Christmas, J'ouvert, and other things

Half of December has been busy, the other half has been slow. I guess a lot has happened since Thanks giving, but a lot has also not happened.

Schools finished in the first or second week of December, and because schools were done, so were after-school programs. Being a Peace Corps volunteer is a 7 day a week job though. Even when I'm not working on a project I'm still a volunteer and am always trying to do something along with the Peace Corps goals, even if it's just talking with locals. The kids I walk home with from school and play games with after school came by frequently. With them I learned how to shoot marbles, and we went swimming in some tidal pools at black rock. The kids couldn't handle the cold water very well, so swimming typically lasted for less than five minutes. But it was still fun to do, and nice to know I can safely take a dip in a five minute walk from my house.

Lately I have been having some trouble with the kids begging me for food. It started when I first started walking home with the kids. I know that some of them don't always get a good meal after school, or sometimes even dinner. I invited the kids to stop by my house to have snacks, which include some finger biscuits and water. It wouldn't be much of a snack to the average American kid, but these kids loved it because it filled their stomachs. Before long the kids came to expect snacks from me, and shortly after food in general- even though the only time I've given them food other than a snack was Thanksgiving dinner. Their constant begging gets tired after a while and it didn't matter that I told them I couldn't afford to give them food other than snacks.

Tourism is a huge part of the economy in St. Kitts. In BelleVue where I live, there is a natural historic site called Black Rocks, where there are volcanic structures in the water, so whenever a cruise ship is in town tourists taking a tour of the island stop there to take pictures. Some days hundreds of tourists come through. The kids sometimes brag to me that they have American money. They get this money from the tourists, just for being kids. I've even heard stories about tourists taking the scenic railway and throwing ten dollar bills off of it telling the kids that the first one to get it keeps the money. I think that charity is fantastic when done right, and that the tourists want to help the kids who are relatively severely underprivileged. But it hurts me to see them do this because it gives the kids andlocals a skewed image of Americans. Not everyone in the U.S. is rich enough to travel on a cruise ship and hand out money to children. It's hard for me just to hand out food to these kids when that's not the reason I'm here. My friend Alisa wrote about a similar situation in her blog this past year, and she describes the situation very well. Her story starts right below the pictures.

The last day of school I went to the Christmas program in the evening. While there I sat with "my kids", the ones I walk home with and feed and play games with. At the Christmas program they were selling chicken and some other local foods. I had very little to eat all day and was starving, and would have loved to have bought some food, but the kids were hungry and asking me to get them some. I could not have afforded to buy all three kids a meal, so I didn't want to buy some for myself and eat it in front of them being unable to share. I am unsure how I feel about this. On one hand It is not my responsibility to feed the kids. I am not their parent and am in my way expected to make sure the kids are fed. I should be able to eat when I'm hungry. On the other hand I feel bad for these kids and want to show them compassion for their situation.

Their begging became so bad that I considered dropping snacks altogether. I was telling Julie Ann about the situation had some helpful and inspiring words. She helped me feel better about the situation and I continue to feed them snacks.

Back to the Christmas program. The program was meant to start at 5:30, so I decided to show up right on time. I am getting familiar enough with Kittitian time to know that the program will in fact not begin when it's supposed to. I arrived at exactly 5:30, expecting at least a couple people there and most of the event set up. No one was there except for one kid who lived close to the school. Eventually by 6:30 things started up. Each class, and a few small group of kids, sang songs and recited poems. In the end there was a skit which I couldn't understand even though everyone was laughing during most of it.

Some pictures:

Kids playing outside before the program began

Grade 4 singing a song

Part2:

A new horse and dog racing track opened up these past few weeks in Parsons, a village close to mine. Their first two weekends were free admission, to get people to show up and know what goes on. Patty and I headed down there the second Sunday to watch our first horse races. There were five races total. Each race lasted approximately five minutes (actually less), and there was an hour break between each race. This made it kind of slow and slightly uninteresting. We stuck around for three races and then headed back home. I'm glad I wejnt but it's not something I would do regularly. It was also a good time to take pictures.

Part 3: Mt. Misery

Last Tuesday the 22nd I had a great opportunity to hike to the rim of the crater on Mt. Liamuiga. Mt. Liamuiga is a stratovolcano that has a peak of 3,792 feet, but we only went to abuout 3000 feet. It last erupted about 1,800 years ago. Geoff's family was on island and scheduled a tour, so we were invited to go with. The hike was not easy the entire way up, and some of it was more vertical than horizontal. It took us about two hours to reach the top. Once we made it we had some snacks and lunch and relaxed for a bit. There was a very large boulder at the top which we climbed (it was not an easy climb, and I thought I was going to die), and once we made it to the top, we were treated with an incredibly beautiful view.

The view from the very top

The crater

Saira and Julie Ann on their way up
Alisa is clearly excited.
Cynthia, Julie Ann, and Saira

Part 4: Christmas

This is my first Christmas away from home, so that made it a little harder than normal. I wasn't really homesick though, mostly because I have some great friends here who I was able to spend it with which made me feel at home. Julie Ann me to go visit her from the 23rd to the 25th. We left on the 23rd (almost missing the ferry. 5 seconds later and we really would have missed it). That night we went to one of Julie Ann's favorite places in Nevis, the Riviere House. It's a nice coffee shop made from a colonial house. Julie Ann, her friend Cynthia, Maggie, and myself all went. There was music drinks and Hors d'oeuvres, and we all had a good time. I stayed at Maggie's house and met up with Julie Ann and Cynthia later. On Christmas eve we all met at Montpilier plantation to eat lunch and play Mah Jong (Taiwanese style, thank you Maggie). After Mah Jong we went to the house of a friend of Julie Ann. She's an expat who has lived in many places, and Nevis happened to be the most recent one. She fed us a wonderful Christmas dinner with appetizers, wine, and dessert. She even let us use her phone to call home. Christmas morning, I was going to head back to St. Kitts and intended to catch the 10:30 ferry. Unfortunately there was no 10:30 ferry, and instead only a 4:00. We went back to relax at Julie Ann's place until 4:00. Maggie went back to St. Kitts with us and Julie Ann and Cynthia met us there. We had to rest up for J'ouvert.

Our group at the Riviere House

Part 5: J'ouvert

The 26th of December is the celebration of J'ouvert. If you want a history of Carnival you can check out wikipedia or Saira's blog. Here is my experience. On Christmas day Maggie and I made it back to my house. We relaxed a bit watching some movies and TV, and then went to bed because we were going to get up at 1am to get ready to leave for J'ouvert. The troupe we joined was the Xtreme troupe, which I believe is the largest. We paid 75EC and received a package including backpacks, a t-shirt, admission bands, a whistle, paint, and drinks.

Maggie and I woke up and went out to catch a bus. We were told that buses would be running all night long because of J'ouvert, and we would have no trouble catching one. We waited in front of my house for maybe 20-25 minutes and only one bus went by, and it was going the wrong direction.

Maggie waiting for the bus. She was sitting on a cow pie.

We decided to hitch a ride instead. The guy that picked us up was kind enough to take us all the way to Saira's house, where we met up with Saira, Cynthia, and Julie Ann. Once they were ready, we caught another ride to our starting point in town. When we arrived there was already a couple hundred people dancing and drinking and painting everything in sight. We ate some cookup and had a couple drinks, and then the caravan started to head out. We left around 3:30 and headed into the streets. Our caravan was led by people, followed by a tractor trailer with the dj and speakers, followed by more people, and then trailed by the tractor trailer with the bar. In case we finished our drink we could have just waited a minute for the drink trailer to catch up. We followed some roads through town towards the center. When we finally arrived at the circus (what the town "square" is called) it was already daylight. At that point, other troupes similar to ours that started out at different spots all met together. By the second lap around town, it seemed that half the country was was there watching. From that point on, all the troupes made laps around the downtown area drinking, dancing, and partying until about 2 in the afternoon. Most of our group was tired and we mostly went home between 9 and 10:00. It was an incredible experience and I cannot wait until next year.

Pictures:

We made it to town

Leaving the starting area

Julie Ann and a painted man
Alisa and Kelsey made sure my face was painted

Kelsey and I

Happy Thanksgiving

part1: Caught a monkey

Last week I looked out my window and saw two or three monkeys climbing on the coconut tree and fence in my back yard. Even though I've the occasional monkey around the island, it was still exciting to see one in my back yard. Of course I wanted to take a picture of it, but my camera was disassembled and I had to take it out and put it together before the monkey ran away. I somehow managed to put the camera together and step outside to take a picture while the monkey was still out there. Unfortunately I was less than diligent in keeping the battery charged and was unable to take the picture. The battery charges pretty quickly, so I plugged it in hoping to give it enough juice for a couple pictures. Thinking that the battery had charged, I put it back in the camera and tried to take a picture, only I forgot that the current had been off all morning so the battery had not charged at all. So no picture. Thankfully, I had my small camera ready and got a short video of the beast.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shAfSHNqRcI

Since the monkey incident I've been keeping my eyes open and battery charged hoping to catch another. The day after thanksgiving we were cleaning up and I was told by someone in the kitchen that there was a monkey in the backyard. Much to Saira's displeasure (she dislikes monkeys with a passion) I was able to get a couple shots of the monkey. Thankfully (for Saira) taking the pictures also scared it off.

Part 2: It's a piece of cake to bake a pretty cake

Julie Ann and Saira have been a pretty good influence on me. One reason is because they've been encouraging me to make food other than rice, tuna, and macaroni. The other week Julie Ann spent a couple days in St. Kitts at Saira's house and my house. If you visit Saira's blog you can tell that she is an excellent baker. One day she asked me what my favorite cake was, so I told her it was my grandmas yellow cake (which is called buttercup cake). We were all grateful when grandma emailed me the recipe. Since Saira and Julie Ann love to bake, and I love to eat what they bake (and I want to learn my self) we decided to make my grandmas buttercup cake. The recipe can be found on Saira's blog. The cake was pretty good, and I'm sure we'll do even better next time. Here are some pictures from the adventure.

The batter

Testing the batter

Ready to put it in the oven

The finished product

Part 3: Moonshine by the hulk

Integrating into my community and meeting people has been slow. It's not an easy process that happens quickly for me. My house is in a fairly quiet location. Belle Vue is a very small village, and I would guess there are maybe 20 or so houses here. My apartment is on the edge of the villiage along the main road. Because my side of the apartment faces the ocean, I don't see any neighbors or people walking by when I'm out on my porch. Determined to start integrating a little more, I went down to the Black Rock Pub to have a beer. By doing this I am just making myself seen by the locals in my village, and hopefully they will realize that I am here to stay, and not just a tourist. Belle Vue has many taxis stop by since Black Rock is located here, which brings in the tourists. For the people here who don't know me, they think that I am off of the cruise ship.

It was a hot day and the beer was refreshing. The owner of the rum shop chatted with me for a bit, in which I told him I'm with Peace Corps which led him to warming up even more to me. By the end of our conversation he invited me to lime with him in town sometime. Excellent! This is just what I wanted to do in order to help integrate.

One Caribbean drink I really like is Ting, which is a carbonated grapefruit soda. It's delicious. During my first month here I've acquired a nice sized stash of empty ting bottles, but I didn't throw them out because you can exchange them for cash somewhere. I don't have the means to take a bunch of bottles into town an exchange them for money, so I told the owner of the rum shop that I'd give them to him. There was a lot of bottles and he was pretty grateful, so he offered me a free beer. After he gave me the beer he asked me if I wanted to try some moonshine. It sounded dangerous, but what a better way to integrate than try a local drink? He pulled out a big jug from under the bar that had lots of stuff inside of it, which included peanuts and coconut roots. Apparently sometimes they put centipedes in it, but this particular jug had none. The jug had a picture of the Hulk taped to it; this scared me. He poured me a good sized (too much) amount into a dixie glass and told me to try it, which I did. It actually wasn't too bad. It was strong and smooth, but not something I could drink straight. While I was trying the moonshine some locals came up and were taking an interest in my experiment with the drink. Eventually they started buying me beer ontop of the moonshine that I was slowly drinking. There was more drinks than I wanted, so the owner told me he would save them for me next time I came back. The moonshine really packed a punch (I had to take a nap shortly after), but it was a great way to meet some of the locals and let my face be known around the village.

part 4: Happy Thanksgiving

EC80 is apparently very enthusiastic about many things, such as our work sites, projects, and planning events. For the past month (at least), Saira, Julie Ann, and I have been planning a Thanksgiving feast at my house. After much planning it finally happened, resulting with a lot of fantastic food and great people. Here is what was on the menu: Turkey, glazed ham, breadfruit curry, lasagna, green bean casserole, pasta & gree veggie casserole, coconut brown rice, stuffing, mashed sweet potatos, fried okra, lumpia (Filipino spring rolls), buttermilk biscuits, cranberry sauce, guacamole, green fig tater tots, egg and tomato dish, collard greens, squash and onions, cheesecake, pumpkin pie, banana guava pie, coconut pecan cookies, passion fruit cake, apple and cranberry crisp.

There were approximately 40-45 people who attended.

LOLkitts

part 1: feeling comfortable
I'm starting to feel more comfortable at my school now, I feel as if my role there is more solid than it used to be. I now have stuff to actually do and I have a fairly solid schedule. Most of my time spent at the school is working with the library. In addition to being the librarian I am also working with one student on remedial reading. One of the reasons I am so pleased about this is because when I was first sworn in and was officially a volunteer, I wasn't entirely sure what my role was in the school and was not spending very much time working there. As an American I feel unproductive if I am not working 40 hours a week, and also felt slightly guilty because I am still getting "paid" even when I'm not working 40 hours a week. Many people told me that I shouldn't worry about the situation because I need to take things slowly at first. I understood that and tried my best to not worry about it, but of course I still worried. I may not be working "full time" yet, but I am feeling better about actually being slightly productive now.

Amongst my adventures in the school library are the kindergarten kids. Being the youngest in the school, they are often timid about things, and the library is one of them. They frequently come into the library wanting to check out books, which is fantastic. Our school does not have library cards (yet), so I have to ask every student what their name is when they want to check out a book, and find their library envelope. It is sometimes difficult to tell which kid I'm looking for since they often speak in thick dialect and I can't understand their names. It's even more difficult when you get three girls in a row whose names are "Darneisha", "Darnesia", and "Darnesa" (ok, maybe they're not quite that similar. But if feels that way sometimes). One kindergarten girl was trying to tell me her name, but her dialect was too thick and her voice was too gentle. I tried to ask her several more times but I got nowhere. Thinking I had a good idea I asked her to spell the name for me as I wrote it down. Most kids that age know how to spell their names, right? Her name started out simple enough, something like "Tatiana", but she continued to throw letters at me. Not just letters but random consonants. Before long, Tatiana turned into "Tatiananhtpentcnhn". I was convinced this was not her name so I asked her to write it down on the paper. It didn't take long before I realized that she was only copying down the same word she told me. Getting frustrated I asked her one last time what her name was, and of course she just told me her name clearly. And it was something simple like "Peggy".

After school there are three children who also live in Belle Vue and like to walk home with me. The first day they did this they showed me how to pick sugar cane from the cane fields, and how to eat it. Needless to say, I'm not very good at it yet and end up spitting a lot of fiber out of my mouth. Since then these three kids have been walking with me after school and visiting with me at my house. Ocassionally I am able to give them snacks of crackers and water, since the kids don't get a snack and apparently don't always get dinner either.

Sarah is one of the girls who walks home with me.


Diane is the other.

They are sisters.
Part 2: After School
During my pre-service training I met with Dr. Browne, the doctor the Peace Corps uses as their dermatologist. She runs an after school program for about 15-20 elementary school students in Basseterre. During training she asked me if I would be willing to help out once I am sworn in as a volunteer. I was reluctant initially to make a commitment before I was a volunteer, but I thought it sounded like a good program, so I told Dr. Browne I would help out.
Last Wednesday was going to be my first day helping out. I went into town and got a ride with Dr. Browne to the church where the program is held. It turned out to be a good experience, even though it was a little frustrating occasionally. The kids start out by eating a snack donated by some grocery or restaurant. After the snack they break into individuals or groups to work on homework. Overall the homework part was ok. There were a couple of students that had no interest in doing their work. I would try to help them but they would just stare out into space or look at other students who were talking. When I asked them to focus on the homework they would just ignore me. They would even ignore me if I tapped them on their shoulder to get their attention. After a while of doing this I got frustrated and told him that if he wants help he will have to ask me for it. So I left him and went to help other students. After all the students "finished" their homework, we played children's games. They weren't camp games like the ones I'm used to, but traditional childrens games similar to "London Bridge is Falling Down" and "Ring around the Rosy". I didn't think the games were very fun, or even age appropriate for the older elementary students, but the kids seemed to enjoy them. I will continue going to the program every Wednesday and Friday when school is in session.

part 3: Kittitian Kitten
Last night I was talking to Saira online, and she informed that at Ross University there was going to be a pet adoption day the next day. She knew very well that I have been wanting a cat. Michele, our PCMO, had some "wild" kittens she was trying to tame and was going to save one for me, but I don't know if a wild kitten would have been a good idea. I told Saira that I would go with her to the adoption, and that she should try to talk me into getting a cat because I would probably give in. She did a good job.
We meet in town with Laurant around 10:00 and drove out to Ross, where we met some students who were volunteering with P.A.W.S. (the organization with the adoption program). I filled out the adoption forms and turned in my written consent from my landlord saying I could have a pet. I was then led into a building where the cats were. There were maybe 15 or so cats that were waiting for adoption. There were kittens and there were adults. I was hoping for a kitten, but would have been open to an adult if I liked it. There were so many cats that I liked it was difficult to narrow it down, but I ended up having to decide between two of them. The competition was between Floyd and Grant, and it was difficult to decide. I wanted to make a decision based on the personality of the cat rather than how cute they were. Both of them were very sweet and liked to cuddle. I didn't want a cat that was always antsy and never wanted to be held. I liked Floyd a lot, but the second time I tried to hold him he wanted to get away, and Grant nearly fell asleep in my hands each time I held him. In the end I chose Grant.
Saira did not want to adopt today and instead signed up to be a foster home for a kitten. She chose Paige, who is Grant's sister. I'm pretty sure she's going to give in within a week and end up adopting Paige.
I decided that I did not like the name Grant, so I have suitably renamed him "Richard Parker". Richard Parker is the name of the Bengal Tiger in the book "Life of Pi", which is one of my all time favorite books. I call him Richard Parker, but you are welcome to call him Mr. Parker if you wish.
Since we've been home he has slept 98% of the the time. He is very sweet and likes to lean up against me when he sleeps. If I get up and move over a little, he will do the same so he is still leaning against me. He hasn't been very adventurous yet, and has only spent about 10 minutes following me around the living room. He hasn't shown any signs of stress other than the fact that he is sleeping so much, and hasn't eaten, drunk, or used the litter yet. Hopefully it won't take him long to warm up.

Made it.

Part 1: Welcome home
Last Saturday, on the 17th, I said goodbye to my host family, and moved into my own apartment. It really wasn't "goodbye", since they just live down the road from me, and I walk by them every time I go to school. My host Mom drove me over to my new place, helped me get my bags into the apartment, chatted for a bit, then I was on my own. I was quite content. For the first time in my life, I am living on my own. No roommates and no parents or siblings, I could walk around naked if I wanted (if only the mosquitoes weren't so bad). I spent the rest of the day unpacking my belongings, moving stuff around until I was comfortable, and scrubbing the kitchen and the floors.
Patty and I went to town to do our first grocery shopping trip. Food here is extremely expensive (at least on a Peace Corps budget) and I very quickly went over the $250 mark, when I was expecting to spend less than $200. When I got home and put the groceries away, you could hardly tell I went shopping.
I am very happy with my apartment. I would say that it's in a quiet location, but the wind and the surf are very loud (I'm not bragging, Patty). As I sit here right now I can hear the ocean and wind roaring on the coast. My backyard goes right up to a cliff by the sea. There is a fence and several trees separating the yard from the ocean, so I won't fall in. The view is absolutely beautiful. On the right side I can see part of Black Rocks, and on the left side I can see the cliffs by Saddlers, and in the distance I can see other islands. I would not, and could not have asked for a more beautiful location. It is not the Peace Corps experience I was expecting, but I am loving it.
Some pictures of my apartment.
Hallway. On the left is my bedroom. On the right at the end is the closet and spared bedroom, then on the end is the bathroom.

The kitchen is very large. I have no need for so much space.

Yes, the living room/dining room is messy here. It's not always that way. really.

My bedroom is usually kept clean as well.

The view from my back yard

Part 2: NOW I've arrived.
I remember when we first arrived in St. Lucia a fellow member of EC80 said that they wouln't say they've arrived until they are sworn in. I liked that thinking because it's true. The real work doesn't begin until now. Last Monday October 19th, EC80 (St. Kitts) was officially sworn in. We met at Manhattan Gardens restaurant for the ceremony. Most of our host families attended, as well as the Governor General and Deputy Prime Minister. You can see what happened based on the pictures of the bulletin.


After all the speeches were made, we were offically sworn in. All volunteers take the same oath that all Government officials take, all the way up to the Vice President I believe. One we said it, we were officially sworn in. We received a certificate marking our completion of service, as well as a nice Peace Corps patch and Eastern Caribbean Pin.

Taking the oath



Holding my certificate. Maggie is jealous even though hers is exactly the same.

Once we were sworn in, we had one last task: To sing three Kittitian songs which our cross cultural trainer, Pencheon, taught us. Saira, Pencheon, and I played the guitar while everyone else sang. Everyone did a nice job.


Officially Peace Corps volunteers. EC80 of St. Kitts and Nevis

After the ceremony Saira, Julie Ann, Kelsey, Alisa, our friend Laurent, and myself drove into town to celebrate by getting some ice cream. We met up with a few others there, some dispersed, and some of us ended up at the Ferry to grab a beer with Kim, Geoff, and Chris.

Part 3: DON'T SEND NICE STUFF!
Many of you know that I like photography a lot, and that I have a fair amount of photography equipment. Unfortunately it was too heavy and bulky to bring with me on the airplane, so my parents had it shipped down to me a couple weeks ago. Unfortunately, because it is Technological equipment, St. Kitts customs decided to hold it hostage. Peace Corps has a deal with the Government here that volunteers can receive packages without taxes for three months after they arrive. This is true, however it is not easy to do with camera equipment.
My first step was to get a permissions letter from someone in the ministry of finance saying I could receive the package duty free. Michelle (our PCMO) was kind of enough to drive me to the airport to pick up the package. Unfortunately it wasn't there. They recently changed it so packages are picked up at the customs and excise office in Bird Rock (too far to walk). Michelle drove me there, and I took my invoice and official letter in. I was then told that I couldn't get it yet, because I needed to have some sort of broker papers documenting what I was receiving, and they were to be filled out and stamped by a broker (which costs $25 EC to do). After finally getting the papers, we had to take them back to the ministry offices to be signed and stamped again. A couple hours later they were all completed, and we headed back to the Customs office. Of course they wouldn't let me have it so easy, and sent me next door to another office for some more stamps of approval. After finally getting all the stamps and signatures I needed, I took the papers in to get the package, and was told I now had to wait. About 25 minutes later they told us that it was taking so long because they normally require a 24 hour wait period for the paper work to be processed (now they tell us). After about 45 minutes to an hour, they tell me I can get the package after I paid $850 (plus $100 for the swine flu vaccines that Michelle picked up the day before, since I was helping her turn in her paper work) in fees. After explaining to them that our letter from the ministry clearly excused us from any taxes, they let us know that the letter only excused me from two of the three taxes. That $850 EC was only 1/3 of the taxes I would have had to pay! It would have probably been cheaper to buy a plane ticket to the U.S., pick up the camera, then fly back. Apparently whomever wrote the letter accidentally forgot to write off all three taxes, so we called her, and she eventually faxed over a new letter. Four hours after I expected to get the package, I finally got.
The moral of the story is that if you want to send me something really nice, please be sure to ask me first. It's not easy to receive packages of technology here.

There is more to tell, such as the trip to Caribelle Batik, and a Hash House Harriers event. But I'm too tired now, and I will update again later this week.

The Honeymoon is over

Part 1: The honeymoon is over.
Maybe that title sounds a little extreme, however it is pretty accurate. Traveling is almost always fun because you are experience new and exciting things. Living in a new country is pretty fun too, especially when you first move there. After a while culture shock usually kicks in. Once new and exciting, things are starting to seem more real here. Of course it's not the perfect dream land that a lot of people expect it to be. People from home always told me that I was lucky to be coming here and it would be like a vacation for two years. Ha! Of course I never believed that, when people would say it to me I would just smile and laugh. After all, people vacation to Chicago, right? Do they really think that people who live in Chicago are on constant vacation? Are native Kittitians on vacation their entire lives? Hopefully everyone who said that to me was joking.

Things aren't always easy here. While I do love it, I am certainly not as comfortable as I almost always was back at home. There are a lot of things that make me uncomfortable here, and many of them are just cultural norms that I will have to get used to. I'm not used to saying "good morning/afternoon/evening/night" to almost everyone I see (whether or not I know them). I'm not used to riding on a small bus every day. I'm not used to living with a host family. The diet is different, and I can't drink out of the tap (or at least I'm not supposed to). If I want a snack at night, I can't run down to the nearest gas station and grab something. I'm not used to being unable to understand people a lot of the time. I'm not used to looking different from 98% of the population. I'm not complaining about these things, they are just traits of living in a foreign country that I'm going to have to get used to... and I'm sure I will get used to them eventually.

Culture shock has affected probably everyone in our group so far, some more than others. With culture shock you have highs and lows. The lows usually consist of "ugh. I'm stuck on this tiny island still and won't be leaving it for a long long time." or "I love my host family but I really really can't wait to move into my own house." or "I really really don't want to use the energy to try and follow the conversation right now." I feel as if my lows have been pretty mild. Other volunteers I'm sure have experienced things that are much more difficult to get used to. Usually we are able to let those small (or large) things that get to us roll right off our backs. After a while though, they end up building and building and start to get under our skin. Some volunteers have experienced several racist remarks. Usually the remarks are created from ignorance and really are not meant to be personal, but after hearing them so many times it can cause a person a lot of stress. In this way our honeymoon is over. The ideal life of living in the sun, sand and sea has come to an end, and we are mostly experiencing a culture for what it's really worth. I'm sure that it will get worse at points, and eventually we will adjust to those things also, but for now can be difficult at times to come to terms with our reality as residents on this island. Don't worry though. We'll adjust.

We lost another member of EC80 this week. Evie went home, which is really too bad. Evie was our oldest member in her upper 70's, and really was an inspiration for all of us. This means that there are now only 9 of us left. We have made promises to each other that we will stay for the full two years. I don't think anyone else will be going home.

part 2: "A drinking club with a running problem"
Yesterday David, Saira, Tiffany, Patty, and myself joined the famed group "The Hash House Harriers". They are basically a running club that is very wild. Hash House Harriers have groups all over the world, and probably in most countries. The idea of the group is to go on a difficult/dangerous run or walk and then drink. I was pretty excited to join and looked up information online. In some groups they take a break halfway through the run to have a couple drinks, and then they finish up then run and drink some more. That sounded a little extreme to me, but it also sounded fun. Fortunately (for my liver) The St. Kitts chapter is more focused on the exercise than the drinking aspect.

The group meets once every three weeks in some spot on the island where they are going to hold their race. This week it was in Verchilds. I showed up with the others in EC80, and we met up with Geoff and Mike, who are in EC78. There was probably 30-40 people who participated. It was a pretty diverse group consisting of expats, Ross students, and locals. The course was kind of explained to us, and then we were sent off. The runners went one way while us walkers went another. In no way was this a casual stroll on the beach. We started off walking at a nice easy pace, but then we picked up significantly. We started heading south towards town, and then took some country road up a really really really big hill. I used up my water in the first five minutes, so I wasn't too sure how I was going to be able to finish without passing out. Once we made it to the top of the hill, we appeared to be in some overgrown sugar cane farm. The "road" we were on was overgrown with lots of thorny plants and thorny trees and thorny underbrush. It was not easy. But I loved it! I felt like I was in extreme cross country. Perhaps in the next few meetings I'll try the running. We eventually made it back safely to the point where we started. Once everyone was back they opened up the coolers and started grilling hot dogs and hamburgers. I drank a pop and a beer and expected that people would start heading out. No way. They had certain ceremonies they had to perform before people could leave. The first one was bringing out the two people who created the trail we followed. They were made to sit in an ice cold pot of water, insulted about how terrible their course was, insulted a little more (all in good fun of course), and then were told to chug a beer. Whatever was left of the beer they did not drink went on their heads. They did this for a few more people who did noteworthy things (such as taking phone calls or getting lost). Next, they asked everyone who was there for the first time to come forward and kneel. uh oh. We were the virgins of the group. They handed a beer (or pop if you didn't drink beer) to each of us. Then one man walked down the line and asked us our names (we had to shout our names) and then baptised us with beer. I was pretty smelly from sweat as it was, I'm sure the beer didn't help anything. After everyone was baptised they sang their beer chugging song, and we had to all finish off our drinks (or pour them on our heads. No way I'm wasting a beer!). Then to top it off, ice cold water was poured over our heads. A nice initiation.

All that said, I am very much looking forward to the next race.

I'll hopefully have pictures of all this sometime soon.

Happy Independence Day... last week.

Happy Independence Day!!! Oh, what's that you say? It was last week on the 16th? Oh well, at least I'm bringing it up at some point, right?

part 1: "The most exciting and luxurious tour in the Caribbean"
I'm actually not entirely sure how Kittitians celebrate Independence day, as I didn't participate in any public celebrations. In the morning there was a parade, but not what we think of parade, with floats and candy and killer masonic airplane-cars. It is strictly a military parade, with every uniformed person on the island. Even the British coast guard (or something like that) was there, since they were near the island. Apparently it was very hot, and several people passed out... which I guess is expected. But I didn't go, so I don't know the details.

I had the great opportunity to ride on the St. Kitts scenic railway. The scenic railway is mostly a tourist destination. Most locals I have talked to have either been on it once, or not at all. The train runs on old tracks that go all the way around the island, and were once used to transport sugar cane from the mills to town. Since the sugar cane industry shut down in 2005 due to continuing loss of profits.

The train its self I've heard is quite expensive (around $100 USD) but I was lucky enough to get on for free, since Saira's "host grandfather" is the conductor on the train. So on the train was Saira, Tiffany, and myself. The entire trip was maybe 2.5 hours. The train went (very slowly) around the Eastern side of the island, until it got up north, then we got off and took a bus the rest of the way around. Even though I go around the East side of the island every day, it was nice seeing it from a mostly different perspective of the train tracks. The entire trip was narrated, and they even gave us free water and rum strawberry daiquiris. I'm not sure if I could recommend the train to anyone visiting the island because it is normally so expensive. However if you can afford it, it's a comfortable way to experience the villages and coastline of the island.

The view from the train

Tiffany and Saira enjoying the ride.


part 2: The Governor's Ball
The train wasn't all I got to do on Independence day. I also had the great opportunity to attend the Governor's ball in Basseterre. It was a very fancy and formal event. All men were required to wear jackets and a tie, and was by invitation only. My host family gets invitations every year, and this year my host father said I should go with my host mom if they got invitations. The event didn't start until 7:00, so Sarah and I left at 6:30 and arrived right at 7:00. There was a short line going into the "governors mansion" (apparently he doesn't actually live there). We got in line, went inside, and shook hands with the Governor General, then went outside with the rest of the party. The lawn was decorated with lots of colorful "christmas lights", several plastic chairs placed in random spots, two large food tents, and two large bar tents. Rather than the typically cinderella type ball that I thought it would be like, it was more of a meet and greet. Sarah and I chose a spot in some chairs that were near the front of the lawn, got a couple drinks, and people watched for a bit. I saw Tiffany and some other volunteers from EC78 walking around. After everyone was there, the Governor General came over and sat down next to me. He looked pretty tired, and we didn't talk (he wasn't RIGHT next to me). Then the prime minister and some other important people came over and sat around the Governor General. It was neat being so close to the most important people in the country, but you have to remember that the entire nation consists of only 40,000 people, so seeing the head of government isn't a rare event. A little bit later Sarah and I decided to walk around, watch the band and the people dancing. We headed home around 10:45, and decided it was a fun night.


Sarah, enjoying the festivities.

They weren't serving us at the bar, so Sarah took the matter into her own hands and walked back there and grabbed our own drinks.

I was so excited that they filled half my cup with rum.

honoring the queen of England in the Governors home.


part 3: Back to School.
I have actually been going to the primary school I am assigned to, once a week for half a day. Most of the time I am just observing the classes, getting my face known to the staff and students in order to prepare for when I am there nearly full time. Our training before we become actual volunteers covers many aspects of Peace Corps, one of which is schools in St. Kitts (since Youth Development is a large program in the Eastern Caribbean for Peace Corps).
With this training we actually have a decent amount of homework. Last week one of our assignments was to teach a remedial reading lesson in our assigned school. To prepare for it, I asked the principal if there were any students that would benefit from a remedial reading class, and she directed me towards the fourth grade class... the entire fourth grade class. Now, the entire class does not need help with their reading... it's just the largest class in the school and the teacher needs help with the students. Instead of creating a remedial reading lesson, I created just a generalized lesson geared towards fourth grade reading (which I had no clue what to do). I have very little resources, which were basically the black board and whatever supplies I can scrounge up. In college, it was easy doing reading lessons because I had access to some great libraries and could use any children's book I wanted. Since I had none of those materials here, I decided a nice game of hangman using some big words from Roald Dahl's book "Matilda". I'll skip the details of the lesson since that's all boring (except that a major part of the lesson was Hangman, because that's important).

I go to the class in the morning, and the teacher wasn't there, which means I have to entertain the children until the teacher comes back. They were being very loud and unruly, so I did the old pull off the thumb trick again, which calmed them down (it's fun hearing all the kids in the class shout "mearm!" at the same time out of surprise). Eventually the teacher came back, so I was going to let her have control of the class... but she let me keep going (gee thanks). Now I had to entertain the kids for an even longer period of time. I sang the Moose song from camp with them, which they loved and wanted to sing multiple times. Not knowing what to do next, I started them on a game of hangman using random words. This was entertaining for them for a short amount of time, but once they started to lose interest I panicked. If they lose interest in the game before I even teach my lesson, then I know i'll have a disaster filled lesson. I decided to get their mind off of lessons and took them outside to play a game (waa master). To play this game they were supposed to form a circle. I have never ever seen a group of people have so much trouble forming a simple circle. They were perfectly capable of making a circle, but they just wouldn't. At first all the kids wanted to stand next to me, so it started being a straight line. I moved some kids to the other side and I stood in the middle. Of course some kids followed me to the middle, other kids started wandering outside the circle, and more kids were just walking around. One girl even picked up a couple rocks to throw at some boys. Mearm! This game was a mess. Eventually we got in a circle and I taught them how to play. Once we started playing nearly every single child was cheating to win, but thankfully it started raining so I didn't have to finish this hellish game with them.

I took them back inside and decided to just start my lesson. The teacher was in the room for the lesson and was being very supportive in keeping the kids quiet and respectful. I somehow survived through the lesson, and turned it back over to the teacher. The teacher let the kids go outside for a short break, when one kid prompty vomited on the sidewalk. I just can't wait until I get to teach another lesson next week.

part 4: Baptism and Brimstone
There has been very little opportunity to sleep in since I've been here. We have activities nearly every day of the week, and the days I am able to sleep in, I end up waking up early anyway because it gets hot once the sun hits the house. This past Saturday (September 27th) was one of those days I did not get to sleep in. My host sister, Tarren, was being baptised at a beach a few miles away in Diep Bay. It wasn't only Tarren being baptised, but approximately 12 others. We were at the beach by 7:15am. The only way I can describe the baptism is by relating it to the baptism scene in "Oh brother Where art thou". Everyone being baptised wore white gowns, and the congregation sang as each person walked into the ocean to be bathed. I'll let the pictures and video tell the rest.



Everyone is wearing their gowns.
The island in the background is St. Eustacius

After the baptism, I went on to Brimstone Hill, for a cultural field trip. Brimstone hill was once used as a fortress to defend the island against invaders. The invaders were either French or British. I'm not sure which. But it was a fun trip at a beautiful site. A place that every visitor to St. Kitts should see.

These pictures are kind of small, so you might want to click on them to see the large image.

The fort.

Canons and the fort
Maggie
Julie Ann and Saira pretending to be a cannon
Julie Ann is actually a British Soldier

And so is Saira

Saira is actually terrified of monkeys, and would not advance further into this room.