Now that I'm in my final months of service in St. Vincent, I've been thinking a lot about what I will miss and what I will not miss. I'd be lying if I said my 'Not Miss' list was short. It isn't. It's very long and runs deeply perpendicular to my strongest ideals and beliefs. But I'd hate to spend my last months focused on the negative, so I'm going to talk instead about the things I will miss. There are, of course, the obvious ones - my friends, my students (even if they drive me absolutely crazy...which they do most of the time) - but I think it's the subtler things that really make St. Vincent for me. I will miss the green. I will miss the way the mist slips over the mountains after the rain, enclosing the valley in a blanket of clouds. I will miss running toward the ocean, tasting the salty blasts of wind before I feel them. I will miss sitting on my porch, watching the hummingbirds flee from the safety of one banana tree to the next. I will miss the solitude, the pervasive calm of the island. So much of my happiness here is entwined not in my job or my accomplishments, but in the island itself: in the ocean, the mountains, the stars, and I worry that when I leave I will lose some part of my happy among the throes of daily life in a big city*. I know that my post St. Vincent adventures will bring new joys, and a big part of me is excited to discover them, but another part wonders how I'll feel to share an apartment building with 500 other people, to exchange mountains for skyscrapers, to lose sight of all but the biggest stars. My life in St. Vincent has been frustrating and stressful and exhausting, but I'm really happy here, and I hope I don't lose that when I rejoin "civilization." I hope that I will be able to carry St. Vincent with me even as I move away from her.

*When you live on an island of 100,000 people, any city is a big city!

I was asked to prepare my music students to play a couple of songs at their Primary School Spelling Bee, which was today. Most of my students forgot their recorders or to practice, but the four that were ready played "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," and "Ode to Joy," and sounded magnificent! We've been working on "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" this term. I've been trying to find more difficult songs for them to learn, but they only know six notes, which makes it hard. Also, recorder songs are tricky. There are lots of songs that use only three or four notes, and lots of songs that use all the notes, but very few that use six. I guess if you're going to play the recorder, you need to be able to skip straight from beginner to very advanced. Anyway, I'm always proud of them when they work up to and play a concert.

The spelling bee was fun to watch. There were two rounds. In the first round, one third and one fourth grade student from each house (blue, yellow, red, green) sat on the stage and spelled. Each student was given five words and if they were unable to spell a word, the word passed on to their third or fourth grade counterpart. A correct first spelling was worth five points, while a correct second spelling was worth three. In the second round, one fifth and one sixth grade student from each house went up. The second round words were a lot harder and included words like 'rheumatism!' I don't remember learning that stuff in sixth grade! I was sitting with the fifth graders and during the first round, the girl next to me kept saying, "These are easy words!" Naturally, she didn't say anything during the second round. I guess her spelling overconfidence doesn't extent to words at her grade level!

Last Wednesday was Sports Day at EHSM! It was held at a big stadium in Kingstown and it was pretty neat to see our students fill the stadium in their blue, yellow, green and red house tee-shirts. Very colorful. The students are grouped by house and age - Junior (under 14), Intermediate (14 - 16) and Senior (17+) - and run the 1500m, 1000m, 800m, 400m, 200m, 100m and the 4 x 100m and 4 x 400m relays.

The event ran smoothly until after lunch, when it got out of control! One of the senior students had gotten in trouble the previous day for hurting a teacher and was banned from the races. He didn't hurt her badly, but I completely agree with the principal's decision to ban the student. It is unacceptable for a student to strike a teacher. Anyway, after lunch, he tried to participate in the 800m and was, for obvious reasons, called off the field. Then he was called off the field again...and a third time...and a fourth. Finally, after he failed to respond to four announcements, a police officer was sent to escort him off the field. The officer identified the student and asked him to please leave the field, at which point the student sat down on the ground and refused to move. When the officer tried to pull the boy up, he cursed several times and hit the officer in the chest. After this incident, several police officers went on the field and escorted the boy off. As if this weren't bad enough, the entire school then decided to show anti-police solidarity and refused to participate in any events...for about a half hour. We finally got Sports Day up and running again, but the mood was definately dampened.

I'm a little scared that the students in my school are so quick to hate the police. I'm glad there's a strong sense of student bonding, but that boy was definately in the wrong and it makes me nervous that the other students can't or won't distinguish between positive and negative police action. I know that a general distrust of the police is common in every country, but it is disurbingly wide-spread here. Parents teach it to their children, who bring it to their peers, which leads to episodes like that at Sports Day. It's a chilling thought. What happens when a generation of youths who both distrust and dislike the police grows up?

I'll try to post pictures of Sports Day this weekend.

It's March and my New Year's Resolution of blogging more is already shot. I guess that's why I rarely make New Year's Resolutions. Anyway, to make up for my poor resolve, I'm going to make a few short posts about what I've been up to lately.

Back in February, I attended a seminar on the Family Learning Program (FLP) hosted by the Caribbean Child Support Initiative (CCSI). FLP encourages stimulating interactions between young children and adults in the home and greater community. They believe activities like storytelling and creative play improve both the children's future success in school and the adult's self-confidence in reading and parenting. CCSI works with groups like the Roving Care Givers, who travel to homes around the island to teach parents how to help their children learn and grow. I attended the seminar, along with two colleagues, to learn more about an Innovation Grant for Ideas on Family Literacy and Learning. CCSI is funding small scale projects that engage families in innovative learning activities, and EHSM wants in! I'll be working with our school counselor and our literacy coordinator to come up with a proposal. We're in the very beginning stages, but I'll try to keep you posted. Especially if we get a grant!

Beyond that, I just want to say a few words on how important it is that adults interact with young children! I know that sounds obvious, but it is so lacking in St. Vincent and, I imagine, the rest of the world. Too often, we see students who go home to parents who don't take the time to read with their kids or help them with homework or even talk to them, and unfortunately, these kids grow up to have irreversible social, behavioral and academic problems. Young children need stimulating interactions with adults! What they glean from such interactions is not something they can obtain later in life from peers or teachers. There's a small time frame in which kids learn (from adults) how to socialize, how to behave, how to work, how to live and once you pass that, there's no going back. It's a disaster after that.

So, if your parents ever read to you or told you why the sky is blue or taught you to whistle or tie your shoes or make an omlete, thank them. Those small interactions gave you a giant step up!

Hello again. A few, quick words on the new school term. We're three weeks in, and I'm working a little more than I was last term. That's actually a recurring theme in my life here. As I slowly get my bearings, I am able to take on more and more. This is fine for a Peace Corps Volunteer, but I really feel for first year teachers, who walk head-on into such an overwhelming situation. I'm finding that I really am getting better at the whole teaching thing. My lessons are more interesting, I relate better to my students and I even have an easier time with classroom control. This term, my students are focusing on the elements in a story, specifically 'setting,' 'characters,' and 'main event.' We're reading a lot of different types of stories and then dissecting them: discussing themes, answering the 5 Ws and 1 H, relating them to our lives. My students are especially enthusiastic about the last part - they really like finding a relationship between the books they read and their own lives. I'm really excited about this unit, because it's something that all my students can do, from the absolute beginners to the most advanced. It's also a way for me to teach a complete reading course. We look at the words, of course - we sound them out, spell them, practice them - but we also look behind the words, at the meaning they hold for the story. I hope it will be a successful and busy term, despite the looming sports interruptions.

I've also changed things up a bit in my music class. Instead of learning new songs this term, we'll be writing them. That's right, we've started a unit on composing. It's a pretty big change from what we've been working on, but it's in their music curriculum (which I finally got a copy of), and it pushes creativity, so I'm 100% for it. We had our first lesson on Monday - some get it, some don't, but they all seem excited by the change. Let's hope it lasts.

Finally, I'm working on a big project with the Adult and Continuing Education Office. We're going to host the first ever Career Fair in our community. I got the idea at a meeting I attended last year. One of our program participants mentioned that while the office helped people attain higher education, it didn't provide any job support to help them use the higher education. So, I suggested a Career Fair to the Zonal Coordinator and we're running with it. We're inviting local businesses to come conduct informal interviews, college representatives to talk to people about getting a degree, and of course, unemployed community members. This is a real first for the area, so I'm excited to see how it turns out. We're planning for sometime in late February.

On a unrelated note, I just finished a book that I'd like to recommend, The Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst. It's a really beautiful, original and truly haunting love story. It's a quick read, too - I finished it in about a day, although that might be because I couldn't put it down! If you're looking for a new book, I definately suggest this one!

Sorry it's been a while. My life starts to feel so normal here that I don't register change as much. I forget not everyone lives on a Caribbean island. Fortunately, one of my New Year's Resolutions is to update more often. And take more pictures. Happy New Year!

I just returned from a 3 week vacation in the US. I visited a bunch of cities(Kansas City, Houston, St. Augustine), ate tons of delicious food and went into total sensory overload in places like Target and Wal-Mart. The superstores in Kingstown take up about 500 sq feet, smell like moth balls and sell everything from flip flops to matresses, but they just don't compare. It was a complete whirlwind of a vacation and I was surprised at how quickly I re-adapted to America. To be honest, it was hard to come back to SVG, but my first day back, several of my neighbors and friends stopped by to chat and hang out on my porch, and I remembered why I like it here. Even without a Target.

School starts back on Monday. It's the dreaded "Sports Term," which, you may recall is about as conducive to learning as cartoons. There will be lots of missed school over the next 2 1/2 months, but at least the students will be getting some exercise. My schedule looks about the same - reading classes, music classes and after school tutoring. I might throw in some chemistry, but I have to talk to the teacher first. This week, we have a couple of teacher planning days and grades are given out, so I still have some desperately needed time to transition from 'vacation mode' to 'work mode.'

Let me backtrack a bit. In December, another Peace Corps volunteer, a local volunteer and I took 5 Vincentian students (aged 10 - 17)to a running event in Barbados, Run Barbados (clever name)! We'd been planning the event for months, but it definately came together at the last minute. Our funding proposal was accepted about 1 1/2 weeks before the event, so you can imagine how hectic that time was (buying plane tickets, getting passports, reserving hotels, registering for the race, etc!). We made it and it was an absolutely incredible experience for everyone. We were so happy to get the opportunity to introduce the students to another culture, and even happier to do it in a way that played to their strengths (running). Three of the five hadn't travelled outside of SVG, so it was neat to watch their reaction to things we consider ordinary, like malls and movie theaters and swimming pools. We all competed in the 10K race on Saturday, December 5th. I finished in 1 hour and 42 seconds, and our oldest student, Linda, WON the race for her age group! The whole group did really well and had a lot of fun!

In other news, the Great Peace Corps Read is still going strong. I just finished "The Geography of Bliss," by Eric Weiner, which I highly recommend and "Snow," by Orhan Pamuk, which I don't (unless you're into slow reads). Next up: "The Winemaker's Daughter," by Timothy Egan, followed by "Memoirs of a Geisha," by Arthur Golden. Read any good books lately? I'm open to suggestions, assuming we have it in the Peace Corps library.

That's all for now. If you trust me to keep my resolutions, you should hear from me again in about a month.

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.

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!

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!

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!

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.

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?

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.

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. The problem is, once I get into the swing of things at school, I rarely do anything interesting enough to post about.

We're in our final Term, which is the CXC Term. I'm pretty sure I've written about CXC before - basically, it's a series of subject tests (English, Maths, Sciences) that Form 5 students take. The scores are used to get into college or apply for jobs - simply graduating from high school doesn't have as much weight here as is does in the U.S. Emmanuel High School is a CXC testing school, which means that our students don't have to go to a testing site to take their exams; they do them right at the school. This is good in many ways - I'm sure it's more relaxing for the students to write their exams in a familiar setting and no one has to travel far for testing. It also has negative aspects. The school is overcrowded already, so on heavy testing days, students are asked to stay home by Form. Today is Form 1 stay home day; since I work primarily with Form 1 students, this has also become Shelby stay home day (hence the midafternoon blog post and the clothes-line full of freshly washed laundry). I'm really not a fan of Forms stay home days - it's pretty disruptive for students and teachers, especially because the "stay home" schedule isn't set very far in advance. Case in point, we found out yesterday that today was Form 1 stay home day. I also don't think that such a significant portion of the school should miss out on entire days of learning just so we can be a CXC testing school. But I guess there will always be disruptions.

I'm still working on basically the same things I was in Term 2, although I am no longer teaching the Form 1 Integrated Science class, which was a good turn of events for everyone involved. This freed up a lot of time for me, so now I am reading more often with my Form 1 class and am able to take a few Form 2 reading groups as well. Plus, the class gets a qualified science teacher. I'm still teaching the Grade 5 music class, which is going much more smoothly the second time around. I'm really just re-teaching everything we went over in Term 2, the main difference being that during Term 2, I still had no idea what I was doing and now the kids are actually learning something. Cooking class is still going strong, but lately I've been scraping for inspiration. Yesterday, we made carrot bread, which turned out DELICIOUS! I got the idea from http://www.allrecipes.com/, but I had to make several substitutions based on what I had in my kitchen. Here's the final recipe...

Carrot Bread

Ingredients:

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup jam (we used papaya)

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup shredded carrots

1/2 cup chopped toasted pecans

Directions:

1. Grease a loaf pan and coat with flour. Set aside. In a bowl, combine dry ingredients.

2. In another bowl, combine jam, eggs and vanilla. Stir into dry ingredients. Fold in carrots and pecans.

3. Pour into loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees F for 50 - 55 minutes.

4. Enjoy!

I've been compiling all the recipes we've used and I hope to make a Cooking Class cookbook in the future. My mom gave me the idea and I think it would be really neat for the kids to have their own cookbooks, especially since they will have cooked everything in the book.

In other news, it's really hot here. We're just starting our 6-month hot season, which is a depressing thought since it's only getting hotter. August is usually the peak month - I'm just trying not to think about it.

[Aack! I just looked at the weather icon on my blog, and while it's only 86 degrees, it FEELS like 98 degrees...in May.]

2 posts in 2 days?? Unprecedented? Yes. Winds of change? Sadly, no. Just a short comment on a couple of unexpected things that happened to me in the last few days. First off, remember my complete lack of a green thumb? Well, it must be slightly reversible as I have eggplants! That's right. Turns out, my enormous, yet worthless eggplant is not as barren as I initially expected. This weekend, I came home to no fewer than 6 little eggplants that quickly became medium sized eggplants. Now, I mentioned a few months back that I don't really care for eggplant. This turns out to be not entirely true. I quite like 1 eggplant-based dish in particular - if you haven't already guessed, it's eggplant parmesan (seriously, if you didn't guess that, you might consider some critical thinking exercises). This leads me to unexpected thing number 2 - so do the kids in my cooking class. Seriously, if someone had told me last week that I could get these soda and chips guzzling kids to eat eggplant, I would have laughed. I only chose the recipe because a) I needed to use up the eggplant and b) I thought it would be great fun if the kids cooked me dinner, but they gobbled it up! If I were a really good PCV, this would morph into a summer gardening/fresh vegetable cooking extravaganza, but it's REALLY hot in the summer. We'll have to see. For those of you who are interested in trying the Vincy children approved recipe, here it is (from www.allrecipes.com).

Eggplant Parmesan

3 eggplants, peeled and thinly sliced

2 eggs, beaten

4 cups bread crumbs

6 cups tomato sauce

16 oz mozzarella cheese, grated

1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated

Fresh basil to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F

2. Dip eggplant slices in egg, then in bread crumbs. Bake for 5 minutes on each side.

3. In a 9 x 13 baking dish, spread sauce to cover the bottom. Place a layer of eggplant slices in the sauce. Sprinkle with cheese. Repeat with remaining ingredients, ending with cheese.

4. Bake for 35 minutes or until golden brown.

5. Enjoy!

Term 3 began Tuesday at Emmanuel and I was actually excited to start. Over the break, I thought a lot about my Form 1 reading program and decided to make some pretty significant changes. Last term, I focused primarily on a handful of students who needed the most help and only sporadically read with the other students, if at all. This is a good strategy, since the students who are furthest behind need the most attention, but I hated neglecting the other students - in the end, they are ALL in the remedial program. This term, I have more free time since I'm no longer teaching the Integrated Science course (that's right, we're getting an ACTUAL science teacher), so I'm going to use that extra time to work with every student in my Form 1 class (all 40). I've created reading groups of 4 students and each group will meet with me twice a week, every other week. We'll read a story and work on critical discussion the first time, then the second time we meet, I want the students to write something about what we've read and discussed. I will still spend extra time with the few students who need the most work, but this way every student gets the opportunity to improve. I was especially excited about this method, because there are also a handful of students in this class who I think could be quite good readers, with some practice. I kind of hoped that if I worked with some of the more motivated students, perhaps they could improve enough to get out of the remedial program and into regular classes. I understand that the remedial program is a necessary part of the school, but it's certainly not a pleasant one. There is a huge stigma associated with the program - it's called the dunce class by students and teachers alike, there are lots of behavioral problems and many teachers don't even bother with them at all. For these reasons, I was excited at the possibility of getting even just one student out of there. Excited, that is, until I ran the new program by the Form teacher, who told me straight out that no students were going to be moved. They were labled "remedial" from elementary school and would remain "remedial" throughout high school. And no amount of improvement would change that. Which leads me to the question...what am I doing here? If these kids are being marked as "failures" at the tender age of 11 (which is when many of them take their high school entrance exams) and there is no opportunity for them to move away from that, then what am I doing here? Sure, any reading help is good and necessary, but it's not going to solve the central issue, which is, of course, if you consistently tell a kid that he is a failure, he will FAIL. And barring all possible exits from the remedial program tells the kids just that. That they are failures, that they will always be failures and that no amount of work could possibly prevent them from failing. Plus, students in the remedial program are so far behind in the curriculum that if they do beat the odds and make it to Form 4 (the remedial program ends at Form 3), they'll be so far behind the non-remedial students that no amount of work could catch them up. Which I think is the ultimate argument for moving motivated students up NOW, while they still have a fighting chance. As it stands, these students are simply being conditioned to fail, which, in the end, fails us all.

My parents flew out early this morning. I think they really enjoyed their visit to St. Vincent. They were only here for a week, so we didn't get to do nearly as much as we wanted, I guess that's how it goes. We spent 5 days in Bequia, the closest Grenadine to St. Vincent. We stayed in this really charming apartment called The Nest. The complex is called The Three Trees and it's made of three apartments stacked on top of each other, kind of like a tree trunk. Each apartment has a wrap around wooden veranda with amazing views of Port Elizabeth. It was nice to wake up and have coffee with a view before the daily tourist-ing. One of our tourist-ing activites was a sailing expedition to Mustique, another Grenadine. We went on this boat called the Friendship Rose. It was built in the 40s to carry cargo between St. Vincent and Bequia, but has recently been refurbished to carry tours between the Grenadines. The man who built it is still the captain! It took us a little over an hour to sail to Mustique, where we de-boated and explored the small island. Turns out, not that much to explore. We walked through all the shops, had ice-cream and collected sea-shells...then we still had a couple of hours to kill before lunch! I guess Mustique isn't treasured for it's activity!

Back in St. Vincent, we got a chance to walk around and my parents met some of my friends here. I was happy for them to see my community and understand more of what I do. I think they return today with good memories and a better understanding of life in Mespo.

We just finished our last official week of Term 2 and I am more than happy to be nearly on vacation. I say nearly because even though grades were due yesterday, we still have 2 - 3 full days of school next week. Since we're not taking any more grades, I'm not sure what the class schedule will be like...I'm hoping that there are some planned, school-wide activities, but I somehow doubt that. More likely, we'll be acting as glorified babysitters.

I had a good term, albeit a busy one. Overall, this was a learning term for me. I find that I am just now getting into the swing of things, even though we've been here for nearly 7 months. In many ways, it would have been an easier transition had we begun our service 2 months earlier (July 2008). That way, we could have been finished with training and ready to work for the start of school (September 1, 2008). As it stands, we spent just 1 day per week in the schools for the entire months of September and October. By the time we got into the schools full time, everything was winding down, exams were starting and we really didn't get to make the training - work transition I was hoping for. Instead, I spent the entire second term transitioning. That's not necessarily bad - we have a long enough service period that we can afford a long transition time, it's just such a weird situation for those of us in schools. We're here for two full school terms, but in an really awkward way. We basically work the second two terms of this school year, then a full school year, then a couple of months of the first term of the next school year. I just think that with most of us in schools, the timing could have been better arranged.

As it stands, I'm happy to finally be getting into the swing of things. I feel like I've learned so much more in my 7 months here than I did in 4 years of college (stay in school). When I first came here, I literally had NO IDEA what I was doing. I was expected to teach literacy and numeracy but I didn't know the first thing about teaching anything, and for the first couple of months, I was really terrible at it. Really terrible. Then, somewhere along the line, I got less terrible at it. I still have no idea what I'm doing most of the time, but I'm better at improvising and creatively using available materials. I've learned from my many (many) mistakes and in doing so, have become slightly more confident in my abilities. When I first arrived in Mespo, I was disenchanted. I was scared to death to work in a high school, I didn't feel qualified to teach literacy, I was disappointed not to be working with sciences, which I had originally requested. I really questioned my placement in the area and questioned whether I could be happy here. Now, 7 months later, I can't imagine being anywhere else. Turns out, I really love Mespo and working at a high school is a good fit for me. Sure it's challenging and I have to work really hard to make this job my own, but it's worth it. Even on bad days, it's worth it. And that's really something.

In other exciting news, my parents will be visiting me (yay!) for a week (yay!). They arrive on Wednesday, so I'm busy busy preparing my cute house for guests. We will spend a few days in Bequia, then it's back to St. Vincent for...whatever we feel like. I am very excited to show them around Mespo and to introduce them to the people I work and hang with. We're going to try the locals foods, visit the local hang-outs, see where I work and live. It'll be a great week. I'll let you know how it goes.

10. Uneducated assumption making principles. In October, I bought 4 seedlings - 2 tomatoes, 1 eggplant and 1 yellow pepper, which I assumed meant yellow bell pepper. 5 months later, I come to find that yellow pepper means any variety of peppers that are yellow (mine happens to be a hot banana pepper).

9. Poor purchasing decisions. When I bought my seedlings, I was thinking more about which vegetables are easy to grow and not so much about which vegetables I like to eat (I do like tomatoes). I am thankful every day for reason #4.

8. Lack of knowledge of common plant ailments. Case in point, I think that a tomato plant blight can be cured by watering it 50 times a day. Needless to say, only 1 tomato seedling survived.

7. Lack of knowledge of common garden pests. In late November, when I discovered that the leaves of my eggplant were half eaten, I cursed the chickens when I should have been hunting for the green worm of death, otherwise known as the very hungry caterpillar. We all know how that turned out.

6. Little weeding enthusiasm. I can't count the number of times I have come home from work to find the overgrown, prickly patch that I call my garden fully weeded and reinforced with growing posts, thanks to my very helpful neighbor (who, consequently, would probably make a very good farmer).

5. Bad tree-recognition ability. I have dozens of fruit trees in my yard, including an orange tree that I was overjoyed to share a space with. You can imagine my sadness upon moving in, when I noticed that the orange tree had no oranges on it. It wasn't until 4 weeks later, when my very helpful neighbors brought me a large bag of oranges from my tree, that I realized the tree I had previously thought to be my orange tree was, in fact, just a tree.

4. Little understanding of the fundamentals of plant growth. I was concerned that my monstrous eggplant was still eggplant-less, so I asked my very helpful neighbor for some gardening tips. She suggested that I pick the purple flowers that should be forming eggplants but were not and burn them in a corner of my yard. This, she said, would make the as-of-yet unformed purple flowers turn into eggplants. I think the logic is that by burning the unproductive flowers, you scare the future flowers into productivity. I actually considered doing this for about week, until reason took over. Although, I'm still eggplant-less.

3. Poor mistake-learnage. I also have another tree that I am just crazy about - the plumrose tree. For those of you who have not heard of the plumrose, it is a delicious and addictive phenomenon with the texture of a honeydew and the flavor of a sweetened rose. Again, try to imagine my disappointment when plumrose season came around and there were none to be found on my little tree. After waiting several weeks, I got to the point of desperation and bought a bag in town, which I immediately regretted, since, upon return to my domicile, I found that my very helpful neighbor had just left a full bag of them on my porch, picked from (can you guess?) my tree. Not only had I again mistaken tree identities, but the tree I thought to be my plumrose tree was the tree I originally thought was my orange tree. It's a sneaky and deceptive tree, I might cut it down.

2. Unrealistic problem solving strategies. I have a lime tree, which is not just a tree but actually has limes on it. About 2 months after I moved in, a thin but sturdy vine moved into the neighborhood and quickly established a cohabitation agreement with my lime tree. Instead of chopping it down, I hoped that the problem would sort itself out and I now have a lime tree that is so vine-y that limes can only grow on the top-most branches. Which means that everytime I want a lime, I have to throw rocks 25-feet into the air and hope that I hit one.

1. Poor garden planning skills. In late October, when my seedlings were still, well, seedlings, I decided to make a cute little garden in a small corner of my yard. 5 months later, my eggplant has grown to the size of a small baby elephant and is slowly killing my tomato via lack of direct sunlight.

Sports have officially taken over at Emmanuel High School. Last Thursday, we had our first event - heats. The school is split up into four teams - green, red, yellow and blue. For heats, each team runs races against other members of the same team, basically an intra-team competition. The winners of these races are the ones who will compete at Sports Day, when the teams compete against each other. I have been placed with the blue team - blue for blue ribbon, of course.

So, heats. I was really excited to watch the races, because even though I am not athletically inclined AT ALL, I'm surprisingly competitive and I love to trash talk (only with the other teachers...I support all students be they green, red, yellow or !blue!). I went early, geared up in my blue attire, and signed on as official 4th place timer. The day's events ranged from the 1000 meter to sprints, and all-in-all, I found the day to be rather disappointing. There was a lot more walking than I had anticipated, and many of the students refused to participate at all. I was hoping for a lot of school spirit and excitement, but I think apathy kind of took over. Plus, I got a wicked sunburn. I guess it beat being in class, though.

Tomorrow is our second sporting event, the road relay. The road relay is a relay race that is run on the road (we're pretty literal here). It runs from Mespo to the Windward Highway and back. I'm not sure how far the course is, but at least 9 miles? There are 6 participants from each team, so each person runs about 1 1/2 miles? This is quite a bit further than any of the heats events, so I'm slightly doubtful of the students' abilities to run such distances, but still hoping for a better show. Sports Day is next Friday, so I will post more after that time.

Today was our first Music Club meeting, and it went a bit more slowly than I had anticipated. We've been learning about the music basics and we've learned the C-major scale in class, but it appears that retention hasn't yet occured. I brought in a piece of music today that I thought was workable, which may not actually be workable. As with anything, adjustments are a part of the process, so we'll see how it goes next week and modify accordingly. One really positive thing is the kids definately don't want for excitement! We may not have any Beethovens in the class, but it can't hurt to have them excited about music.

I want to relay a really amazing experience I had on Monday. Every Monday, I teach a 5th grade music class at the primary school in Mespo. We started with the really basic stuff (note names, staff, clefs) and have since moved on to the more interesting stuff, like actually playing the recorder. On Monday, we finished learning the notes and fingerings for the C-major scale, so at the end of class, all the students with recorders (about 15 in a class of 41) practiced playing the scale together. All through the class, I was worried that the students without recorders (the majority) weren't really getting anything out of the class. The school can't provide recorders for the students and many of the parents can't afford the extra expense, so I was concerned that the students without instruments felt left out of the class. I shouldn't have been. At the end of class as the students with recorders played their 7 new notes, the rest of the students added a magnificent percussion ensemble! They played on the desks, chairs, cabinets - anything and everything - and it sounded so great with the C-major "melody" from the recorders. It made my week to see the students really enjoying music class, especially in such a creative, out-of-the-box way!

I enjoy working with this class so much that I've decided to start a music club with the students that meets after school. We would practice together, then play "gigs" in the community (by "gigs" I mean at church or school). I think that it will be something really enjoyable for the kids and it's a great way to get them more actively involved in music (my secret plan!). We have our interest meeting tomorrow afternoon, so I will let you know more about how that goes. I have high hopes, since 8 students asked if they could join already!

Hello again! This past Saturday, I got the opportunity to hike the St. Vincent Volcano (La Soufriere), and it was a really neat experience. We hired a van to take us all the way to the trail head, which was a great plan since the road to the trail head is a LONG dirt road through some banana fields. It's a really pretty walk, but would add at least an hour to an already 4 hour hike. Since the hike is such a long one, the day started really early - I caught one of the first vans at 6 am to meet in Georgetown at 8. We started our hike at about 9:30. The first part of the trail is really beautiful! It winds through sections of rainforest, so it's green and lush and full of exotic plants and animals - and the mosquitoes are the size of small dogs! The path is basically a series of steps carved into the mountainside and it can get pretty steep, but we powered through with only a couple of breaks. We were feeling pretty harmonious with nature until we arrived at the second part of the trail, which was a slightly less neat experience. At this point, a significant portion of the trail is washed away (I expect it happens every year during the rainy season), so we were left to pick our way through. We followed a rocky path near the actual trail and didn't do that bad. It would have been no problem, except that it had begun raining at this point. Fortunately, we've been here long enough to always pack ponchos, but it made for a very slippery climb. Then the fog rolled in. It was the very wet, very dense kind of fog that makes the world appear mysterious and new while at the same time drenching both your body and mood. We couldn't see more than 100 yards in any direction! This was fun at first, in a "now you see me, now you don't" kind of way, but quickly grew old as we watched the mountain grow steeper with every 100 yards! It also made reaching the top less memorable as we couldn't see anything! We ended up waiting about 45 minutes for the fog and rain to clear up, freezing in the 65 degree weather (hey, I haven't been in temperatures lower than 75 degrees in over 6-months AND we were wet!). Finally, the fog cleared enough fo us to get a great view of the crater and the Caribbean Sea. I got some pretty good pictures - I'm posting them for you. At this point, we were all tired, cold, wet and pretty ready to hike down the slippery mountain side - don't worry, we only suffered a few falls, nothing major! I would definately go again, I just might check the weather forcast first!

As far as cooking class goes, I decided to make it a permanant Monday afternoon addition. I've taken on 6 young apprentices and we're going to bake all sorts of delicious cookies and cakes! Last week we made a scrumptious banana bread. We had a bit of a disaster today. We were in the process of making Lemon Glaze Cookies, when the dough suddenly found itself on my kitchen floor. We almost had a riot, but fortunately, I keep a secret stash of brownie mix for rainy days (or angry mobs) and there is nothing the gang loves more than brownies from a box. Good save.

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.

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.

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).

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"

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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!

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.

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.

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!!

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)!

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...).

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.