This past Friday, Fairhall Government School and Early Childhood Centre celebrated its Kindergarten and Grade Six graduation ceremonies at the Glen Baptist Church.  For kindergarten students, the ceremony marked their transition into the formal primary school at Fairhall.  For Grade Six students, the ceremony marked not only the completion of their primary school education, but also celebrated all of the students’ achievements throughout their tenure. In St. Vincent and the Grenadines, all Grade Six students are required to write a standardized competency exam (fairly common throughout the Caribbean at-large) called the “Common Entrance Examination (CEE)”.  A student’s performance on this assessment is indicative of which secondary-level schools he or she will be eligible for matriculation this upcoming fall.  Hence, with months of diligent studying behind them, the Class of 2011 at the Fairhall Government School took as its theme: “Go Confidently in the Direction of your Dreams”. The program included a variety of components: Opening Procession (1-3), Benediction (4), Feature Address by Keynote, Mr. Jomo Thomas, Barrister-at-Law on Criminal and Constitutional Law (5), Performance given by kindergarten class (6), Remarks from Ministry of Education official (7), Distribution of Award for Most Improved Student (8), Distribution of Award for Best Deportment (9), and the Valedictory Address by highest-scoring student on CEE (10).   Now, with only 2 weeks left in the school year and the carnival season in full swing, my community of Fairhall and surrounding neighborhoods of Villa, Glen, and Calliaqua congratulates our graduates on their achievements and sends warm wishes for their continued success.  A quote from the ceremony’s program booklet seems particularly apropos here: “There is a good reason they call these ceremonies ‘commencement exercises’. Graduation is not the end; it’s the beginning.”

Today, the government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines delivered hundreds of brand new laptops to students in grades two through five.  This campaign is part of an ongoing effort to increase the technological capacity for the nation and its educational facilities.  According to popular opinion, students in grades one and six will be receiving their laptops in the upcoming school term next September as the pilot program seeks to expand.   The excitement was palpable among students and faculty alike today.  ”Suh, can I go to the bathroom again?”  “They’re coming at 2:00 PM, right?…What time is it now?” Then, at long last the laptops arrived along with a few key members from the Ministry of Education to assist in their distribution.  On Monday, parents had convened on the school compound for routine parent-teacher conferences and to sign receipts for the imminent devices.  By approximately 3:05 PM, all save 12 laptops had been collected, the remnants to be allocated in the coming days after completion of the necessary paperwork. As the resident IT staff person, I have to say that this does indeed seem to be a worthwhile endeavor for our school, community, and nation.  I look forward to continuing my work in this field and the students’ continued development. On my walk home from school today, I asked a few students that I saw carrying their devices what the first thing they intended to do with their laptops were.  One Year 4 girl retorted, “Imma check it to see if it work, then lock it in the Jeep one time so nobody nar teef dem”.

““Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.”” - Theodor Geisel

Last Friday marked the end of Term 2 at school.  The schools are on the trimester system here so this upcoming 3rd term will close at the end of June.  At this time, school is out for a 2-week long recess to celebrate Easter and Vernal holidays. I don’t have too many plans for the break aside from the routine.  I intend to visit the Tobago Cays, Mayreau, Union, and hopefully Happy islands over the break for my first little vacation from work.  The snorkeling in the Cays is supposed to be like no other as there are sea turtles swimming right beside you!  There was actually an article in the local paper Friday about turtle-watching of the majestic and endangered Leatherback species.  (I tried linking it but it seems Searchlight’s website is subscription-based). F.Y.I. There are no indigenous monkeys in the nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.  It’s just a sample of my amateur art.  Yet, in that vein, I recently spoke with another volunteer about my interest in starting a graphic novel/writing workshop with primary-aged youth to help combat St. Vincent’s literacy challenges.

[Flash 10 is required to watch video.]“I am blessed.”

22.16 on 19 March 2011, St. Vincent and the Grenadines Speculations of a link between the occurrence of supermoons and natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunami are extremely tenuous. Arguments have been made that natural disasters coinciding with years in which supermoons occurred were influenced by the Moon’s increased gravitational strength, though because of the monthly alternation between lunar apogee and perigee such an argument cannot be supported unless the disaster in question falls on the actual date of the supermoon.[1] It has been argued that the Indian Ocean tsunami and earthquake on December 26, 2004, was influenced by a supermoon which occurred 2 weeks later on January 10, 2005.[7] However two weeks before a supermoon the Moon is at the opposite point in its orbit: its apogee(greatest distance). Thus a supermoon effect is impossible.[1][8] Most recently, astrologers argued that the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan on March 11, 2011, was influenced by the March 19 supermoon, the closest supermoon since 1992.[9] The problem with this claim is that on March 11 the Moon was actually closer to apogee than perigee, at approximately 400,000 km (240,000 mi) from the Earth, which is further than the average distance between the Moon and the Earth throughout the Moon’s orbital cycle.[1] While some studies have reported a weak correlation between shallow, very low intensity earthquakes and lunar activity, there is no empirical evidence of any correlation with major earthquakes.[10][11][12]

Last weekend, St. Vincent and the Grenadines celebrated its national holiday, National Hero’s Day to commemorate the island’s Carib Indian roots and the work of Chief Joseph Chatoyer.  The primary school in my village held a fair with a bouncing Spider-Man themed space castle and concessions.  Toward the end of the festivities, a modeling competition was held for the school’s children. (Captions) 1. DJ-ing 2. Space Jump 3. Saltfish (*faites attention: “saltfish” has a derogatory connotation regarding female sexual organs.) 4. Callaloo soup and ground provision (dasheen, edoes, coconut dumplings) 5. Vincie bbq 6. Concessions 7. Little ladies before the modeling competiton 8. Vogue 9. Sashay 10. Happiness.

Reasons I love Spring: 1. This is papaya. 2. creole Codfish over steamed white rice. 3. Little blue herons. 4. Blush-coloured sunsets.

[LWAS Field Day, 17 February 2011 at Antoine Playing Field]

Below, I finally posted some pictures from my work around school.  You can see the different classes in their classrooms.  The red, blue, and green houses for athletics were marching to the field for sports day.  Every midday, the school sells scoops of ice cream to students for a dollar. 1. Kids in the hall 2. Green House waiting to march. 3. Red House 4. Some of my grade 5 students 5. Grade 3 6. Grade 4 7. Grade 6 8.  Little fundraising

[Flash 10 is required to watch video.]This is a quick little video I did today.  In the background, you can see a Vincentian funeral procession.  Everyone is wearing black and/or white and singing traditional hymns.  Sorry, it’s so far away…there’s a large river valley below so that’s as close as i could get.

… It’s what’s for dinner.  I made my first attempt at a fish boil-up tonight.  Yes, not only did I clean and gut a whole fish, but also I cut loads of fresh vegetables and made a soup.  Here’s to domesticity. Fortunately, I don’t have work tomorrow.  Today, I had the longest staff meeting (or at least it felt that way).  On the bright side, it was very productive with lots of useful exchanges for future work.  Hm, that’s all for now I guess.  Perhaps, I’ll try to take Sati for her vaccinations tomorrow or try to get my hair rebraided.  I had to take them out yesterday.  My scalp needs a rest…. let’s see how I feel in the morning. Peace!

 KWID-nuhngk   , noun; One who is curious to know everything that passes; one who knows or pretends to know  all that is going on; a gossip; a busybody.

I got a pet.  Her name is Sati and she is 6 weeks old.  It’s her first time being away from her mother.   http://wiki.name.com/en/Sati

Happy New Year! Tomorrow marks the first official day of the second term at school in St. Vincent.  I’m looking forward to getting back to work after a restful and somewhat restive holiday.  The general elections are complete and many are looking forward to the continued work of incumbent, Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves.   There are still a number of tourists on the mainland and in the Grenadines for the winter.  The weather has been really excellent with cool sea breezes and the occasional shower.  In brief, the heat is much less oppressive than when our class arrived in the Caribbean, late August.   However, the rainy season does bring some disadvantages like the increased mosquitoe population.  (Quick fact: Mustique, a Grenadine island south of Bequia is adapted from the French for mosquitoe).  Fortunately, I was able to hang my mosquitoe net over my bed.  I don’t get many pests here, but it’s kind of romantic in a Caribbean sense.  Also, all the rain makes it difficult to dry my clothes on the line. End of transmission.

“Those who have virtue always in their mouths, and neglect it in practice, are like a harp, which emits a sound pleasing to others, while itself is insensible of the music -Diogenes”

Yesterday, I was a guest on the bi-weekly Peace Corps morning radio show.  It was a lot of fun despite being terribly apprehensive about being on the radio.  Two of my fellow volunteers Kellan and Camille asked me some questions about my work in St. Vincent, my hometown of New Orleans, LA, and upcoming New Year’s resolutions.  I have a recording of it that I’m currently in the process of converting to mp3 so that I can upload it here.  Look out for that soon! I can’t wait for the New Year and to celebrate with everyone.  My resolution, according to yesteday’s show, is to stop biting my fingernails- a nasty habit that I’ve been trying to stop for quite some time now.  It’s actually gotten a lot better in just the few months I’ve been here, maybe less stress.  But enough about my fingernails, I have NEW hair.  I’ve been letting my hair grow since we arrived here and now it’s pretty long.  A few days ago, I had it styled in twists that I think look really good.  I’ll try to see if I can pester one of my friends to take a photo of them for me to post here.  That’s all I have for now.  Sorry for the lack of media :-/

So, I know I haven’t had any text updates in some time now.  I’ve been trying to take my blog in a more photo/video journal direction, which is naturally easier than a lot of words.  A picture’s worth a(t least a) thousand words, right?  Well, here are a few more: I’m all moved in and finally somewhat “settled” in my new home.  I’ve been enjoying working with my school attachment to improve technology and resources there.  So far, I’ve facilitated a faculty workshop on utilizing technology in the classroom and have been conducting workshops for students (Grades 3-6) bi-weekly.   In my spare time, I’ve been doing a lot of cooking which I greatly enjoy.  For Thanksgiving, we all had a wonderful potluck in Kingstown.  I made banana-coconut rice and green-bean casserole with fried onions.  I don’t think it was half bad…  Other than that, I recently had cable installed at home which has been glorious.  I watched the Steelers clench a victory today from the Bills in overtime.  Oh!  Last but not least, I’ve started coloring again so I’ll post periodic updates of my latest illustrations…  My intention is to do art with the students so we’re starting with the basics- Crayola.  Next week:  Fingerpaint? P.S. No puns intended for the photo :-P

So I think I’m going to get a goat for a pet… Any thoughts for names?

Hurricane Tomas, mainland St. Vincent (inland).  Loss of current on the entire island and water to many parts.  Most telecommunications and current has been restored on the mainland.  Crops severely damaged, specifically banana and plantain trees which are major exports for St. Vincent.    Above are pictures of landslides and fallen trees in my village.

[Flash 10 is required to watch video.]L.W.A.S. Independence Day Assembly

Men go abroad to wonder at the heights of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motions of the stars, and they pass by themselves without wondering. Saint Augustine

Students in Year 1 sketching background at the A-Level College in St. Vincent.