First Impressions (Written on Thursday, June 7, 2007)

Today is the day of Corpus Christi, a public holiday and day off for the Grenadian people (ourselves included). I figured this would be an excellent opportunity for me to pause and reflect upon the happenings that have occurred thus far this week. And since this has been our first week on the island of Grenada there is much to reflect upon. Also since this is my first entry I would like to briefly discuss how the general scheme of my journal entries can be construed. It is my objective in these journals to depict how I interpret the Grenadian people and my interactions with them. This should prove to be very interesting for myself and for those who are so lucky to read what I am pounding into my keyboard. However, I do not intend to mindlessly document every single thing that I do. Those will be saved for memory which one day I will recite perhaps in front of a bottle of beer. But those tales that I do include in this manuscript of my time here, I will do my best to describe them as candidly as possible. I hope that these journals will truly represent my stay here on this island and will hopefully show development as time progresses.

Hesitation has generally been my primary emotive status. However as I am becoming more accustomed to the culture and my geographic surroundings this apprehension is subsiding. This is our fourth day here on Grenada and already I am feeling at home. I do miss a lot of things from home. But, being young and naive I am quickly getting very well adjusted to my setting. To be frank I absolutely love it here and am excited about beginning work next Monday.

Sunday night we arrived to a ferociously humid landing strip. Walking down from the plane I was shocked by the overwhelming humidity. Not surprisingly I have become acclimated to the weather here and see it now as a blessing, much unlike my initial reaction to it. We walked from the plane to customs and spent the next 45 minutes filling out paperwork and making our way to the front of the line to be interviewed by the airport’s officers. At this time we ran into a few difficulties but had our first exposure to the permissive and lenient way that the Grenadian culture is. We did not have any documentation to prove that we were in fact working for the Ministry of Education. However, the nonjudgmental attitude of the customs officers gave way and they let us continue so long as we provided this documentation within the near future. I would be a bit surprised if such behavior were permitted in U.S. customs.

In American had we been interns of the Department of Education I would imagine everything having been established and organized prior to our arrival. Our trip would have been organized to the most fine of details. However in the case of interning in Grenada we were lucky to escape such micro management. Since our arrival it has been a constant adventure. I do not mean to imply that Mr. Leo Cato has been unhelpful. I do think quite the opposite. It’s just that here on Grenada things tend to fall into place naturally, unlike the hectic stressful way that we know at home in the states. People here just seem to know and do. They seem to be more at peace with how things really are. Yesterday as I was having lunch with the group and Mr. Cato’s entourage I noticed a decorative hanging of the serenity prayer on the restaurants wall. This restaurant was a small probably family owned store but this struck me as very meaningful. The serenity prayer’s first line is, “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change.” I think this mindset may be parallel to a lot of Grenadian philosophy.

We have met with Mr. Cato several times now and they have always been rather pleasant. He and his assistant Mr. Thomas were here our second day. It is through Mr. Cato that I see how professional work happens here. Through this I have learned that operations occur at a very different speed here than I am used to. This is the Grenadian way. Yesterday on Grand Anse beach me and a couple others of our group quickly visited a little bar along the beach. I had a beer and had a very interesting discussion, if not a lecture from, the bar owner. His name was Dorset; one T, unlike Tony Dorsett the Dallas Cowboys running back. He had a lot to say about his feelings for the island. At first he almost seemed to disapprove of our business here on the island; he was quite against westernization. However, this was okay with me (maybe not the others I was with). Although in the end he understood our intentions for this internship. He demonstrated to me a great communion that he has with this island and its people, a strong for of wisdom perhaps. He really cares about this community, and this is something that we don’t see in America. I don’t feel guilty for not being as compassionate a person as Dorset, but maybe a bit envious. I hope to chat with him in the future again. This is all I feel like typing for now. Until later.