Caribbean Union of Teacher's Conference and more of Barbados

This photo shows team Grenada on the left and team Dominica on the right at the Caribbean Union of Teacher’s Conference. Both are the Unions I worked with for Project Overseas.

It has been another great week in the islands. The weather is great, people fantastic and I have had lots of neat interactions and again opportunities. The Caribbean Union of Teacher’s Conference is on this week and I attended as an invited guest for the first couple of days. I was at the Caribbean Union of Teacher’s Women’s Conference as well. It was an honour to be included. I had made the connections with the Union in Grenada but once arriving there I also knew the Union members from Dominica as I had worked with their teachers in 2008 with Project Overseas. It really was an honour to be so warmly welcomed and there on behalf of the Canadian Teacher’s Federation. It was a historical year too as they welcomed with a unanimous vote the island of Guadeloupe into the Union.

My guest house is excellent and I think I could literally write a bestselling novel with the stories I have from its occupants. It has been great fun and most interesting learning about my houseguest’s comings and goings. It will have to be a story over a drink sometime that I share with you. Unfortunately I can’t write it publicly this way, but let’s just say it has been a memorable group of people and a great place to stay. One would think with the amount of action going on here it wouldn’t be quiet but it is when you need to sleep you can and when you want to join someone for a trip to the beach, restaurant or just chat all are available.

I was at Selvi and Eddie’s last night for dinner. It was an amazing Malaysian meal. Selvi is an incredible cook. She even lined the dishes with banana leaves from their backyard. It was delicious and we too had a great time chatting.

Off to Oistins Friday Fish Fry tonight. Always great fish, music, dancing, karaoke, you name it, lots of good people watching and then back to our lovely country.

You can check out the pictures at the following link;
Click on this link for photos from the Conference and more from the Barbados

Rihanna Concert in Barbados

Well it has been another world wind past few days. I thought I was just chilling on the beach for this part of the trip. Not always the case. On Friday four of us headed out to Crane Beach voted one of the top ten beaches in the world. We took the local bus for a dollar. The beach had lots of seaweed as it has been washed up with the storms. It was still good. We then took a visit to The Crane Hotel and used the facilities, swimming in their pool and washing the salt water off. I did smash into the rocks on a walking path there and my camera, knee and banana took the brunt of the fall. All are still in working order though. It was just a scratch this time on the outside of the camera Carol.

In the evening we headed down to the Oval for the Rihanna concert. Rihanna is from Barbados and this was her first concert at home after making it big. I had no intension of going to the concert and was just going to people watch and listen from outside the oval as it was an outdoor venue. But we were able to get $50 tickets, which was less than the original price so we went in. It was packed 30 000 people in there. The women were dressed to the nines in “prom” dresses and five inch stilettos. We were on the grounds in the standing area and as luck would have it I ended up right beside a fellow PVNC employee Donnalynn Paquette. Without the aid of technology guiding us to each other, i.e. no texting, I just looked over and was literally standing right beside her. The concert was good and I was surprised at how many songs I actually knew. It was mayhem trying to get a taxi after the show but again this time you just people watch and watch those women limping away carrying the shoes.

Today we headed out to Bathsheba which is on the East Coast of the island and about an hour bus ride away again for a dollar. It is a surfer’s paradise.

Tomorrow starts the Caribbean Union of Teacher’s Conference and I will attend tomorrow’s session which should also be interesting. It just happened that I am here while the conference is on so I have been invited to attend.

Click on this link for photos from the Rihanna Concert and Barbados

A wet Barbados Crop Over

All is well in the Barbados. It has been a nice time so far with relaxing on the beach, reading and liming (a Caribbean term which means chilling out). Sunday was an interesting day. I have a quote; “a good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.” That sums it up. I took the bus to church in the morning. The music down here is great. They always welcome the visitors and wish Happy Birthday and Anniversary to those celebrating during the week. I note this as it is a welcoming thing to do. On my way back “home” I saw that Selvi and Eddie’s vehicle was in the driveway so I got out at the next stop and walked back to their place. I surprised them they didn’t know I was on the island. So three bottles of wine later (and I don’t usually drink wine) and good conversation we were caught up. Five minutes later and I would have missed them as Eddie was going to pop into work. Needless to say he didn’t go in that day and limed with me. My other friends Helen and Carl just left the island after living here for six years, three weeks ago and small world, Helen is going to teach in Hong Kong at the school I have visited where Christine Bucholtz used to work. It is a crazy small world.

August 1 is the main day of Crop Over the biggest celebration of the year on the island. There was a parade through the town with people dressed scantily clad marching through the town drinking, dancing and having a real mash up (another Caribbean term that means a great time or blast). I love this parade can you imagine having a big transport truck at the front of each group blasting out the tunes, followed by the booze truck, followed by the coke, mix truck, two hundred people roped in in their costumes dancing and drinking through the streets and then the truck with the porta potties and then it repeats and repeats and repeats as there are 21 groups. It sure is a sight and today it rained on them but they didn’t let this bug them. It just kept them a little cooler I guess.

When I was here for Crop Over in 2008 it was one of the hottest days I have ever experienced with the sun beating down, it was all we could do to keep hydrated with water and this year we were saturated to the bone as it ended up pouring rain. We were soaked right through and stayed that way for hours.

You can check out photos from Crop Over at the following link;
Click on this link for photos of Barbados Crop Over 2011

As I post this I realize I have not taken any photos of the lovely white sand beaches here, I never take my camera to the beach as it is just one more thing to worry about. Over the remaining days I will have to take some for you.

It is a really long post but worth the read, with two links for photos at the end

The three legged race, sniffing cocoa beans, my participants all decked out in red and white for Canada Day and my smelly feet in the cocoa beans.

Well again it has been another amazing week. Our workshops came to a close on Friday with a morning full of incredible participation by the Grenada Teachers in our Canada Day festivities. You could feel the excitement in the air as everyone was decked out in red and white, dripping in sweat and participating in the three legged race, bowling with coconuts, curling with coconuts, a hockey shootout, the lima bean blow, limbo, floating islands, quiz, quiz, trade, duck, duck, goose, standing long jump, Frisbee throw, keep the beach ball up activity and a free Canada stuff table. We ran it like a good old fashion play day with five minute stations and the old school bell ringing to move you to the next group. It was an extremely hot day. I was covered in sweat, I felt as if I had taken a shower in sweat as I was dripping from head to toe. It didn’t matter though these people were troopers and it was awesome.

Our closing ceremonies were lovely too. With each group presenting a cultural song or a song about what they had learned or something related to their subject. The math group sang their Math Olympics theme song. It is to the tune of “We will rock you” but has lines like we will add you, we will multiply you etc. I cannot say enough about the incredible participation. Certificates were awarded, emails exchanged and goodbyes said. Another amazing opportunity to meet and work with great people. Thanks CTF (Canadian Teacher’s Federation) and GUT (Grenada Teacher’s Union) for the opportunity. We were also presented with GUT union teachers shirts and made honourary members.

I should also tell you about Kanisha (one of my participants) trying to teach me to whine. Not that kind of whining the kind of whining that is part of the Caribbean dance moves where you have to move your hips in a circular fashion to the beat. It sure was a lesson. I didn’t know it but Roxann was filming it, so you can have a laugh at my expense when you see me try to do this.

The team finished the day with another special occasion at The Special Education School in St George’s Grenada. We planted an avocado tree to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Project Overseas, teachers teaching teachers. A tree was planted in Ottawa at our orientation and around the world trees will be planted to commemorate the 50th anniversary. A poster was created with the names of all of the last 50 years participants on it. It is pretty neat. The font is small but if you look closely the blue background is actually names and the tree is made up of pictures from over the years. We brought a copy with us and were able to have it with us at the tree planting.

We had a great night out with our co tutors at a place right on the water as the sunset. It was an enjoyable night of fellowship and who knew that you hunt a tattoo (armadillo) by chasing it into a hole in the ground and catch it my putting your finger up its anus to make it not be so aggressive so you are able to pull it out of its den. There were many stories shared as we played games like two truths and a lie to get to know each other. As it turns out the Union President Mr. Kenny James is a hunter of tattoo (armadillos) and this is how you hunt them. You chase them with dogs into the hole and then pull them out my placing your finger up their anus.

We also visited the University of St Georges. It is an American University right on the south coast of the island known for its medical school and veterinarian school. It just makes me think again of the incredible opportunities that exist, who said you have to go to school in Ontario? Imagine University in the Caribbean, or what about those countries like Finland where you don’t even have to be a citizen to go for free. It is worth investigating.

Now we are on holidays. Betty, Kathrin and I are in Petite Martinique. It is a beautiful island. I have been fortunate to have travelled to the Caribbean a lot but I had no idea there was as many islands as there are. A great future trip would be to just island hop. We took a two hour ferry ride from Grenada to Petite Martinique. Grenada is made up of three islands, Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique. So let me now tell you about this little piece of heaven. The island is less than 600 acres and for the next few days the population has increased to 703 while we are here. Can you imagine a Caribbean island with a population of 700? Oh it is awesome. We are in one of the two guest houses and right on the water. There is one road with three stores on it in people’s homes for your shopping. Nothing is open on Sunday, but we knew this and brought food provisions for the day and cooked them in the communal kitchen. We are the only guests in the building that has about 15 rooms. The beach is rustic with boats pulled up on shore and fishing nets at the edge. It is a fishing community and an authentic experience. I recommend it for those that like the islands but want seclusion and away from that all inclusive resort experience. Our room is about $50 a night. The principal of the schools family owns it and that is how we found out about it. There is one primary school on the island. The high school students have to take a boat each day to Carriacou for high school, about a 20 minute ride.

A half a mile away in plain view is another island called Petite St Vincent as I type this in our room and I look out the open door I can see it. It is a private island owned by two people that’s rooms are $1000 a night or you can rent the whole island for $35 000 a night. I am just as happy with ours thank you very much.

Well now it is Tuesday evening and today was another incredible day, but the evening has been action packed, stay tuned. This morning we took the ferry at 5:30am from Petite Martinique to Grenada. Once arriving back around 8:30am Betty and I set out on our adventure travelling up the island by local bus, our destination, the chocolate factory. Well what a day it was. I was walking on chocolate beans in my bare feet. The bus driver (van driver) was kind enough to take us off the main road and drop us off at the chocolate factory. Once there I walked into an empty room and yell hello, upstairs there were three women. Two were sorting cocoa beans while another was packing cocoa powder. They are working in a two story building that is maybe 10 feet by 10 feet. They say that they don’t do tours anymore and I could see why, no more than the two of us would fit in there. They said they could get fired but still continued to let us have a look and then she said come quick and we got to check out the machines and the process downstairs. Then she hands us a fresh chocolate bar that goes for $10 here to try. It was awesome, both the chocolate and their hospitality. They told us to go a mile down the road and check out the plantation and the estate. So we did, we hemming and hawed but ended up going and it was the highlight of my day. At the cocoa plantation they have huge trays of beans drying and the women walk in the beans every 30 minutes to turn them over. So they let me do it. I said my feet are dirty and they stink but he said don’t worry Sarah it will be all right. Each bean is encased in a shell that comes off later in the process. So I got in there and had to dig my feet down under the beans and kept walking around the tray. It was so cool oh yes and the aroma in this area was amazing, not my feet the chocolate in the air, ahhh.

The plantation was really cool. It is owned by a Grenadian family. It was one of 81 plantations that use to be on the island. The family that now owns it acquired it in 1944. The man made his fortune in nutmeg. During the war no one was exporting nutmeg but this man still bought it from the farmers and stored it. Once the market was reopened he sold it and made millions. He bought the plantation for 35 000 pounds in 1944. In 1778 the property was valued at 30 000 pounds, yes that is the right century, 1778.

So this evening we are coming back on the bus and hear the news on the radio start up. I note to Betty hey this is the first time I have heard any news. So what is on the news? Liat airlines cancelled flights today do to employees not receiving their pay. So the first news I hear and that is it. We are to fly with them tomorrow at 6am. So we get back to our house and call to confirm our flight and they say no it is cancelled. It is 6:40pm the night before our flight but they say can you get here for 8:30pm? We have a flight then and don’t know about any for tomorrow. So we throw our stuff in our suitcases call Glen our ride to the airport to see if he can come now and take us and he can so now we are in the airport waiting for the now delayed flight to head to the Barbados.

What a day it has been and it is not over yet.

We have arrived in the Barbados and made out fine. Within four hours of finding out the flight was cancelled to getting to the airport and then onto the flight we arrived in the Barbados. Wow what a world wind day.

We stayed at a nice hotel for the night where two other Project Overseas leaders were staying for a five day holiday. So we had a great visit and now Kathrin and Betty are in the air home.

There are tons of photos here, two separate links as they all wouldn’t fit on the same account.

Click on this link for lots more photos from Petite Martinique, Grenada and Project Overseas

Click on this link for many MORE photos from Petite Martinique, Grenada Chocolate Factory and Project Overseas

I am having an absolutely fabulous time. My team mates are great, my participants are excellent and we are on the beautiful island of Grenada. We had a little bit of a change to the team this week. Poor Owen had to fly home as his father in-law was hospitalized and Dave left Team Grenada to take Owen’s place on team Carriacou. Grenada consists of three islands, one being Carriacou where Owen and Melissa were conducting leadership and management workshops. So now team Grenada consists of the three ladies. It was a bit of a world wind day as we found out about the changes at lunch and at 6pm we met Owen getting off the ferry and sent Dave away on the ferry back. We wish Owen’s father in-law a speedy recovery.

My math workshop is going really well. I have an amazing group of enthusiastic teachers to work with. You should have seen their participation the other day in the math Olympics. The other sessions were envious of our events. We paraded the “athletes” through the courtyard singing a Math Olympic song about hoping you brought your meter stick and get ready for the cotton ball put and the paper plate discuss throw or the lima bean blow all to the tune of “we will rock you” and then they did a Calypso version. It was evident that the math participants were having fun while learning.

It’s been straws made out of fractions, fractions using paper folding, MATHO, sandpaper numbers and much more. My group consists of teachers from kindergarten to grade 12 so that makes things interesting when it comes to planning.

We were fortunate to visit the fish fry Friday night and witness the local calypso competition. Saturday we had an island tour and we were able to swim at a waterfall.

There are tons of photos to check out and there are a variety of themes within hit the slideshow option and sit back and enjoy. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Click on this link for lots more photos from Grenada and Project Overseas

Project Overseas Team Grenada

This is a photo of our team chatting with the Prime Minister of Grenada as we wait for the ferry.

I am currently in Grenada having a wonderful time doing Project Overseas. Project Overseas is in its 50th year of offering aid to teachers around the world. I am one of 52 teachers who have been sent to one of 13 countries this summer to teach teachers. I am on a team with three other members. One is from Whitehorse while the others are from Calgary and the Ottawa Valley. We met on July 2 in Ottawa for an orientation session and flew to Grenada on July 6.

We are offering workshops on mathematics, special education, visual arts, reading, leadership and management, HIV and Aids, workshop facilitation and gender equity. It is an honour to be working with such amazing people.

The people of Grenada are wonderful and we have had a warm welcoming and our sessions are going extremely well. There are about 20 teachers in my mathematics workshop. We are having a lot of fun.

Our team met with the Deputy Minister of Education the other day for an informal meeting, we have been interviewed by the local news and had the privilege of meeting the Prime Minister as we shared the same ferry back from Carriacou. He was a nice man and did not have an army of security officers with him. He warmly greeted us, thanked us for our work and wished us well. Grenada consists of three islands, Grenada, Petite Martinique and Carriacou. We took the ferry to Carriacou to drop off Owen and Melissa as they are running workshops there, a satellite campus if you will. Gorgeous little island (13 square kilometers) with maybe one guest house and very few tourists. A really neat spot. I will have to return. It was an hour and a half ferry ride that was quite rough but all of my cookies stayed down. We had to pass over an underwater volcano and that area is always very rough. It is an inactive volcano but it is where the two oceans meet therefore causing rough seas.

We are very lucky our apt is 500m from the beautiful Grand Anse Beach. I think I have hit the water everyday but one so far.

You can check out the photos from our training in Ottawa and our first few days in Grenada at the following two links.

Click on this link for photos from our orientation in Ottawa

Click on this link for photos from Grenada and Carriacou

The Royals and Canada Day in Ottawa

Canada Day on Parliament Hill, wow, what another great experience to add to the many I have had, did I ever luck out. I arrived in Ottawa June 30th in the evening and went for a walk of the town. I ended up on Parliament Hill to watch the rehearsal for the Canada Day festivities. I was able to sit (key word here, sit) right up front in the VIP section. A woman sitting beside me said, oh this is the only way to see the show, or the best way. There were maybe a couple of hundred people there opposed to the five hundred thousand the next day. There were two shows on Canada Day that were great. I was literally in the front row for the evening show and in the afternoon 100 – 150 meters back from the Royals. You will have to check out the photos. The entertainment was awesome, Great Big Sea, Sam Roberts Band, Dan Mangan, Jenn Grant and really cool acrobatics. Did you see me on TV? The camera guy came right up to me and had the camera on me for awhile. Dan Mangan came right out to the barricade and sang for us there.

The Royals did a surprise visit in the evening and because I was in the front row you should have seen the RCMP everywhere. There were the ones in plane cloths, the ones in all black uniforms and the ones in their regular uniform. Just before Will and Kate arrived the number of RCMPs quadrupled in the area and they brought in a bomb sniffing dog that went around the perimeter followed by two officers scanning the perimeter with two different bomb scanners. In the evening they Royals were maybe 25 meters from me.

It was something to see the sea of red and white and be part of our Nations Birthday. I was so excited to actually be in Ottawa for Canada Day. What a great experience.

Check out the photos at the following link;

Click on this link for photos from the Royal's visit in Ottawa and the Canada Day festivities on Parliament Hill