SVG Independence

Happy 30th Birthday, SVG!

"St. Vincent Land So Beautiful"

(Verse 1)
St. Vincent land so beautiful
With joyful hearts we pledge to thee
Our loyalty and love and vow
To keep you ever free.

(Chorus)
Whate're the future brings
Our faith will keep us through.
May peace reign from shore to shore
And God bless and keep us true.

(Verse 2)
Hairoun, our fair and blessed isle
Your mountains high so clear and green
Are home to me though I may stray
A haven, calm serene.

(Verse 3)
Our little sister islands are
Those gems the lovely Grenadines
Upon their seas and golden sands
The sunshine ever beams.

*Note* The video only plays through the first verse and chorus. If you want to try singing it yourself (you know, to get the full effect), you'll have to hit play 3 times.

Cultural Activity

The Adult and Continuing Education Office hosted a Cultural Activity today, and my music students were invited to participate. Tomorrow marks St. Vincent's 30th year of Independence, so many organizations around the island are holding events like this one, with cultural songs, dramas and poetry. My students opened the event with rousing renditions of "Hot Cross Buns," "Mary Had a Little Lamb," and "Ode to Joy." I know, those are the same songs they learned this summer, but we haven't really had much time to add to their repertoire. In class they are learning "Jingle Bells," but it's not quite up to par yet and I thought October was a bit early to start with the Christmas tunes, in spite of what Macy's may lead you to believe. At the Cultural Activity, we also heard many poems and songs, including "St. Vincent, I Love You," a personal favorite of mine. Click on the link below to listen!

http://www.imeem.com/people/-t8Eq9/music/kbCJgmwa/alston-becket-cyrus-st-vincent-i-love-you/

On a side note, I ran my second 5K yesterday. This time it was on the road - no dodging cow poo! - but in a really hilly area, so it was extremely difficult. I ran with a girl from my area and another PCV from the Leeward side of the island. We are all proud to have finished, but I am definately going to have to up my training if I expect to run a 10K in December!

Books, Books, Books

A while ago, a few friends and I were talking about the books we'd read - we read a LOT, probably because there is really nothing else to do on the weekends or during holidays or after dark, plus the Peace Corps office has a really fantastic library - and we decided to set a goal of reading 100 books during our 2 years here. At the bottom right hand corner of this blog, you'll find my current booklist. The first 30 books are in no particular order, as I read them before setting the goal. As I read more, I'll add the titles to the list and (hopefully) more than double my numbers over the next year. I am open to suggestions, but I'm more or less limited by what's in the office. Happy reading!

Fun Run

To get ready for Run Barbados, we planned to run some races locally (mostly to give the kids a feel for what it will be like), and we ran our first race today! The kids ran a 2K (they were in the under 15 category), and they all finished, so we're really proud of them! Another volunteer and I ran a 6K (19+ category), and it was quite an experience!
First of all, the race was held at St. Vincent's car racetrack, which resembles an abandoned field more than anything. There is a dirt track in some places, but mostly it's overgrown, rocky and extremely muddy, so we slogged through mud and knee-high grasses for the majority of the course. Also, there are goats and cows grazing all around the field (I arrived to the race a little early only to be chased off the field by an angry bull). The goats aren't anything, but cows equal dung piles. Lots of dung piles. Which naturally were deposited right along our running path, so there we were, slogging through mud and knee-high grasses, dodging cow poo. Except, of course, for the part of the trail that included a large, rock hill that you ran up, but had to jump from rock to rock to get down. Six times we ran this course. It was an exhausting race.
One of the more interesting parts of the day was how the water got passed out. During a 5K run in the US, the organizers would pass out cups of water at set points during the race. It's a bit different here - the organizers did pass out water, but in tied plastic bags (what a goldfish might come in). As you passed the water point, you grabbed a bag, bit a hole in it and drank/poured on your head the water. Ingenious.
My friend and I had only 3 goals for the race:
1. Don't trip on the rock hill (because you will seriously injure yourself).
2. Don't step in cow poo.
3. Finish the race.
We accomplished 2 of our goals.
At the end of it, I took second place in my category! There were only four people in my category, but I'm still a little proud. I might even be in the newspaper!

New School Year

Last Monday was the first day of school here in SVG, and I'm pretty excited about the new school year. The teacher I worked with last year is now the literacy coordinator (!) and I will be working with her to teach a literacy curriculum to students in all Forms. This is a BIG step up from last year, when we worked only with Forms 1 and 2. We are starting the year with tons and tons of reading assessments - we will be testing all students in Forms 1 and 2 (320 +), as well as several Form 3, 4 and 5 classes. Once we get through testing, we will be pulling the weaker readers from their classes and working in small groups or one on one. We will also be making recommendations to English teachers based on the classroom weaknesses. It's a lot more work than last year, but definately necessary! I have really high hopes for this year, I think that we will be able to accomplish a lot with our students.
I'm still working on more or less the same things as last year, with one new addition - I am going to be working with a running group. Another volunteer and I are working with Vincentians to form a running team to compete in the 2009 Run Barbados event in December. This is a pretty big deal, running-wise, and a HUGE deal for the kids, who might not otherwise get to travel outside of St. Vincent. We're trying to take about 15 kids, including one of my girls from the Guadalupe Home! We're really excited about this, and I will keep you posted on our progress!
This past weekend, one of our male volunteers got married to a Vincentian girl. Obviously, we all turned out to show our support in our fancy wedding attire (i.e. the one nice outfit that we own). It was a beautiful ceremony and I am really glad for the happy couple. I'll post pictures in a few days.

Summer Update

Just a quick update on my summer activities. I am teaching a summer music camp at a primary school in my community. I'm working with 20 5th graders and we are learning music basics as well as how to play the recorder. The school had the recorders donated through SVG's Social Investment Fund (SIF), which was established to aid poor, rural communities in community development. Working with youths is a really key part of community development, hence the recorder donation. The camp meets twice a week for an hour each day, and we'll meet for 6 weeks. So far, it's been a really great experience for me as well as the kids. We just finished our second week and the students have learned basic musical symbols (treble clef, staff...), the notes of the treble clef AND their first song (Hot Cross Buns). We're also working a lot on rhythm - clapping, banging on desks, using homemade percussion equipment (plastic bottles and dried beans, anyone?). I'm pretty sure that's their favorite part, perhaps because they get to make a lot of noise? It's really a lot of fun, and I hope this is something I can carry into the next school year. I also hope to incorporate everything we learn into an end-of-camp concert. I think that would be fun for everyone - kids, teachers and parents.
The music camp is my main project, but I'm also doing a bit of poetry work at the Girl's Home. Each week, I'm having them look at a different poem or type of poem. Then we discuss it and they write their own poem in that style. It's been a little slow going - critical and abstract thinking really isn't something that is encouraged in the schools here, so I'm having to push the girls to get them to "think outside of the box." So far, we've looked at Ntozake Shange's "i live in music," and limericks are next on the schedule. I would like to get into my favorite poet, e. e. cummings, but that's pretty abstract, so we'll have to see. Ideally, I would like to see the girls create a poetry book, where they record poems they've read along with their responses and interpretations, but we'll have to make it through limericks first!
And that is basically my summer. I have put cooking class on hold for now, since I'm travelling around the island a lot on my off days. Our new group of volunteers comes in about a month, which is exciting (new people!) and sad (the older volunteers are leaving) and strange (I will have been here for a year!). Hard to wrap my head around it. Then school starts and it's back to work, work, work. Why is summer always so short?

You Know You're a PCV in the EC When...

10. Your decreasing grammatical ability is a strong source of pride and you find yourself using phrases like, "Who he?" and "Way dey at?" increasingly often.

9. Febreezing your dirty clothes and hanging them out on the line is JUST as good as washing them.

8. Three hours of church no longer fazes you.

7. Acceptable dinner choices at the end of the month include plain rice and popcorn.

6. You vaguely remember that timeliness is a virtue, but have forgotten why.

5. You know what nutmeg looks like on the tree.

4. Sometimes you go to bed at 8 o'clock, because it's been dark for over an hour and there's really nothing else to do.

3. There are two seasons: rainy and less rainy.

2. You have at least one of the following in your backyard: fruit tree, spice tree, vegetable patch, goat.

1. You don't think you have it in you to catch and cook a chicken, but you've considered it on several occassions.