In case you are still following us, we will be doing a presentation this Sunday, April 25 at 10 a.m. The group that went will conduct the service and then give you a little slide show of what we did with a slide show and talk from the kids. 

See you there.

Jamie

Well, we arrived home yesterday about 9:30 in the morning.  Everyone excited to get home, but I know we were tired. Sure a change in weather going from plus 30 with humidity to plus 10 and dry.  Most everyone commented on how dry their skin was and we had only been back in Canada a few hours.  I am sure everyone went to bed early last night.  I can comment on it as Evan was in bed just after 7:30 and most of us were not that long after. 

Bryan is asking us to do a presentation at the church on April 25, so we will have to get all of our pictures together. So we will let you know at that time what the place looks like.

Many of the kids are back in school today, after the Easter break, so hopefully they aren’t  to tired.  I know we sent Evan and Emma yesterday afternoon to school and Emma said that she was kind of dragging in Phys Ed.

Anyways we had a good time and we thank you for praying for us while we were gone.  We will see in church.

Jamie

Well, Canterbury Cottage was a bustle of activity as sheets and towels were washed and hung out to dry, bathrooms cleaned, floors swept and the last of the breakfast food eaten up.  Our last charitable act on the island happened last night as a man with 2 young children dropped by the Cottage – he had lost his job, his wife had passed away and he and his children were starving.  We were fortunate to have a considerable amount of leftovers from last night’s Oil Down meal that we were able to bag up and give to them - very filling and nutritious with chicken, pork, plantain, potatoes, okra, etc.   So our last meal on Grenada ended up being a local version of Kraft Dinner, along with a few other leftovers in the fridge – a few chicken wings, and some spanish rice. 

Up early this Tues morning to get everyone (and their luggage) to the airport on time for our 10 a.m. flight out of Grenada.  Canon Glasgow was nice enough to see us off, as he drove the Land Rover with our luggage (and Nic and George in the back), Lloyd took half the gang and Jamie drove the second rental vehicle which needed to be returned.   Lloyd has another day and a half on the island, so we said our goodbyes and will see him again once he’s back in Calgary.

A short 1 hour flight saw us arrive in Barbados where we spent 5 hours wandering the airport shops and getting plane snacks.  Our original plan was to grab a taxi to a mall which was very close to the airport, however the West Jet desk did not open until 3 hrs before flight time, and there was no facility for luggage storage, so that squashed those plans.

The WestJet flight left right on time, and we arrived at our Toronto airport at 11 p.m.  It will be an early start tomorrow morning, as our flight leaves at 7:15 a.m.  Everyone’s spirits are high, and the excitement is growing as we get closer to Calgary….. everyone is anxiously awaiting their family reunions and the sharing of stories and pictures from the trip.

Kathy

Sooo.. today is our last day here on the island… boohoo… and what better way to spend than to go kite flying with all the kids from the island parishes. Some of us have purchased kites for the occasion and others are just going to borrow kites from the kids. They are supplying lunch for us. 

Last night we celebrated Easter with Walter and we also had a birthday cake for him. He liked it a lot. It was a delicious cake. We also had an Easter egg hunt on the beach.  It was very exciting and we got lot’s of cool items.

Nic and Evan also made 3 kinds of wings for dinner and delicious potato patties.  There was also salad.

NicEvanandEmma

Today is Saturday, Market Day….so for the gang from Holy Nativity it was souvenir shopping like no other!  We’ve become acquainted with a unique individual here, Walter, who drops by Canterbury Cottage most mornings to share breakfast.  As we scurried after him, he deftly wove his way through the market menagerie, guiding his “Canadian Family” to the best shops for spices, scarves, hats, cocoa balls, and all kinds of other goodies.  Needless to say, most of us shopped until we dropped. 

It seems particulary HOT today, but that is most likely because we are relaxing and not being force-fed our half-hourly allotment of water, gatorade and apples by the hydration police on the work site!  So we’re trying to take it pretty easy.

The food has been amazing, and we’ve been trying some local favourites.   After our swim yesterday afternoon, we had a catered dinner of local specialites (stir fried cinnamon chicken, green banana and potato salad, grilled blue marlin kebabs, seasoned pork ribs, rice, green salad…) all set out on tables with linen cloths RIGHT ON THE BEACH!  It was amazing surroundings, fantastic company, a light breeze blowing and the perfect end to a perfect day. 

Today we had local roti (beef / chicken) for lunch, some lovely coconut/ginger turnovers for a snack, and are looking forward to a special dinner of  Oil Down being prepared for us by the local woman who runs the roti shop down the street, which is the national dish of Grenada.  A large pot is lined with Kalaloo, chicken, plantain, and ??? and dumplings complete the dish.  It simmers for a few hours like a stew and is supposed to have as many variations as there are folks that fix it.  (We’ll find out tonight!)

Can you tell I like to eat??

Kathy

yesterday:  we went to BBC beach (one on our favorites) we had dinner on the beach, we were served amazing food  almost everyone went back for seconds. it was a big buffet, it was really fun eating on the beach while watching the sun set.

Today: today was basically a do what you want day…. in the morning some people went with Lloyd to a wonderful beach area about an hour and a half away, while others slept in and then went to the market around 7:30. everyone eventually came to the market. i bought gifts for friends.everyone met back at the cottage, and had lunch. later on tonight Evan, Nic, Emma, George, Kathryn and I  will be going over to the church and practicing (we will be signing with the youth choir on Easter Sunday …tomorrow.)

we are all getting a little home sick and miss everyone. we will be home soon

that’s all for now! <3

Hello , today you are being blogged by george !!

yesterday we worked … alot , the school is looking excelent and yellow(and green ) . afterworking the group went home and chillied later on going the the market and the internet cafe.

today : TODAY WE FINISHED THE SCHOOL !!!! YEAAAHHHHH all  done working now for more vacation , finished cracks rolling lloyd finished windows , ceeling is done , and people are very releived , !!! after working we went to a beach which was very muddy and grimy , but i got some nice pictures ( a couple people got splinters from sea urchins … me being one of them ) . after the beach we went and practiced for the church choir which the youth are singing ( i was doing extreemly well considering my shyness when using my singing voice :D ) everyone had a fun time doing that , we were all impressed with the quality of the grenadians singing quality , very .

also going back to the school painting early er in the week i met two small children named jamille (ja-mieele) and jamaile (ja-mahlieeeh ) who i just so happened to befriend and so today they brought alot of there friends with them the next day (apx 8 or so) and they helped us paint the school soo cute will have pictures when we get beck to home base dont worry:)

tomorrow : we are planning to goto some historical sites forts and possibly museum , and we are going to go to the ORPHANAGE !!!! that will be fun giving them the dolls and gift bags we set up for them . afterwards we will be going out for dinner for some authentic grenadian food

I MISS KAITLYN KELLY<3 , MY CLIMATE , (and possibly my family … haha just kidding of course i miss you )

Sorry for the two day absence, but we hard workers have been having a hard time finding the right postitioning for our homemade tinfoil.  In that time we completed priming the school and have completed half the painting.  The building will end up eye blinding yellow with bright green trim. We also completed the grand tour of the island including scoping out all the beaches and the waterfalls. Most of the kids got their hair braided in some fashion (including the boys (except George )). Dinner so far has comprised of mexican (tacos), spaghetti with meat-sauce, sandwiches, and hotsauce. Contrary to popular belief, the bugs here are practically nonexistant where they only come out at night or in the shade. Our continued updates may be a bit sketchy as we are experiencing technical difficulties ( no signal).

EVAN & NIC

We are having an amazing time here.  The weather is great, the scenery is beautiful and we get to do alot of pretty awesome stuff. It is very hot here but when the humidy gets to much for us we cool down in the ocean at the beach.  It is great there the water is lovely except for getting a mouth full of salt and salt in your eyes. The beach is nice and hot (perfect for tanning). In the water you can float effortlessly which is great because you can stop swimming without sinking. Today we saw an iguana that was chased into the water by a cat and was swimming around in the ocean. Some people chased it out deeper because they didn’t know that iguanas don’t belong in the ocean. So then we tried to chase it back in so it could get to shore. Eventually the brave iguana got to shore and ran up a tree.

After Toronto, we caught a plain to Barbadoes… We got to know the airport fairly well, got a bite to eat and then, got on another plane where we came here, to Grenada. The next day (Saturday) we went around, visited the market, where there were clothes, jewellery, spices and so much more. Later on we went to a water fall where we swam and jumped off a low edge (we got pictures!!!).. We also wanted to see some monkeys but sadly we couldn’t find any, afterwards we went to the ocean (BBC beach). then went home for dinner. Today it’s Sunday we went to church, an amazing service! Then we went back to BBC beach until around 4 or 5 o’clock. had spaghetti dinner.

Hannah

its beautiful here, the people the plants the watter… THE HEAT!!!!!!!!!! some got a pretty good sunburn today….. George, Hannah, Evan, and Nic (nic got his ears burned)….

well thats all for now