Roseau City Council Awards Ceremony!

On September 11th, the city of Roseau (the capital) had their fourth annual awards ceremony. These ceremonies are to recognize and celebrate the hard work and dedication of individuals, companies, volunteer clubs, and government ministries. The award ceremony were started four years with the assistance of a Peace Corps Volunteer.



Now, each year two to three PCVs will assist the Roseau City Council in putting on the awards. Let me tell you, it is a lot of hard work, many e-mails/phone calls later, to ensure this awards ceremony is a success. We order our trophies from Crown Trophy , a company in the States. That has a whole bunch of obstacles to over come. Crown Trophy is amazing, their trophies are gorgeous, the costumer service is excellent (even via e-mail) and they are very timely!



The Roseau City Council honored about 27 individuals and/or companies, had about four performances (singing by the young, singing by the old, steel pan, and a musical group). As well as different speeches by the headline sponsors and citations read by the awardees.



Compared to last year- it went AMAZING! Even though last year was GREAT as well! There were little to no problems in the programs, the decorations were great (Thanks to my Host Mom- Shirley), All of the Awardees showed up, the performances were out of this world. At the end of the Ceremony I asked one of the MCs how it went compared to last year, she looked at me with a sign of relief, and said, A lot better!



At the end of the day, I am happy with it! My production team did great! I have never answered so many questions in my life about where people should stand, where this should go, and who is performing when! I will miss it next year but I know it will be even more of a success next year as we continue to honor those who are doing great things for the city of Roseau!

Camp!

As you all know, I ran a 3 week long summer camp! After the summer camp, I had craft ideas, camp schedules, contacts, and EVERYTHING you need to run a summer camp even if you had never ran one! I had a Plan A, a Plan B, and half of a Plan C! Instead of just throwing the papers or keeping them to myself, I wanted to share them. With a lot of help from my Co-Director, Alex (PCV), we put together "How to Run a Camp for Dummies!" Alex designed the covered and help me put it all together!

After showing the island director, he is going to send it to the Eastern Caribbean main office to see if we can get some funds to print more them to pass out in Dominica or throughout the island!

I am leaving some tangible here on the lovely Nature Isle!

Happy Birthday Jennifer!!

I just wanted to say Happy Birthday to my Lovely sister, Jennifer! Her letters she sends me each week, brighten my day and week! She is a remarkably mother, wife, friend, and most importantly sister! Yes, we have had our problems and our fights but at the end of the day she is more then a sister but a best friend!

On your day, enjoy yourself! Take a minute to relax, have your favorite meal, watch your favorite show and enjoy the moments!

Love You!

Remember...

Remember September 11th! As years past we tend to forget and push events and memories further into the memory bank! The individuals who have lost friends, family, co-workers, etc are still mourning or celebrating the lost! Take a moment today to remember!

One Last Arts and Craft Camp!

One Last Arts and Craft Camp Because School is Starting Soon!



The PCV in my neighboring village! The one that is about a 10 minute walk down the mountain organized a month long Arts and Craft Camp! It was one day a week for about 2 hours! They would do about 2 Crafts and then a game or two outside. Because of my schedule I was only able to help one day but the kids seemed to enjoy every moment of it!

Hike Challenge Cont...

During the Hike we had to complete four challenges as a team:

1. We had to tag different trees through the first segment of the hike! Good thing we had Simon who knows his trees! After we tag the tree there was a clue to tell us the next tree we had to find!
2. Then after we climb up a VERY LONG and Muddy Steep Hill (Had to use ropes to get up)we met our next challenge! We had to put together a puzzle of the National Trail Logo! We finished that no problem then it was off to go back down that muddy steep hill! Basically I held onto the rope and slide down! It was a RIOT!
3. Spider web! This was a team building challenge that they do at Summer Camps a lot. What was in front of us was a wood frame with rope wrapped across it making it appear to be a spider web. One at a time we had to cross through the 'spider web' not touching any of the rope and not using the same 'hole' as another teammate. We had no problem and sent Lee (the 8 year old) right through the top hole to the arms of another teammate!
4. As we continued down the hike, we even ran a little, it was a race and all! Our last challenge was the stretcher race! These stretchers did not have wheels but more what they would use in a war setting. A heavy piece of fabric wrapped around two metal poles! We had Lee (who is about 50lbs soaking wet!) get on the stretcher and down the muddy hill we went! We were slipping and sliding and falling all the way down! My butt was a muddy mess by the end!

It was GREAT! We ended up finishing 3rd! Not too bad!!

Hike Challenge!

This past weekend myself, Alicia (A PCV), Alex (A PCV- from the new group) and her youth group all came down to the center of the island into the rain forest to do a hiking challenge!

Check out this article to read more about the Waitukubuli National Trail and event!

There was four different events going on
1. The Iron Man- It was a race that spread through the whole trail- Teams of two- One male and one female with one being over 30 years!
2. Fun Challenge- What I did! Teams of five with two individuals being over 40. We had the most diverse group! A 58 year old, an 8 year old, two Americans, two Dominicans from one village and one Dominican from other village!
3. A Photography Competition
4. A fun little thing for the children! (I cannot remember the name!)

I had such a great time and our team did well! We finished the challenge in about 1.5 hours and I was so proud of our 8 year old! He did AMAZING! Not once did he complain and he rocked it up the steep mountain better then I did!

Check back to hear more about the challenge and the place we got...

Birthday!

Nobody Panic... My birthday is not until April! But this week was Mary's Birthday! Mary is a volunteer who has been her for about 6 months. She is part of the newest group on the island! For her birthday we decided it would be fun to have a beach lyme (hang out) so that is what we did! We went towards the north of the island to a beach called Coconut Beach.



It was GREAT time! Almost all of the volunteers were there and we just hung out, worked on our tan, the boys throw around an American Football, and floated around in the water! There were these cute as a button cabins (very cheap) right on the beach so we decided it would be best to rent from for the night!



The sunset was BEAUTIFUL! I found myself on the deck, camera in hand, just taking in the moment! I am trying to do that more, taking in moments, seizing opportunities! Yes, I have 8 months left, but time goes quickly here and don't want to have any should of, could of, would of moments!



I told Mary I would like to recreate that day for my Birthday as well!

Where Was I Jumpin...

Last week, Zak (one of the guys who is writing the book) and I went on a Hike with Kelly our Guide! We started about three hours late but I met some very nice people while I was waiting for Zak!



Kelly was a great Guide! He made me laugh with his little remarks he made. Some of my favorites: 'You might get wet' (As we are crossing this waist deep river) or as I am trying to climb from the river onto the rock, he tells me to step to my left. As I step I fall into above waist deep water and his remark 'There is a very important rock missing there!'



The walk was across and a long the river. We were always climbing up and down rocks, through rivers, seeing and holding a crab a long the way. During the walk I was able to see 5 different waterfalls, one was 'named' after me when we finished! It was beautiful! I made many many awe moments and simply in amazement of the beauty, the natural untouched, God created beauty which was surrounded around me! Words cannot describe it one must feel it!



As we reached the last waterfall, Kelly tells us we can jump! So, I decide that I want to jump! I wish at this point I could say, "OoO Yea... I went right to the edge and jumped!" No, I would not be telling the truth! It took me about 5 minutes, numerous pep talks to myself, a few counting of one... two... three and Zak telling me I was not a Chicken Sh*t and could do this! After about five minutes I JUMPED off a rock ledge about 10 feet up into a waterfall! It was AMAZING!! How many people can say, I jumped off a rock into the waterfall, in the middle of the rain forest! Simply breathtaking! As I came up I just laid on my back as the waterfall was coming down on me! I felt a live! Gold Star for the Day! I jumped one more time so Zak could take my pictures of the jump! They turned out pretty cool! One day I hope to get them and show them to all of you!

That was my adventure for the day!