Fish Bowls!

This is my 400th Post!! I have been away from Michigan for 760 days!




Anyways: My Grade K students bring so much joy in my life!



Here they are making some lovely fish bowls!

Video

My volleyball coach in Michigan celebrated her 40th Birthday a few weeks ago! Her husband wanted to do something very special for her so he decided to e-mail all his friends and family and have them put together a video about how Coach Beth has touched their lives. I had a blast putting the video together and looking back on all the memories. My was a little different than others because there was a lot more pictures of me than of myself with Coach. I wanted to demonstrate to her the support and guidance she has shown me in all my different adventures of life.

If you are interested in viewing the video than click HERE

National Youth Council Awards

- My Host Mom and Myself after she did the decorations -

This past Saturday my organization honored 20 youth throughout the island in different categories. It is an amazing way to celebrate the achievements of youth and to show Dominica that youth are truly doing something GREAT on the island.



The event was held at Fort Young Hotel located in the capital. It was also good for the guest of the hotel to see a little glimpse into what Dominican youth are doing.



-The Winner and I -

I was very proud of how well the event turned out and of the youth who respect Dominica.

Shapes, Colors, and Cutting!

Today with my Grade K students we learned about shapes, colors, and cutting!



Life is Simple!

Carnvial Mask!

Today is the FIRST day of Carnival! In proportion for this, I made Mask in the Grade K classroom! Pure joy as they got excited each time I brought out a new item from them to glue on and the final item which was GLITTER!

Requesting Pray!

Today I have a simple request! Please Pray for young Shanice! She is a fourteen year girl from Dominica who has been missing for 16 days now! On Thursday I attend a very moving candle light vigil as the individuals of her community came together to show their support for her, her family, and most importantly her safe return.

Please pray for her safety, strength for her family during this hard time, and a safe return to the ones who love and miss her.

Here is an article about her story

Canyoning!

About a month ago now a bunch of PCVs and Alicia's two friends went Canyoning! It was something that I had wanted to do for a while now and was able to cross it off my 'To Do Before I Leave' list! In a nut shell, you get all strapped in and climb yourself down these canyoning into water. If you check out this website you will understand!




It was such an amazing time! Extreme Dominica is extremly professional, friendly, and outgoing. Would go through them again! Reached out of my element during that adventure and checked something off my list! Marvelous!

Birthday Party!

One of the little ones in my village turned five last month and had a HUGE BEN10 themed party! She has a friend who lives in the States so he mailed a lot of stuff down for her! Everything and anything you could imagine was in BEN10. It was a lot of fun, there were plenty of activities for the children, loads of different types of food, and plenty of snacks! I had a lot of fun and brought some water balloons for a toss!

Thoughts!

As I am typing this, I should be sleeping! It is late and I have a long day ahead of me but instead I am blogging! I am attempting to use this space to sort out my thoughts at the moments. The emotions that are forever changing and seem to explode at all the wrong times! I joke with Alicia that I will be calling her once we reach home when I am having a break down in the middle of Target, but for now I am fighting back tears and trying to enjoy enough the slightest moment. It is this really messy joyous time for me. It saddens me to leave my second home, a place I seem to fit into like a glove not knowing when I will be returning. The comments are are no long “ you are leaving in a while or plenty time” but rather they have turned to 'Just now you leaving!” It is reality as I clean up my house, give stuff to other PCVs and organizations.

I have a box which I put my cards in that have falling off the wall, letters from my sister, and other little things which will help to trigger my memory of events I attended while in Dominica. Do not ask why but tonight I wanted to go through the box and clean it out a little if you will. In between the tears there was laughter, moments of aww, and huge smiles caused by the memories of the past 2 years. The box is truly LOVE. It is in the rawest and purest form. The notes of encouragement, the random notes from friends and family to say I love you, pictures colored by my Boo-Bear, and the cards. It is all love!

Now I must ask my self, how do I say Thank You! Those two words and eight letters do not seem to be enough for the amount of love, support, and encouragement I received during these two years (and my life). I say Thank You but also want to share all of my success stories with you because in one way or another YOU are part of those success stories! YOU have created JOY and Smiles for children who have never met you but know that they are loved by YOU! My life has been filled in a tremendous way because of my determination and YOU allowing me to spread my wings and fly!

Hike I Hiking (Part Three!)

The friend, Tiffany who was working in Dominica decided we should do one more hike before she goes back. We decided on Segment Four. We were doing GREAT! We were walking, chatting and enjoying the view. We got about half way there and were on a very well paved trail with no trail markers but still thought it was OK! Well it was not, we ended up getting lost and ending up in a village! Whoops! We still hiked for about four hours and had a marvelous time!