Hug your lawn mower

Can you see what is happening in this picture? This is a Grenadian using a weed whacker to "mow" an entire back yard. This picture is taken out my kitchen window.


This has been going on for over an hour now. As you can imagine, using a weed whacker to mow is not as fast or as efficient as using a lawn mower. However, the weed whacker is the tool of choice for lawn maintenance on the island.

When we lived on campus the university grounds crew used weed whackers too. It was annoying to have this going on right outside your window for hours every Tuesday morning.

Well here we are again, although thankfully we live on the second floor so the sound is filtered a bit. I didn't realize this was standard thing around the island. I thought it was just the university cutting corners. But no, now I see, everyone uses the weed whacker. I've never even seen a lawn mower here.

My neighbor Karen pointed out that this is because labor is cheap but tools are expensive on the island. And it is easy to carry the weed whacker on the bus or on a long walk which is how most people get around. So, weed whack it is.

I'm trying to be patient and ignore the annoying sound out the kitchen window. Hopefully he'll be done soon.

Back to the island, mon

I'm back from a blogging hiatus after a month in America. This isn't called C.J. and Julie's Holiday Blog, so I won't recap everything we did on our trip, but I will say we had a great time visiting all our friends and family. We are forever indebted to all those who provided a bed, a meal, a washing machine, a car and countless other favors.

Although we were so glad to see everyone and lap up the riches of America for awhile, it is nice to be back here in our own space. We're happy to have a routine after that hobo lifestyle.

C.J. already started term two. He is taking two short courses - genetics and parasitology. They only last eight days and then he has one final exam in each. After those two weeks he starts another course load that will continue through May.

We're in our new apartment and absolutely loving it. I mean, if we weren't married to each other we'd marry this place. It is so spacious compared to the dorm. We can both stand in the kitchen at the same time. We have a living room and a dining room and two bedrooms. When C.J. gets up in the morning I can't even hear him in the bathroom or eating breakfast. It feels like a real home. And we have several great neighbors we enjoy talking to daily.

The car is really convenient although driving is sort of terrifying. We're still getting the hang of it. But having the car and the apartment help make us feel like adults again.

There are a couple things I've noted since we've been back that remind me, oh yeah, I'm in Grenada now.

First, in the airport we had to declare C.J.'s laptop and they charged us a duty to bring it into the country. This, in my opinion, is a way to completely exploit students. You are only supposed to pay it one time, but we of course lost our receipt from first term so we had to pay the duty again. Very annoying.

Next, when we got to our new apartment it was dark. I walked into our bedroom without flipping on the light and stepped on something that made a crunch. When I turned the light I discovered I'd stepped right on a big, fat cockroach. Luckily he was already dead by then so I didn't have the anxiety of chasing him around. I did buy two super duty roach motels as soon as possible and haven't seen a roach since.

On Sunday we went to the grocery store and bought some fruits and vegetables. The very next day while cooking dinner I noticed a slight mold growing on the zucchini and one of the red bell peppers was rotted on the inside. The mushrooms were looking a bit slimy, and I had to throw away about half of them. So much for fresh produce.

Then, our neighbors down the street were burning their trash so I had to close all the windows cause the smoke was coming in our apartment.

On a positive note, the weather has been great. It is not so humid as last semester even though it has rained every day. There is a lovely breeze, and we've been pretty comfortable leaving our windows open all day long.

There are a lot of people walking all over the road, as most people don't have cars here. That's something I'm not used to seeing. Also adds an extra dimension when driving - try to avoid hitting anyone while also mentally chanting "left side, left side, left side."

We only have cold water in the kitchen and the bathroom. So, no hot water to wash dishes. We do have hot water in the shower, but you have to flip this switch that turns on the water heater. Although, it's so warm here sometimes I'd rather take a cold shower.

And ants, they aren't just for dorm life. They are rabid in our kitchen. They already found their way into some Rice Krispies and a box of Bisquick. We're learning to seal things up tightly.

The beach is still beautiful. I made it over there today.

There are still goats and chickens and stray dogs hanging around in odd places.

I had to call the landlord to remind her that I need to pay January's rent. Now if that isn't an example of laid back island life, I don't know what is.

I went to a restaurant today and had to ask them to serve us after waiting for about 20 minutes. Then I had to ask them for the bill when we were ready to leave.

It's a different world over here, that's for sure. I just keep thinking "wow, we live on an island in the Caribbean." What an adventure.

A little more best and worst

I forgot to mention a few things, so I'm going to continue that thought from a month ago.

BEST cont.

Local treats - my favorites so far are the organic dark chocolate made on the island by the Grenada Chocolate Company from cocoa grown and processed here; also, C.J. loves the hot sauce made here by a company called de la Grenade; and I've discovered a candy called guava cheese which is squares of condensed guava fruit with sugar on them - yummy

WORST cont.

Burning trash - Grenadians burn their trash all the time even though there is trash pick up, at least in our neighborhood; also Grenadians aren't great at trash management in general since they have no recycling and no issues with littering; litter is much more common here and pretty unsightly