Dear Centipede,

I just came out of my bathroom and found you, a giant dead centipede, square in the middle of the bathroom floor. There are two possibilities for you getting there. One is that you crawled out from under the sink, dying naturally in the center of the bathroom, legs in the air, lying on your back as you shuddered your last breath. The other possibility is that I brought you back with me last night, drunkenly and thankful for you not biting me. If this were the case it would appear that I am the one responsible for your death, for this I would apologize. I really hope it was the former, but who knows. I’m slightly freaked out about it at the moment because even if it were the former that still means I have centipedes in my villa. Rene told me that he had been bitten by a centipede like you once. He said it was no good. Thanks for not biting me. Sorry you had to go like this.

Regards,

Augustin

Thursday…

Lately I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about this internship. Never in my life have I felt so privileged, honored to be given such a responsibility. And I feel that since beginning my duties here in Grenada, I have developed into a much more professional, humble, and genuine person. Before my arrival here on Grenada I would think often, and often not, about how the cards would unfold this summer. And I often felt that it was better to not think about it. I find myself quite pessimistic at times and am often discouraged by these feelings. My thoughts about this trip before hand were troubled, bland at best. I was excited about working here, in a neutral kind of way, but deep down inside I felt that this trip was going to be a mishap. Why? I don’t know. But that was how I felt. Maybe it was a fear or responsibility; perhaps a fear of the unexpected. Maybe it was the culture shock, or my inexperience in Java. I never felt that way again about this place.

Grenada is beautiful, in all aspects. I could rant about the ocean; I could rant about the lush forests. I could rant about the way the sunsets through my window, eclipsing out of view above the westward Caribbean Sea. I could rant for days on end about the proud, high-spirited people of Grenada, always willing to lend a hand, always willing to give an open ear. At times I feel there is so much passion running through my veins it’s almost unbearable. Passion inspired by the aforementioned. Passion inspired by my work with the Ministry of Education. I often find myself bursting out with laughter, something I have not done so much since I was a child. But, what I really want to say here is not an account of my blessings. I do that more often now than ever. Regardless, I want to talk about the future, particularly of this program.

I have become as of late contemplative about the program we are so lucky to be a part of. As a person who had absolutely no professional experience in education before, I must say I was put in my place very quickly. But the reality check we received our first week of work was strong, strong enough to keep us on track until now. Teaching requires patience, knowledge, focus, humility, and discipline, at least in my eyes. These things I have not always had, and have been improving upon since our work began. These human character developments are something that I will utilize and cherish to the end of my lifetime, and it is for this reason that I hope IST will continue this program in the future; for the benefit of the IST student and the conscience of our College.

The Ministry is a body of serious consideration and influence. They, like IST, also hold a key to the continuation of this program. I can’t simply justify the benefits to us as IST students and ignore the repayment through the Ministry. We have done good work here. We have taught four different groups of students Java, trained a group of teachers basic computer repairs, and are in the process of training another group of IT teachers Java. In order to educate these groups it was our responsibility, as the interns, to develop comprehensive lesson plans and write a manual to accompany our lessons. This was tough work, not to mention unexplored territory for all of us.

Often, due to my pessimistic nature (I consider it being careful and realistic), I feel that we are letting the Ministry down. Maybe it’s due to our inexperience, the fear of the unknown (see paragraph one for more details). But after thinking about the actual work we have done I feel better, I feel that we have done the best job we could have. This is encouraging. It is because of this that I want this program in the future to be even better. I do not necessarily expect to come back to Grenada again (at least with this program), but I want to know that I made a difference. I want to see this program is better developed. I want this partnership with the Ministry and IST to be more defined. I want the interns that are coming here to be more prepared. If these things can be done, with the help of us as interns, greater things can be accomplished in the future for the youth here in Grenada, the Ministry of Education, and IST.

Quick update (written Wednesday July 11, 2007)

It’s the middle of the week of our 6^th week here. I think that’s right? Anyway, today I got my hands on a lot of Soca (think sped up calypso, real nice) off one of the guys I work with in the Ministry. The man who gave the music to me, Rinny (spelling?), is a real interesting guy from Gouyave. And now that I’m on the topic of real cool guys we’ve met here I’m starting to think about how much I’m going to miss this place when I leave.

We’ve made a lot of friends since we got here. Surprisingly enough we managed to become somewhat Grenadian ourselves and it’s something that I am proud of. Today in the IT office we got on the topic (with Rinny) [I just killed a huge mosquito] about the dialect here and how hard it is to understand the locals when they talk to each other. But we realized that we didn’t realize how much [I just killed another one] we already knew. We’ve been here for about six weeks and I really am feeling integrated into the life style here. Even though we are living in an American type community (and I use the term American loosely) we are still very experienced in the culture here. And that is something that I think has a lot of value, at least to myself.

However, there is one thing that I am most certainly not going to miss when I leave this place. Mosquitoes. I hate them.

That’s about all I have to complain about aside from being away from friends and family. And I am very used to being away from friends and family so it’s not as bad for me as it may be for others. Anyway, work has been easy this week. We have a week away from teaching in order to prepare for next week. So we’ve been hard at the type writers trying to update our manuals so they are suitable for a more experienced class; next week we are training teachers in Java (more Java, YAY). Aside from this I don’t have much else to report. Life is good but what else is new. Ciao.

Monday Retrospect

I know that it has been a long time since I have written in this journal. I’ve been careless with time and have been trying my best to enjoy as much as possible while I’m here on this island. That means spending a lot of time just relaxing and soaking up sun, which is basically all I’ve been doing. So for the supervisors reading this, I’ve been slacking. For those others, I’ve really been having a blast.

I guess I should explain what I’ve been doing, at least vaguely, maybe descriptively about some things. Last Sunday through this past Friday we (the group) were in Carriacou. An island that makes Grenada appear huge. The town we lived in briefly, Hillsborough, was a quaint main street town that stretched for about a mile. The main street lay parallel to Hillsborough bay, where we spent most of our free time sun bathing and sea bathing. Sea bathing. Locals here refer to swimming in the ocean as sea bathing; something that we all find funny. Anyway, the resort we stayed at, John’s Unique Resort, was definitely unique. Unique in almost every aspect: water regularity, odor, bed sizes, lighting, air conditioning, you name it. Everything about John’s Unique made it an adventure. Adventures such as: why don’t we have any running water and my personal favorite, what is that smell?

We were in Carriacou to teach Java to another student group and teach basic computer repairs to a teacher group. I was part of the computer repairs group, the group with the teachers. Man, Carriacou was a tough crowd. The students on the first day gave the other group enough trouble that they almost wanted to give up. Anna seemed to have had some trouble with student teacher cooperation. Meanwhile Tim and I were put under the spotlight and had to present a very vague presentation of computer repairs. Confused and stressed out, Tim and I did a pretty rough job around all the edges. A lot of the material we were teaching a lot of the students already knew, and we tried to compensate this by making our explanations a little more deep. However, this served us both positively and negatively. A portion of the group that was not there on Monday came in on Tuesday. This group of teachers turned out to be much less advanced than those that were present on Monday. So we had to compensate this by more or less holding everyone back at the consequence of everyone.

Up until Wednesday we were being supervised by Mr. Thomas, assistant of Mr. Cato. Mr. Thomas was given the responsibility of finding our meals and making sure that our accommodations were suitable, a relatively simple role. However it was met with some difficulty. Accommodations were apparently not sufficient for Mr. Thomas as he made it very clear he desired a self contained hotel. Also the food caterers were apparently not good enough for the teacher group; they did a bit of complaining. It seemed they complained about everything imaginable. On Wednesday he was replaced by Mr. Cato which came with a bit of relief and distress. Mr. Thomas is a really funny guy, but he can be a bit awkward at times. On the other hand Mr. Cato is much more personable but sits in a very authoritative position and can be a bit intimidating at times. When in the company of Mr. Cato it’s best to be at your best behavior.

When Mr. Cato finally got to Carriacou on Wednesday Tim and I had to explain to him how the teacher group had been responding to our training sessions and we essentially handed the ball over to him. By then we had expended all of our teaching resources and were desperate for his help. Kind of disappointing to depend on his assistance but it was definitely necessary. Tim and I are not exactly computer maintenance experts, and Tim is much more than I am. So in the end we both felt a little discouraged and disappointed with ourselves but it will definitely serve us as a learning tool in the future.

Carriacou work-wise was a pretty rough situation. However, after work we had a lot of fun. We met some really great people on Carriacou. And because of this I hope to return there one day, even if it’s long after this summer ends. Carriacou was definitely an escapade from an escapade and put a lot of things in perspective for myself. The work was tougher than expected but hard work builds character and gives experience that I really want to have. I have to get going, my ride will be here soon. Until later.

Gratitude

Well this past week finished with a crescendo that I never expected. We finished our last day of teaching in St. Georges to be moved in the evening to Lance Aux Pines which is roughly two miles west of True Blue campus (where we were housed initially). Apparently True Blue’s food services department would be closed after this weekend for the summer. So, the group and I had understood we were being moved. We understood that we were being moved to an exclusive location. We did not expect the grandeur of the club we were being moved to. The University Club: a very modest name for the luxury we have been treated with.

It’s difficult to describe initial gut reactions. But mine went something like this: “Holy shit”. We had passed the gate fence, around the water fountain, down the driveway lined with tall palms and to the reception area when it struck me; we were living in an upscale resort. We unloaded our luggage and checked in. No, these were not dorms. They weren’t even average apartments. We looked to the north of the main hall and saw villas, those which we would be living in. Curved stone walkways led to each villa’s entrance. A patio diverging left and right led to each half of the villa duplex. In the center of each villa was a shared kitchen, exposed to the outdoors. We are living the dream; a living experience which is 20 feet from a gorgeous beach in the Lance Aux Pines bay. Adjacent to the bay is our swimming pool, shaded by the trees of paradise.

Dining at The University Club leaves me the most spoiled I have ever been. I love food. But the chef here is unbelievable. Yes, a chef, an Italian one at that. He is quite the master of culinary arts and has yet to disappoint. In fact I am 99.999% positive that will not happen. Last night’s dessert, a wine poached pear topped with cinnamon ice cream and a chocolate stick, coated with uniquely flavored glazes (probably prepared by the chef himself) was the most delicious treat I have ever had, hands down. I don’t have much frame of reference, but if this isn’t five star dining I can’t imagine what is.

Currently I’m sitting in my villa, picturesque view of the ocean before my window, trying my best to describe to you my surroundings. It’s really hard to portray in words so I will do my best to put up some photos. If you’re reading this and feeling sorry for yourself, don’t be. I need a reality check. We are leaving for Carriacou in an hour and ten minutes. We’re going to be there all week and by the sounds of it we are going to be living on a deserted island. Hopefully it isn’t as nice as this. I really do hope so. Because this is too good to be true and it’s distorting my perception on how life should be. At least in my opinion (and I’m not trying to sound self-righteous). Regardless, I feel nothing but gratitude.