Term 2

We are three weeks into the second term of the school year (we have 3 terms - the first runs from September to December, the second from January to April, and the third from April to July). This is the sports term, which means that classes are disrupted frequently so the students can go practice cricket or netball. Pretty soon, they will choose students to play on the school team, which will travel around the island to play tournaments against other schools. The students have also been divided into houses and at the end of February, we have a "Sports Day," when students from each house play each other in the different sports. This is a really fun term for the students, but certainly not very academically inclined.
I've started to get more involved at school and in the community, so I'm quite a bit busier this term. I'm still involved with the remedial English class, but I've also branched out a bit. The principal asked me to teach a science class this term, and even though I have NO teacher qualifications whatsoever, I agreed. I teach integrated science to 40 Form 1 students 5 periods a week. It's not a lot, but between class control and lesson plans, it can feel overwhelming sometimes. I do enjoy it, though - it gives me a chance to get to know the students a little more and I'm happy for the opportunity to make science fun and interesting. I also have been working with the Form 5 chemistry classes. I sit in and assist the teacher twice a week, and starting next week, I'll be leading a weekly after-school study/discussion session with the students. I'm also working with other Emmanuel teachers to start a Young Leaders Organization. The students involved will work on an environmentally themed, community based project that they research, plan and implement. In May, all the participating schools get together to present their projects, and the top three groups are awarded prizes. We are still in the (very) beginning stages, but I'm excited to see how the group progresses over the next 4 months. At the primary school, I have begun teaching a 5th grade music class once a week, which is really fun. We're just starting the basics, but in a few weeks, we're going to start learning to play the recorder. The kids are really excited about this and so am I! I'm still working with the Adult and Continuing Education Center - we are planning an open-house for the first week in March, when all community members can come out, see what classes are being offered and give feed-back on our operations in Mespo. I am also tutoring math and English twice a week at the Girl's Home in my neighborhood. And finally, I am working with other PCVs to plan a basketball summer camp in communities around the island. It's a heavy load, but I'm really interested in everything I'm involved in, so I have fun with it.
In other news, I FINALLY recieved the letters from Tomahawk Elementary School (2 1/2 months after they were mailed). SVG has been promised a postal code, which should help fix this problem. I will be sending individual responses to each student, but for now, let me answer some of the common questions I was asked.
I really like to travel. I have lived in many states (Virgina, Maryland, Texas, Ohio, Florida) and have visited several countries in Europe (Italy - I lived here for 6 months, France, Poland, Switzerland). I hope that I can travel even more and would like to visit Asia and South America.
Some of my hobbies are playing the flute, writing poetry and doing crossword puzzles. I also really enjoy swimming, but where I live is kind of far from the beach, so I don't go often.
My favorite color is green, which is perfect in St. Vincent, since everything is green here all the time.

Back to School

The Christmas vacation officially ended on Friday and today was our first day back at school. I'm glad to be back in a schedule, but I was just starting to get good at doing nothing all day, so I'm kind of mixed. Today was pretty uneventful for me, because it was a teacher planning day - this roughly translates into 'last minute scramble to get grades in/complain about how the break wasn't long enough.' I don't assign grades and there is only so much complaining I can do, so I left at lunch. This week will probably be spent weaning the students off their holiday sugar/tv rush, which will be a nice, slow transition for teachers too. I am excited about this semester - I'm going to try to spread out a bit in the community and get some really interesting projects going. I'll post more when I get a little more settled into to a schedule.
Now to backtrack a bit - in between Christmas and New Year's, I visited one of the Vincentian waterfalls with some friends. The waterfall is called Dark View Falls and is located in Chateau-Belair, a community on the north-Leeward side of the island. Another volunteer's sister and brother-in-law were visiting and we drove in their rental car (which, hands down, beats a van) to the waterfall. It was about 1 1/2 drive, once we left Mespo. The waterfall is amazing! We had to walk across a bridge made entirely of bamboo and then a bamboo forest to get to it. There are actually 3 parts - lower, middle and upper. We were able to get to the lower falls and the middle falls, but to get to the upper falls, you have to climb part of a mountain using vines, and as we are neither skilled climbers nor goats, we passed (I say goats, because the goats here really seem to enjoy climbing things - if you have one in your yard, you can be sure that it will find the highest rock and stand on it). Actually, I thought the climb to the middle falls was a bit precarious, but everyone else deemed it safe, so we went. I have posted pictures of the falls - they really are breathtaking.
I spent New Year's in Bequia. It was a really nice time - they put on an awesome fireworks show (or so I thought - they say it was 100 times better last year). We really enjoyed our last days of freedom, since most of us returned to work today. I have a few pictures - I will probably add them to the existing Bequia album. I added one picture of a bolley tree - notice the large, round, green fruit. People cut these in half and hollow them out, then carve or paint designs on each half and use them as bowls. They look really cool when finished, I'll try to take a picture of one.
I hate to end on a sad note, but something ate my little pepper - I suspect chickens.