1. Compile a couple binders to guide others in continuing VFASP
2. Complete & have reviewed & made available curriculum for Computer Skills for Non-Readers (aka cathearding) for BVCS and PC office
3. Visit another island
4. Go to Jouvert w/ Fae
5. Have my mom visit
6. Make sure Joel is strong enough in phonics to read at a Grade 1 level
7. Climb either Petit Piton or M. Gimie (or both!)
8. Facilitate or plan (or whatever) one holiday camp
20 November 2009
28 October 2009
Work and play
So many things, so busy since the beginning of this month! I'm home sick right now, but feeling a little better, I'll probably be able to attend the literacy workshop tomorrow. Hello vinegar and LLB, goodbye stomach pains (hopefully)!
The Vieux-Fort After School Programme is running! We have two dedicated regular volunteers, and Sister Mary
Lee will be able to help out more regularly, as well as having generously donated some great maths flash cards and books. The participants have regularized, and the attendance has dropped a little and leveled off, so now when more children want to be in the programme, I can finally tell them yes! We have activities everyday after homework or academic work, including music, theatre, arts & craft, chess, and athletics. Speaking of theatre, the girls I worked with on Monday was the first group of kids here that really understood Charades and played it well once I explained it. We're also participating in an International Art Exchange, so over the next few weeks we'll create full color drawings of holidays celebrated in St. Lucia, then send them off and receive art from other students all around the world!
While things have been going pretty well recently in VFASP, for a few days a couple weeks ago things were kind of unstable. Ms. Casilda James, a teacher who had worked at the school 29 years, passed away. It was a very difficult time for everyone at the school and the family, so last week Vieux-Fort Primary put on an amazing Memorial Service. It was so touching, and I got to see sides of Ms. Cas and the impact she had that I hadn't yet learned in the year I'd known her. Rest in peace, Ms. Cas.
When not at work, Berney and I have been expanding our horizons. We have some new friends a couple towns away, where we've visited for dinner a couple times. The woman is French and a translator, so she and Bern have plenty to talk about with language experiences. The children are lively and instant friends.
Last weekend Bern and I climbed Gros Piton, the second tallest mountain on the island at a height of 2,619 feet. The cost was quite off-putting, though, and even though it was a good workout with better views, I'd rather not spend $70 EC for two of us to walk and have sore legs and feet. I can do that for free most places.
Last Sunday was Jounen Kweyol, so we dressed in our madwas and went into VF Town for some food and music. All the locals loved that we were wearing their national dress, and while it seemed like pestering at first, we realized soon that they were flattered at the compliment we were paying them.
Soon I'll have Mid-Service Training, where all of us on St. Lucia will get to see everyone in our group who flew off to other islands after staging. I'm looking forward to the reconnect, though I'll definitely be sad when I don't see some familiar faces. You know who you are.
The Vieux-Fort After School Programme is running! We have two dedicated regular volunteers, and Sister Mary
Lee will be able to help out more regularly, as well as having generously donated some great maths flash cards and books. The participants have regularized, and the attendance has dropped a little and leveled off, so now when more children want to be in the programme, I can finally tell them yes! We have activities everyday after homework or academic work, including music, theatre, arts & craft, chess, and athletics. Speaking of theatre, the girls I worked with on Monday was the first group of kids here that really understood Charades and played it well once I explained it. We're also participating in an International Art Exchange, so over the next few weeks we'll create full color drawings of holidays celebrated in St. Lucia, then send them off and receive art from other students all around the world!While things have been going pretty well recently in VFASP, for a few days a couple weeks ago things were kind of unstable. Ms. Casilda James, a teacher who had worked at the school 29 years, passed away. It was a very difficult time for everyone at the school and the family, so last week Vieux-Fort Primary put on an amazing Memorial Service. It was so touching, and I got to see sides of Ms. Cas and the impact she had that I hadn't yet learned in the year I'd known her. Rest in peace, Ms. Cas.
When not at work, Berney and I have been expanding our horizons. We have some new friends a couple towns away, where we've visited for dinner a couple times. The woman is French and a translator, so she and Bern have plenty to talk about with language experiences. The children are lively and instant friends.
Last weekend Bern and I climbed Gros Piton, the second tallest mountain on the island at a height of 2,619 feet. The cost was quite off-putting, though, and even though it was a good workout with better views, I'd rather not spend $70 EC for two of us to walk and have sore legs and feet. I can do that for free most places.
Last Sunday was Jounen Kweyol, so we dressed in our madwas and went into VF Town for some food and music. All the locals loved that we were wearing their national dress, and while it seemed like pestering at first, we realized soon that they were flattered at the compliment we were paying them.
Soon I'll have Mid-Service Training, where all of us on St. Lucia will get to see everyone in our group who flew off to other islands after staging. I'm looking forward to the reconnect, though I'll definitely be sad when I don't see some familiar faces. You know who you are.
04 October 2009
Busy busy busy
I've been having trouble sleeping, I've been so busy! Before last week a lot of effort went into preparing for the Vieux Fort After School Programme (VFASP), and this past week a lot of effort went into making sure it got off the ground.
Well, it did! We had about 30 students each of the three days it runs, which is of course more manageable when there are more teachers and volunteers present. I'm especially excited that it started last week, because I could include it in my trimesterly report for PC. We still need to get some things in place, like more volunteers, regular club activities for half an hour after homework, etc., but it's great that the basic purpose is being fulfilled. Children are getting help with homework. When there are enough volunteers they get help from adults who already know the stuff, and when there aren't they get help from one another with key guidance from the adults that are around.
But even though this awesome thing is going on, it's been hard. Last weekend was so full of activity, from a fundraising concert in Laborie for St. Jude's to dinner in Balembouche (not the estate!) with a French family to another fundraising concert on Piaye beach--and all the house work and prep work that had to get done anyways! I haven't been getting much sleep for various reasons, and even twice last week I woke up from dreaming about writing lists and sorting out names and words, with children all around trying to help but being a distraction instead. Each day I come home (late, as you'll see in a bit) exhausted, but if I nap during the day I have an even harder time falling asleep at night.
So this three-day weekend was exactly what I needed. Berney and I went to Castries yesterday for a chess-training session, got a little shopping done in the market (mint! vanilla bean! miwi! roti!), and came back home for a quiet night. Today I made some vegan sloppy joes to take for our own cheap Oktoberfest at Sandy Beach, where we limed with Fae for a few hours. Tomorrow I'm looking forward to not leaving the house all day, and catching up on Heroes (since I didn't see the first three episodes of the season--I didn't have a working TV). Then it's back to some long days, but I'll be much more refreshed.
VFASP runs Mondays through Wednesdays until 4:30, so I get home around 5 or 5:30pm. Thursdays and Fridays, though, I still have to stay in Vieux Fort Town until about 4:30 because they're tearing down the remains of the hospital, and it's dangerous to be around the neighborhood with the asbestos in the air. They're working during the day, and then wetting everything down before people come home. So I need to find good reasons to stay around VF Town now. Or at least good places.
Finally, Berney and I recently celebrated two years of annoying each other constantly, regardless of proximity. :) I made a dinner that was special but not nearly as good as the lamb a month ago, along with a chocolate chip cookie cake with mint icing. Today we wrapped up the celebration with the rest of the lobster someone gave us as a consolation prize for getting ice thrown at us at the beach.
Oh. And both pairs of my work shoes broke. :(
Well, it did! We had about 30 students each of the three days it runs, which is of course more manageable when there are more teachers and volunteers present. I'm especially excited that it started last week, because I could include it in my trimesterly report for PC. We still need to get some things in place, like more volunteers, regular club activities for half an hour after homework, etc., but it's great that the basic purpose is being fulfilled. Children are getting help with homework. When there are enough volunteers they get help from adults who already know the stuff, and when there aren't they get help from one another with key guidance from the adults that are around.
But even though this awesome thing is going on, it's been hard. Last weekend was so full of activity, from a fundraising concert in Laborie for St. Jude's to dinner in Balembouche (not the estate!) with a French family to another fundraising concert on Piaye beach--and all the house work and prep work that had to get done anyways! I haven't been getting much sleep for various reasons, and even twice last week I woke up from dreaming about writing lists and sorting out names and words, with children all around trying to help but being a distraction instead. Each day I come home (late, as you'll see in a bit) exhausted, but if I nap during the day I have an even harder time falling asleep at night.
So this three-day weekend was exactly what I needed. Berney and I went to Castries yesterday for a chess-training session, got a little shopping done in the market (mint! vanilla bean! miwi! roti!), and came back home for a quiet night. Today I made some vegan sloppy joes to take for our own cheap Oktoberfest at Sandy Beach, where we limed with Fae for a few hours. Tomorrow I'm looking forward to not leaving the house all day, and catching up on Heroes (since I didn't see the first three episodes of the season--I didn't have a working TV). Then it's back to some long days, but I'll be much more refreshed.
VFASP runs Mondays through Wednesdays until 4:30, so I get home around 5 or 5:30pm. Thursdays and Fridays, though, I still have to stay in Vieux Fort Town until about 4:30 because they're tearing down the remains of the hospital, and it's dangerous to be around the neighborhood with the asbestos in the air. They're working during the day, and then wetting everything down before people come home. So I need to find good reasons to stay around VF Town now. Or at least good places.
Finally, Berney and I recently celebrated two years of annoying each other constantly, regardless of proximity. :) I made a dinner that was special but not nearly as good as the lamb a month ago, along with a chocolate chip cookie cake with mint icing. Today we wrapped up the celebration with the rest of the lobster someone gave us as a consolation prize for getting ice thrown at us at the beach.
Oh. And both pairs of my work shoes broke. :(
24 September 2009
New Blog!
I'm making a new side blog for drawing. I want to do at least one drawing a week, but I usually need inspiration.
Head over to Drawing Things Out, tell me what to draw, and I'll draw it!
Head over to Drawing Things Out, tell me what to draw, and I'll draw it!
13 September 2009
Learning from fire
Pictures below.
In the minuscule hours of Wednesday morning, September 9th, I woke up in a sweat after a mosquito ransacked my leg. My next conscious observation was a popping sound somewhere in the neighbourhood, like hail or rain falling hard nearby. After a few moments I realized that it doesn't hail in St. Lucia, and that no rain had moved to the apartment. Minutes later, a BOOM woke up everyone in the area who wasn't already awake. Thunder? It's not raining.
Curiosity drew me out of bed, and I looked out the window in the living room. The sky was orange. No, the sky was dark, it was a huge plume of smoke that was orange. My heart pounded as I dialed 999 to report the fire that they already knew about.
The St. Jude's Hospital, just a couple hundred yards from my house, was on fire.
I realized the next morning as more news came out that however much I feel I have integrated, there is still more to learn. Were I a real Lucian, I would have dressed and gone down the road to watch the blaze and find out what I could. Instead, I tried to fall asleep, only successful with a couple hours before I had to wake for work in the morning.
My TV had stopped working the week before, and I don't have a radio, so I didn't hear any official word until I got to VF Infant School.
The surgical ward burned nearly completely, and damage from smoke and water (pipes bursting and the long effort to extinguish the blaze) extended through much of the compound including the lab and the pediatric ward. I'm not sure if official reports have come out yet, but a sparking air conditioning unit is suspected as the culprit. Once the fire spread, oxygen and hydrogen tanks began to explode in the heat.
Initially most patients had been moved to VF Secondary School Campus B, just a few minutes ride away. Those in good condition were discharged, and those in critical condition were sent to Victoria Hospital in Castries. Two people died that night from the fire, and another on the way to Victoria. Many people suffered burns. The patients still in care in the South are now in the George Odlum Stadium, along with the administration and the pharmacy.
Before the fire engines arrived, nearby residents had begun rescuing people inside. One teacher at the VF Infant lives very close to the hospital, and she had to move everything out the house overnight and couldn't open the doors because of the polluted air. The hospital was built with plenty of asbestos, so workers the next few days all used respirators.
For more information, you can watch the video below or read this newspaper article, published Friday. In it questions are raised about whether the Hospital has had annual safety inspections (along with schools and other hospitals around the country), and whether it was insured.
Many sources are committing to funding the rebuilding, but I'm trying to find out from hospital admin what sorts of thing might be overlooked with all the stress. I'm looking into whether I can coordinate a fundraising effort by the PCVs on island to help with specific items, such as paying for lodging, meals, and services for the international medical volunteers the hospital has come to rely on. Most of the volunteers that were present at the time of the fire were sent home, but a few others were able to find places to stay temporarily.
St. Judes is the only general hospital for all of the south of St. Lucia; the two others are both located in Castries. It is of the utmost importance to everyone living in this area to have a fully functioning hospital. I hope that St. Judes will not be just restored, but renewed, in the very near future.
In the minuscule hours of Wednesday morning, September 9th, I woke up in a sweat after a mosquito ransacked my leg. My next conscious observation was a popping sound somewhere in the neighbourhood, like hail or rain falling hard nearby. After a few moments I realized that it doesn't hail in St. Lucia, and that no rain had moved to the apartment. Minutes later, a BOOM woke up everyone in the area who wasn't already awake. Thunder? It's not raining.
Curiosity drew me out of bed, and I looked out the window in the living room. The sky was orange. No, the sky was dark, it was a huge plume of smoke that was orange. My heart pounded as I dialed 999 to report the fire that they already knew about.
The St. Jude's Hospital, just a couple hundred yards from my house, was on fire.
I realized the next morning as more news came out that however much I feel I have integrated, there is still more to learn. Were I a real Lucian, I would have dressed and gone down the road to watch the blaze and find out what I could. Instead, I tried to fall asleep, only successful with a couple hours before I had to wake for work in the morning.
My TV had stopped working the week before, and I don't have a radio, so I didn't hear any official word until I got to VF Infant School.
The surgical ward burned nearly completely, and damage from smoke and water (pipes bursting and the long effort to extinguish the blaze) extended through much of the compound including the lab and the pediatric ward. I'm not sure if official reports have come out yet, but a sparking air conditioning unit is suspected as the culprit. Once the fire spread, oxygen and hydrogen tanks began to explode in the heat.
Initially most patients had been moved to VF Secondary School Campus B, just a few minutes ride away. Those in good condition were discharged, and those in critical condition were sent to Victoria Hospital in Castries. Two people died that night from the fire, and another on the way to Victoria. Many people suffered burns. The patients still in care in the South are now in the George Odlum Stadium, along with the administration and the pharmacy.
Before the fire engines arrived, nearby residents had begun rescuing people inside. One teacher at the VF Infant lives very close to the hospital, and she had to move everything out the house overnight and couldn't open the doors because of the polluted air. The hospital was built with plenty of asbestos, so workers the next few days all used respirators.
For more information, you can watch the video below or read this newspaper article, published Friday. In it questions are raised about whether the Hospital has had annual safety inspections (along with schools and other hospitals around the country), and whether it was insured.
Many sources are committing to funding the rebuilding, but I'm trying to find out from hospital admin what sorts of thing might be overlooked with all the stress. I'm looking into whether I can coordinate a fundraising effort by the PCVs on island to help with specific items, such as paying for lodging, meals, and services for the international medical volunteers the hospital has come to rely on. Most of the volunteers that were present at the time of the fire were sent home, but a few others were able to find places to stay temporarily.
St. Judes is the only general hospital for all of the south of St. Lucia; the two others are both located in Castries. It is of the utmost importance to everyone living in this area to have a fully functioning hospital. I hope that St. Judes will not be just restored, but renewed, in the very near future.
24 August 2009
Austin in Photographic Memory
A short summary of my Austin vacation (sorry, no picture of the legendary barbacoa y guacamole taco). Mom's birthday party, Diana and I at the Ice Cream Festival, cousin's first birthday party, and at the airport. Try and guess who's related to me!
29 July 2009
Double Dessert Recipes!
I haven't posted any recipes lately; this must be remedied immediately.
First we have an upside down cake I made for July 4th, followed by some rich Milo brownies.
For the Fourth of July, I wanted to make something that said summer to me. I remembered to a few years ago when I made an incredibly messy layered pound cake with peach filling. It was delicious but not quite right for this event. Besides the peaches I found at Super J were just about the sorriest stone fruit I've ever met. The whole ordeal made me really want some ripe, warm, perfect Hill Country peaches out of a paper bag. That'll have to wait a week, though. Nevertheless, people enjoyed the cake, especially fellow PCV Ann! This post is dedicated to her.
The spiced peach filling for the upside down cake can work as preserves on its own. You can put it in a sterilized jar for long shelf life, or put it in clean tupperware in the fridge to keep for a week or so.
Super Spiced Peach Upside Down Cake
Cake
3 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
6 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp sugar
1-2 peaches, sliced into eighths
lemon juice
Preheat oven to 375F.
Sift flour with sugar, baking powder, and salt. Stir butter to soften, then mix it with dry ingredients. Add milk and vanilla. Mix until all flour is dampened.
Beat batter 2 minutes medium/300 strokes by hand. Add eggs, beat 1 minute/150 strokes more.
In one greased 8" round pan, pour a little more than 1/2 of the batter.
Heat 2 Tbsp butter and 2 Tbsp sugar in sauce pan until bubbly, pour into second greased 8" round pan. Arrange peach slices on top of this mix, sprinkle with lemon juice. Pour the rest of the cake batter on top.
Bake for 35 minutes, you know the regular cake/toothpick stuff. Let them cool, take a lime.
Spiced Peach Filling
3-5 peaches
1-2 packets of gelatin
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water (maybe a little more)
1-2 dried cloves
1 tsp cinnamon or 1 medium stick
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
orange peel
dash (or two) cayenne pepper
1 Tbsp lemon juice
To skin the peaches, dunk them in boiling water for 30-60 seconds. Let them cool a bit, and the peel should come off pretty easily. Dice them into 1/2" chunks.
Place diced peaches in a saucepan, sprinkle with gelatin, stir over low heat. Add sugar and water. If you have cheese cloth or something like that, tie the clove, orange peel and cinnamon stick in it, and put it in the saucepan. If not, be prepared to fish those out. Add ground cinnamon (if using that), nutmeg, and cayenne. Stir. Let this cook down some, about 15-20 minutes.
Remove from heat, remove clove, cinnamon stick, and orange peel. Add lemon juice, stir. Let cool completely.
COMBINE FORCES!
This works best if the cakes have had plenty of time to rest--I refrigerated mine almost immediately after they came out of the oven, but that made them denser than I would have liked. But chilling or freezing them before assembly is a good idea.
Get your plain cake upside down onto the serving dish. If your pan is greased well enough and the cake has rested and chilled, just pick it out upside down. Spread your filling on top of that, then take your peach upside down cake, turn it upside down, and put it on top. How lovely.
Milo Brownies
Oh my you're missing out if you've never had Milo!
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 cup Milo powder
1/4 cup flour
pinch salt
Grease medium sized pan, preheat oven to 350F.
Cream butter and sugar, add eggs and vanilla, beat to combine well. In a separate bowl mix cocoa powder, Milo, flour, and salt. Slowly fold in dry ingredients to the wet. Mmm, doesn't that smell good?
Pour into your greased medium sized pan, bake 30-35 minutes, brownie/toothpick fun. I ended up having to leave it in for about 43 minutes, because my dish is deeper than I would like.
Let it cool! Oooh it smells good but let it cool. In fact, after you have some warm gooey brownie goodness, put it in the fridge, and it'll be even better the next day. Milo has vitamins and stuff, so you can pretend it's a good breakfast if you ignore all the sugar and butter in there!
First we have an upside down cake I made for July 4th, followed by some rich Milo brownies.
For the Fourth of July, I wanted to make something that said summer to me. I remembered to a few years ago when I made an incredibly messy layered pound cake with peach filling. It was delicious but not quite right for this event. Besides the peaches I found at Super J were just about the sorriest stone fruit I've ever met. The whole ordeal made me really want some ripe, warm, perfect Hill Country peaches out of a paper bag. That'll have to wait a week, though. Nevertheless, people enjoyed the cake, especially fellow PCV Ann! This post is dedicated to her.
The spiced peach filling for the upside down cake can work as preserves on its own. You can put it in a sterilized jar for long shelf life, or put it in clean tupperware in the fridge to keep for a week or so.
Super Spiced Peach Upside Down Cake
Cake
3 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
6 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp sugar
1-2 peaches, sliced into eighths
lemon juice
Preheat oven to 375F.
Sift flour with sugar, baking powder, and salt. Stir butter to soften, then mix it with dry ingredients. Add milk and vanilla. Mix until all flour is dampened.
Beat batter 2 minutes medium/300 strokes by hand. Add eggs, beat 1 minute/150 strokes more.
In one greased 8" round pan, pour a little more than 1/2 of the batter.
Heat 2 Tbsp butter and 2 Tbsp sugar in sauce pan until bubbly, pour into second greased 8" round pan. Arrange peach slices on top of this mix, sprinkle with lemon juice. Pour the rest of the cake batter on top.
Bake for 35 minutes, you know the regular cake/toothpick stuff. Let them cool, take a lime.
Spiced Peach Filling
3-5 peaches
1-2 packets of gelatin
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water (maybe a little more)
1-2 dried cloves
1 tsp cinnamon or 1 medium stick
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
orange peel
dash (or two) cayenne pepper
1 Tbsp lemon juice
To skin the peaches, dunk them in boiling water for 30-60 seconds. Let them cool a bit, and the peel should come off pretty easily. Dice them into 1/2" chunks.
Place diced peaches in a saucepan, sprinkle with gelatin, stir over low heat. Add sugar and water. If you have cheese cloth or something like that, tie the clove, orange peel and cinnamon stick in it, and put it in the saucepan. If not, be prepared to fish those out. Add ground cinnamon (if using that), nutmeg, and cayenne. Stir. Let this cook down some, about 15-20 minutes.
Remove from heat, remove clove, cinnamon stick, and orange peel. Add lemon juice, stir. Let cool completely.
COMBINE FORCES!
This works best if the cakes have had plenty of time to rest--I refrigerated mine almost immediately after they came out of the oven, but that made them denser than I would have liked. But chilling or freezing them before assembly is a good idea.
Get your plain cake upside down onto the serving dish. If your pan is greased well enough and the cake has rested and chilled, just pick it out upside down. Spread your filling on top of that, then take your peach upside down cake, turn it upside down, and put it on top. How lovely.
Milo Brownies
Oh my you're missing out if you've never had Milo!
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 cup Milo powder
1/4 cup flour
pinch salt
Grease medium sized pan, preheat oven to 350F.
Cream butter and sugar, add eggs and vanilla, beat to combine well. In a separate bowl mix cocoa powder, Milo, flour, and salt. Slowly fold in dry ingredients to the wet. Mmm, doesn't that smell good?
Pour into your greased medium sized pan, bake 30-35 minutes, brownie/toothpick fun. I ended up having to leave it in for about 43 minutes, because my dish is deeper than I would like.
Let it cool! Oooh it smells good but let it cool. In fact, after you have some warm gooey brownie goodness, put it in the fridge, and it'll be even better the next day. Milo has vitamins and stuff, so you can pretend it's a good breakfast if you ignore all the sugar and butter in there!
21 July 2009
More work, more play
It seems I'm so busy now that school is out and I'm not going to a different school everyday!
Last week I went to Dennery to finish up the Barrier Analysis surveys (we're officially done with surveys in both locations! Hooray!) with MaryEllen and Haley. I don't exactly enjoy data collection (I'm too introverted to like it, though this is the third time I've had to contact large numbers of people--first was when I worked for the Census a few summers ago, then a year and a half ago when researching for my BA thesis), but knowing that data collection means data analysis is what keeps me going. That step is scheduled two Fridays from today :D
When I got back into Vieux Fort Town that Monday I was just in time to see the VF bands jump in our local Carnival parade. Today (Tuesday July 21st) concludes Carnival season. Several of the smaller Eastern
Caribbean islands have staggered Carnival seasons, while Trinidad is the only one with the correct time (just before Lent). This is so that no one loses out on tourists.
One great group of older women started wining in line, and ended up falling down all over each other!
Tuesday and Wednesday last week I volunteered at Camp Lajwa ("Joy" in Creole), a retreat for children with disabilities. Tuesday was for the families in the south of the country, and Wednesday everyone met up (including those from the north that held their regional camp the Sunday prior) at George Odlum Stadium in VF. Honestly I didn't expect to have nearly as much fun as I did, despite the disorganization on Tuesday and the late meals both days. Seriously, it was a great time.
Friday I went with Fae up to the Gros Islet area. We originally intended to go to "Outrageous: Sexy in Black," aCarnival fete that featured all this year's big Soca finalists, a party to last until sunrise. Then we found out that it cost much more than we were previously told, so along with Fae's lifelong friend Tricia we hit up Rodney Bay and the Gros Islet Jump Up (the best time I've had at the Jump Up, with all the top Soca songs thumping until 2. Though I'm sort of sad we missed out on the real Carnival events, we totally had a blast! We got a free round of drinks from a bartender where Tricia sings sometimes, because it was her birthday (for true!). 
A couple of their friends joined us, including Jason (a Rasta version of King Julian from "Madagascar"). The best part of the night was when all five of us were piled into Tricia's small SUV, and Jason realized that the CD playing was Jason Mraz. He flipped out--because he loves Jason Mraz so much! Each song he would listen for 30 seconds, and demand the next song be played, "Pull up, pull up!" At the next bar we went to, he went so far as to request Jason Mraz songs be played instead of the typical Soca or Dancehall songs that dominate St. Lucian night life. Just before we took everyone home for the night, a trip to a chicken and fries stand was necessary. While Fae and Tricia stood patiently in line, Jason called out to the server repeatedly "Ten dollars backs, five fries!" Chicken backs are popular here because they're cheap, and as a Rastafarian Jason is a vegetarian, so he was giving the order for the two ladies and himself, of course!
Sunday I went all the way upstairs to my landlady's apartment for her grandson's birthday party. I forgot to get a picture of the card I made for him; I didn't get a gift because I didn't find out until the evening before. Thomas turned 5, and everyone wins!
Great food, delicious tamarind juice (it's my favorite local juice, it has so much flavor), lots of sweets--ice cream and cake of course!
The past couple days I'm just using to wind down and get serious work done on things I've been needing to type up, like my reviews for the IBG Phonic Programme and the After School Programme, both at VF Infant School. This week will be another very busy one, with a meeting tomorrow, minor surgery on Thursday, and an overnight farewell beach bash for EC77 (the PC group before ours). So it was definitely nice to take a couple days to stay at home in cocoa-tea-with-dumplings weather (lots of rain, a small tropical wave) and just watch the final Carnival Jump parade on the local TV stations.
Bonus: Dancing to "Suzette" at Camp Lajwa!
Last week I went to Dennery to finish up the Barrier Analysis surveys (we're officially done with surveys in both locations! Hooray!) with MaryEllen and Haley. I don't exactly enjoy data collection (I'm too introverted to like it, though this is the third time I've had to contact large numbers of people--first was when I worked for the Census a few summers ago, then a year and a half ago when researching for my BA thesis), but knowing that data collection means data analysis is what keeps me going. That step is scheduled two Fridays from today :D
When I got back into Vieux Fort Town that Monday I was just in time to see the VF bands jump in our local Carnival parade. Today (Tuesday July 21st) concludes Carnival season. Several of the smaller Eastern
Caribbean islands have staggered Carnival seasons, while Trinidad is the only one with the correct time (just before Lent). This is so that no one loses out on tourists.
One great group of older women started wining in line, and ended up falling down all over each other!
Tuesday and Wednesday last week I volunteered at Camp Lajwa ("Joy" in Creole), a retreat for children with disabilities. Tuesday was for the families in the south of the country, and Wednesday everyone met up (including those from the north that held their regional camp the Sunday prior) at George Odlum Stadium in VF. Honestly I didn't expect to have nearly as much fun as I did, despite the disorganization on Tuesday and the late meals both days. Seriously, it was a great time.
Friday I went with Fae up to the Gros Islet area. We originally intended to go to "Outrageous: Sexy in Black," a
Carnival fete that featured all this year's big Soca finalists, a party to last until sunrise. Then we found out that it cost much more than we were previously told, so along with Fae's lifelong friend Tricia we hit up Rodney Bay and the Gros Islet Jump Up (the best time I've had at the Jump Up, with all the top Soca songs thumping until 2. Though I'm sort of sad we missed out on the real Carnival events, we totally had a blast! We got a free round of drinks from a bartender where Tricia sings sometimes, because it was her birthday (for true!). 
A couple of their friends joined us, including Jason (a Rasta version of King Julian from "Madagascar"). The best part of the night was when all five of us were piled into Tricia's small SUV, and Jason realized that the CD playing was Jason Mraz. He flipped out--because he loves Jason Mraz so much! Each song he would listen for 30 seconds, and demand the next song be played, "Pull up, pull up!" At the next bar we went to, he went so far as to request Jason Mraz songs be played instead of the typical Soca or Dancehall songs that dominate St. Lucian night life. Just before we took everyone home for the night, a trip to a chicken and fries stand was necessary. While Fae and Tricia stood patiently in line, Jason called out to the server repeatedly "Ten dollars backs, five fries!" Chicken backs are popular here because they're cheap, and as a Rastafarian Jason is a vegetarian, so he was giving the order for the two ladies and himself, of course!
Sunday I went all the way upstairs to my landlady's apartment for her grandson's birthday party. I forgot to get a picture of the card I made for him; I didn't get a gift because I didn't find out until the evening before. Thomas turned 5, and everyone wins!
Great food, delicious tamarind juice (it's my favorite local juice, it has so much flavor), lots of sweets--ice cream and cake of course!
The past couple days I'm just using to wind down and get serious work done on things I've been needing to type up, like my reviews for the IBG Phonic Programme and the After School Programme, both at VF Infant School. This week will be another very busy one, with a meeting tomorrow, minor surgery on Thursday, and an overnight farewell beach bash for EC77 (the PC group before ours). So it was definitely nice to take a couple days to stay at home in cocoa-tea-with-dumplings weather (lots of rain, a small tropical wave) and just watch the final Carnival Jump parade on the local TV stations.
Bonus: Dancing to "Suzette" at Camp Lajwa!
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