Goodbye lunches and hot showers...

In honor of Laura's last day here, a couple of girls went out for her goodbye lunch yesterday. It was a lot of fun, well, aside from the fact that we arrived at the restaurant only to be harassed by a guy trying to ask for money and sitting down with us at our table (and not leaving), and once he finally left (after I gave him 10EC for whatever cause he was "allegedly" peddling) we were told that the kitchen was out of chicken...that's right, completely out of chicken. Now, I've heard of a restaurant not having a specific item on their menu for whatever reason it may be, out of season, etc., but to be out of an entire type of meat is just wrong. With there not being any chicken we were down to about four choices. And, again, in normal circumstances (aka, back in North America) we would have left the restaurant and found some other place. Now Grenada is no normal circumstance and there aren't a lot of choices here, so we just decided to stay. The rest of the lunch went great though and it was good to spend one last afternoon with Laura.



Today our landlord came by and fixed our shower. We have had no hot water since I got here in February. Now most of you must think that in a hot country, one would not need a hot shower. Well, to you I say: come down here and try it on for size! It is not as refreshing or as great as you'd think. The water is stinkin' cold! And try shaving your legs in freezing water, good luck! So today I had my first hot shower in months and it was fabulous! Below is a picture of our lovely high-tech shower. That's right...those are exsposed wires that you are seeing so close to the water. We like to live, and shower, dangerously.

Not the hero I thought I was

Today I really learned how useful I am. I decided to clean out the cockroach poo from under the bathroom sink and once I got started I kept finding more and more poo...and eggs. Well actually, not eggs, cases-did you know that cockroaches lay eggs in cases? And each case contains who knows how many eggs... Well, I now know this and that is why they can reproduce at such alarming rates! Anyway like I said, once I started I kept finding more so I took out one of the drawers and I found the mama. Sitting there laying another "case", too stunned to move. Remember in the last post when I said that cockroach was the biggest I had ever seen, well I was wrong, this was it. Well, naturally I lost it and called for Zach to get the bug spray. I pulled out the rest of the drawers and Zach killed the roach while I was cowering in the bedroom calling him to see if it was dead yet. Some big help I am. Anyway, we (and by we I mean Zach) killed the mom and most of the babies but that, I guess, is just for now. Well, see how long that lasts...

Will you be my Valentine?

Zach and I celebrated our second Valentine's Day in Grenada yesterday. I didn't get the usual dozen roses that I got most other years (along with yummy chocolate), but instead I got some gifts straight from New York City!! How much better could it get?! Zach got me this really cute mug from Starbucks and a necklace from H&M, which he picked out by himself (can you tell I'm proud?!). The reason that I didn't get flowers hinges mainly on a story that I must share which happened last year right around this time. A poor, innocent, unsuspecting Zach walked into a flower shop just down the road from us (which by-the-way is the only florist on the island) and asked how much the roses were. The lady behind the counter said, "30EC (it's about $13 Canadian)" and Zach said, "Oh, for six?" to which the lady replied, "No, just for one.". Zach looked at her, picked his jaw off the ground, and said, "Well, how much for the six then?", thinking, well six should be a bit of a deal. The lady told him that the six would be $180 EC, she obviously was lacking some business skills. Zach nearly lost it, he is Menno after all. He just mumbled a, "No thanks" and walked out. He came home and, after explaining why he had no flowers for me, felt like a bit of a cheap-skate. He then told me that I could use the money for shopping purposes when we got home, which I was completely in favour of! So this year he decided think ahead a bit and take matters into his own hands. This year I was the one to not buy a gift (or think ahead and get one from home), so I guess we're even:)



Me displaying the gifts I got from Zach.



There was a heart in my coffee, I thought it was pretty cool. You know, it being Valentine's Day and all...
And no, Zach didn't put it there. He's good, but not that good.

Just another week in Grenada...

I bet you are all wondering what happened to me in the last week. Well, true to Grenadian form, our internet had cut out on us. Five days of not being able to blog. You know how hard that was for me?! As a new blogger, and self-proclaimed blog stalker, life was really boring without my new best friend! After numerous calls to Cable and Wireless(internet place), endless days of agony, and one really rude voicemail message(left by me, I hate to admit); I, that is right, I fixed the internet! Look at me, how smart am I? Just a reconnection here and a few clicks of my mouse there and voila! It was back on(eat that Tom!!!). Needless to say, I'm quite proud of myself.
Well, other than improving my computer skills, a few things have happened in the past week. Zach and I, along with our American friends, celebrated our first American Thanksgiving. I still feel full thinking about it! We had quite the spread of all the traditional foods, turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing...everything down to the pumpkin pie! It was a lot of fun. Seeing as to how Zach and I will most likely end up living in the States, we felt it was a really good "first time" experience to a holiday that we will now be celebrating for years to come!
That same night we visited our friends Peter and Sari who were, along with Thanksgiving, celebrating their 1st Wedding Anniversary. Peter, who stays back in New York to work while Sari studies to become a doctor, flew down for the occasion. We had a blast with them, watching their wedding video and eating leftover wedding cake(apparently mom isn't the only one who saves the tops of the cakes!!) that Peter smuggled in!
Zach also celebrated his 24th birthday on friday doing what he loves, studying! He had a final to study for(which he is writing right now...) and I know better than to try and argue with him over studying. I did make him his favorite dinner and some cinnamon rolls for breakfast(a mom Klaassen tradition that is Zach's favorite!), so hopefully he didn't have too bad of a day!
I also went to a Ladies Christmas Luncheon two weekends ago and that was a lot of fun. The girls from our church here on campus(C.S.A.) put it together. It was fun to get together with other women, students and SO's, and meet some new people as well.

Pictures of our apartment in Grenada

People asked for pictures of our apartment, so here they are...




Our kitchen(we don't have hot water in here and we have a propane oven/stove!).


This is my room, the TV area on the other side of the kitchen. Check out the huge TV!


The bedroom, the only room with A/C. Needless to say, we are in here most of the time. Zach has his desk in here, so this is where he spends his endless hours studying(while I spend endless hours sleeping!). Yes, that is Zach having one of his infamous power-naps:)





These are two shots of our bathroom. I don't know why I felt compelled to show these, but I felt it needed to be shown in order to get the full experience.