Well that is taken care of (the power cord magically fixed itself, it seems), so here are a few photos I've been meaning to post.
Two Fridays ago I went to work at Belle Vue Combined, but the computers still were not in, so I ended up writing the titles and authors of all the chapter books in the reading room on little slips of paper by hand. It was exciting! I found more than one silverfish (and had to kill a couple of them). One was already dead, in this here book:
This was the last page in the book:
The next day I went to market (like I do most Saturdays, although not yesterday) and bought all of this food for $12 (which is a little over $4 in USD). All those green golden apples, all 14 of them, were had for $1. That's enough to make juice for three weeks. My juice costs only a few cents per glass to make, and it's a wonder that people buy Fruta and other expensive sugary not-one-hundred-percent juices. Pictured: Three cucumbers ($5), four oranges ($1), five passion fruit ($1), one bag of méwé in a bowl ($1), 14 golden apples ($1), one bag of string beans ($3).
Today this little guy was crawling outside my front door when I was coming in from hanging up my laundry. It was almost the size of my palm. I didn't want to kill it, but I didn't want it coming in, so I went inside and closed my front door and sprayed some Bop (insecticide, to kill and prevent bugs, "Get serious, use Bop!") along the edges of the doorframe (there are large gaps between the door and doorframe).
Sometime last week I came home to find this little guy in my sink. After a few unsuccessful attempts, I got it in my hands and took it outside, where it hopped in some bushes and away. I was sure to wash my hands and the sink thoroughly afterwards (frogs can carry samonella, if you didn't know).
Of course, the "events" that I will remember the week by are not captured in photos. But they include (in brief): figuring out what I'll be doing at VF Infant ("the sound of B is buh; bee buh bee buh bee buh bee buh"); having a horrible experience subbing for a third grade class that start out well but was entirely out of control by the end; spending the night in Rodney Bay at Haley's with some other PCVs and going to the weekly Gros Islet Jump Up (so many white people!) and getting ripped off on bus ride home.
Actually, when that last incident happened, I could have argued about it, but I was tired. It made me frustrated though, and I said "I hate being white here!" and then of course it hit me. Not the bus, but that that's part of why I'm here, is to experience being a minority, and to have people think I'm foolish and having people try to take advantage of me. I guess me not arguing it doesn't get me anywhere, but at that moment I looked at the situation and I thought that arguing wouldn't get me anywhere either (I had already given the driver a 5 dollar note for two people, expecting $2 change, knowing that it might only be 50c change, but he didn't give me any, and insisted that the fare was $3 per person, although at night the fare should be $2.25 per person). But I'm finally in a place where I can't know how to get everywhere all the time, and I have to rely on the help of people I don't know (look at the Halloween adventure!), and even though it's not my first time being in a minority, the situation is even more pronounced. It's beginning to give me a new perspective on what Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and Middle Easterners experience all the time when they're surrounded by people who look and treat them differently.
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