Friday Fun!

Had a great Friday volunteering with the children at St. Mary's Elementary School again.  This week's topic was listening.  I love teaching them the new songs, it is a lot of fun.  They are all really engaged and have a blast.  We do little actions as we sing too.  So cute.  So much fun!

Home Before I Know It

My friend from Trent, Ben, is in Barbados over reading week and I got to catch up with him last night.  

Hard to believe I have less than 11 weeks here, before I am done my third year.

Really busy right now with lots of papers and presentations.  March is going to be really crazy (UWI Carnival, Phagwa Festival, Submarine Tour, UWI Hike, St. Patrick's day....) so I am also trying to get ahead in school.  But boy is there lots to do. And time is flying by!

Ben, Me

Bert's Bar

Despite the Sens' brutal loss to the Leafs, we had a great time on Saturday.  Lots of people came out including the Finnish girls, and Californians who didn't know much at all about hockey.  Melnyk was not there but some of us did go over and meet BERT! haha!  He was watching the game with his wife.  He was not too happy with the Sens! But neither were we,   so we left a few minutes early and got Chilly Moos ice cream. 

Lucy, Claire, Me, Bert

Kathleen, Tori

First Weekend of the Semester

Last Friday we went to the Animal Wildlife Reserve.  A great start to the weekend, we saw turtles, monkeys, maras, snakes, flowers, birds and more, all right up close.  Very cool!

 

After the Animal Wildlife Reserve lots of the group decided to wait for the early bus back towards the school.  A few of us decided to wait for the later more direct bus.  So we went across the road, and stumbled upon breathtaking views at Farley Hill park.  They were very jealous of our amazing photos, especially because their bus was over an hour late so we actually got home only 3 minutes after them! haha!

Of course I had to get a jumping photo there.... Haha

Claire (England, but from Carelton U), Tori (Dalhousie), Lucy (Queens), Me, Jill (Waterloo) & Amber (Waterloo)

The new semester is fresh underway now and the new exchange students are loving Barbados.  On Sunday I showed some of them one of my favourite beaches, Accra Beach.  It is very wavy and lots of fun.  Below are some of the girls who came to the beach:

Zuwana (USA), Me, Andie (USA), Camille (USA). Jess (USA), Sari (USA), Kathleen (Canada) & Frederika (Germany)

Andie, Kathleen, Shannon (Canada), Camille, Jess, Claire and I are also doing volunteering at St. Mary's Primary School together.  The 7 of us, along with to local students Carla and Zavier sing songs and tell stories to children aged 3-9 on Friday mornings from 9-12.  We are led by Tracia (organizer) and Mel (who plays piano).  It is a lot of fun.  Today the children were singing a song which had the line:

Some people are black, and some people are white. But God loves them all

During the "some people were white" all the children were pointing at us students at the front of the class.  And the organizer had to tell them to stop and do the proper actions.  It was quite unusual to Canada where, in my experience, race is less overtly acknowledged.

Nonetheless we really enjoyed the morning there today.  The kids are so cute in their uniforms, and all are eager to participate.  So it is a lot of fun!

On the agenda for this weekend: a Canadian Saturday night at Bert's Bar watching the Sens versus the Leafs, and then an American Sunday night at TGIFridays watching the superbowl.  And maybe some homework... maybe. Haha!

What's for dinner?

I had a lot of food that I was worried was going bad in my fridge so I made a delicious new casserole today!!

Here's the recipe:

1. Dice an onion and fry with beef
2. Make 1 box of KD Mac 'n Cheese completely (noodles, cheese, butter, a little milk)
3. Peel and dice an eggplant, bring to boil in separate pot of water, and then let simmer for 8 minutes.
4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
5. In a separate bowl mix peeled & diced cucumber (leave out the centre) and sliced broccoli (cut so finely it seems shaved) with a drained can of diced tomatoes.  Mix in the prepared ingredients from steps 1-3.  Add parmesan cheese.  Add in 2 cloves of garlic, I shave them with my cheese grater. Mix it all very well.
6. Pour it all in to a greased pan.  Cook for 35 minutes.
7. Take pan out of the oven.  Grate cheese over dish. Cook for 5-10 more minutes.
8. Cool and serve.

Not pretty, but very tasty.

That is what I am having for dinner :)

First Volunteering Day

Amazing time this morning at St. Mary's Primary School.