Pole Vault Fundraiser

The family of one of our athletes recently held an Open Air Jam Session featuring local musicians playing live until the early hours of the morning. With support from our community members, we were able to get one step closer to our goal of attending the National Pole Vault Summit in Reno in January.

Community Center

Our Center Management Committee has been working for a full year now and is in the process of renovating the grounds, a room for our new After-School IT Center, and the public toilet facility. Work is coming slowly, but surely.

Other Adventures

Once in a while I pull myself away from what I love doing and actually partake in fun activities with little purpose. Hiking Mt. Gimie, Snorkeling, and going diving with my local friends were among some of those activities.

I'm coming back to the blog after months and months away.

For news on my main project, the pole vault development program, check http://polevaultstlucia.blogspot.com We just completed a 3-day coaching clinic which was very successful and will be the first step towards the sustainable development of the program.

Life is going pretty well. It's rainy season which means I ration water, but still not coffee, can opt for bucket showers or a quick splash under the roof at 4:30am, and in general, things feel like seattle quite a bit more (gray, rainy). Of course, the days its not raining, it back to 85 degrees and slightly humid.

It's also Carnival season, which means two days of holidays for people to dress up, drink rum, and parade through the streets of the capital dancing to music which i neither understand or can enjoy for more than 30 seconds. I did however have a chance to see and walk through Carnival in our smaller main town...and it met all my expectations....Carnival 2009....Check.

I'm looking at an extension here until next April. I will call it 98% sure. After which I will return to the NW followed by adventures to be named later. So I'll try and keep posting thoughts, pics, etc here better than I have been in the past.

The St. Lucia Pole Vault Development program has been working with athletes since June 2008. The primary goals of the program are to work with the St. Lucia Athletics Association to prepare athletes for competition in the Junior Carifta Games in April 2009. The longer term goal is a sustainably running development program for young men and women in St. Lucia for years to come.

The program started in with a short workshop for our athletes in late February, 2008. From this, a small number of athletes were selected to continue training with the program. Official training for the 2009 Carifta Games began in late June of 2008. Although some athletes have come and gone, the program has found its core of vaulters. Despite not having access to the stadium for several months, the athletes have been training diligently with what equipment is available in preparation for success in the spring.

Team-Building Activities

Coming up next week, the pole vaulters are having a team-building day where we will tour a historic British Fort, go to the beach, have a pizza dinner, then go to the cinema. A special thanks must be given to Dan and Chris Behl in Wisconsin whose donation will go towards assisting our group in transportation costs for this special day.

Upcoming Camp

In January, we have three weekend camps planned where I hope our vaulters will have the opportunity to start taking off. We have focused on building a strong foundation on the ground since June. Now the opportunity should be near for that hard work to pay off and the athletes to start flying!

Got a popsicle stick, a knife, some paints? Then you have a business.

The youth of my neighborhood have quickly taken to miniature surfboards that I have cut out. "Mr. Andy, we need to sell these at school!"

A few meetings later and 'Surf Endeavors' was formed. The focus of the project is to educate the youth on running a business, producing a business plan, and getting experience with small business operations. For now, all profits come back to the company and are used to subsidize group activities for the kids, such as "going to the cinema!"

After the boards were carved up, we had a big production day of sanding and painting the boards.

With not much to do and everyone else having responsibilities such as jobs and school, i took the afternoon to go on a hike near my folks house.

On The Summit!

I arrived back in El Paso on the 5th of Nov. and have had a great time thus far. Highlights include hanging out with the ENTIRE family, having an early thanksgiving, kicking Dad's butt at golf (repeatedly), and seeing Brandon finish up his Senior Season of football.

Time has flown by. These last couple weeks have been a bit more relaxing as all of the Eastern Caribbean volunteers gathered for our mid-service conference here on St. Lucia. We were able to re-connect for some workshops, sharing experiences, and definitely having a blast just seeing each other again. A few came back to visit their home-stay families in Mon Repos and stayed by my place for a few days as well.

The last few days I have been getting back into the groove of village life. Working on small projects for my pole vault program, catching up with community partners on other programs, and generally enjoying the last week or so before the kids go back to school, or as they say in kweyol , “ti bef ale’ an pak-la” (The little cows go back inside the fence).

Yesterday I finally got around to trying out something I’d seen a few times over the past year here in Mon Repos: Coffee roasting. I had seen a few locals making their own coffee over the past few months and was eager to make my own St. Lucian version of “Behl’s Brew” as my college friends knew it as. After only 3 hours of “parching” (roasting) and pounding coffee beans in a “mortar” with a “pila”, I was able to produce my first can of coffee which I am now enjoying as I write this blog.

It’s been a great year, challenging and fulfilling. I’ve learned quite a bit and suspect that my perspective has changed more than I realize. I’m stoked for the year ahead.

After arriving home Wednesday from another busy day, I met a few buddies down by the 'big field' as we were on our way to go crabbing. Unlike the crabbing of Hood Canal that I was used to, we didnt use cages. We didnt even go out in a boat. We grabbed our flashlights and heavy-duty sacks and went for a hike down to the beach.

For three hourse we walked through the mangroves, through rivers, creeks, and along the seashore looking for surprised crab to be scuttling away towards their nearest hole in the ground. I accepted that fact that, by being the new guy, I would do most of the carrying of the night's catch. By the time we were done, my sack alone weighed 40 pounds.

The following day I met up with a group from the University of Vermont to train for a football & HIV/AIDS camp at our local primary schools. After training, we were able to head back down the road to my house and feast on a lunch of freshly-caught crab.

Since then we have successfully put on the Grassroots Soccer/Football 4 Lives camp at two of our primary schools, reaching over 100 students with HIV/AIDS information and discussion.

Early April saw a 2-week break in the school schedule in St. Lucia. The second week of this saw myself and three fellow PCVs in Barbados catching the tail end of some moderate swells. (a full-page spread in Surfer magazine was taken at one of the breaks just 3 days before we arrived.) Highlights included good surf, flying fish at the fish fry, meeting a friendly local named Tyrone who we surfed with, enjoying time off of our own islands now spent on a different rock, hitting on waitresses and internet-cafe clerks, getting our sunglasses stolen by our new-found friend Tyrone, and the general shenanigans that occur over the course of a week.

12'-14' swells w/ peaks at 18' were expected to hit the island today from the North. Naturally, at 6am I rolled out of bed, threw on some shorts and shoes and went for a hike down to the coast to check out the scene and also for surf possibilities. After convincing a few neighbors that I would not go swimming, I escaped down the path through the banana fields and pastures towards the sea. around 9am I returned back up the hill knowing I had some work yet to accomplish today.

Stopping by a local shop, I wanted to get some matches on credit so I could cook pancakes for brekky. The owner, a friend of mine, took interest in my pictures of the coast, then gave me the matches and ginger ale....what a deal! Approaching my house, I realized I was out of eggs. Sure enough, I look down in hope near my back door that the chicken layed another egg overnight...Jackpot. Fresh egg for the pancakes.

After breakfast, I scored a ride w/ my supervisor to the office in the next village and cranked through my work for the day. I then got a free ride in my friend's transport to my next stop. Luckily, as the Gods would have it, was able to avoid an unscheduled meeting that could have arisen. I then made my way quickly up to the capitol to meet upwith a friend to check out the waves on the West side of the island.

I was greeted with simply the overall biggest and best break I have ever ridden. This session was good for getting the rust of 10 months w/out surf off. Despite not catching a single wave, I had a blast getting back in the water in a warm up for a Barbados surf trip in two weeks.

Afterwards, was treated to a great dinner and a movie at "The Cinema" which is one of the greatest attractions for locals here on St. Lucia.

All in all, the pieces seemed to come together.

Best wishes to all this Easter! God Bless.

A nice couple of days I've had...My first PE class was on Friday at the Adventist school. It has turned into an incentive program for students who score at the top of their class or make major improvements on their weekly exams this term. The idea is to teach them Frisbee this quarter, which the principal has never seen, but the kids are familiar with it. With two frisbees, I was able to facilitate some activities for the 18 kids.

I was also a little busy with some proposal writing for sponsors for an Independence Day program in one of my villages. I ventured a bit south yesterday to the Latille Waterfalls...a sick place that I plan on taking any visitors to. I met a friend up there by chance and he showed me around...the highlight was a small dam in the creek that we were able to jump and dive from into the river.

Upon returning home two nights ago, I had a number of great encounters...a neighbor of mine was selling yams (bajan) and pineapples (zannanna) by the highways and ended up just giving me a pineapple since she knows I like them. In return, I promised to bring them some homemade pizza with pineapple this week.

Down on my street I stopped at another friend's house and talked crab cleaning with Williamson. They His wife gave me some small fish that she cleaned, so i need to fry those up tomorrow night and williamson is going to save me some crab.

The next house down I stopped to chat for a while and was treated to some fresh tuna that was fried in a pan on their coal pot. Delicios. I had to hurry home due to a meeting later on in the evening...

So I hiked up across my village to the meeting....and was the only one there. I guess I didn't get the memo...

Tomorrow, I have to get up early, drop off some proposals and go for a run up a massive hill, then church and cricket practice...Time to hit the sack.

Christmas day was far from white and the traditions were far from what I'm used to back home. What better way to celebrate the birth of our Savior than attending the Christmas mass from 10pm -midnight, then partying until 7am the next morning? That's what the first part of the Holiday brought for many Lucians....

Christmas Eve:

11:00pm I have finished playing dominoes for a couple hours with some neighbors down the street. The glass of local wine, or maybe it was the popular Carlo Rossi, has made me a bit tired. I know I have a big morning ahead so I head back to my house to take a powernap for a bit. (I found the fascination Lucians have with dominoes strange, then I realized, "Hey, back home all my relatives play sheepshead and euchre for hours on holidays. No big deal." )

Chrismas Day:

12:00am Well, mass at church should be getting over and the Jou Ve (day break party)should be starting down the street....No sounds though...back to bed for an hour

1:00am Still no music...back to sleep

2:00am Nothing still...ahh...another hour.

3:00am Bass from the speakers and some yelling. It's time to Jou Ve.

3:15am I head up the road a block from my house and see that about 15 or so people are drinking and dancing in a 20x20 hut that I helped put a tarp over for a roof earlier in the day. This party is put on by the local youth and sports group. I think I'll check out the BIG block party at the basketball court across the village, then hit this on my way back home in a few hours.

3:42am I arrive at the court to find hundreds of people gathered under the lights of the court. plenty of loud music and drinks on sale. Although I show up alone, it doesn't take long to find familiar faces and a Malta (my non-alcoholic drink of choice)

5:30am After some time of people watching and hanging with friends I retire from the big jou ve and head back down to my street. Stopping of course at the jou ve there.

6:20am I have enjoyed a beer and some chicken while listening to the soca music blasting from the massive speakers in the hut and return to my house.

6:23am I enter my kitchen. at the same moment, I hear a young woman yell, "Where's the white boy?!?! from down the street. I look out and my friend Guile is already in my front yard letting me know that we are on our way back to the party; And it is time for some dancing.

6:29am I am "whining" with my new found friend. (just picture some provocative dancing. Actually....maybe don't...)

6:58am The sun has come up, neighbors have seen me dance (the sight of which they will later enquire about with unending laughter and interest) I may be a bit cheery from the generous giving of Piton beers the patrons of the party have given me. I reckon I'm ready for some rest now. Enough "whining" for this Christmas.

11:15 am A friend calls, wakes me up, and invites me to his house for lunch with his family. A regular lucian meal of meat (pork, beef, or chicken) rice, and lentils gets my day going. I spend the rest of the afternoon visiting some families whom I have become friends with and play some dominoes late in the afternoon before making a call home.

So how was Christmas?

It was different.

After arriving in the beautiful town of Soufriere last night and enjoying the evening with a few fellow volunteers, we woke up early this morning ready to attack and conquer the majestic peak of Gros Piton. Unfortunately, we found out that due to the heavy rains over the past couple days, the hike would not be happening this weekend. After breakfast we made the best of the situation and looked over the many great options available in Soufriere and decided to go to a local mineral springs.

For the affordable price of $5EC, we walked up the road towards the hills, down through a short track, over a small river and up to the hot springs. This fulfilled a Christmas wish for me....A hot shower...

After bathing and eating lunch, we returned to our friend Jen's apartment here in town and will relax for the rest of this national holiday. coming up this weekend we have a small celebration for a fellow volunteer's Close of Service, then a beach cleanup and bbq with a group of Japanese volunteers who are also working here on St. Lucia. besides that, my weekend will include church and a couple cricket practices in my neighborhood back in Mon Repos.

A relatively slow day today, but I did accomplish a few things....Since I had a 19+ hour day yesterday of running with some locals, working in my friend's banana fields and delivering them to port, and volleyball practice, I slept in today until 10 or so. After pancakes for breakfast, I finished the book of Acts, talked with a fellow volunteer about some project ideas, helped a neighbor prepare food for a staff party, and checked my email down the road at a friends house. This afternoon I ended up playing a game of football (soccer) in the mud and rain with some guys from my neighborhood.

After a tough game, I have come home to more dumping rains and no running water. Luckily, the bucket out front is overflowing with runoff from the roof so I should have enough for cooking tonight and a bucket shower in the morning. At the moment, the chicken is in the oven, yams w/ pasta sauce (a new effort) is on the stove along with some "bwaden" tea and boiling water. I need to crank out some kweyol language work as well as some peace corps issued material tonight...Judging by the weather; I should be doing this all by headlamp any minute now...It will be another night in the life...

Pwemye' nou mache' a chimen-an pa lafowe'-a(First, we walked down a road through the forest.) Nou pase' bo bef epi bo pak kouchen.(We passed some cows and a pig farm)

Apwe' nou twavase' lawivye'-a, nou contine' mache'.(After crossing a river, we continued hiking.)

Nou te ka tann so'n lanm lanme-a.(we could hear the waves crashing.)

Apwe' nou wive' ek nou we' lanme'-a douvan nou!(Then we came to an opening and could see the ocean right in front of us!)

Nou swef, kon sa nou twape' koko.

(We were thirsty, so we tried getting coconuts.)

Ek nou bwe' dlo koko-a.

(And then we drank the coconut water)

Nou kontine' mache'...(We continued walking...)

Mwe' te ni an lot koko.

(I had another coconut)

Le nou gade' nate' i te bel.

(The views from the point were beautiful)Osi nou we' siyez.

(We even found cactus)

Sa lans pitet ni lamn evek adan move' tan.

(This bay might be surfable with a storm approaching)

Apwe' sa, nou we' se mouton-la ek se kabwit-la te manje.

(Later on, we saw sheep and goats grazing.)

Ki le sole'-a desonn, nou we denye' a lanme'-a ek nou alle' kay nou.

(With the sun going down, we took one last look at the beach and headed home)

Sa joune' se'te' joune' mwe' pli me'ye' andidan Set Lici. This was one of my best days in St. Lucia.

Despite competing in collegiate track and field, I am not a runner. Although this last weekend, for a day, I pretended to be. Along with a handful of other Peace Corps Volunteers, I competed in the 3rd annual Sandals to Sandals 10k. The course (approximately 6 miles) featured two long hills as it winded up the highway in the North end of the island. The worst stretch was a flat and straight end at Pigeon point where you could see the finish line in the distance, a calm beach and the Sandals resort on your left, a slightly rougher and surfable beach on your right, and lots of people walking in all directions while you were pushing through on an empty tank trying to maintain some pride, dignity, and self-respect. I accomplished the goal of running the whole thing, I believe I finished in just under 50 minutes which would have put me just in front of the 3rd place women's finisher. Again, trying to save some dignity.

All in all, a very fun experience for my first ever road race, second thoughts about a future marathon, and much respect to anyone who has the guts to run a marathon. Check back soon for the Thanksgiving Edition of HurricaneBehl. Cheers.

So in the last month I have moved into my own place, a small apartment my landlords converted from a storage building. Pictures included. It is comfy for one person, or a close couple...in this case....one person. haha. Last weekend I went with teachers from one of the schools I help out at on an Island tour. It commenced with beers and some karaoke at a bar shop overlooking a bay and the town of Dennery, just north of my place on the east coast.

I have been working in the schools mostly with remedial reading and math, and an environmental club. In general, I have been trying to get to know the community, meeting people and going to community events. It is nice to walk around town and almost every kid grade 6 and under knows me, as well as some parents. I try to play futbol once or twice a week, and at the age of 23, have invested, yes invested, in my first pair of soccer cleats and a soccer ball, thereby ensuring that the local kids come check me when they go out to play.

Despite a few trips to the doctors for weird skin conditions and an infected finger, I'm in good health and spirits. The local I have gotten to know well have been extremely friendly and the weeks are flying by. Living on my own has been a good experience. Cooking is a new hobby of mine, although, as my old roommates can attest to, my creative dishes probably will not win any awards.

Within the next month or two, I should have a fairly strong idea of which organizations I will be working with. A fellow volunteer and I are working on a track and field camp that hopefully will take place in early december. We are hoping for about 80 youth for a 4-day camp. We are still waiting to hear back about funding and support from some major sporting groups, however, before that is definite.

All in all, it has been an eventful month, a good adventure, and life is rolling on. The emails and letters are super appreciated. Keep them coming. Thank you for your thoughts, prayers and best wishes. I will try to keep up on the blog and make it more than a monthly update, so keep bugging me. I hope everything in your lives are going well, please keep me posted. Cheers.

-Behl

As I was about to prepare for a youth sports meeting I was invited to, it started to rain pretty hard. Sure am glad I brought the clothes in off the line earlier this afternoon. I spent much of the day in Micoud and Vieux-Fort grocery shopping, getting a new atm card, and writing a letter for a meeting next week to community leaders to officially meet with me. The highlight of my day, however, was watching a couple of local men, Kent and Silva, slaughter a pig. I missed the actual killing, but saw most everything else. I was able to "help out" a bit by shaving some of the hair off with a knife before "we" strung it up...I did very little of the lifting, but basically found myself hugging this carcass. Good times.

Another new experience this week came for me yesterday at my friend Egbert's house, where I tasted fresh lamb from his backyard, roasted on in a small fire. It tasted very good, even the testacles which provided a bit softer meat than the rest of the body. Needless to say, I should have had my camera with me the past two days.

This month is kweyol (creole) month in St. Lucia and this weekend celebrates joune kweyol - roughly translated - Creole Day. The children in the schools wear traditional plaid and kweyol outfits and there is much breadfruit, pork, salt fish, and other ground provisions to be shared. There are lots of games, songs, and dances as well. Although my village of Mon Repos is not one of the main areas for island-wide celebrations this year, there will be some small local events and parties that I look forward to enjoying this weekend, and a great chance to meet some more neighbors. I've met a couple farmers this week whom I look forward to going to their fields and farms with in the near future as well.

Despite the rain and the custom of questionable meeting attendance, I'm venturing to the community center to see if this gathering actually goes off.

7:45 pm........No one showed, time to make some food and pack for a trip to the capital tomorrow for some meetings for other Peace Corps projects.

After some soul-searching, a job resignation, adventures that took me across the Western U.S. and into Mexico, after a long and ambiguous application process, an equally ambiguous invitation to "one of six" nations in the Eastern Caribbean, after leaving friends and family, meeting and temporarily leaving new friends, and finally after seven weeks of training....I am officially sworn-in as a Community Development Volunteer with the Peace Corps.

That means my life is pretty much set until mid-September of 2009. I feel quite honored to say the least. Even the two national news stations gave some airtime to our Swearing-In ceremony we attended this morning in Castries. Above is a picture of the 13 volunteers starting service in St. Lucia along with our director and trainer.

My first couple weeks here in my new hometown of Mon Repos has provided me with a taste of what is to come over the next two years. Some days have felt extremely productive, as I have met with local school principals and began to formulate programs that I will be assisting in until the Christmas holidays. Other days have been quite the opposite, as much of the island's activity was brought to a halt with the memorials and funeral of the Right Honorable Sir John Melvin Compton, the "Father of St. Lucia". In other times, it has simply felt great to play futbol with the locals and start practicing with a local volleyball club. Needless to say, my perspective and inevitable expectations change daily as I experience more and more of St. Lucia. As I strive to know my community well, it is necessary to exercise patience, perspective, a sense of humor, patience, initiative to reach out, a general flexibility with the scope of my work within the community, an unfailing optimism, and patience. The name of the small community I live in right now is actually called "Patience". Seriously.

All in all, the next two years are going to bring an incredible amount of challenges and I hopefully and idealistically look forward to the rewards that may come from my service in the community.

There's no where else I would rather be.

Just returned this afternoon from Castries where we had a two days of workshops and interviews. It was great getting to catch up with the other volunteers who I will be sworn in with in the coming week. It was our first time together after our first few solo days in our communities. Needless to say, there was no lack of energy, enthusiasm, and optimism as we shared stories of the people we had met and the areas where we may be working in. A good time was had as we went out to dinner Thursday night and had the opportunity to hang out and relax back at our hotel.

After returning this afternoon, I watched some pick-up futbol games at the field next to my homestay and helped my friend Mikey clean and prepare some fish he caught in a river after work. All in all, it is good to be back "home" in my village.

The good times in St. Lucia continue. after completing nearly 6 weeks of training I am ready to get down the integration and community development. Our free time over the past few weeks has included beach picnics with the locals, walks up to observation points in the area, swimming at the beach, continually looking for local breaks for surfing, studying creole, a fair amount of pleasure reading, karaoke on wednesday nights (last night i participated in 5 songs) working out at the stadium here on the south end of the island, a very small amount of local cooking which I am hoping to improve upon after moving into my community, going to the La Rose festival in Castries, spending time with locals and fellow volunteers alike, drinking rum punch in the evening with my host dad, and enjoying the St. Lucian culture.

Felix was a small rainstorm and nothing more when it passed St. Lucia, so nothing exciting to report there...

After meeting with my community partners yesterday, it looks like I may be working with youth and sports organizations, small business advising and in the local schools. After a few months in my community, I will find my niche and with that, some areas to work in. I am very excited for the work ahead in the next two years!

Well, we are on lunch break and a few local kids want to play rock, paper, scissors....Gotta Run.

Survived the storm! Power came back in the evening, water is still off. Today is cloudy but dry and warm, so possibly a trip to the beach is in order. Hung out with the other volunteers last night for a pizza party which was nice considering everyone had a bit of cabin fever from being inside for over 24 hours thoughout the storm. Time to go sit out on the porch and crank through a book.

8/16/07 6:10pm Hurricane Dean is on its way. Although St. Lucia is expected to be missed by the worst parts, the winds, thunder, lightning, and rain have indeed started. Low water pressure from our faucets indicates (Loud Thunder!) that the local water district is shutting down some of its utilities. In general, the local people have strong faith that we will ride out the hurricane unscathed. It is nice to not have to listen to every news station blast the latest "breaking news" every two minutes indicated that it is getting stormy. (Another blast of Thunder) It will be an interesting evening.

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