we’re moving.

Alright people, you had to have known this was coming. As Josh and I are no longer newlyweds and as of tomorrow I will no longer be in Grenada, we have a new blog address:

 

http://joshandambergazo.wordpress.com

 

Live it. Love it. Use it.

a very island halloween

this is my friend kelsey. she basically rocks.

Kelsey put together an amazing Halloween party on Saturday night and I was so glad she did. It’s hard to get into a festive mood sometimes down here (although at the moment with all these breezes from Tomas it’s actually quite chilly) but she definitely made it easy. There were breadsticks that looked like bones with blood sauce. Her husband Lee gave her the idea to fill one of his rubber gloves with water and freeze it so when she took it out of  the glove and put it in the red punch it looked like a dismembered hand. We watched Zombieland, ate wonderful food made my Kelsey (and delicious caramel gingerbread popcorn by Alfonso), and just had a great time. The decorations Kelsey did were awesome! Here are some pictures from the evening.

Also, please wish Josh luck as he has his last midterm today and will probably find out the grades from the rest. Although he already did get one grade back and he got a 92! I was so proud!

Okay, here are the pictures.

 

l to r: undead, zombie, thinking arby's, watermelon smoothie, and kitty cat

kelsey decorated pop bottles and they looked so cool.

severed hand.

lee carved this pumpkin rind since that's the most of a pumpkin you can buy here.

the undead creeping in kelsey's photo.

my halloween hating husband. :) jk <3 he was so funny. he was like "don't get so close to me you look scary."

still alive

I love all the panic Tomas caused and yet we’ve barely seen any rain. Gotta love mob mentality. I won’t lie. I bought into it to a point. I made Josh fill a trash can and a bucket with extra water just in case the pipes were turned off so that we had water to flush the toilets with. Plus I filtered extra water and filled the fridge with it. We both stayed up pretty late watching a movie. I think we were excited to see what the storm would be like but eventually we just fell asleep as nothing was happening. However, one cool thing we did see was a moth the size of my head. Okay, maybe it wasn’t that big but it sure was freaking us out with it’s evil glowing eyes. Not to mention it happened to defecate on itself when we walked near it. Classy.

josh's hand for comparison.

evil moth.

tropical cyclone tomas headed our way

peace out internetz. see you in a few days most likely.

Scary stuff dude. When it storms here it sounds like explosions going off overhead. I’m nervous to see what a storm like this is going to be like.  On a less terrifying note, here is a picture of me and Jade. That kid’s smile will brighten up any day. I’m extremely worried for him and his family as well as the families of the other kids in the Limes Program. Some of them live in wooden shacks with no real sense of shelter at all. I can only hope they are safe during this storm.

awesome little dude.

Hey boy!

I have legitimate things to post about including a monkey on my head and the fact that I have less than two weeks on the island left but for now here is a video of Jovanna from Limes. Jovanna is the baby sister of Brianna. She’s only 1 and says just a few words here and there. As she was leaving the other day she turned to BJ and yelled “hey boy!” and it was the cutest thing ever and we were trying to get her to say it again but every time we asked her to say it she just ran after BJ and started attacking him. You should’ve seen when Kelsey asked her if she wanted the last corned beef sandwich. She had a bottle in her hand that she literally FLUNG down on the ground as she raced/wobbled towards Kelsey looking like Kelsey had offered her diamonds or gold. We couldn’t stop laughing. Anyway, here’s the video. For some reason the sound is off but what can you do. TIG. ( This is Grenada. )

Last night I started to have one of my little unconsciousness/shock spells. I couldn’t sleep ( which I never can beforehand and I always feel awful right before it happens ) so I went to go hang out with Josh in the study room. I was standing there and he was explaining some diagrams to me and I could just feel it happening. I went back to bed and rested for a minute and then came back out because I still felt so awful. Sure enough as I was standing there it started happening again. I really hate when it happens so I decided that since being in bed had stopped the passing out part I would do it again. It’s only a few steps from the guest bedroom/study to our bedroom and in those few steps I lost my hearing and most of my sight. But thankfully before I had the chance to fall down I flung myself at the bed and just waited to see if I would black out or not. I didn’t so that’s good to know. I think the nurse was right when I was home and that it’s some type of  blood pressure thing. Who knows. Anyway, I was excited I didn’t turn into a zombie like I always do. I especially hate not being able to see. It drives me insane.

Off to QE for the afternoon. One of my last trips to visit them. So sad about it.

island creatures

josh and the stick insect.

lizard on the back porch. sorry it's blurry. it kept moving.

Shanny-KA! & River Tubing Pics

 

jade.

 

So remember that story I mentioned in the last blog post about the little boy who was “building” a crib for Baby Goat? Well, this is Jade. He’s seriously one of the sweetest kids you will ever meet. He has a half sister named Shanika. It’s so hilarious when the kids say her name because they put the emphasis on the “SHANNY” sound in the beginning so it sounds like : Shanny – KA! They have two cousins that come to Limes as well, Brianna and her brother Kyle who goes by BJ. Although some days he wants to be called Kyle. So I generally just call him both.

Jade and Kyle are the best of friends and act  just like brothers while Shanika and Brianna act just like sisters!  Kelsey is determined to take Jade and Kyle home with her and asked Shanika if she thought their moms would think it was okay. Just like any older sister Shanika was quick to offer up Jade. “Take him miss. Please!” It was the cutest thing. Then again these kids are almost always doing the cutest things. Jade and Kyle were giving each other horse rides, although I think Jade would’ve argued that it was a donkey ride since it’s his favorite animal.

Recently I entered a contest to meet 3OH!3, a band I like but after watching other entries, there is no way I will ever win. Which is okay. I’m honestly not cool enough for stuff like that. Just far too awkward.

Today is Sandblast but because Josh has to study I decided not to go. It definitely makes for a boring day though with him at campus and everyone else at the beach. Jamie invited me to go to PAM with him and help clear some of the brush but I don’t trust myself with a machete. I would be the person who accidentally chops off their own head.

And on that note, here are some more pictures.

 

 

giving kyle a jockey. aka piggy back ride.

 

 

miss kelsey and jade.

 

 

jade and kyle doing horse rides.

 

 

the gang minus alfonso.

 

 

i hate life jackets. i know they are supposed to save your life and all but man do they choke me.

 

 

where you start the tubing adventure. the water was so cold and lovely.

 

team purple is team awesome!

friends on the beach. alfonso, kelsey and i. 10.10.10

So much has been going on and I’ve been far too lazy to blog about it. Currently it is raining like crazy and therefore Limes has been canceled for the afternoon and I figured I would take this free time to update everyone on what’s been happening here.

I’m heading home in less than a month which is something that’s been hard for me to accept. I’m beyond excited to see my brother get married, especially since he’s marrying one of my best friends. But it’s harder now that I know I won’t be returning to the island next term. Josh and I have both decided it would be better for me to stay home so that I can work and we can have some form of income. He’ll be moving to a one bedroom apartment that he’s picked out in our complex to help save costs as well. I won’t have to go the whole term without seeing him as I’m planning on coming to visit for our wedding anniversary and then a week later my dad will join us here and then my dad and I will fly back together. I know Josh and I will be fine. We handled the summer pretty well and with my visit in between this will be less time apart.

with alfonso at the mid term social.

What I am having trouble dealing with is the fact that I won’t get to see the kids at Queen Elizabeth every week. I truly love those kids and it’s breaking my heart to know I won’t get to keep visiting them. I knew that eventually I would have to leave when Josh and I left Grenada. I just didn’t think it would be so soon. I was talking with the Peace Corp worker at the orphanage and she mentioned that it actually is possible to adopt some of the kids. Not all of them are up for adoption but some actually are. There is one boy in particular I would love to adopt with all my heart and soul and I came home and quickly called my dad, sobbing and asking if he could help me get 25,000 $ to adopt this child.

My poor dad had to remind me that if I can’t afford to adopt a child I can’t really afford to take care of a child. I knew that in my heart already but it’s hard. And Josh was as amazing as usual. When I told him the price he nodded his head and said, “We could do it.” He was all for it and it just made me love him all the more. We talked and we both had to be realistic but I do wish it was a reality. Part of me feels like it’s such a blessing to have met these children and part of me feels like it was cruel of fate because I’m not in a position to take care of a child at the moment. We’re not financially stable enough and the truth is we don’t even know where we’re going to be in a few months. It all depends on where we get placed for rotations and then who knows where we’ll be for his residency.

team purple!

Recently I participated in the Wii Charity Tournament on campus as part of the team representing the Significant Others Organization. It was Kelsey, Alfonso, Scott and myself. We were all so tired and didn’t want to have to stay late to do the semi finals but we figured out we all like winning so much and just couldn’t let ourselves lose on purpose. Kelsey ended up coming in 4th out of 16th for Wii Shooting. I made it to the semi finals for Wii Tennis and Scott almost won the Wii Boxing and Mario Cart titles. I was so proud! Go team purple!

Limes has been a lot of fun recently. I actually like that we’ve been doing it outside in the field. Whenever we were in the building it would get so loud and I’d always have a headache when I came home. I do wish we had more materials and a building would be helpful for when we need to tell problem children to leave, but there’s pluses and minuses to both situations.

We celebrated everyone’s birthdays yesterday with cookies and fruit punch that the kids loved. They told me that we finally got the punch sweet enough so that was good to know. I’ve been really happy with the fact that the mother of seven of the kids there has been staying to help us out. The kids listen to her and she makes them listen to us and it’s been a lot easier with her help. I did feel bad yesterday though when one of the kids threatened her son with a piece of cut glass and said he was going to beat him up and kill him. She and I had to get in-between these boys and as scary as instances like that are, I still love Limes. I’m beyond bummed that it had to be canceled today for the rain. For the most part the kids are adorable and sweet. They run right over to you the minute they see you and give you the biggest hugs and tell you about their day at school. It’s just always one or two that tend to act out enough that you end up wanting to pull your hair out and scream.

love these kids.

Speaking of pulling your hair out and screaming moments, yesterday a kid came to Limes that I had never seen before. He was holding the soccer ball and it was time to go so I asked for it back. He kept holding it but walking closer. When he was right in front of me he handed it to me and immediately reached forward and squeezed my chest. I slapped his hand away and said, “Don’t you ever touch me again. That’s not okay.” And he just smiled and said, “Sorry miss your boobs are too delicious.” I had no idea it would’ve been okay to actually slap the kid but at the time I felt like that would be out of line for me to do so I just yelled at him some more and walked away. It was so gross.

Poor Josh has been pretty bummed too recently. He pulled his hamstring a few weeks ago and there’s still a bruise the size of Canada on the back of his leg that looks horribly painful. Then a week ago he hurt his calf which turned black then yellow and now he has pitting edema on his ankles. So he hasn’t been able to play soccer and that’s been a major downer for him which I can understand. Soccer is a huge part of his life and an escape from school in a sense. And school has been exceptionally rough this term so my heart goes out to him. Thankfully our neighbors Adam and Danielle had an ace bandage and lent it to him and when it put it on this morning he said it was already helping a lot. So that was good.

Yesterday morning was river tubing on the Balthazar River in the jungle. I did it once a year ago and loved it and it was just as much fun as I had remembered. Straight after river tubing, Kelsey, Jessi and I quickly changed and ran straight over to Limes. It was cool because my friend Jamie happened to be in the neighborhood getting his hair cut for his birthday so he stopped by and got to meet the kids and Baby Goat. Speaking of Baby Goat, Jade (one of the little boys), was taking a twig and banging it against another piece of wood. I asked him what he was doing and he said, “Miss I’m making a crib for Baby Goat so he can sleep.” Then when he was “done” he put it down in front of Baby Goat and said, “Baby Goat come sleep in your crib!” It was too cute. This was the same day as the boob grabbing and glass fighting so as you can see, there are nice moments at Limes for the most part. It’s just the ones we complain about are usually so crazy we tell more people.

beach with my baby.

So one last thing. The other day Kelsey and I went to go check out a special needs school near the field we use for Limes to see if they would let us use their building. They said no, of course. I think they hated us. But it was so amazing because out of nowhere we hear, “Miss AM-BA! Miss KEL-SEY!” Sure enough four of the kids from QE were there and they ran and gave us huge hugs and were so excited like, “Miss you are at my school!” Two of them took me by the hand and showed me all around. They were so excited to show me their classroom and desks. And the students there were all so sweet. Some were obviously handicapped and some you can’t even tell. I was honestly surprised at two of the kids from QE that were there.

Alright, I promised that would be the last thing so for now that’s all. For those of you back home I will see you soon and for those of you here, I will definitely miss you.

- Amber

 

PS, the following is a video I did for my friend Alfonso after he asked me to sing a song. We heard Alejandro in the bus on the way to QE so I told him I’d just change the words to Alfonso and this is what happened.

real housewives of grenada

So for awhile now Kelsey and I have been toying with the idea of a Real Housewives of Grenada sort of thing. After all we are almost always taking videos and pictures and as of right now we’re living a life that most people don’t ever get to experience. Here is the first “episode” or pilot “episode,” if you will. For some reason there is no thumbnail picture but the video does work. Hope you enjoy!