Christmas in Layou

I still have a smile on my face from the sweet arrangement of events that created my first Christmas in St. Vincent. I was nervous that I would miss home terribly and while it is certainly true that my heart strings were pulled in the direction of New York, DC, Pensacola and the Bay area, I got through just fine. Christmas Eve is not really celebrated here in SVG so I spent the evening watching The Office holiday episodes (so funny!) and getting materials ready for school. On Christmas morning, I woke up and did my normal exercise routine only to be interrupted twice by my 9 year old neighbor who had climbed over my fence to wish me a “Merry Christmas!” and the second time to wonder what in the world I was still doing! I explained to him that Christmas equates with eating in the states so I was just prepping for the long day ahead! Graciously, he agreed that he would give me until 8:30am to truly begin Christmas!

At 8:30, he arrived bearing gifts of sweet bread and his 3 year old brother, Juvion. We hugged, said “Merry Christmas” and played numerous Christmas carols on YouTube. We took the carrot cake that I had made for his family over to their house and I gave the boys their Christmas presents. In typical Peace Corps/teacher fashion, I had decided that I would only give out books as gifts. Juvion received Where’s Spot and Vianj received his first Berenstein Bears book, a series that I adored as a child. It is the first book that either of them have ever owned and as they carried the books for the rest of the afternoon, I knew that despite books not being the most exciting gifts that they were valued. After spending some time at their house, we walked up the road (and a huge hill) to deliver a Christmas gift to Stefi (The Secret Garden) and her family. We hung out on the road outside their house for a bit, waving to friends that passed and enjoying the sunshine. On our way back to our block, we decided that we would take a tour of the town. Lucky for me, the boys have plenty of family in Layou.

Our tour of Layou took a total of three hours! We stopped at aunts and uncles houses, receiving gifts of juice, cake, Guinness (just for me) and money (just for the boys). We walked in the sweet sunny bliss of a Christmas morning. Children were racing new bicycles down the road and Christmas carols came blasting out of speakers. Everywhere you looked, families and friends were together, just enjoying each other’s company. When we arrived home, Elvia, the boy’s mother, filled a plate with food to send home with me and gave me a glass of Mawby (sort of like root beer) and Ginger Beer. I went home and took a break before going to Flory’s house for Christmas dinner. At Flory’s, we had a quiet dinner, just Flory, Uncle Richard and myself. She had cooked a meal for kings and I enjoyed every bit of it. I even ate the fish cheeks, which is getting downright close to the eyeballs! After sitting for a few hours and talking about life, I helped with the dishes and headed home. Almost as soon as I arrived home, I received a call from my friend Sudi inviting me to come lime (hang out) with him and a group of guys that have become my closest friends here in Vincy. I went and met them at the Nichols house. Mr. Nichols had been their boss and he was graciously hosting the gang on the porch. The boys were already smiling with bellies full of Guinness and the joy that only comes from spending time with your closest friends. I grabbed a chair, sat back and enjoyed the show. A c ouple of times, the boys would look at me and say “Thanksgiving!” They had been invited to the Peace Corps Thanksgiving celebration where we explained that the holiday was about eating, drinking and having a good time with your friends and family. They couldn’t have said it any better, as my heart was giving thanks for whatever cosmic forces came together to land me right in that moment.

Sunday was Boxing Day, a holiday that is spent with friends and neighbors. I spent the morning with my neighbors, playing games and reading books. At 1:30, my landlord picked me up to take me to his house for Boxing Day supper. His wife had cooked an amazing meal complete with a tossed salad, the first I have had since arriving in SVG! We enjoyed lunch, talked about the issues of literacy and how to work with parents. It was a fascinating conversation and I couldn’t help but feel like I was talking to surrogate parents who were interested in seeing my work result in success. After the meal, I took a tour of the house, spent time with their neighbors and watched the end of the Caribbean Cricket tournament on TV. Their children are overseas so I was happy to spend time with Mr. and Mrs. Charles in a way that can only be described as the familiar feeling of downright comfort that one has when they are with their families. After a few hours, Mr. Charles took me home with a “doggie” bag full of macaroni pie, sweet cake and meat pies. Later that evening, a friend picked me up and we went to a liming spot called the Drop Off where I finished off my Christmas weekend by dancing until the wee hours of the morning.

A very merry Christmas indeed!

The Greatest Gift in the World...

is friendship! Today is Miss Jennifer Ewart's birthday and I have to take this moment to give a big shout out to the woman that has helped make my Peace Corps experience so downright enjoyable. Jenn hails from Northern California and is always full of fresh ideas about social justice and the ways of the world. She is truly a social anthropologist, constantly engaging people from a variety of backgrounds to deepen her understanding of human existence. As a volunteer, she has a quiet, measured pace. She isn't pushy, she is just herself living in Spring Village offering a helping hand and a cup of coffee. I can tell when we ride through the village in the van and children break into bright smiles when they see her, that SVG needs more people like her. Her Vincy "grandfather" reminds me every time I see him that Jenn is not going home to the states-- he wants to keep her here! Her quiet determination and fierce compassion are the recipe for change in Spring. As a friend, she makes me laugh, helps me through hard times and is my co-pilot in island adventures. We have taken to spending time together getting to know friends around the island (and I do mean around the island! Even though we both live on the Leeward side, it is not strange to see us Winward on Sundays, stirring up smiles!). Just the other day, I was at a government event and I ran into a friend, first question out of his mouth was "Where's Jennifer?" Every once in a while, we are lucky to find people who make us better just by being with them and I believe his question goes to show that in Vincy, Miss Jennifer and I go together like salt fish and rice.

Happy Birthday to a lovely, lovely friend and a wonderful member of the United States Peace Corps!

Picture above of Jennifer and Justlyn, my host sister!

Vincy Hodge Podge

I promise, everyday I think to myself that I simply must post something but somehow by the middle of the day my mind is overwhelmed by all of the wonderful things that I could send your way that most of the time I just head to bed, satisfied with the fact that life is going along just as it should and not at all how I would have planned. But in an effort to keep this blog going and to explain what is so many times downright impossible to explain, I write again today. It is going to be a hodgepodge of my life in Vincy and the moments that bring me right to my knees.
Everyone, I mean EVERYONE, wants me to marry a Vincentian and stay here forever! It is funny, I hadn’t realized it until this past week but on a regular basis, I get asked if I have met any nice men or if I would like to be introduced regardless of what I say. I also am asked what my “requirements” are—money, age or Christian. I have come up with a variety of answers, the best being that I have my hopes out for the next Soca Monarch that won’t be announced until next Carnival (July) and that I would have no chance with anyways since he will be a major (or minor) celebrity after being crowned the BEST Soca artist in St. Vincent. I consider it a compliment—they want me to stay!
My library books were two weeks late! I had tried to return them twice but the library had an unscheduled closing those days. It is the end of the month so the librarian has to pay her bills. Anyways, I went to the library and of course, I ended up with a $0.90 fine and of course I did not have the money to cover the fine. Fortunately, there were a couple students who threw in their ten cent pieces and shillings ($0.25) to cover Miss Smith’s fines. I was able to check out a new load of books for class this week and I promptly returned the money during break the next morning. It was a wonderful feeling to have kids throwing out their small change to ensure that I could check out more books. They don’t have money, I don’t have money but together we can work it out.
Yesterday at the 4-H meeting we were working on creating Christmas Wreaths out of our handprints. In the States, I had run this activity a few times with no problems. Everyone traces their hands, colors them green and cuts them out. We put all the palms together and make a lovely little wreath. Well, the children of Layou made a whole new kind of wreath. There were long (LONG!) fingernails, red hands, green hands, purple hands and brown hands. I love it. They always give me a run for my money. At the end of the day, it is about giving the wreath to someone in our community who is less fortunate than us.
Finally, I have been teaching a composition class which I have basically kidnapped and turned into a Creative Writing class. It is FUN!!! Most of the students are not regularly encouraged to use their imaginations and write what they feel inside so it is really interesting to see what they have to say when there is no grade. My rule is that they have to write something but there is no judgement after that. Today, the topic was “If I could learn about anything I want.” I wanted to share a few of the responses:
Cheslon, “ I would like to learn about Haiti because I want to help those people affected by the hurricane and Cholera.”
Josh, “I would like someone to teach me to play football for me to get better at it.”
Marvin, “I want to learn about mechanics because I love to fix vehicles because vehicles take you anywhere you want to go.”

How could I not fall in love with SVG? Come visit… we will make you a lovely sign like the one below!

Also I would like to give my mom a big "Thank You!!!" for creating the Smithers' Vincy Gym, it has been put to good use and we are all much stronger for it!

Mama always said...

There would be days like this and it is true, even in the land of sunshine and rainbows, there are days that leave you feeling blue. The other day at school I was bullied by another teacher. Wait… what? That is exactly what I was thinking as it was happening. We were in the lunchroom where I had been helping distribute lunch when two teachers were talking in dialect, apparently about me because one of them looked over and said “Don’t worry, she doesn’t understand us.” That is, in fact, completely the case because although dialect is a variation of English, many times it does not sound like any word I have ever heard before in my life. The she looked at me and said, “What’s unique about America?” in a snappy tone and then proceeded to say “St. Vincent has its own language, food, culture, holidays and way of doing things. Everything America has is borrowed.” I looked over in disbelief, shocked that I was being asked to defend my country. I said, “We are the great melting pot, we have so many different people coming together and that is what makes us unique.” I left it at that, exhausted and frustrated at the experience.

I hesitated to write about this on my blog because I was afraid it would come out as a complaint when really it was an “ah-ha” moment. I also don’t want to overdramatize the bullying. In fact, I am quite sure that if she knew how her comment affected me, she would explain that she did not mean for it to come across that way. So that leads to my “ah-ha” which is don’t take everything so personally and roll with the punches. I spoke with my friend Sati about the whole experience and he explained to me that people are going to want to challenge me a little because they want to see if I can handle the pressure. Vincentians are light hearted people and they want to know if you can roll with that. He also explained that so many Vincentians move off of the island that to those who have never left there is a certain mystery about what could be so great about the US, England, Canada or anywhere else in the world when St. Vincent is so unique in its own right.

There seems to be a point in the first couple months where despite being happily integrating into the community, you hit a wall. You realize that you are different and while you can adjust to cold water, lizards and being stared at all the time, there are things under the surface that will take more time. Peace Corps feels like the first time I learned to knit. At first, it is crazy and confusing. Then you get the hang of it and are dreaming of knitting cable sweaters and blankets for your yet to be born nieces and nephews. Then you look down and realize that you have missed stitches, miscounted or the holes just look funny. You have to pull out the yarn and go back to the beginning. You know what to do but you have to slow down and take time to get it right. They have a saying here, “Tek time kill ants yo go fine de guts,” which translates as if you take time to do something, you will discover the intricate details that make up the whole picture. So I am taking time to kill the ants (just not the crazy ones that are attacking my house!).

Neighbors!

My favorite part of St. Vincent is my neighbors. I love them. They take care of me, send over bakes (bread-type roll), make tutus when there is a hurricane and remind me of why I am here. They give advice on getting out stains, help me check my laundry to see if it is dry and are my knights in the war against crazy ants that are attacking my house. I love to see their faces peeping out from behind my gate asking if it is “okay” for them to come over. At first I was confused because I simply have never had neighbors like this. Sure, I would always wave and say “hi” but here my neighbors have become my family away from home. We spend our days together reading, laughing, baking and coloring. When I see their smiling faces I believe that this is really what I am here to do; just be a good neighbor to a fellow citizen of the world.

This past Saturday, St. Vincent was hit by Hurricane Tomas. It was a crazy experience but I was lucky to have Stefi, my nine year old neighbor, with me the whole time. She came over on Saturday morning and by the afternoon the wind was blowing too hard for her to return to her mother’s house up the road so we braved the storm together. It was a wonderful day despite all that was happening outside the window. We baked bread, painted our fingernails, made a hand sewn tutu and read every book in the house, many of them twice. She now has claim to a toothbrush and a shirt to use as a nightgown. In the middle of the night, as the wind and rained steadily beat into the house, I was so happy to have her with me; cuddled up and using the headlight as a nightlight.

I am thankful that Layou faired quite well through the storm. There were a few families that lost their roofs or had water damage. We have our own source of water and luckily our electricity was not down for long. Other communities had significantly more damage and most of the country lost their crops. Everyone is optimistic despite the situation that may face the country in the coming months. I am trying to stick with them despite being nervous about the tight rope that so many of my neighbors walk between getting by and poverty. I guess we will cross that bridge when we get there.

Celebrating 31 Years of Independence!

October 27th marks 31 years of independence for the lovely island nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. It has been a jam-packed few days as the students have been getting ready to celebrate. Last week all of the classes made Vincentian flags and rehearsed their national anthem. I am happy to report that I know all the words! On Monday of this week, the students had a game day where they played football, cricket and netball. On Tuesday, all of the students were asked to wear their Independence colors so that we could march through town. The video on the blog entry below is of the morning assembly where students were practicing their songs for the march. We marched right through town (and down some streets I had not visited yet!) and sang the whole way or at least gave a good effort to sing the whole way. After the march, the students were dismissed early except for 25 who had been selected to participate in the national student rally.

Miss John and I took 25 children to Victoria Park in Kingstown. We were met by hundreds of other students. At the rally, a variety of dignitaries gave speeches and some students from various schools performed old folk dances and songs. The highlight for most of the students was the Capoeira performance by a group from Brazil. We also enjoyed popcorn, Busta (fruit sodas most closely related to Fanta) and lots of sweeties. It was great to see these students get out of Layou and see what other kids are doing. I am also proud to say that the Layou Government School was very well behaved!

Wednesday was Independence Day and the town was abuzz. In the morning, most people watched the national parade on their TV (or their neighbor’s). I know this because I do not have a TV and could hear it all around me as I sat on my porch. In the afternoon, the school held its annual Independence Day Fair. It was wonderful! They had a bouncing castle, DJ, chicken, ice cream and pizza. The classrooms were set up like booths and the students could play darts, pin the tail on the donkey, bottle toss or get their face painted by Miss Smith. They also had games that I had never heard of though I figured out that we do have similar games in the US. Dips is a big bucket full of sawdust and for one dollar, the student gets to dip their hand in to find a prize. Punchboard is a large board with hundreds of holes stuffed with paper. The students pay a dollar to select a piece of paper. If the paper has a number on it, they get the corresponding prize. There were some awesome prizes including a huge cake decorated like the St. Vincent flag. The dance floor was the biggest hit. These kids can MOVE!!! Seriously, the dance floor looked like a hip dance club except no one was above 4’5”. After the fair, all of the adults get together and lime on the block (hang out). We have Thursday and Friday off from school so all the children can recover from the festivities! Happy Independence SVG!

Video from Independence Day

Welcome to the Peace Corps!

It’s official! Today I become a Peace Corps volunteer which is really just the beginning of this 24 month adventure. Overall, training was a success. There were a few afternoons where adjusting to the heat and humidity got the better of me and my brain was off but other than that I feel like I have gained a lot of valuable information. We covered a range of subjects from Vincentian history to corporal punishment and HIV/AIDS. I have become fascinated by the ins and outs of literacy and how to adapt the philosophies to my classroom. It looks like the next two years will be filled with constant research so if anyone has suggestions please send them along! Literacy is a big challenge with most of the primary school students in Layou and I know that I will need a variety of approaches to work with a variety of students. It is exciting to know that I will soon be in the classroom full time and becoming a community member of Layou.

I wanted to take this time to note some of the assumptions that I had prior to coming to St. Vincent and how they all played out. I think the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks of the Peace Corps is living a life in the “bush.” I know that some volunteers really do have that experience but that is not the case in SVG. That’s not to say that we are living at the Ritz but I think the biggest challenges here are more cultural. Here’s a run down of the “creature comforts” that I was worried about:

• Water: Layou’s water is wonderful! The Canadian government actually wanted to bottle it. I can drink it straight from the tap which I consider a blessing.
• Electricity, Hot Showers, etc.: Electricity is readily available at my house but it is expensive. I limit my usage by turning off the power switch on the outlets (wish they had this in the states!) and using a limited amount. Showers are cold and refreshing!
• Food: There is a wide variety of fruits and vegetables available in the market and the grocery stores have many familiar products. The challenge with food is the cost so I am learning where to find bargains and what I can live without.

On the other end of the spectrum there have been some surprising challenges that I would not have expected. What I have learned repeatedly during the first two months is that 1. People are generally friendly and want to connect with you and 2. You cannot control anything but yourself. Don’t be fooled into thinking otherwise. The first lesson has been reinforced over and over again. When I come upon a challenging situation, it is nice to know that I am not alone. My neighbors are wonderful, my home stay was a great experience and everyone is willing to help out when I am lost in town or trying to figure out which bus to catch. They don’t laugh that I don’t know how to do/ eat certain things, they just show me the Vincentian way. Life in SVG is about community, everyone is here to help others out and I feel lucky to be on the receiving end of this charitable attitude. The second lesson has been a challenging one to swallow. I guess I knew that I was not “in control” in the states but I had many illusions to make us think otherwise. If something is not working, you call somebody, it doesn’t matter what day of the week it is and if you need something, you can jump in your car to get it or order it online. If you want to be on time, you go by the schedule. This isn’t really the case in St. Vincent. You learn to take a step back and be patient. Things will work out. My hard drive crashed, it worked out. My neighbor figured out the internet after many frustrated hours of trying on my own. The bus driver recognizes me and pulls me onto the van so that I am not late. I bring a book with me and enjoy the minutes (or hours) before the meeting starts. As they would say down here, “I am getting through.” I am enjoying this learning adventure.

I would like to say a big “Thank you!!!!” to all of my friends and family that have been so supportive through this first two months. Honestly, it would be a much harder experience without all the “cheerleaders” back home. I also have my computer back up and running so you can expect more regular blog updates in the future!

Her Majesty's Prison

I know it sounds like I fell into a time warp and landed myself near the towers of London in the 1800s but alas I am still in St. Vincent. Today was my first trip to Her Majesty’s Prison, an archaic building with a strictly stated dress code painted to the wall; no shirt, no shoes, big problem. The bricks did not line up properly, the top of the walls were armed with barb wire and a big green gate met my good intentions head on. As soon as I arrived, I thought “What in the world are you doing here? Seriously, check your skin, check your gender, check your heart. What makes you so confident that there is a place for you here?” I can’t explain it but I knew facing down those big green gates that I couldn’t turn away so just as friendly as I could, I walked up to the guard to tell them that I was there for a meeting with Miss Samuel, the prison welfare officer. Eyes of disbelief looked back at me and pointed in the direction of the waiting area.

I sat in a room that could best be described as a bus stop in the US. Benches lined the little room where women sat with babies on their laps and tired in their eyes. The ceiling was a mish-mash of plywood and the walls were covered with notices about what could pass through the gate; no cell phones, only two pieces of fruit, small amounts of money to purchase canned cheese through the prison canteen. After 5 minutes, the guard came to the door and called my name. I was met at the gate by Miss Annette Samuel. She was refined, beautiful and not at all what I expected. After a whirlwind tour of the administrative area, we arrived in her office where the wall was painted with a picture of a man at the bottom of a hill with encouraging words, “The rock bottom is a good place to start going up.”

For the next hour, Miss Samuel detailed the prison system in St. Vincent. There are approximately 400 males and 10 females in custody. Many of the inmates have lived in the US, where they committed a crime, were deported and returned to St. Vincent only to commit another crime and end up in Her Majesty’s prison. There is a work program where inmates can learn skills such as tailoring, carpentry, welding and farming. There is a school in the prison but there are not many inmates that choose to participate since they would not be able to participate in the work programs. Miss Samuel is the only welfare officer for all of the prisoners and there are no counselors available to inmates. The road does not get easier for the men and women when they complete their sentences. SVG does not have any halfway house style programs and prisoners are not welcomed back to society. It is not a surprise that many of them return to Her Majesty’s many times.

Despite all of the challenges that Miss Samuel faces on a daily basis, she was amazingly upbeat. She shared stories of prisoners who she had kept in touch with after many years and others who after being released would “walk” with her child to school. I say “walk” because he would stay on the other side of the street, keeping vigilance from a distance so as not to scare or embarrass her but to ensure her safety nonetheless. In these stories, I found a bright ray of hope that she shares with inmates.

Sitting in the peach colored office of Miss Samuel, I realized that I had just met my first Vincentian hero. A woman who truly believes in the goodness of mankind and the ability each of us has to love others. It gets better, I also have signed up to help the prisons with remedial reading and IT classes as soon as I am officially sworn in as a volunteer, so I will continue to learn from this amazing woman and the inmates at Her Majesty’s Prison. We ended our meeting with a prayer which I thought was appropriate as I was feeling especially blessed to be smack dab in the middle of prison on a beautiful, sunny day.

A Vincentian Funeral

Last Monday, a fourth grade student at the Layou Government School passed away. On Tuesday morning, I arrived at school to hear the sad news of the day. Zendi Thomas, eight years old, had fallen on Sunday evening and had hit his head. He was living with his grandmother and she did not realize that the fall had caused serious damage. On Monday, they went to Kingstown to the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital but it was too late. The damage caused initially by the fall was too great and he passed away after visiting hours on Monday evening.

Tuesday morning began with the regular student assembly where the teachers shared the news with the students of their classmate. It was heartbreaking to see the children crying and in shock over their loss. They prayed, sang songs and there were speeches about life and its’ brevity. I am still in my observation period with the school so I was asked to take one of the sixth grade students who was having an especially hard time into my room. Yikes! Grief would be a big challenge without navigating the cultural differences and dialect. I did what first came to mind which was to ask him if he wanted to draw a picture or write a letter to his friend. He said “yes” so I pulled out a piece of paper, colored pencils and a pen. After twenty minutes it looked like he was finishing up so I asked him if he would like to share his letter with me. What followed was the most endearing moment. He read about how much he missed his friend and all of the happy memories they had together; playing football, swimming in Layou and singing their favorite songs. He explained the pictures that he had drawn and how he made Zendi the “#1 football player” since that’s how he would have wanted it. After going through the letter, Ashroy seemed to be doing better so he returned to his classroom. On Tuesday, I learned that the empathy we can have for each other as delicate human beings trumps the cultural divide.

The funeral for Zendi was on Sunday afternoon and boy, what a celebration it was! The service began at 2:30 at the Seventh Day Adventist Church. The building was packed to the gills with family, students from the school and community members. There was singing, bible reading and speeches given to celebrate the life of Zendi. The grandmother sang “Tears in Heaven” as a tribute. There was crying and wailing; it was the sound of broken hearts asking God for help, understanding and peace. After the service, everyone walked up with the casket to the graveyard. The Layou cemetery is at least a mile away from the church up the main road. It was absolutely amazing to see this mass of people walking and singing, celebrating life. It looked like a homecoming parade in a small US town. At the cemetery there was a feel of a festival complete with the sound of trumpets, the laughter of children and the selling of refreshments. I arrived home around 5:45, exhausted and refreshed by my first funeral service in St. Vincent.

Full Speed

Around 2:30pm, I heard screams and laughter coming from the play yard that is connected to the Layou School. I had been working on a visual aid for the first grade teacher and was nearly complete. I could not take it a moment longer and I decided that the poster could wait; I had to check out the yard where the noise was coming from. What I saw next can only be described as unbridled joy.

The fifth graders had their PE/exercise period. They were divided into 2 teams, one side with 23 girls and the other with 2 girls and 21 boys. The teams were lined up, facing each other on opposite sides of a blacktop about the length of a basketball court. They were running relay races. The runner would start by running straight to the other side, behind the other team’s line and then back across the court diagonally to the next person on their team in line. The race created a criss-cross pattern across the blacktop where the runners of opposite teams would nearly run into each other during the final leg of the lap. The children flew! Most of them had taken off their school shoes so they could run faster. I love that the girls were against a team of boys. I cannot help but think of how often, in my experience, the boys are split between teams to make it more “fair.” In Layou, for the afternoon, there were no doubts that the girls could keep pace with the boys. As each child took off, you could see fierce determination in their eyes. There was great camaraderie among the teams and the excitement was palpable. No wonder they love this subject—now only to figure out a way to make reading this exciting!

This has been one of my favorite moments since I arrived. It is great to see children running at full speed, barefoot and so full of life. It makes me curious to know if kids in other parts of the world are the same or if they are ever even given the chance to run with all of their hearts.

Fish Eyes, Ironing and Vincy Aerobics

One morning this past week, I woke up went through my normal routine of getting ready and headed out to breakfast at the Adam’s table. Sitting on the table in front of me was a bowl of fish soup, complete with a whole fish, potatoes, green bananas and broth. Fish eyes stared back at me as if to say “Good Morning! I hope you are ready for another day at school!” Now, I would not consider myself a picky eater but I am not especially keen on bones, skin or eyes for that matter. I guess that I have gotten used to the fish industry in the US that has convinced me that fish is skinless, boneless and eyeless when it comes to your table (or the skin is just on one side and easy to remove). It was one of those small challenges you don’t expect to come across but there it is facing you down at 7am. After taking a deep breath and a big sip of coffee, I went to work on the soup. I scraped every piece of meat off of that fish that I could wrestle free from the bones, skin and eyes. I saved all of my scraps on a separate plate and was relieved to find that a cat happened to be hanging around our yard. My scrapes went straight to the cat and my lack of fish cleaning skills went unnoticed for the day.

Vincentians must be among the best pressed people in the world. On the van to Kingstown in the morning, everyone has on a clean, fresh outfit. Even if it is just a t-shirt, it looks nice. During my first week at the Adam’s house, I had put on clothes to go to training and Florence simply told me that I was not allowed to leave the house without pressing my clothes first. I tried to convince her otherwise by stretching the shirt and showing how once I tied it up, it would look better but there was no chance. I was to join in the ranks with the Vincentians and become clean pressed. Since that day, I have decided that Sundays are my ironing day. After church, I pick out the five outfits that I will wear for the week and then get to work on ironing. It is hot work in the midday heat with only a fan blowing a bit of relief. It usually takes an hour for me to complete the chore and I am always sweat drenched by the end but it feels good to know that Florence is proud of me when I walk out of the house in the morning. Her Peace Corps is no creasy!

This past week, I was invited to attend aerobics with Florence’s sister, Edna. After a day at the Layou Government School, I hoped on a van to town to meet her at her office. Aerobics are held at the Peace Memorial Hall in a room that serves as a reception area for the concerts and recitals hosted in the auditorium. The class had four participants; myself, Edna, the former principal of Layou Government School who is now retired and a woman who appeared to be in her late sixties. The instructor, a man in his fifties, had been in a terrible car accident that left one of his legs permanently damaged. I had been nervous that the class might be too hard but after assessing the situation, I felt like it might be more like low-impact aerobics which would be much easier to follow. Boy howdy, I was wrong! The first twenty minutes of class were spent Shaking- Your-Booty. My bum went in every direction possible at the fastest pace possible for the next twenty minutes. All of those women were naturals! They could spin, shake, thrust and move those hips in all different directions. After the first twenty minutes, we grabbed “weights” that had been created by putting sand into Gatorade bottles, and did twenty minutes of non-stop lifting. “Squat deeper, lift higher, don’t stop!” yelled the instructor. I could feel the burn. We finished up the class with twenty minutes of sit-ups and Pilates style stretching. The next day, I could feel it all and it made me smile. Just goes to show that assumptions are usually wrong. I can’t wait to go this week. I figure after two years of this class my hips will be able to move like a local Vincentian!

Picture of the Beautiful Layou Waterfront

“Layou is a good place to be. Good, good, good, good!” - Mrs. Florence Adams

There always seems to be a sign from the universe when I have landed myself in the right place. I sat in the Peace Corps office in Kingstown, St. Vincent, anxiously waiting for my host family to arrive. A woman stepped into the office, “Sarah!” she hollered. I jumped up, “It’s me!” I said and grabbed my stuff. As soon as I was within arm’s reach, Mrs. Florence Adams, my new host mother, gave me a hearty, sincere hug. Having come from a hugging family, it was just about the best welcome to St.Vincent that I could have hoped for! The universe was letting me know I had landed myself exactly where I needed to be for the next two years.
During training, I will be living with the Adams family. Florence, my host mother, is a dynamic, talkative Vincentian. She owns a lotto shop in Layou and has graciously allowed me to spend many hours hanging around the shop getting to know the lay of the land and starting the rumor that there is a new “whitey” in town. Richard, my host father, is gentle, kind and quiet. He works at Y De Lima, a variety store, in Kingstown. He has the greatest grin when I tell him that I might be knocking on his door after I move out because I will not be able to figure out how to cook breadfruit or make anything tasty out of green figs (green bananas). Justlyn, my host sister, stays with the Adams during the school year so she can attend secondary school in Kingstown. She is everything you would hope for in a 15 year old girl. She is so bright and has an opinion about everything. She loves fashion and wants to be a lawyer/psychologist, though as she explains it there is not much demand here for psychology because Vincentians have not caught on to its usefulness. Like my real sister Jenny, Justlyn is wise beyond her years.
My host family is most direct link I have to my new community. Living with a host family is an important part of the Peace Corps experience because they want us to integrate into our community so that we can work at a grassroots level, learning from the locals and working in harmony with them to create the change that they wish to see for their community. Miss Florence always introduces me as her “Peace Corps” and has shown me around to the morning bathers at the beach (retirees), shop keepers, Methodist church and pretty much every person we meet while walking down the road. They have also taught me how to wash all of my clothes by hand, iron properly and make awesome banana pie, where you use green bananas to create a casserole that can be best described as a cross between baked macaroni, squash and mashed potatoes! They have also helped me pick up on the dialect but I still feel like I am in a foreign land most of the time. It just goes to show how many different twists and turns a language can take.
Here are a few pictures to capture my first week in Layou:

1. Justlyn, Florence and I outside of the Methodist Church in Kingstown where we attended an Induction Service for the new minister in our circuit.

2. Sunday dinner! Amazing! Clockwise from the top: Chicken, Tomato, Cucumber, Carrot/ Cabbage Salad, Steam Vegetables, Kidney Beans, Steamed Sweet Potato (they are white inside but taste similar to the variety most common in the US) and Plantain, Pumpkin and in the middle Banana Pie!

One Week Wiser

Today marks the end of the first week of pre-service training (PST) and what a week it has been!

We arrived in St. Lucia on Tuesday afternoon and took a 45 minute bus ride to our new “home” for the week, Hotel Bel Jou, located on a hill above the capital city Castries. It is a very nice hotel and in some ways, it felt like we spent our first week on a mini-vacation. Our days were full with trainings but in the evenings we could enjoy the ambiance, pool and live music. The Peace Corps staff was quick to remind us that this was not going to be the standard living situation but I think we would all agree that it was a nice way to start off.

PST has been informative and eye opening. We went over the safety concerns for our region, theft and robbery, and common ways that volunteers find themselves in the hot seat. In many ways, it is hard to imagine that it could ever be me taking some of the risks that previous volunteers have taken but I know that eventually I will let my guard down a bit and become more vulnerable. That being said, PC has done a good job of “scaring me straight” and I plan to take many precautions! The Peace Corps staff has been absolutely amazing. Many of them had the group laughing through each session and everyone has been warm and welcoming. It is nice to know that they will be our support over the next two years.

EC 82, the group of people who all began PST at the same time, is a diverse and interesting group. We have a lawyer, retirees, recent graduates, a yoga instructor, a Microsoft employee, the list goes on! As a group, we have a high level of energy and many ideas about our upcoming service. The nights are spent in long conversations about anything from religion to their own children. There is a wide variety of ages and backgrounds so everyone brings something unique to the table. I am not sure what role I play in the group and I am even more curious to see what it will be like when we split into our island homes and say “goodbye” to other volunteers today. Time will be the great narrator of this tale.

Today, I leave for St. Vincent on a “puddle hopper” and will meet my host family and community! I hope that everyone is doing well in their corner of the world! From my little corner to yours, take care!

The Journey Begins!

This time last year, I was putting the finishing touches on my Peace Corps application and dreaming of all the things to come. It is amazing how time flies! Today, I arrived in Miami for our staging event. Staging was a basic orientation where we reviewed policies, turned in paperwork and met all of the volunteers headed to the Eastern Caribbean. Tomorrow we leave for St. Lucia for a week of Peace Corps training as a large group. It has been exciting to meet everyone. We have an extremely diverse class-- there are people of all ages, from different parts of the country with widely varied backgrounds. I love the opportunity to get to know new friends and hear how we all ended up at this place in our lives!

Leaving for the Peace Corps has been a wonderful experience (I realize that sounds funny). It has been great to see old friends and spend extra time with family. I have had the opportunity to see how I have learned and grown through my work with the Girl Scouts. I know that I will miss the sweet mountains around Blacksburg and the friendly faces around town! I want to say "thank you" to everyone. In leaving, I have been able to fully comprehend what a lucky girl I am to be blessed with so many wonderful people in my life!

"Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So...get on your way." -Dr.Seuss

Just a placeholder for now...

Hello friends, family and others! This is a blog "placeholder" for now but I wanted to set it up as I start shutting down shop in the US. Eventually I will be updating it with information about my life as a Peace Corps volunteer. Until then, I am working on figuring out how the whole blog thing works!
Thanks for all of your support and well wishes!
:) Sarah