Winter Break Synopsis

Wow, it's been a while. Sorry about the lack of posts lately; the holidays found me much busier than I had anticipated.

It was enjoyable, though. I hung out with PCVs and local friends pretty often. I also made lots of tasty tasty food. Recipes to come.

I hiked plenty--Morne Le Blanc in Laborie, the Saltibus waterfalls, up Moule-a-Chique in Vieux Fort to look at the light house, and even the Edmund Forest Trail across to the Des Cartiers. This last one was pretty much across almost the widest (not longest) part of the island. It was about four hours, but it was the most fantastic thing ever. I hadn't been in the middle of the rainforest before, so the plants and scenes were just amazing. We also saw lots of the St. Lucia Parrots (called Jako in Kweyol).

Christmas I spent with my host family. I went to Midnight Mass with Julius and Nethelia, then to their friend's house afterwards. The next day I joined them for Christmas lunch and got to meet their son that lives in Canada--he surprised Nethelia, she didn't know he was coming at all! (although his brother Randy knew.) After lunch some friends came over, and Nethelia and I joined them in what is called "house to house": one person in a group calls up someone at a nearby house, sees if they're home and have something to offer to eat, and then everyone goes to that house. Lather, rinse, repeat. I met some new people and got to see some friends I already knew, and got to have lots of tasty food, from ham to cakes (lots of cakes!) and plenty of drink, including a great peanut punch at Ellery's house. It was a great way to spend Christmas.

The following Sunday I finally cooked lunch for Julius and Nethelia ("long overdue," she said). I made a Tex-Mex offering, with tortillas, guacamole, chicken, refried beans, cheese, and salad--a good spread for tacos, of course. They enjoyed it, especially the guacamole. People here eat lots of avocado ("pear"), but usually don't mix it with anything except cassava flour ("farin").

New Year's Eve I spend in Rodney Bay with some other PCVs. We had a big ol' spaghetti dinner with several wines and sparkling juices to accompany, then we headed down to the beach to watch the fireworks at midnight. We hung around for a long time, and I didn't end up sleeping until about 5am!

The first week of school brought some new things, too. I have a new schedule now with the Infant School, since some students switched classes. At the Primary school I am now co-teaching with the Special Needs teacher, Miss Vigie ("veezhay"). At Belle Vue I'm still currently helping out the principal in various capacities (typing things for her, providing a sounding board for ideas, designing things), although she has me signed up to introduce computers to preschool children (this may change, we'll see).

At the Primary School, in addition to helping Miss Vigie, I responded to the principal's comment in the teacher meetings last week that students need extra work on writing with a proposal to do writing workshops. The look on his face and the excitement in his voice when he asked me "You want to do that?!" was great. I'll be working with 4th and 6th graders on this, since these are the two grades that take standardized tests at the end of the year.

This past weekend I went up to spend the night with Haley again to hang with her and Ashley, and Haley was so kind as to pick up the stuff in my mailbox at the PC office. Along with the usual Cable & Wireless bill, there was a card from Diana! and a big bag of Christmas presents from my Secret Santa in Australia! I got a bunch of candy, some spices, some drawing pencils and pens, some small sketchbooks, a calendar with pics of Australia things, some pics of Melbourne landscapes, and some skin and lip ointments. It was very exciting.

The most exciting thing of all is the prospect of Berney visiting later this year--he's working on arranging that. I'll try to see him around June maybe in Europe, but he might be able to stay for a considerable while, depending on how things work out. We'll see, but it is something awesome to look forward to.

Like I said, I'll post some recipes later. I just needed to get this down.