So now it's 2011 and I'm still looking for work. I wonder if I screwed myself over by changing my mind about what I wanted to do because of my PC experience. I must have applied for over 70 jobs by now, but nothing's getting picked up.
I want to go into research. So I'm applying for research assistant positions of various sorts, mostly with think tanks and non-profits.
(There are a lot of "foundations" here in Marfa, inspired by the Judd Foundation and the Chinati Foundation. Others include the Pizza Foundation and the Foundation for Non-Prophets.)
When I was in college, I expected to apply for grad school and get a Master of Social Work as soon as I got out of the Peace Corps. Then I realized that it drains me too much to do that kind of work, and what I really enjoy is working with facts & numbers and figuring out how to improve things based on evaluations and sitting quietly and being right.
So with my degree in Sociology I decided to continue research in social science areas. I have several interests in it, including labor force, sexuality & gender issues, public health, education, and poverty reduction. My strongest interest is still in mental health. But the thing is, other than my senior thesis paper (45 pages long plus appendix and works cited) and the Barrier Analysis Volunteerism project I worked on in the Peace Corps (collaborated and initiated the 9ish page report), I don't have any works in the area.
Perhaps I can work on a project independently, though without affiliation to any institutions or even any decently sized public libraries around, it will be a challenge.
But I need to start working. Soon. Otherwise I'll have to renew my Texas drivers license with Marfa as my permanent residence.
Showing posts with label home. Show all posts
Showing posts with label home. Show all posts
02 January 2011
30 September 2010
End of Service
So I haven't made an entry in about 5 months. Choops.
And all of a sudden everything is over. I'm working half days now, to make sure I have time to take care of things like applying to jobs and closing accounts and packing and cleaning. I've gone through a lot of looking inward and outward in the past few months, deciding to do what I can without making stress for myself and getting stressed anyways.
I'll be leaving Saint Lucia in two weeks.
And there's still so much to do.
Let's see where this goes.
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!
09 May 2009
Misspeaking and Cheering
Looks like I spoke too soon about the Teachers Union pay crisis being resolved. It isn't. In fact it's as far from resolved as ever.
On Tuesday this week they held another meeting (another day away from school) to discuss the government's offer. The teachers continue to demand payment (the full 7.5% increase in salary) by the end of this month, or else. The government still says it doesn't have the money to do that, period.
So we'll see.
Yesterday was the District 6 Sports Meet, where all the schools in the Vieux-Fort area came together with their best athletes. There was a very good showing, and thankfully the weather finally let up, so we just had a few light sprinkles throughout the day. Plainview Combined won the day, but Vieux-Fort Infant/Primary came in second! I sat with the VF Infant teachers, and we had a great time cheering for our track stars in both VF schools. I came home with a slightly sore throat from yelling for my kids.
All the athletes lined up by school. The two schools I work at are both on the far right.
I think this is the Under 9 Girls 80 meter Dash. A girl from VF Primary is winning by a long shot!
Students, teachers, and family from Vieux-Fort Infant and Primary
For those of you in Austin, I'll be home August 5th-19th! Diana will come and visit the second weekend I'm there. I'm super excited for all of it!
On Tuesday this week they held another meeting (another day away from school) to discuss the government's offer. The teachers continue to demand payment (the full 7.5% increase in salary) by the end of this month, or else. The government still says it doesn't have the money to do that, period.
So we'll see.
Yesterday was the District 6 Sports Meet, where all the schools in the Vieux-Fort area came together with their best athletes. There was a very good showing, and thankfully the weather finally let up, so we just had a few light sprinkles throughout the day. Plainview Combined won the day, but Vieux-Fort Infant/Primary came in second! I sat with the VF Infant teachers, and we had a great time cheering for our track stars in both VF schools. I came home with a slightly sore throat from yelling for my kids.
All the athletes lined up by school. The two schools I work at are both on the far right.
I think this is the Under 9 Girls 80 meter Dash. A girl from VF Primary is winning by a long shot!
Students, teachers, and family from Vieux-Fort Infant and Primary
For those of you in Austin, I'll be home August 5th-19th! Diana will come and visit the second weekend I'm there. I'm super excited for all of it!
05 November 2008
Late night, totally worth it.
A little over two hours ago I came home very tired from an Election Night Party at a little rum shop down the street from me. Everyone there was very excited, and everyone here (as well as the rest of the world) was hoping and hoping that Obama would win.
A little less than an hour ago CNN announced that Obama had won. Although at this point I was at home sitting on my couch, I felt an immediate energy rising up from myself and everywhere. It was glorious.
Now I'm still waiting for the acceptance speech, even though I'm behind on my sleep and my cooking for the week. But it'll be worth it.
Thank god. Thank everyone who voted. Thank everyone for the support from all over the world. Things were going to get better either way. It's just better this way.
Here's the speech FTW!
A little less than an hour ago CNN announced that Obama had won. Although at this point I was at home sitting on my couch, I felt an immediate energy rising up from myself and everywhere. It was glorious.
Now I'm still waiting for the acceptance speech, even though I'm behind on my sleep and my cooking for the week. But it'll be worth it.
Thank god. Thank everyone who voted. Thank everyone for the support from all over the world. Things were going to get better either way. It's just better this way.
Here's the speech FTW!
25 October 2008
Pikchas!
18/10/08 Pigeon Island (it's not an island, which is why I always end up calling it Pigeon Point) Picnic
It rained on us just when we were going to start eating!
Some of our crew in front of some of the ruins of the British post established in 1778.
This is just a really bad picture of all of us.
22/10/08 Swearing-in Ceremony
That's me reading in Kweyol, introducing the NGO group.
Dr. Stephen King of Rise, Inc. This was the feature address of the ceremony.
Afterwards we went to Spinnakers. This is a toast proposed by Scott to the end of our training and to wish Judy good luck in Dominica.
Everyone signed a great big card for her. We'll miss you, Judes!
This is my apartment. This is the living/dining area.
The most important room of the house, of course:
The stew I made Tuesday morning. Green plantain, dasheen, pumpkin, okra, pinto beans, carrots, cabbage. But I need to put some meat or at least bullion cubes in it next time.
The first morning I lived here I found this little guy sliding around my bedroom floor. How cute!
It rained on us just when we were going to start eating!
Some of our crew in front of some of the ruins of the British post established in 1778.
This is just a really bad picture of all of us.
22/10/08 Swearing-in Ceremony
That's me reading in Kweyol, introducing the NGO group.
Dr. Stephen King of Rise, Inc. This was the feature address of the ceremony.
Afterwards we went to Spinnakers. This is a toast proposed by Scott to the end of our training and to wish Judy good luck in Dominica.
Everyone signed a great big card for her. We'll miss you, Judes!
This is my apartment. This is the living/dining area.
The most important room of the house, of course:
The stew I made Tuesday morning. Green plantain, dasheen, pumpkin, okra, pinto beans, carrots, cabbage. But I need to put some meat or at least bullion cubes in it next time.
The first morning I lived here I found this little guy sliding around my bedroom floor. How cute!
09 September 2008
Transportation on St. Lucia
So I'll type up my observations of the classroom I'm interning in after I write it. But as a precursor, it might help for you to understand the transportation system a little, as one of the class lessons was about that. If you want to skip this informational, there are a couple paragraphs at the end of the post about daily things.
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So, to start out with, the roads are generally two lanes, even the major highways. We drive on the left side of the road, like in England. Roundabouts are common (and generally more efficient than traffic lights). Because the highways are two lanes, passing in the right lane is very common. It would be dangerous except that nearly everyone who drives takes great care about not passing if they have limited sight--if there's a curve or hill ahead and they couldn't get around fast enough in case a car comes the other way. Occasionally there are drivers who are much more reckless, but for the most part people don't pass unless they know it's safe. Except in towns sometimes, there aren't generally sidewalks, so people walking or waiting for buses are on the sides of the road, very close to where traffic is. This is kind of scary sometimes, if in a town on the highway, for example, a bus is picking up people on one side, a car is passing it, and a bus is going the other way in the left lane, with people standing on the side, I get afraid sometimes that peds will get hurt, but I guess people know how to take care of themselves so it doesn't happen much.
I'm not sure how many people own cars. Maybe around half of households, maybe less. If they do own one, it's often just one car per family. It seems like most people use the public transportation for the most part, although I live in an urban area where buses are common. I can't say for sure about more rural areas, but it still seems like buses are the main transport. It's also common to hitch rides from people you know who happen to be going the same way, or sometimes even from people you don't know. The nice thing about hitching is the drivers you know don't really expect any money, since they're going the same direction anyways.
The buses carry up to 15 people, more if small children are on board, since they sit on their moms' laps, and if they do that they aren't charged the price of a seat. The front seat (the one place I haven't ridden yet and don't really want to ride in) has the driver, and space for two passengers. The four rows behind that have seats for two, with an aisle with flip seats that you pull down. So without flip seats, a bus could hold 12 people (3 in front, 3 in back, 2 in middle three rows). Most buses have radios on them, but not all drivers have them on. I've found it's more likely to have a radio on for long bus rides, such as from Vieux Fort up to Castries (a commute I'm all too familiar with now). Many buses have handles on the back of the main seats (not the flip seats) to hold on to when going on curves. The buses without handles are a little more stressful to ride on, since it's a mountainous island with lots of curves and hairpin turns. There are sliding windows for most seats, and as long as the bus is moving, there's a nice breeze that keeps you cool, even when it's hot out. If the bus is standing still for a while, it is very hot.
To catch a bus, you wait on the side of the road anywhere buses pass by, and when one comes, you signal it--I point the direction I'm going, sometimes moving my hand up and down as I do so. A bus will pass if it's full, or will pull over and let you in if it's not--they often honk and blink their hazard lights either way. You get in, sit down, and get off at your stop, where you pay the driver. Alternately, if you're in a city or town already and are going out of the city, you go to a bus stand. Each destination pairing usually has its own bus stand, where lots of buses line up or park and wait to fill up. For long trips to different towns, you pay the driver before leaving the stand. Unless you're getting off at the final destination--in the bus stand--to get off the bus you ask the bus driver to stop. "Stoppin' here," "Bus stop, driver," "Stop at the gap," or any variation on this theme, are generally sufficient. A gap, by the way, is an intersection, whether three-way or fourway or whatever. The driver pulls to the side of the road, if possible, lets off the passenger, collects payment and gives change as necessary, and moves on.
Fare is based on distance traveled. For example, to get from my neighborhood to downtown Vieux Fort, it's EC$1.25; to go from VF downtown to downtown Castries (very southern tip of the island, around most of the east coast, through the rainforest across the island ridge [barre isle], to the northwestern bit) is EC$7; to get from downtown Castries (a few blocks away from where the VF bus drops me off) to the highway where the Peace Corps office is costs $1.25. Though this commute ends up being $19 a day round trip, it's still less expensive than owning a car, since gas costs currently EC$12.75 (that's about $4.76US) per gallon, and it's probably 45 miles each way, certainly more than a gallon of gas. The bus isn't faster, though, which is why some people (like my host dad) make the commute anyways. Bus drivers earn their livings from the fares they collect, so they like to keep buses as full as possible. If there's a broken flip seat, that means the driver will never collect fare on it, so it's a sizeable loss throughout the day.
For much of the trip, buses travel at 70-80mph, slowing down to 50-60mph for turns, and much slower for hairpin turns. They also must slow down if behind a vehicle they can't safely pass, or behind several vehicles with a slow one in front. They're supposed to slow down as they go through towns, but unless people are boarding or getting off the bus, they don't really. It takes me about 1hour 40 minutes total, including walking and waiting for buses to leave the bus stands, to get to the PC office in the morning. It takes longer in the afternoon to get home, since there's a longer walk between bus stands in Castries and it takes longer to get a full bus load.
For the most part, buses are pretty safe. I know I've only been using them for a week and a half, but I haven't felt unsafe at any point, aside from getting used to very fast drivers. There are wrecks somewhat often, but they rarely cause injury. The other day there was a child that vomited on the bus, but her mom caught it in a plastic bag. Luckily I was a few rows back from where that was going on, so I didn't get a single whiff of it. When people get on a bus, it's very common for them to say "Good morning" or "Good afternoon," and to have nearly everyone on the bus respond with the same in unison.
Taxis are also common on the island. For the most part, they are also minibuses, but they are for comission and cost much more. I think it costs around EC$100 to get from Vieux Fort to Castries, but I'm not sure if this depends on the number of passengers--having 1 person pay the whole amount of that vs. having 5 split the cost, or if it would cost more to have 5 people than just 1. It also probably depends on the driver--people like to get to know specific taxi drivers, so they develop friendly relationships and might not be charged quite as much as others would.
The scariest part of riding in any sort of vehicle is the general lack or disuse of seatbelts. Drivers rarely use them, passengers even more rarely. If I can, I use one in a private vehicle, but not on buses. In private cars, though, they are often lost in the seats or covered up in the back seats, so the only place I would be sure to know that I can put on a seatbelt is in the front passenger seat. I must look like a total square, but it's so ingrained in me, and for good reason. This is the main reason I don't want to ride in the front seat of a bus.
The coolest part of riding is how drivers honk at other drivers for just about anything. They honk to let them know they're passing, they honk to tell them to go, they honk when they're going around a hairpin turn so that they don't collide...but mostly they honk just to say hi.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I know this is a long post, so I'll wrap up quickly. I worked out for reals last night for the first time since I got here. It was pretty good, listening to Muse's album Black Holes and Revelations, working up a really good sweat. I did 75 pushups over the course of it, but unfortunately I can't do more than 20 at a time. When it was time to take a shower, I had to ask my host brother Randel (I think that's how it's spelled, but I'm not sure at all) to turn on the tap, since there's been a leak in the bathroom. At the moment a family friend who is a handyman (he picked Nethelia and I up from the docks in his truck last week) is working on the pipes. On Sunday the water was turned off because of heavy rains--the watersources get too muddy, so the company turns it off. Everyone here is used to this (well, those that have running water in the first place), so we keep 5-gallon buckets around to fill up beforehand, and plenty of sterile water in waterbottles stored in the cupboards. If I had showered Sunday evening, it would have been bathing using water from the bucket.
Today is Randel's birthday. Nethelia made a cheesecake for him, and Julius is probably going to get a bottle of champagne. I asked if there was anything I could do, but Nethelia told me, "No, just have some cake and a drink of champagne." I told her I would try my hardest.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
So, to start out with, the roads are generally two lanes, even the major highways. We drive on the left side of the road, like in England. Roundabouts are common (and generally more efficient than traffic lights). Because the highways are two lanes, passing in the right lane is very common. It would be dangerous except that nearly everyone who drives takes great care about not passing if they have limited sight--if there's a curve or hill ahead and they couldn't get around fast enough in case a car comes the other way. Occasionally there are drivers who are much more reckless, but for the most part people don't pass unless they know it's safe. Except in towns sometimes, there aren't generally sidewalks, so people walking or waiting for buses are on the sides of the road, very close to where traffic is. This is kind of scary sometimes, if in a town on the highway, for example, a bus is picking up people on one side, a car is passing it, and a bus is going the other way in the left lane, with people standing on the side, I get afraid sometimes that peds will get hurt, but I guess people know how to take care of themselves so it doesn't happen much.
I'm not sure how many people own cars. Maybe around half of households, maybe less. If they do own one, it's often just one car per family. It seems like most people use the public transportation for the most part, although I live in an urban area where buses are common. I can't say for sure about more rural areas, but it still seems like buses are the main transport. It's also common to hitch rides from people you know who happen to be going the same way, or sometimes even from people you don't know. The nice thing about hitching is the drivers you know don't really expect any money, since they're going the same direction anyways.
The buses carry up to 15 people, more if small children are on board, since they sit on their moms' laps, and if they do that they aren't charged the price of a seat. The front seat (the one place I haven't ridden yet and don't really want to ride in) has the driver, and space for two passengers. The four rows behind that have seats for two, with an aisle with flip seats that you pull down. So without flip seats, a bus could hold 12 people (3 in front, 3 in back, 2 in middle three rows). Most buses have radios on them, but not all drivers have them on. I've found it's more likely to have a radio on for long bus rides, such as from Vieux Fort up to Castries (a commute I'm all too familiar with now). Many buses have handles on the back of the main seats (not the flip seats) to hold on to when going on curves. The buses without handles are a little more stressful to ride on, since it's a mountainous island with lots of curves and hairpin turns. There are sliding windows for most seats, and as long as the bus is moving, there's a nice breeze that keeps you cool, even when it's hot out. If the bus is standing still for a while, it is very hot.
To catch a bus, you wait on the side of the road anywhere buses pass by, and when one comes, you signal it--I point the direction I'm going, sometimes moving my hand up and down as I do so. A bus will pass if it's full, or will pull over and let you in if it's not--they often honk and blink their hazard lights either way. You get in, sit down, and get off at your stop, where you pay the driver. Alternately, if you're in a city or town already and are going out of the city, you go to a bus stand. Each destination pairing usually has its own bus stand, where lots of buses line up or park and wait to fill up. For long trips to different towns, you pay the driver before leaving the stand. Unless you're getting off at the final destination--in the bus stand--to get off the bus you ask the bus driver to stop. "Stoppin' here," "Bus stop, driver," "Stop at the gap," or any variation on this theme, are generally sufficient. A gap, by the way, is an intersection, whether three-way or fourway or whatever. The driver pulls to the side of the road, if possible, lets off the passenger, collects payment and gives change as necessary, and moves on.
Fare is based on distance traveled. For example, to get from my neighborhood to downtown Vieux Fort, it's EC$1.25; to go from VF downtown to downtown Castries (very southern tip of the island, around most of the east coast, through the rainforest across the island ridge [barre isle], to the northwestern bit) is EC$7; to get from downtown Castries (a few blocks away from where the VF bus drops me off) to the highway where the Peace Corps office is costs $1.25. Though this commute ends up being $19 a day round trip, it's still less expensive than owning a car, since gas costs currently EC$12.75 (that's about $4.76US) per gallon, and it's probably 45 miles each way, certainly more than a gallon of gas. The bus isn't faster, though, which is why some people (like my host dad) make the commute anyways. Bus drivers earn their livings from the fares they collect, so they like to keep buses as full as possible. If there's a broken flip seat, that means the driver will never collect fare on it, so it's a sizeable loss throughout the day.
For much of the trip, buses travel at 70-80mph, slowing down to 50-60mph for turns, and much slower for hairpin turns. They also must slow down if behind a vehicle they can't safely pass, or behind several vehicles with a slow one in front. They're supposed to slow down as they go through towns, but unless people are boarding or getting off the bus, they don't really. It takes me about 1hour 40 minutes total, including walking and waiting for buses to leave the bus stands, to get to the PC office in the morning. It takes longer in the afternoon to get home, since there's a longer walk between bus stands in Castries and it takes longer to get a full bus load.
For the most part, buses are pretty safe. I know I've only been using them for a week and a half, but I haven't felt unsafe at any point, aside from getting used to very fast drivers. There are wrecks somewhat often, but they rarely cause injury. The other day there was a child that vomited on the bus, but her mom caught it in a plastic bag. Luckily I was a few rows back from where that was going on, so I didn't get a single whiff of it. When people get on a bus, it's very common for them to say "Good morning" or "Good afternoon," and to have nearly everyone on the bus respond with the same in unison.
Taxis are also common on the island. For the most part, they are also minibuses, but they are for comission and cost much more. I think it costs around EC$100 to get from Vieux Fort to Castries, but I'm not sure if this depends on the number of passengers--having 1 person pay the whole amount of that vs. having 5 split the cost, or if it would cost more to have 5 people than just 1. It also probably depends on the driver--people like to get to know specific taxi drivers, so they develop friendly relationships and might not be charged quite as much as others would.
The scariest part of riding in any sort of vehicle is the general lack or disuse of seatbelts. Drivers rarely use them, passengers even more rarely. If I can, I use one in a private vehicle, but not on buses. In private cars, though, they are often lost in the seats or covered up in the back seats, so the only place I would be sure to know that I can put on a seatbelt is in the front passenger seat. I must look like a total square, but it's so ingrained in me, and for good reason. This is the main reason I don't want to ride in the front seat of a bus.
The coolest part of riding is how drivers honk at other drivers for just about anything. They honk to let them know they're passing, they honk to tell them to go, they honk when they're going around a hairpin turn so that they don't collide...but mostly they honk just to say hi.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I know this is a long post, so I'll wrap up quickly. I worked out for reals last night for the first time since I got here. It was pretty good, listening to Muse's album Black Holes and Revelations, working up a really good sweat. I did 75 pushups over the course of it, but unfortunately I can't do more than 20 at a time. When it was time to take a shower, I had to ask my host brother Randel (I think that's how it's spelled, but I'm not sure at all) to turn on the tap, since there's been a leak in the bathroom. At the moment a family friend who is a handyman (he picked Nethelia and I up from the docks in his truck last week) is working on the pipes. On Sunday the water was turned off because of heavy rains--the watersources get too muddy, so the company turns it off. Everyone here is used to this (well, those that have running water in the first place), so we keep 5-gallon buckets around to fill up beforehand, and plenty of sterile water in waterbottles stored in the cupboards. If I had showered Sunday evening, it would have been bathing using water from the bucket.
Today is Randel's birthday. Nethelia made a cheesecake for him, and Julius is probably going to get a bottle of champagne. I asked if there was anything I could do, but Nethelia told me, "No, just have some cake and a drink of champagne." I told her I would try my hardest.
01 September 2008
This past weekend
After another day of training on Friday, there was a barbeque with a local music group playing. It was nice. After that, around 8 or 8:30, a group of trainees was heading out to a bar down the street, and I joined them. It was a tiny little place, but the drinks weren't very expensive--EC$4 for most, so definitely cheaper than any place I know of in Chicago, and many in Austin. The music was DJed by a couple of younger girls, around 9 and 11 yrs old, and it was mostly just pop and hip hop from the US. Some of us danced, and I was one of the only Americans able to do some of the moves--the isolation techniques that I worked on last year. Everyone was surprised when I was talking, which doesn't surprise me.
again, I have pictures, but I may wait until later in the week to upload them. I'm on my homestay family's computer.
What I'll do for the next posts is type up what I'd written in the journal they gave us yesterday.
8/30/08
I fell asleep for an hour and a half in my room. I guess I felt very hot and the hours missed earlier this week caught up to me. Just now after I had worken up and was writing a list of things to get done, Julius (my homestay father) popped his head in my room, asked if I had a good rest, asked about the light and the lock on the door, and closed my bedroom door. A few seconds later, he knocked, I answered, and he asked if they were speaking too fast; if I could understand. I said only occasionally was it too fast, and he left. I left my door open.
I'm not sure, but maybe it's that here the bedroom is considered a private place, even if it's the middle of the day and I'm at my desk. I'm wondering if I should move to the living room--perhaps when I begin again to read. I think what it was is that they leave the door to their house open, to let in air, and I'm also used to being in a dorm or at home where for many people they only close the door if they're changing or sleeping.
The family is very nice, although at this moment I'm afraid that they don't want me to help.
The mosquito bites down here are nasty. I've only been bitten a few times, but the bites from yesterday are still big & itch a lot at times. At least I was able to avoid what others have gotten in the training group. This is because I"ve been using (& reapplying) the bug repellant. I told my roommate the other day, "This will be my new perfume." I really think it is.
On the way home [from the PC office in Castries, down to Vieux Fort] we passed by a beach when we were almost at our destination. There was a group of people watching a baptism there in the sea. Further along, Nethelia (my homestay mother) told the driver to stop so she could pick some sea grapes. I made the mistake of biting into one, and found it was a crunchy bitter seed. The fruit part is only a few milimeters thick, but it's sweet. The skin leaves the mouth a little dry afterwards.
To Do:
-get transformer or adapter
-get shoe fixed
-read PC materials CHECK
-buy shower toiletries CHECK
-learn more about bus system CHECK
-do bus q's for HW CHECK
-get alarm clock and/or cellphone CHECK
8/31/08
I found out that actually, the reason they wanted me to close my door is to keep mosquitoes out. How funny that I wrote about those issues right next to one another but didn't think to connect them. I have a mosquito net over my bed now, and I feel (right now) that it's too much trouble to undo it and set it up again each time, so I have one less surface on which to put things. Not that I actually have many things, but I think it'll help keep my room tidy.
Actually, I am glad that the family maintains a similar level of cleanliness in their home to my own level. Well, ok, it's much neaater in here than I would keep my own place, but it's not to an uncomfortably high level. Lived in, that's how I like to describe it.
This morning I had cocotea, made by Nethelia. It's cocoa sticks, with all sorts of different spices, boiled, with a little milk added (here fresh milk is rare and expensive, so evaporated and powdered are used). It tastes good by itself, but it's even better with just a little bit of sugar. Yesterday Nethelia showed me how to make fresh fruit juice--we did guava. I think when I make my own I will add more water, just to stretch it a little farther. It is very good, though, especially once it's chilled thoroughly.
Today for dinner Nethelia is showing me how to make green fig pie (bananas are called figs here, so green figs are unripe bananas. They’re almost exactly like potatoes), some beans, and some cow heel stew. The stew has pumpkin and calalloo leaves (like spinach) in it, too.
again, I have pictures, but I may wait until later in the week to upload them. I'm on my homestay family's computer.
What I'll do for the next posts is type up what I'd written in the journal they gave us yesterday.
8/30/08
I fell asleep for an hour and a half in my room. I guess I felt very hot and the hours missed earlier this week caught up to me. Just now after I had worken up and was writing a list of things to get done, Julius (my homestay father) popped his head in my room, asked if I had a good rest, asked about the light and the lock on the door, and closed my bedroom door. A few seconds later, he knocked, I answered, and he asked if they were speaking too fast; if I could understand. I said only occasionally was it too fast, and he left. I left my door open.
I'm not sure, but maybe it's that here the bedroom is considered a private place, even if it's the middle of the day and I'm at my desk. I'm wondering if I should move to the living room--perhaps when I begin again to read. I think what it was is that they leave the door to their house open, to let in air, and I'm also used to being in a dorm or at home where for many people they only close the door if they're changing or sleeping.
The family is very nice, although at this moment I'm afraid that they don't want me to help.
The mosquito bites down here are nasty. I've only been bitten a few times, but the bites from yesterday are still big & itch a lot at times. At least I was able to avoid what others have gotten in the training group. This is because I"ve been using (& reapplying) the bug repellant. I told my roommate the other day, "This will be my new perfume." I really think it is.
On the way home [from the PC office in Castries, down to Vieux Fort] we passed by a beach when we were almost at our destination. There was a group of people watching a baptism there in the sea. Further along, Nethelia (my homestay mother) told the driver to stop so she could pick some sea grapes. I made the mistake of biting into one, and found it was a crunchy bitter seed. The fruit part is only a few milimeters thick, but it's sweet. The skin leaves the mouth a little dry afterwards.
To Do:
-get transformer or adapter
-get shoe fixed
-read PC materials CHECK
-buy shower toiletries CHECK
-learn more about bus system CHECK
-do bus q's for HW CHECK
-get alarm clock and/or cellphone CHECK
8/31/08
I found out that actually, the reason they wanted me to close my door is to keep mosquitoes out. How funny that I wrote about those issues right next to one another but didn't think to connect them. I have a mosquito net over my bed now, and I feel (right now) that it's too much trouble to undo it and set it up again each time, so I have one less surface on which to put things. Not that I actually have many things, but I think it'll help keep my room tidy.
Actually, I am glad that the family maintains a similar level of cleanliness in their home to my own level. Well, ok, it's much neaater in here than I would keep my own place, but it's not to an uncomfortably high level. Lived in, that's how I like to describe it.
This morning I had cocotea, made by Nethelia. It's cocoa sticks, with all sorts of different spices, boiled, with a little milk added (here fresh milk is rare and expensive, so evaporated and powdered are used). It tastes good by itself, but it's even better with just a little bit of sugar. Yesterday Nethelia showed me how to make fresh fruit juice--we did guava. I think when I make my own I will add more water, just to stretch it a little farther. It is very good, though, especially once it's chilled thoroughly.
Today for dinner Nethelia is showing me how to make green fig pie (bananas are called figs here, so green figs are unripe bananas. They’re almost exactly like potatoes), some beans, and some cow heel stew. The stew has pumpkin and calalloo leaves (like spinach) in it, too.
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