tried two stores before we found my uniform. Then we had to go upstairs to get it tailored because the pants were so baggy I could fit two people in them.  After that we finally went home, but sadly we did not make it to the beach.

On the first day of school I met my teacher and classmates and had Senior Rene come in for Spanish. I couldn’t believe it but they gave us all a test on the first day of school. The Ministry of Education required a test on English and Math. I think I did well.

Sfter school we went down to Grand Anse beach. We took a city bus, but not any ordinary bus. It was a crazy bus, it could fit four people wide and three or four rows deep. After a 25 minute swim we walked down to a restaurant called Umbrellas. I had a delicious catch of the day sandwich which was Mahi Mahi, bacon, lettuce and tomato. It was one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever had.

The we walked up toward the Spiceland Mall where we saw lots of crabs. The crabs were red and they were coming in and out of holes in the ground. After a short grocery shopping trip we caught a bus back home. To get home you have to walk up a big hill.

 

On the second day of school I got voted form president. I am in form one which is equivalent to grade seven, but here it is the first year of high school. There are nine kids in my class. I don’t mind wearing my uniform.

We have gone to the beach every day after school except for the first day. Yesterday Owen, mom and I went to a beach ten minutes walk from our house, where there was a reef. So we went snorkeling. It was a lot of fun but Owen had a lot of trouble getting over the reef, but I am pretty sure he had a good time.

ON Friday nights you will not fall asleep easily until after one in the morning, because that is when the party music starts winding down. Luckily I had practice because the bar across the street plays music every night, just not as loud as Friday night! I had to sleep in my mom and dad’s room because it is at the back of the house not the front of the house like my room. Then they kicked me out when they went to bed.

I woke up at 4:30 a.m. because it was raining so hard I thought there was a hurricane. So I woke my mom up to tell her, but she said it was just the rain. And I am sure she fell asleep eventually because I did!

Today I caught a ride with Derek, from across the street to the market. Dad I went to the everything market. It smelled really, really good. They had Grenada chocolate, but we didn’t buy any. On the way back we walked around the bay and saw lot of crabs and little fish. We also saw a puffer fish. I named him Steve. When we scared some crabs they shot water out of their eyes.

I am working on a Lego yacht. We got to bring some Lego with us. The reason I chose to do a yacht is outside in the marina, there is a huge yacht. 

                  

 

Grand Anse beach

School uniform

View from our house after a rain shower

Steep streets in St. George