Why am I so horrible about posting. For one it might be that I am not a fan of writing. You all should just call me to know what is going on. I will post a Christmas letter that I wrote for some people that supported me in the beginning of the Peace Corps process.

Whats the news? Well there is two weeks until I am back in Washington State. Very exciting. At the moment I am getting Christmas gifts together and packing what I want to bring back for good like clothes that are not worn here but would be back in the cold. Been busy with Peace Corps stuff. Had mid service training in St. Lucia. Got to stay in a nice hotel with a pool and air-conditioning. Where the hotel was located was a huge tourist area. Nice restaurants and big yachts everywhere. There was even a store like costco. Got to meet up with the rest of EC 78s from the other islands. It was great to see and hear how everyone is doing. Let me not forget to mention that the volunteers on my island are the best. Something about SVG always having a good group. Then when I got back to St. Vincent had my annual doctor and dental appointment. Look Mom no cavities. The dentist office was nice. I mean nice. They had coffee and tea to drink and a kids play area.

Just doing school stuff now. Got my environmental club, computer class, tutoring, and boy scouts keeping me busy. O my goodness the boys in boy scouts are really hard to work with. They have no manners. Trying to work on that. Computer class is easy. I get to sit in air conditioning while the kids work off of Mavis Beacon keyboarding lessons. Cool right? A bit stuck with my tutoring lessons. Hoping next term will be better and the kids skills will grow.

Last week was elections to vote on a new constitution. So happy that it is all over. Politics are not fun to watch. The Prime Minister really wanted it to pass so he worked on the "Yes" campaign. Everything Yes. They gave out money to students, pencils, rulers, all saying Yes. Free concerts and even went as far to say that there would be a public holiday if the Constitution was passed. But it did not pass for many reasons. Plenty people had not even read the document and others did not agree fully on what was printed.

A student told me today that marbles are no longer popular. To bad it was a cheap way for kids to have fun after school. No wonder I have not been seeing kids with pockets full of marbles. The same kids also told me that another student of mine sold the toy car that he got as a prize from me. Sold it for 1.50EC. He did not sell it for enough money at all and he only bought Popsicles. He better enjoy those Popsicles.

I promise to write more soon and not in like six months.

Time has gone by fast. I have been lazy with my posts. Plenty has been going on. I will try to remember the important moments.

At the end of this month I will have been living in St. Vincent for a year. Crazy to think that I have been living outside of the US for so long. I did make it back to the US in June for a family reunion (South Carolina, Myrtle Beach). Not all the way to the lovely state of Washington, but it was something. Such a great time with family/friends (Piper/Christian) and great food I found it hard to leave. Which was not made any easier by the fact that the airline canceled my flight back to the island. O well I am back and on track. Three weeks until school starts and there is plenty of preparation that needs to be done first.

I am the 78 Peace Corps group to be working in the Eastern Caribbean. There has been a group here a year before my group. They are the EC77s and right now they are starting to pack up their belongings and leave for a new adventure outside of the Peace Corps. They have been my friends and guidance counselors. Showing me and others the hot spots on St. Vincent as well as joining in new adventures. I will miss them all. In there empty places the island is getting a new group the EC80s. I hope they are just as cool as those that are leaving. The newbies will be arriving at the end of the month. Very excited to see what is in store, but sad knowing I will have to say good by to good friends to get some new ones.

Alright moving on so life has been busy even though I have not had school every day to occupy my time. Below is a list of things I have done in the past months or at least what I can remember:

family reunion, primary school graduation, Bequia trip, trip to Owia Salt Pond, tutoring at school, pool with the Saint Bendick kids, basketball camp, boat ride around St. Vincent, working in the mountains with local farmers, b-day party for Katie at Scabby Dam (she killed her own goat), and plenty more

I have been taking it easy as well. So should everyone else.

Alright alright,

My Easter vacation is almost up. The last term of the year starts on Tuesday. Then three more months of school and I would be teaching for a year. Crazy me a teacher. I finally put up posters my sister and the local kids made back in December up in the library. I have been taking life so slow here. Christian came to visit on his Spring Break. We had such a great time. We went to the Botanical Gardens. My first time. The garden was beautiful. The oldest gardens int he western hemisphere. We also went to Bequia for three days. Bequia is my favorite place out here. Such a peaceful island and beautiful beaches. Christian stayed for 10 days. Not long enough but i am glad it was not shorter.

Since on vacation my time is freed up. Each week I have been able to hit a new tourist site. With Christian we visited the Rawacou salt pond. Beautiful site but no shade. We all got burned. I finally got to go to Brighton Salt Pond. A fantastic day with other volunteers. We all met up for amazing company and food. The next week it was off to Sandy Bay and the salt ponds in Owia. Had another day with great food and company.

I had some ladies over yesterday for some coconut curry stew and root beer floats. The whole thing turned out nicely.

School starts up next week and there is plenty of work for me to do to prepare for classes. I just need to get motivated and do the work. Once this term is over I get to visit family in June. Very excited. Then it will be carnival. I am planning to teach a computer class to youth over the summer twice a week to give me something to do. It is going to be a long hot summer. The heat is already picking up around here. I have been having trouble sleeping at night because of the heat. O well I will soon get used to it.

Take care all.

My older sister visited (Becca) for Christmas. We had so much fun. Spent three days on Bequia (my favorite get away). She treated me to amazing food like conch meat which comes from the animal that lives in the conch shell. Very interesting. Then she came back to my place in Diamonds. Chilled with my host family and painted with neighbor kids. The kids still ask when my sister is coming back and other villagers are disappointed that they did not get to meet her. She was only here for a week which is really a short visit.

School started up again. I am now teaching well actually tutoring 6 kids. I take two out at a time for an hour. Been trying to clean up the library and organize the place but am having no luck. People keep putting stuff in the room to store like cement bags. I got super frustrated with one of the teachers with out even talking to me moved back some shelving which had broken desks behind and rearranged books. I was almost done with the library when the teacher did this. Now I cannot even use the room to teach because the broken desk are in the way. O and the grosses thing I found when cleaning was a whole skeleton of an rodent. I mean the thing died and decade under a book case. Crazy right? At the moment I have given all hope up for the library. I tried.

On Thursdays I am going to start working on an archaeology project through St. Vincent National Trust and the museum in Kingstown. Super excited to finally get back to what I was learning in school.

On Fridays I meet with two other volunteers to organize a basketball camp for this summer. We are hoping to hold camps in each of our villages. Yesterday we had a meeting with the director of Ministry of Sports to see if they could help or just give us advice. The meeting went great. Our fingers are crossed in hopes they will come through with what they had promised. Also on Fridays I am using the time to put together programs for next year and for this summer.

Neighbor kids come around once and a while to read books and color. One of the kids was climbing my wall I asked him not to he said "but Jenny I am a climber." Super cutie but I do not want to get in trouble if he falls or breaks something. Life is going good. The villagers are really getting my name down. I love walking through the village when everyone says "Hi Jenny." The buses still make me car sick but o well. The bus system here is super funny. All the vans (buses) have names on the outside like Confidence, Shannon, Gangster, etc. Then they play loud music rap or even love rock while you are stuffed inside with 15 people.

My landlord is here sitting out side shelling peas. She does not live at all close to me. I think she is going to stay the whole day. Super frustrated about he situation. She brought two friends and are sitting on the porch. Come on.

I think my next visitor will be Christian which I am super excited about. I need to start planning our itinerary.

Peace and Love to all.

Yesterday I climbed the tallest mountain in St. Vincent plus it is an active volcano. La Soufriere is a beautiful intense hike. I am really ache today but it is well worth it. There was about 15 people that went in all. We had some Vincys, Canadians, one British boy and Peace Corps volunteers. We started going up the volcano in Georgetown on the Windward side of St. Vincent and came down on the Leeward Side in Chateau Bel air. Long long hike. We had to back track a few times because we went the wrong way. Once at the top of the volcano we were able to look down into the crater. The dome of the crater was very large and had sulfur leaking from the side. There was fog and a harsh wind on top, but it felt very good. Going down was ruff. The rain began to fall causing the ground to be muddy. Many people fell. I almost did the splits. All worth it. So amazing. I have never climbed a volcano an active one at that. I will try to post pictures sometime.

The past couple of weeks have been slow. School is now out for Christmas but before that many kids were not showing up. I have begun cleaning the library at the school so it gives me something to do during break. Last week the school had there annual Christmas concert. The show lasted for three hours. It was just fine, but was very loud.

I love my house/apartment. I am grateful to finally have my own space and some privacy. Life is good. My older sister Becca will be coming to visit next Saturday for Christmas. I have been looking forward to her visit since I moved her to the islands. Today there is another Wellness Revolution event. I am going with my Keep Fit class to do a long walk. Not quite sure were but at least there is a free shirt involved.

All is good.

I am now officially living on my own in St. Vincent. A week has past since I have moved out of my host families house into my own apartment. Such a great place. No oven or frig but I am hoping for the best. I even have a great gate and wall. This comes in handy when I need alone time to get work done. There is sugar cane growing in the back yard. I have been using my cutless to chop it up for the kids. It is very nice to finally have my own place.

Nothing new has really been going on. I am now working at the primary school in the morning till noon with four kids. The principle has asked for my assistance with helping some 6th graders out. I still need to put material together for those children.

My host grandmothers birthday is on Wend. She will be 93 years old. I am super excited. She is a lovely lady. I told her I would be bringing her ice-cream which was the only thing she really seemed interested in.

I am still adjusting to the heat although at times I forget that I am sweating. Hard to believe. Halloween was a great time. I went to Villa to stay with some Canadian volunteers. They have an amazing house right over looking the beach. Even a short walk to the beach which I did the next morning.

One of the volunteers dogs had puppies and then got hit by a car. I might be getting a puppy. I have never owned a puppy, which is making me very nervous. I rather have a dog that is older, but Vincentian dogs are not raised to be friendly. The best thing for me would raise my own.

All take care

Yes, it is now official I am a Peace Corps Volunteer no longer a trainee. Super exciting. The swearing in ceremony was lovely. It took place at the Governor generals house behind the botanical gardens. It was short and simple. The food was great. I wish there was more.

afterwards all the volunteers minus a couple went to Villa beach. Perfect day. The water was great. The rain held off. I even got to go on a mini boat ride for free to Indian Bay and around Young Island. Perfect so perfect. I lost at the game of Farckle and had to drink a shot of strong rum. Gross. Very gross since I am not a drinker and this stuff is strong like 80 proof strong. My throat was scratchy the rest of the day. At least I was able to buy a pop and drink it in the water. Yep I was able to drink pop in the ocean like a true vacationer. It was such a perfect day. I have yet to move out of my host families house, but have been able to visit other volunteers houses. They are nice. I cannot wait to get my own place. I have already purchased a box of brownies to eat all by myself. I am doing better that the weather is cooling a little. It must stay that way or else.

Volunteer out.

Just a few minutes ago I witnessed a spider capture a fly right next to me. Then the fly fell out of the web on to the floor and fly to safety. Such a huge spider. Huge. I went on a hike this morning with the Heritage Group in town. Had the best time of my life. We went up the mountain by way of a road used by farmers then off road it. Beauty everywhere. A gentleman from the forestry wen with us which was great. Any question I had about plants he was able to answer. Then there was a man with the historical society. He helped answer question about local history and of the farmers that are working the land now. It was one of the best hikes I have ever been on. When we reached our high point which was the edge of the forest reserve we got to eat snacks. There was tangerine, orange, guava, coconut and coco trees. I had my first coco seed. The pod itself when broken holds many seeds that when sucked on taste sweet. The only bad thing that happened, which was bound to take place with my luck, was red ants all on my neck. It hurt bad. I hate my luck with ants.

I came home finding my host sister made CAKE. Super good. Then a little after my host mom made her amazing bread. I eat so many carbs here. The weather has been very hot so I try to hide out on the back porch with the host mom's mom. This women is 92 and amazing. She can be super funny. I believe there is only one more week until I move into my own place. I have never livid alone. It will be interesting.

Monday is the swearing in ceremony. I will finally be an official Peace Corps Volunteer. Crazy.

Love ya all.

So on Sat. mornings I try to do some sort of exercises in case I am stuck at the host family house all day. I try to wake up before the villagers get there day started which makes my running time around 6am. I take the only really safe path down the main road for Diamonds to the end (the gap) were it meets up with the main windward highway. It was such a nice jog. Not many people were out to see me go by. As a reached the end of the road, were then I would turn around, excited to see the silly cow that is usually there but not today. The cow was handing from straps on a post dead and striped of its skin and being cut in half. Need I say the rest of the jog was horrible. I almost cried. Aparently that is the butchers house. O lucky me the butcher is right on my running path. I cannot wait to see what is next. As I was eating oatmeal a loud horn with off. Not knowing what the horn meant I asked. The horn means the meat is ready which across is the nice dead cow. Yep just another morning here in St. Vincent. Always experiencing and seeing something new.

So Fridays are really busy at the Tokyo bus station in Kingstown. Anything can happen. Yep anything or everything that make me angry can happen. Like a drunk guy trying to get my attention as I hide behind a larger women or even ducking behind a van so the drunk does not see me. Like a fight breaking out in a drink booth. Like a lady eating smelly food (KentuckyFriedChicken) on the bus. Same lady getting her gum everywhere. Like the man next to me curesing the lady's back who is sitting infront of me. Like stopping the bus so that a man can use the bathroom. All in all each one of the moments made the trip for me very funny. Even though they do not seem like annoying acts really but all in the same night the little pet peves that I have came out all at once.

Jenny out

A while has past since the last time I posted a blog. Not much has really gone on. Still in training. I am counting down the days until I get to stay at my site and do some real work. I finally got to the beach on Saturday. Amazing. The PCV have a special relationship with a hotel that has a pool and excess to a nice beach. They let us come and use everything. All we have to do is buy a drink or food (expensive but worth it). Still in the hurricane season. Last weekend rain fell hard and many land slides onto roads happened. One women died from a wall giving out falling on her car.

I have been hanging out with my host families friends and relatives. Two of the girls braided my hair. That is write I look very ethnic now. It hurt really bad getting the braids done. I still am missing my family and friends dearly. I cannot wait until someone visits so that I can show them around. Although I still need to explore a lot of the islands.

I have an activity to do in the school next week. I am super nervous. My boss will be watching to see how I do. I would like to put together a environmental conservation group together with the primary school. Right now I just need time to plan these activities out and others that I want to do. I will keep all posted on what I am doing and how it is going.

Jenny out

I cannot believe that I am finally doing the Peace Corps and in the Eastern Caribbean. I have yet to get to a beach. I live on the windward side of St. Vincent which does not have many beaches that are safe to swim at. My site is in land and takes by bus 30 minutes to get to a safe beach. Hopefully this weekend some village girls will take me to the beach. It will be a well needed trip. The bugs are still bitting but not as bad since I got the OFF spray. All the locals recomened it so I am hopeing it stays true to its fallowing. I have been traveling by bus into Kingstown every other day. The bus ride is intense leaving me car sick the rest of the day. I hope to get used to the winding roads and fast traffic. I am glad that I do not have to drive. I am super excited to learn what spots are the best around the island. So when anyone visits I will be able to take you to all the hot spots that other visitors would not know about. My phase ten and skipo card games are a big hit. I love that people in the village are willing to play with me. The heat is still very hot but at least the locals agree and it is not just me.

Vincentian out

Hey guys,

I am doing better. Man I was really low for a while. The bus system is not for the ill at heart. The island is made up of curvy small roads, but I have found if I use the village bus it is a bit better because it has taller ceilings then the vans that they call busses. My host family is just fine. Host mom is related to so many people in the village and is looked upon as the Aunt to all, so many people hang out at her house. I have taught one person to play phase 10 his and I have already bet him twice. Usually we play go fish with the phase 10 deck because younger kids play as well. I am so tired by 8pm that i feel rude to those hanging out. I try to get to bed at that stage because i am worthless other wise. I finally got a fan in the room that i am and put of my mosqueto net with some help and smarts from Judd. The room was so hot like a sona that for two days I was unable to sleep at all. I was not allowed to open the window and having the doors open did not supply any air. One night a bat flew into the room and out again so then i had to close the door. Yesterday night I felt an earthquick. They said that it was most likely a tremor. People were not consered at all. I am super nervious when you guys visit and you have to ride the but. I am sorry in advance. Every day this week I have been comeing into Kingstown about an hours drive by bus for training and I opened a bank account the other day. I am getting familar with parts of the town. At the bus terminal there is a lady selling cooked chicken. She is friends with my host family and helps me out a lot. I also know the bus driver of the village bus so the lady at the terminal calls here to see where she is at. So nice. Two years is looking like an a long time right now. I cannot wait to see friends and family. I am at an internet cafe working on emails and stuff. Next week we should be gettting our cell phones. I hope to get to the beach not this weekend but next weekend. They say it is a 30 minute bus ride to the beach. My village is up in the hills. Well not much is new. I am still sweating bullest all the time and my legs are covered in sand flies and mosquto bites it is horrible. Every where I go people comment on them. O also had ants down my pants the other day. I am learning the local dialect slowly. It is beautiful here and I love looking at the ocean. I cannot see the ocean from my homestay but if I go down the hill I am able to . Life is alright I am still adjusting to being away from friends, family, and boyfriend. I miss them all. I hope the work I do helps in some way cause then it is all worth it.

St. Vincian out.

O man. I am packing so much and it seem that not everything is going to fit. So Mount Vernon is hot to day and it was only in the 70's. What am I going to do in 80 degree weather? My younger sister is fixing a picnic for me and my family tonight as a going away dinner. It looks really good. I hate ipods and itunes or maybe just computers but when I put the two together nothing seems to work. Love ya all.

It is going to be a sad day in the states on Sunday on August 24th when she flys out of Sea-Tac for Miami and on to St. Vincent and Grenadines.

I Piper created this wonderful blog for Jenny so she can update everyone on her adventure in Grenda and the 100 ways to use a coconut. I'm so proud of you and I will miss you so much! I need to find a high paying job with lots of vacation time so I can come visit you. Let me know your address so I can send you letters and such!