9 Mornings Update and Holiday Cookies

As it turns out, my original goal of going to 9 Mornings every day was entirely too ambitious. Especially since I never get to bed before 11 pm and the 3:30 am wake up requirement left me in a perpetual zombie-like trance. I did manage to haul myself out of bed for 3 of the 9 Mornings and was glad I did. First of all, it is amazing to be outside in the early morning in St. Vincent because it's cool, quiet and you can see approximately 1 billion stars. And since it is so dark out in the country (coupled with the severe lack of sleep), the lights at 9 Mornings seem even more stunning. The entertainment varied each day, but usually there was some sort of karyoke, guessing games for children, traditional Vincentian dishes like callalou* and bush teas**, costume contests and special appearences by local celebrities. The ceremonies are generally aimed at children, but adults join in the fun as well. The organizers also created special contests for Vincentians living abroad who returned for the Christmas season and visitors experiencing 9 Mornings for the first time. The first day (Tuesday, December 16th), I went to the Carriere 9 Mornings, which is about a half hours walk from my house. I thought it was really nice, although it was on a much smaller scale than other 9 Mornings. On Thursday, December 18th, I went to 9 Mornings in Kingstown, which was significantly larger and more crowded. We tried to go to the Mespo 9 Mornings, but someone apparently dropped the ball, because even though they hung a sign and lights, no one ever organized the 9 Mornings ceremony! Fortunately, a van drove through at 4 am and took us to town. This day was "Audience Day," so anyone who wanted could go up on stage and sing or dance. Skarpyon, a local celebrity, also performed on this day. The last 9 Mornings I attended was on Tuesday, December 23rd in Carriere. I think everyone was pretty tired by this time, because it started an hour late, a pretty significant delay in a 2 hour ceremony! All in all, I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw of 9 Mornings. I'm glad that I was able to experience this entirely Vincentian tradition and I hope to power through at least 4 or 5 mornings next Christmas. I'm posting the few pictures I have.
On Wednesday, December 17th, I invited the other volunteers over and we made Christmas cookies, which may be an entirely American tradition as my neighbors and friends here thought it was strange that we would bake cookies instead of cakes. Even so, we had a lot of fun and watched Christmas-y movies like "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and "The Nightmare Before Christmas." In fact, it was so fun that I invited some of the neighborhood kids over yesterday to bake Christmas cookies. It made for quite a crowded kitchen (4 - 6 kids plus me), but they were great - there was surprisingly little fighting over who got to do what and then only thing they needed help with was cracking the eggs. The most fun part was that each kid got his or her own bowl of dough to add food coloring to. Most of them went a bit color-happy and ended up with greenish-brown gloop, but there were a few nice looking results (notably a purple and green swirl pattern). The important thing is everyone had fun and it was a great way to curb boredom for an afternoon.
On an unrelated note, those of you following this blog will be excited to know that my eggplant plant survived the caterpillar mauling and is now growing new leaves and the pepper plant has begun to form a tiny bell pepper!
Happy Holidays!

*Callalou is a soup made from dasheen leaves (called callalou), coconut milk, potatoes (or other starch) and some kind of meat.
**Bush teas are just teas made from local plants (bush).

A Very Vincy Christmas

Here is a Vincy-style version of "'Twas the night before Christmas," written completely in dialect (by me). It's certainly not perfect (my dialect definately isn't!), but it's not bad and should make for a fun read. I've added some translation notes at the bottom. Enjoy!

‘Twas e night befo Chrismas an all tru Hairoun
All nayga was windin to e new Soca tune.
De cutlasses heng on e front porch wit might
Ready to chop jus in case of a fight.

Nine marnings dun now, all dat sweet bacchanal
An mammy bin kill e fat holiday fowl.
E breadfruit dun roas an e pickney bin lick
Der was nottin to do, ‘cept wait fuh St. Nick.

E pickney was sleepin, tree to a bed
Wile tots of guava jelly dance in dey head.
An mammy in she kerchif and unclo in he cap
Had jus settloed in fuh a lang winter nap.

When out in e yard der arose such a drum
Dat mammy jump up an yell “Rain ah go come!”
She run to e window to close up e shutter
Bu instead see a man in a red Chrismas sweater.

“Way yo a do?” yell she a e man in she yard.
“Leave arwe or me chap yo real hard!”
Bu e man only smile in he red Christmas sweater.
Which mus a bin hot in e tropical wedder.

E man belly real roun along wit he bum
He nose like red mango fuh all dat strong rum
He beard lang and white jus like a new rag
An he drogh on he back a big scarlet bag.

He reach in he bag an he nar mek a soun
Wile he a lay plenty of gif on e groun.
Toys fuh e pickney, a fish fuh e cat
An fuh mammy a red an blue Church-gwine hat.

Den fas as iguana, he turn an he run
An he jump in e front of a idloing van.
An as e van drive, he yell out e rear -
“Ah bussin it, Merry Chrismas, yo hear!”

**Translation Notes**

Hairoun = SVG
All nayga = everyone
windin = dancing
bacchanal = a fun time
pickney = children
"Rain ah go come" = "It's going to rain"
"Way yo a do" = "What are you doing"
"Leave arwe" = "Leave us alone"
fuh = for
drogh = carry
nar = never
gwine = going
"Ah bussin it" = "I'm leaving"

Nine Mornings Kick-Off

On Sunday, I went to the 9 Mornings Kick-Off Festival in Kingstown. 9 Mornings is a strictly Vincentian celebration, which runs from the 16th of December to the 24th of December, basically the 9 mornings before Christmas. 9 Mornings events are held all over the island, and the village with the best 9 Mornings celebration wins the title of "Best 9 Mornings." Last year, the title went to Carriere, a village within walking distance of my house! Each morning, people assemble really early (around 4 am) at their local 9 Mornings celebration, although not every village has one. There, they play Christmas games, sing carols, eat and drink and make merry. The party lasts until about 7 am, when people have to start going to work. Everyone has been talking about 9 Mornings for months now, so I know it will be great. The Kick-Off Festival was really nice. There was a parade through town, which ended in the main square, where the big event was held. There was a Christmas concert and the Minister of Culture spoke and, as always, there was tons of food. Plus, a surprise fireworks show (or at least, a surprise to me). I'm posting pictures. Tomorrow evening, Carriere is having a Kick-Off Festival too, which I am also attending so I will put up pictures of that as well.
Yesterday was our last day of school. We had a school closing assembly in our "assembly room," which is really just a bunch of classrooms that connect through partitions. The teachers gave a short sermon and then led the students in some Christmas carols. It was nice, but a bit noisy. Both campuses met at the main campus, and that is a lot of students in a small space. I also tried my first red mango, which is a mango that has been soaked in a vinegar solution - it looks and tastes kind of like a pickled beet. People here love them, and they're really not bad after the initial shock of the vinegar taste.

Thanksgiving and World AIDS Day

Hello again. We're in our last few days of exams now and I and the students alike are really looking forward to the break. I hope to use it to explore SVG a little more.
Thanksgiving was amazing. Like I said before, it was at the Taiwanese Embassy and each PCV signed up to make a dish. I, along with 2 others, signed up for apple pie, and since I live the closest to the Embassy (about 25 minutes by bus), we spent Wednesday night here baking, baking, baking. The pie making went reasonably well. Our first attempt at crust was a sticky mess, but it tasted good anyway. And then we nearly forgot to add sugar to our first pie, but it fortunately became our penultimate step, just before we pushed it into the oven. Fears of exhausing our propane supply (my oven/stove runs on a propane tank) were unrealized in the end and all 5 pies (that's 3 hours of oven time) were delicious, if a bit lopsided. The transformation from pie #1 to pie # 5 is actually quite amazing - with our baking and teamwork skills refined, we were ready to open our own bakery...that exclusively serves apple pie, as that's the only thing we make well. I'll post pictures when the photographer of the night emails them to me.
So, back to Thanksgiving. We arrived at the Embassy at minutes to 12, carrying pies only slightly worse off for the van ride (a testament to our skills) and were astonished by the sheer amount of food that awaited us. The event was large - 26 PCVs plus staff, 4 Taiwanese volunteers and the entire staff of the Taiwanese Embassy pushed our numbers to 40+ - but I think we had food for twice that. Someone donated 2 enormous turkeys of at least 30 - 40 pounds each, we had buckets of mashed potatoes, gallons of cranberry sauce, ham, green bean casserole, stuffing, yams, apple and pumpkin pies, cheesecake, spice cake, PLUS an assortment of delicious Taiwanese foods. It was fantastic. And on top of all that, they had really good coffee, a luxury I've been craving since I got here. It was really nice to interact with the Taiwanese volunteers as well. They are working with agro-tourism and they also have a 2-year commitment. At the end of the afternoon, the Embassy bestowed us with parting gifts - a mug and re-useable shopping bag displaying their national bird, the blue-magpie. It was such a great time that PCVs unanimously suggested that we hold Thanksgiving every 6 months!
Yesterday, December 1st, was World AIDS Day, a day dedicated to raising awareness worldwide about HIV and AIDS. At EHS, we were able to have a short program for all Form 2 students about HIV and AIDS, run by a nurse from the Mespo clinic and a representative of the SVG AIDS Secretariat. I think it was really successful - the facilitators spoke about how to prevent the spread of HIV and, more importantly, how to reduce the stigma associated with the disease. At the end of the presentation, the students asked a lot of (mostly) thoughtful questions and I think the overall response was positive. I think that it is important to put the issues out there as often as possible - really push the subject so that people understand fully that HIV is about lifestyle choices, that it is a truly preventable disease. I hope that our presentation will prompt EHS students to make better choices in the coming years. I will post pictures when they are emailed to me.

Bequia Wedding

The wedding in Bequia was a beautiful experience. One of the PCVs was the acting priest and the bride and her bridesmaids wore bathing suits and sarongs while the groom and his groomsmen wore bathing suits and ties. We had it right on this beautiful, nearly deserted beach. The bride and groom have been officially married for two years yesterday, but it was nice that they finally were able to have a ceremony. I'm posting pictures.
The only negative about this weekend was that it rained a lot. It's been raining on and off all day since Thursday, with no end in sight. What this means is that I get really wet walking to work and half the students don't even show up. Which is really unfortunate, because this is the last official week of classes. The students start exams next Monday and this week is their opportunity to review the semester's materials. Once exams begin, the students don't keep regular school hours - they only go during their exam blocks. This will be nice for me, because I'll get a chance to work on some lesson plans and activities for next semester. Plus, I'll get an opportunity to catalogue our reading room books - then, next semester, we can build a library system and allow the students to take books home. I'm not sure if they will, but it will still be exciting that they CAN.
Next Thursday, we're joining the Taiwanese Embassy for a Thanksgiving feast. The Taiwanese are preparing traditional Taiwanese foods and we are each preparing a traditional Thanksgiving food. I'm making an apple pie, which is quite American and hopefully very delicious. Tomorrow, I'm going to town to hunt for butter for my pie, which, like all dairy products, is rare on St. Vincent and expensive. Hopefully I'm able to find it at the 'imported-foods' grocery store.

Hello again! Sorry I haven't posted in a while - I didn't have a lot of access to internet after I moved out from my host family. As some of you may have guessed, I am writing you using my NEW INTERNET CONNECTION! Be prepared for some serious blog-age.
So, let me update you a little on what I have been doing the past couple of weeks. I have been working full time at Emmanuel High School. We are doing reading assessments right now, which are pretty time consuming. We have to assess each student individually and each assessment takes between 10 - 20 minutes. The assessments consist of 6 passages, which the students read aloud and 4 - 8 comprehension questions per passage. We have finished with one Form 1 class (7th grade) and one Form 3 class (9th grade), but we still have one Form 2 (8th grade) and three Form 3 classes to do! As each class has between 35 and 40 students, this is quite a task! The nice thing about the evaluations is that they allow us to identify and group students who need a little more help - starting in January, I will be taking those groups out of class to work with them.
I also began working at the Marriaqua Government School this past Monday. I will be going in Monday mornings to work with the 2nd and 3rd grade students. I will be working mainly on literacy there as well.
Last Thursday and Friday, I attended an HIV/AIDS workshop in town. We discussed ways to educate the public about HIV prevention and I am going to use that information to work with an adolescent health group that I hope to re-start soon. The group was begun by the PCV before me, and I hope that the members are interested in continuing to meet.
On the 1st of November, I went with my host family to Union Island, one of the Grenadines, where we watched a Pan Against Crime performance. The ride over on the boat was 4 1/2 hours each way! It was also really choppy, but fortunately, I slept most of the way (otherwise, I might have been seasick for 9 hours!). Union Island is a really beautiful place, but unfortunately we didn't get there until the late afternoon, so I didn't get to explore too much before dark. It's really an interesting comparison to St. Vincent - I thought that St. Vincent was pretty un-populated, but when compared to Union Island, it is like New York City! I think that all the Grenadines are pretty sparsely populated, although I expect they are hopping during tourist season. Of the 120,000 people who live in SVG, I think only about 15,000 live on the Grenadines. And about 30 - 40,000 live in Kingstown. I am posting pictures of Union Island and also of Bequia, where I spent my independence holiday. SVG Independence was October 27th, 1979, so the country is 29 years old (just 7 years older than me!). Next year will be the 30th anniversary of independence and the whole year will be spent in celebration! The government is inviting all the SVG ex-pats back to the island and there will be festivals and celebrations all year long. I'm really excited to be a part of that!
This weekend, two PCVs are having a wedding ceremony in Bequia. Their service dates were pushed up at the last minute so they didn't have time for a ceremony before they left to serve in SVG, just an appointment at the courthouse. I think this arrangement is even better, though - where better to have a wedding than on a beautiful Grenadine Island? We were able to rent two apartments to hold everyone, and the tourist season doesn't start until early December, so we got cheaper rates! We'll be there Saturday and Sunday and most of us will return early Monday to our jobs.
I have to give a shout-out to our new president-elect, Barrack Obama. We were able to congregate in Kingstown for the election (courtesy of the American Embassy, who also provided free food - we will go almost anywhere for free food!). It was a great night and I for one am hopeful and excited about what the next 4 years will bring.
I also have to give a shout-out to the 4th graders at Tomahawk Elementary School in Overland Park. I am corresponding with them through letters and through this blog and I am really excited to tell them of my adventures and to hear all about theirs. Keep up the hard work in school and always be excited about life - with those tools, you can do absolutely anything.

Swearing In & Moving Out

This is my first post as an official Peace Corps Volunteer. Our swearing-in ceremony was on Monday and all 13 of us decided to make the 2-year commitment! It was a really nice ceremony. It was held at the Kingstown Government Building and a bunch of representatives from the press came. We were on the SVG Evening News a few times and I'm pretty sure our picture came out in today's paper (I'm buying a few copies). We're practically famous. :)
Swearing-in begot moving out and most of us have left our home-stay lives behind and begun our official duties (a few are still in home-stay for an extra week or so). We are all enjoying being out on our own, although it gets pretty lonely at times. I have a cute house with a fantastic porch. It has two bedrooms, a living/dining room, a small kitchen and a bathroom (pictures are up). The porch has a hammock hook-up, so I'll have to buy one. The house is actually closer to my school than my homestay family's house - about a 15 minute walk. I live right across from a soccer playing-field where they play games Monday - Saturday. I haven't had a chance to go watch a game yet, but I hear they're pretty exciting. It is about a 15 - 20 minute walk to the grocery store, post office, police station and hospital. I have met a few of my neighbors and everyone seems really nice. Most of them were on good terms with the PCV before me, so I am already a more or less accepted member of the community. The nice thing about replacing a PCV is that you already have a set of friends waiting for you. The not-so-nice thing is that most people assume that you will be exactly like the volunteer you are replacing, which is rarely true.
My first week as an official PCV was pretty uneventful. The teachers in SVG were still on strike this week (from last week), so only about half of the Emmanual High School teachers came each day. We had official school on Tuesday and Wednesday, although the students spent most of their time alone in the classroom or running around the school grounds and school dismissed at lunch. On Thursday, we had an SVG Independence ceremony for a couple of hours, complete with a flag-raising ceremony and the national anthem. SVG Independence is on Monday, October 27th and all schools have a holiday on Friday and Monday. This year is the 29th year of SVG Independence. To celebrate on Monday, a couple of volunteers and I are going to Bequia, the nearest Grenadine to St. Vincent. It should be great fun.

SVG Funerals

I went to my first St. Vincent funeral on Saturday afternoon/evening. In the US, funerals are often perceived as sad and kind of bleak, but funerals in St. Vincent are really a celebration of the person's life. The whole town is invited to attend and hundreds of people come to pay their last respects. Funerals typically begin with an open-casket viewing, with funeral attendees forming a procession through the church to walk by the casket. The typical funeral service lasts 2 - 3 hours, though I've heard of services pushing toward 4 hours. During the service, family members and friends give testimonies about the person's life and everyone sings, dances and prays. There is some crying, but the ceremony is generally viewed as a moment of celebration both of the life and the after-life of the person. After the ceremony, the coffin is driven to the cemetary and the funeral procession follows on foot or by car (depending on how far the cemetary is from the church). If on foot, the group dances and sings during the journey. At the cemetary, there is more dancing and singing as the person is buried, and then special dances and songs are performed in which participants (mainly family and friends) lay flowers over the gravesite and light candles. The graves are literally heaped with flowers - in SVG, it is customary for people to bring wreaths of flowers to a funeral and ALL the wreaths are piled up on the grave. After finishing at the cemetary, family and friends will usually convene at a nearby house and spend the rest of the evening eating, drinking and remembering the life of the deceased. SVG funerals are truly festive celebrations of a life well lived.

Training Update

We are now in our final week-and-a-half of training and we're all pretty anxious to push through. Most of us will move into our houses in exactly 11 days (not that we're counting...), although a few people have to remain at home stay for a couple of weeks more due to housing issues. We are all grateful for the integration opportunities presented to us during training and homestay, but the days tend to drag on and mix together into an endless blur of flip charts and white-boards. At this point, we are ready to begin our lives as PCVs in the EC and to face our real challenges.
Last night, I went to the movies with some colleagues/friends from the high school I work at. It was really exciting to see a movie and to spend some time with this group outside of work. We saw "Pineapple Express," which was hilarious! We were also the only 5 people in the theater, so we could laugh as loudly and talk as much as we wanted (and we wanted). After the movie, we went to a local arcade, where we raced video game cars. Obviously, I won - I told them that it was in my genes because I have an uncle who is a race car driver. I'm lucky that many of the people I work with are young - we seem to have a lot in common and we are able to work as a collective team, with no person taking too dominant a role. I can definately say that EHS has a great staff!
Last Saturday, I went to the beach for recreation! It was amazing. The place we went was called a salt pond, although I'm not sure it was a true salt pond, because it was connected to the ocean. It was separated from the Atlantic Ocean by some rocks, so the water was very calm and very warm. We went with a group from my church and we swam and ate delicious food for hours! I'm posting pictures so you can all see SVG's beautiful beaches! I hope that we can go back there again...it's supposed to rain all weekend, but maybe once we're sworn in, we'll get some relief!

International Coastal Cleanup

The International Coastal Cleanup was this past Saturday (September 27th). Actually, it was supposed to be the Saturday before (September 20th), but it was raining and if you know one thing about St. Vincent's culture, know that Vincentians run toward fire but run away from rain. So obviously, the event was cancelled and moved to the next Saturday. Which was 3 days ago. There was supposed to be a river clean-up in Mespo (Mespo is a part of Marriaqua, which means "married rivers," so we have a lot of them), but since we didn't have enough people (just me and 2 Ministry employees, who planned the event and HAD to show up), we drove to the coast and cleaned up the mouth of the Yambou River, which REALLY needed it! We spent 3 hours cleaning up the equivalent of about 1/8 mile of beach front. We had to record everything we picked up for the ICC records, so I worked with 1 other man and together we filled 5 garbage bags (industrial size). Which was quite a lot. In the end, we collected over 150 plastic bottles, hundreds of food containers, thousands of little plastic pieces and 2 tires. A nice effort. We also found a surprising number of boat parts, which either stopped working and got tossed overboard OR (my favorite hypothesis) were shattered into a thousand little pieces by a Jaws-ish shark. Duh-dun, duh-dun, duh-dun.
Anyway, the beach cleanup was pretty successful, even though only 8 people showed up: 6 Ministry employees, 1 child of a Ministry employee and me. We managed to collect about 20 bags FULL of garbage, which made a big dent in our small beach site. I know that next week, the beach will probably be filled again with garbage, but I hope that the people who watched us spend our Saturday picking up other people's trash will think twice the next time they go to toss their soda bottle on the ground.
In other news, we are officially more than halfway through our service! We have less than three weeks to go, and we are all excited about starting our projects and a little anxious about being on our own. We had our Mid-Training-Interviews on Friday and everyone is doing well so far. We're pretty excited that our group is still intact at this point! No one has left on any of the Eastern Caribbean islands, which is virtually unheard of at this point. Either we are really a spectacular group or just a little slow to react...I'm pulling for the former. We've reached the point in our training where each of us must implement a program-specific project (i.e. a youth development project or an NGO project). Mine is in the works, and I'll tell you all about it later on. I'm really excited about it, though - I hope everything falls (or rather, is pushed really, really hard) into place.

Trip to Georgetown

Right now, there is a tropical wave affecting many of the lower Caribbean islands, including SVG. What this means is, it has been raining non-stop for 4 days. Now, I know that "raining non-stop" is usually an exaggeration meant to emphasize the degree of fed-up-ness one feels about the weather, but here in SVG that's a literal statement. It literally has not stopped raining for 4 days. The first day was nice, because of the drop in temperature. The second day was bearable and surprisingly cool. The third day was pretty bad for reasons I'll explain later on, and as we move into the middle of the 4th straight day of rain, I'm pretty much ready to challenge the rain gods to a fight. After 5 days spent pent-up in training, schools, and buses, I'm pretty bitter about a weekend spent confined in a house.
Yesterday, we went on a field trip to Georgetown, which is northeast of my community, and that was the day we really got to see the devestation of such a large quantity of rain. The Peace Corps chartered a bus to take us to Georgetown, a fabulous change from my normal bus experience, which usually doesn't include personal space. About half of us met the bus in Kingstown and the rest we picked up on the way to Georgetown. And of course, it was pouring down rain. We were supposed to leave the Peace Corps office by 9 am, but due to rain delays, we actually left at 9:45. This was fine, for those of us in the dry, warm Peace Corps office, but those we were picking up on the way were informed to wait by the main road for the bus to pick them up and to be there between 9:15 and 9:30. Due to ever increasing rain delays, we picked up the first person, soaking wet, at 10:45.
There were so many delays because all the rain we've gotten has caused massive flooding and landslides across the island. St. Vincent is a really hilly island, and while the hills are completely clear, the valleys often have several inches of standing water and are sometimes un-passable. Our trip to Georgetown, which would usually take less than an hour, took us more than two, due to all of the side-roads we had to navigate when the main road was flooded or covered in fallen boulders and trees. The main roads in St. Vincent are carved into the sides of hills and mountains, and when they get really wet, mudslides occur and bring trees and large rocks down too. It was really an experience driving through all this, knowing how unstable the mountainside is and hoping that our bus wouldn't fall victim to a landslide. Actually, most buses won't even run in this kind of weather, which is nice as far as safety goes, but frustrating, I imagine, when you have to get to town.
Once we got to Georgetown, however, we had a nice (though short and wet) day. We went to a place called Marion House, which teaches technical skills to out-of-school youth. We also went to a home for mentally handicapped children, who are often abandoned or abused, and got to play with them and meet the PCV who currently works there. For lunch, we drove to a beach called Black's Point, which was one of the film sites for Pirate's of the Caribbean, and ate at picnic tables (covered, of course). It's actually really beautiful here when it rains, although this is easy to forget if you're trapped inside all day. Here's hoping that this tropical wave goes on its merry way!

Week 2 of PST

Way de man say? For all you non-dialect speakers out there, that's Vincy-talk for "what's up?" The appropriate response is, of course, "level."
I visited my worksite for the third time today, and the kids are already starting to grow on me (two site-visits ago, I would never have believed that!). They're still LOUD and very behind the curriculum, but many of them seem genuinely interested in what is being taught and many of them try really hard to do their work and answer the teacher's questions. I can't wait to work with them on a more individual level, though, because all the enthusiasm in the world can't help a kid with 39 other classmates and no classroom door. Each time I go to Emmanuel, I have a little bit more responsibility. The first day, I just met the teachers and talked lesson plans; the second-time, I just did classroom observation and helped individual students; this last time, I helped teach a little and I watched the class for 5 minutes while the teacher was gone (quite an accomplishment!). I'm glad that we get to ease into this...especially because I think they still expect me to teach after training, no matter how often I assure them I am not qualified.
I also spoke more to the head of the Adult Education Center. He wants me to run a basic literacy course for out-of-school adults (ages 15+), which I am actually pretty excited about. He also wants to work with me to conduct a formal survey of the needs in this community. I think we are going to have a week-long open-house, where community members can walk in and find out exactly what the AEC has to offer. I think this is going to be my project this fall, so let's hope it is a success.
Today, I hand-washed my clothes for the first time! It took me two hours to wash 5 shirts, 1 pair of pjs, 6 bras and 13 pairs of underwear. The end product was a little soapy and I just couldn't get a pesky stain out of one shirt, but as I laid the clothes on the roof to dry, I couldn't help but feel proud of my efforts. This kind of pride that only comes from a laundry room full of soapy water and some raw knuckles. If you've never hand-washed (and I'm not talking about "hand-wash only" stuff, I'm talking "you could throw me in the washing-machine, but opted for the hand-washing experience" stuff), let me recommend it. It's quite character building.

Job-Site Visit

First thing's first. Riding the bus is SCARY! Each bus has a name, and though I learned early on to avoid the buses with names like "Slidin' off a cliff" and "Runs into your house," it's the more subtle ones like "SlimShady" that can sometimes throw you off. In any instance, "SlimShady" is not an experience I want to re-live; thus is the value of a 'street' education.
Today, I visited the high school that I will be working at for the next two years. Everyone I met on staff seems really nice and helpful. The teacher that I will actually be working with (my IPP...I don't remember what that stands for, but I think by now, you must all be noticing the trend. Peace Corps loves to abbreviate terms.) was extremely helpful today. She explained how the school system works and some of the major issues that they are having problems with. She also seems really eager to hear my suggestions. I think that the Peace Corps told our sites that we would be experienced and insightful. I hope I can live up to that praise.
My IPP brought me into her classrooms for a short while today. She teaches remedial literacy, and that is what I will be helping her with for the next 2 years. The children were nice, though loud (there are 40 kids in each class!), and they were confused about the spelling of my last name, so they call me Miss Kim. I will probably be working one-on-one or in small groups with the kids, which I think will really facilitate a better learning experience. Hopefully I will pick up on some teaching methods during my once-weekly internship at Emmanuel. I won't officially start working there until October.
I also spoke with the director of the adult education center in Mespo. He seems really excited to work with me - I think the previous volunteer worked with him. We are supposed to meet next week to discuss project ideas. I really want to target a program to out-of-school youth between the ages of 15 and 20. Early drop-out is an issue in SVG, so I really want to make this one of my primary issues.
It is still hot Hot HOT, but I think the peak of the rainy season is soon, so hopefully we get some relief (plus, I could finally don my bright yellow rainboots). I've also heard gossip (or, in dialect, comess) that in the winter, the temperature sometimes drops into the 60s, so I'm really looking forward to that.

Homestay

We arrived in St. Vincent on Saturday afternoon and I met my homestay family for the first time! My family consists of my homestay mom, her husband and their two children, 10 and 15. They are all really nice and have done everything to make me feel at home! They also have a really nice house with a microwave, internet and a washing maching, which will be very nice during my homestay period, but which I think will not prepare me for the small, technology-less house I will most likely inhabit for the next two years. When we told our Associate Peace Corps Director (APCD) about how nice our homestay homes were, he laughed and warned us not to hope for these things during our 2 year stay...
Even with a microwave, it is still HOT. This time, at least, I have my own fan AND it points directly at me AND it is not hung 8 feet in the air! I also have a bed-side table/lamp, but so far, I've only discovered 1 outlet in the room, so I have had to choose between fan or good lighting. I think you can all guess which one I've chosen.
Mesopotamia (Mespo for short) is in a valley, which is really nice view-wise, because we look up at some AMAZING landscapes. It also rains a lot more here than in higher up or more coastal towns (twice a day since I've been here), which cools it off a bit. We also have tons of these horrible little biting bugs called sand-flies, which are literally the size of a pin-prick and thus, unsmushable. They're KILLING me, but my host mom tells me I will get used to them.
On Saturday afternoon, we attended something called "Pan Against Crime." Local kids (including my youngest host sister) took classes at the Kingstown police station all summer, and Saturday night was their final concert/graduation. They played all sorts of instruments, including guitar, clarinet, trumpet, drums and pan (steel pan...like a steel drum). The concert was fantastic! It was amazing to see how well the kids play after only 6 weeks of training! And it was nice to see that this event was so successful in its initial run. The police chief couldn't have been more pleased and went on and on about how playing an instrument and being part of a group keeps kids off the street and out of trouble. I completely agree!
Another good thing that happened at "Pan Against Crime" was I met the 2nd in command to the police chief, told him I played the flute and was asked to play with the band! He said that other Peace Corps volunteers before me had played with them and it was a good experience for all involved. Plus, I think they can even provide a flute for me! I hope this works out, because what a neat way to integrate into a country!
Yesterday was our first day of PST and I think it went well, though we have a LOT of homework already! Before next week, we have to make a map of our community, cook a local meal, give explicit driving directions to/from our site, ask our host family about local laws/traffic AND learn a little of the local dialect. I've already worked on this last one - last night, my older host-sister invited her cousins over and they spoke to me in dialect. Then, we went to their house, where their mom (who spoke better dialect) taught me a ton of phrases, including "come ya" and "me lov comess." Translation: "come here" and "I love gossip." Plus, the oldest cousin is close in age to me and we are going to go limin' on Saturday (hanging out around the town). So, yesterday was a pretty good day!
Today we are going to open our bank accounts and I have to take the bus for the first time...I'll let you know how that goes!!

St. Lucia

Hello all! I'm writing you from beautiful St. Lucia, where we've been staying for the past 2 days (after 30 minutes spent trying to connect to the FREE wireless). We flew in yesterday afternoon at about 3 pm and after a 2 hour, slightly nauseating bus-ride, we made it to Pre-Service-Training (PST). So far, we've gone over everything from hurricane preparedness (yes, there is a plan) to how to brush and floss our teeth...with much more to come tomorrow (our last day of PST). AND, we got some very exciting news today...our assignments! I will be in a city called Mesopotamia (like the Fertile Crescent), which is on the southeastern side of the island and I will be working at a high school assisting with remedial reading, IT and building a library system. So, pretty cool. I haven't really gotten a chance to research much more than that (plus, with this internet connection, it may take me all night just to find a map!), but I'm sure you will all look it up as soon as you read this, so, let me know! When we get to St. Vincent on Saturday, we'll go immediately to our host families to get settled in, so I may be able to call (or at least e-mail) that day. I'm pretty sure that we're looking into cell phones next week, so I'll let you know how that goes as well. But at least they gave us some information (finally!!) and now, you can all really confuse your friends when you tell them I'm in Mesopotamia (you mean, like the Middle East?). :)
Tonight, we are hoping to catch Obama's speech before the dining hall closes. The food here has been really good and there is TONS of it. Each day, we eat big breakfasts, lunches and dinners (with an ice cream dessert), plus 2 snacks. Our days pretty much revolve around eating. But the best part is, we get to try all the local foods. For example, the first night we ate something that I could have sworn was potato salad...except it was made with a green banana, which they call a fig. We also ate something that looks like a blue potato, avocados with red skin and tons of fresh fish. Today during training, we learned all about the local foods, including many things we absolutely cannot eat (including the Manchineel fruit, which is so poisonous, rainwater dripping from the tree will cause your skin to blister). Good things to know.
Another thing about this place is that it is HOT! We have no air-conditioning in our rooms (and only one mosquito net, even though two people share a room...knock on wood, because so far, the mosquitoes have been kind to me). Our first major accomplishment in the EC involved a chair, a hanger and the "on" button of a fan hung 8 feet in the air. It was our shining moment. I actually didn't even mind getting up at 6:30 this morning because it was COOL! Nights are nearly unbearable, though, even after a cold shower! I hope we adjust soon, because I think St. Vincent is even hotter than St. Lucia (I also hope we get our regulation mosquito nets soon, because some people here look like they have chicken pox and it's only a matter of time before the mosquitoes discover my roomie and I)!

Staging

Hello again! We get free wireless internet in our very posh hotel, so I can write all about my staging experiences.
Yesterday, we had about 6 hours of "training" (not our real training, but the training for our real training). We met everyone in the group (about 38?) and did some ice-breakers, which were fun. I also met my roommate, Kelly, who is really nice, but not going to my island, so we only have a few days to hang-out. :( I did meet all the people going to St. Vincent and they are all so cool! We are going to have such a good time together. Last night, a bunch of us went to dinner at a Cuban restaurant called Versailles. The food was delicious, but it took us 40 minutes to walk there (instead of the nice 20-minute stroll they told us it would be!), so we took a cab back! Then, a few of us played a game called Cribbage back at the hotel, which I am pretty terrible at, so thanks to my partner for continuing to play with me.
Today was a pretty long day. We went from 8:30 - 5:30, with about an hour for lunch and one 5 minute restroom break! We learned a lot about what to expect in the next few days and then once we get to our site. The staging directors really like using large sheets of paper to write/draw our feelings on, which creates kind of a Kindergarten atmosphere, only without the nap! We also did a fun exercise in which we went over the Peace Corps expectation using singing and interpretive dance. Pretty awesome. Tonight, we have to re-pack and inventory our stuff (just in case) and prepare for our 6 am (oh, that's right) check-out tomorrow morning. Hopefully the wake-up-call we order actually happens, because this morning, it definately didn't.
I think we are all a bit scared and really anxious to depart. We can't believe that after nearly a year in preparation, this is actually happening. I won't be able to write for maybe a couple of days, but I will try to update as soon as I get "settled" in St. Lucia (for 3 days...).

Pre-Staging

Hi everyone! I'm in Miami right now, visiting friends from school and waiting for staging to begin (it starts tomorrow!). We'll have two days of staging, where I will meet all the other volunteers from the Eastern Caribbean and finish the mounds of paperwork they gave us. Then, we leave Wednesday morning and fly to St. Lucia for a few days before making our final trip to St. Vincent. Now, I'm just savoring my last moments of free time (not sure how much of that I can expect for a couple of years!) and looking forward to meeting my fellow volunteers tomorrow. I will try to post as often as I can to let everyone know what I am doing and how my experience is going.